http://www.icivics.org/ has some great role-playing games for all area of politics/government. It's appropriate for a wide range of grade levels. It also has lesson plans.

My kids also use the Kurig for hot water for their instant oatmeal. Even my 6 year old can do it. Puts the water right in the bowl with the oatmeal. If you like hot chocolate, try Cafe Escapes Cafe Mocha k-cups. It has a little coffee in it I think, but it really just tastes like really good hot chocolate. I can't taste any coffee. I just bought those at the grocery store once when they were on sale, and now I always have my eye out for another sale. I personally like the Green Mountain Apple Cider, but I'm perfectly happy with just using the machine for a cup of hot water and adding one of those packets of instant cider too it as well. Not quite as good, but WAY cheaper.

Totally worth it, IMO. I've used it for over 2 years, and I would pay twice that.

Something else I thought of (because a friend IRL didn't realize this)... You can drag and drop recipes from the left side of the screen into the calendar and within the calendar itself. You do not have to actually open the recipe and add it that way (although you have that option). It may be somethinng obvious for you, but it wasn't for her. I just thought I'd mention it because it makes building your plan a whole lot quicker.

I've gotten two different samplers. One was not good at all, and one was by the seller "Crazy Cups", and it was really good. Very good variety and no almost expired k-cups.

Donut House Chocolate Glazed Donut I also like Gloria Jean's Mudslide with a little sweetened condensed milk added...mmmmm :)

My 6 year old ds has a long-held dream to open "Nathaniel's Taco Hotdog" when he grows up. According to him, it's going to sell clothes and socks too. And, you can even rent out a room if you want to live there. :) He asked me if we could have Taco Hotdogs for dinner sometime, so guess what we are having tomorrow night. He gave me his "secret recipe" and I've got all the supplies. Should be interesting!

For the websites that don't import well into PTE, it only takes a few cut/pastes to add the recipe. When you enter the ingredients, click on the "bulk input tab" and cut/paste all the ingredients in the space that comes up. Then, just cut and paste the directions. This also works when you are transferring recipes from Word or other documents, and makes it a little bit easier :)

My biggest suggestion is that once you plan a week (or more), use the "add menu" button on the menus tab to save your week's plan. Then you can just dump a whole week's worth of menus into another week and then just tweak it. I save mine by season (i.e. summer - week 1, summer - week 2, fall - week 1, etc). Oh, and for meals that I don't need a recipe for, like spaghetti or hamburgers or other things like that, I still create a recipe with just ingredients. That way, all the ingredients are added to the shopping list without me having to add each individual item. I keep it as a "private" recipe so PTE friends don't see it when they look at my recipes. My user name is MandyMom, but my recipes are not GF or Paleo. Just pretty average recipes.

My older 4 all iron their own clothes (when wrinkled, not before they put away clean laundry). My youngest ds won't wear something if it is the least bit wrinkled, but of course, he's too young to iron. I usually have his older brother iron it for him :001_smile:

I bought a workbook that was listed in "very good" condition, and when I got it, it was completely filled out. I asked the seller for a refund including shipping. They told me that they would refund the price only when I returned the item. I filed with Amazon, and Amazon refunded the complete amount just on my word alone. I didn't have to send the book back or even send pictures (although I offered to).

Look at Jansport backpacks on Amazon. There are tons of cute designs! Most of the time you will have to click on a style to see all the different prints. The solid ones are usually the ones that show up on the search page.

I haven't tried this yet, but it's on my "to do" list. This blogger tested multiple recipes till she found one that didn't require Velveeta. She also has a version that is just a Velveeta substitute. http://www.momables.com/momveeta-i-cant-believe-its-not-block-cheese/

It happens to me too.

I was terrible at getting meals planned until I found Plan to Eat. I've been using it for 2 years now, and I completely swear by it. I can very quickly plan my meals by dragging and dropping things into a calendar. Then, it automatically generates a shopping list which I can then customize. I pull the shopping list up on my phone when I go shopping. You can also print the list off. Those are the main features I use, but the program itself has a TON of other features like cost tracking and nutritional info. Another feature that I like is the ability to save several days worth of menus (however many you like...I save a week at a time, but some people save whole months) to use later. I also think that the ability to plan for once-a-month freezer cooking (cooking in bulk) was added, but I haven't really explored that feature.

That might be a bit of a drive. It's around an 11 hour drive between Flagstaff and Carlsbad. But I agree...Carlsbad Cavern is really cool!

Here's an example of something I've done for this year. The holes are punched with a Proclick, but it has a 4:1 spiral in it. I generally only use the spirals on things that are thicker than I can find in Proclick spines. The one spiral coil in the picture is 20 mm. I bought them on eBay, because I didn't need that many since I use Proclick spines for most things.

Proclick's pitch is 1:4. I have both the Proclick spines and some of the spiral spines....same pitch. ETA: mybinding.com says that Proclick is 3:1, but the spirals that I have work perfectly. Maybe they are different pitches, but it doesn't seem to matter.

I haven't done it, but I think I'm going to do something like this for our lunches (take a look at the "lunch" section). I wouldn't be making a lunch every evening, but I'd have homemade things that they can pull right out of the fridge and have for lunch. I figure I could make most days' lunches on a Sunday afternoon. It would be super handy for those evening when there is an activity that we need to grab something for on the go too.

Every electric pencil sharpener we've had has bitten the dust less than a year after we've gotten it, even the expensive ones. We've had this sharpener right at about a year, and it is still going strong. It's not electric, but it FAR superior to any electric one we've had.

But remember that some food (like onions and garlic) don't always agree with nursing babies when Mama eats them. Just keep that in consideration when choosing foods.

Havah by Tosca Lee as well as Demon: A Memoir (don't let the title concern you) - Demon is one of my all time favorites. It's very thought provoking. Lee is a Christian author. Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. This is one of the few non-fiction books that would go on my "favorites" list. It's a wonderful story of 2 men from completely different backgrounds and how their lives are joined together. The Rush of Wings series by Kristen Heitzmann. Actually, I like all of Heitzmann's books except Indivisible (and it has a sequel, but I disliked Indivisible so much that I didn't read it). Rush of Wings series was my favorite though. ETA: Her book Secrets is free right now for Kindle on Amazon. It's the first book in a series, and the series is pretty good. Anything by Francine Rivers. Redeeming Love is my all time favorite, but I love everything she's written. A good place for free Christian/inspirational for your Kindle is Inspired Reads. Not everything they post is great literature, but I've found some little gems there every once in a while. I have more free books waiting for me on my Kindle than I could ever read, and I can read a lot!

I get Kiss My Face at the regular grocery store (Kroger, not Whole Foods). It's not particularly expensive, but it works.

I'd personally just want to date Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. Of course, I want Ariel's hair too.

I read it when it first came out. I didn't even know he had rereleased it. I will have to look it up now. The new ending can't be any worse than the original. :001_smile: