The homeschool laws are the same for Sedona....so very easy to homeschool. It's a much smaller town so there aren't as many groups, but there are still many. There are more opportunities (art, museums, theatre, culture, etc) the nearer you are to major cities, and so Sedona has less to offer in that regard. The trade off is less crime and less crowds, less traffic. The two major homeschool conventions are in the Phoenix valley, so you'd have to travel for those....one in March, the larger one in July (and before someone asks the obvious, why would you have a convention in this crazy heat....it's cheaper to rent the convention center because no one else wants to come here, lol). However, the summers which so many of us have complained about as being too hot in Phoenix are tolerable in Sedona (low 100s are the extremes, instead of 110-115 in Phoenix for weeks on end in July).....because Sedona is in the mountains and therefore much cooler. In fact, Sedona and Flagstaff are two places that many from the Phoenix valley flee to for cooler weekends during the summer. Life is good when you have friends "up there" to go visit once a month (or more), lol. In the winter there is snow....and it can get heavy at times, but those are the exceptions not the norm like it is on the East Coast. Obviously that means the winters are much colder, you'd definitely need jackets, lol.....but for those who really need the change of seasons, it's a great place to live. And gorgeous!

I would disagree with your "beautiful weather for a solid 8 months".....and say more like 6 solid months. Which still beats snow or even the cold weather of the East Coast any day of the year, lol. But, May 7, 2009 was the first triple digit (and the week before that it was high 90s) and it wasn't until mid October to that it started dipping into the 90's for a few days before going back over 100 and up and down until just two week ago that 80's have become the norm. That's six solid months of 100 degrees (with a absolute high this year of ......and in almost anyone's book that is HOT. The "average" for July 2009 was 109.5. The east valley seems to get the storms more than central or west valley. I really miss the monsoon rains that would happen daily for weeks with exciting lightening displays. But yes, the rest of the year it's gorgeous, and even in the "winter" in the late evening it's still only light jacket weather, if that. I never wear long sleeves it's simply too warm to ever need them (finally trashed them after about 5 years of never wearing them, lol). My "heavy" jacket is a thin denim, not even as thick as cheap jeans, lol. While I'm not a shorts wearer, there are quite a few people who wear shorts even through the winter months.....definitely still need them now since it's still in the 80's and 90s. But unlike the eastern states and even the midwest, 80s is very pleasant because there is no humidity to drag your down....the 90's are warm but still fine to being outside. To me the threshold for outdoor living is 100....once it's over that, I'm inside more than outside. Now, it's just the opposite.....in fact I'm sitting at the park right now on my laptop watching the kids' enjoy the climbing structure. When we were driving up the marquee said 87 degrees.

Yes, apparently there is a new requirement in California about this....my MIL is a teacher and the office staff is giving the teachers the forms and requiring THEY decide "since they are with the kids they know better than the office does". So my MIL wrote, very neatly, on each and every one something along the lines of "I am not allowed to look at the racial/ethnic background of people around me, therefore I cannot provide this information". She submitted them back to the office and has yet to hear anything, lol....and she told me about this over a month ago, so it sounds like the office isn't really looking! Sounds like another "check the box" moment. Pehaps you could check the other box and fill in the long list of ethnic background for your children. That ought to keep them busy for a while. I do think, however, that I would loudly and strongly object to a form that I filled out and signed being altered without my express permission. If they must provide this information because I did not answer it to their satisfaction than it should be a separate form for the admin staff to fill out and let THEM sign it. Makes ya wonder what other forms you fill out are altered after you signed.

Definitely go through your checkbook and use those expenses. Remember that the judge is going to look at that figure when deciding to grant you support.....if you low ball everything to just scrapping by figures that is what you will be given. It is EXTREMELY rare for a judge to grant more than is requested. On the other hand, your ex's attorney is going to be objecting to all of your expenses, lol....so be sure that you have clear proof that these were actual expenses during the marriage. If you have the records available, go back for the last 12 months that you were living together with normal expenses. I can't recall how long you've been separated, but of course your expenses will have gone way down after he left and took all the money with him. Keep the cancelled checks, credit card statements, bank statements, copies of bills, etc. that you use to calculate all this in a folder and take it with you to the court hearing. Your attorney will go over your expenses and if any of them seem unreasonable they will work with you to make them reasonable (by the court's standards......the attorney will have a good idea of what the judge will accept. But, just like the judge, it's unlikely the attorney is going to raise the amount you provide unless it's unreasonably low, so be sure that you err on the high side, with documentation for it all). Do NOT however expect the judge to grant your high side figure.....it's the cat and mouse game of support.....your side is asking for the moon, his side is asking for dirt, and the judge has to find some happy reasonable medium that will give both of you a liveable financial statement. Be sure to include not just the regular monthly expenses, but those one time (or two or three time) a year expenses......shoes, clothes, sports, memberships, classes or testing, curriculum purchases, etc. That's why going through 12 months of expenses is a good idea, because there are lots of things that you pay once and forget about it until the next year. If you are awarded an amount that is actually larger than you truly need because you have learned to live on very little, put it away for your son's college, or your retirement.....or the next battle where attorney fees are needed. Keep in mind that he could quit or lose his job and then of course your payment won't likely arrive....so having a small nest egg to cover you then means that you aren't dragged down by his life drama. If you feel like you're asking for too much.....remember that as your son ages his expenses are going to go up.....and as you come out of this legal mess and reclaim your life you aren't going to always want to watch every penny. Your son and you deserve to live in as close to the same lifestayle as before he betrayed you. Also remember that if you later discover that you do need more money it's harder to get a raise in your support without a change of circumstances......just saying you don't want to penny pinch won't cut it. Good luck!

We started out in Wickenburg, moved to Avondale, then to Anthem, now in downtown Phoenix and looking at houses in Tempe/Mesa/Chandler (mostly a pipe dream, but a girl can dream right?). Have relatives mostly in the far east valley (Apache Junction, Gilbert) and also in Scottsdale. So pretty much everywhere in the Phoenix Valley, lol. If I had my druthers we would live in Tucson (or south of) but DH's job doesn't go that far south.

I completely agree with you.....especially for curriculum that is downloadable. I DO have to print these out to use them, and then for many items that aren't meant as consumables (like the teacher guides) I still have to print them, sorry we don't do school at my cramped computer desk, AND I can't resell them. Yet the profit margin for the publisher is HIGH on these because there is no publishing for them other than the first formating. So, I buy the books and then resell them to make back about half my cost. So, honestly, if ebooks were about half the cost of hard copies, I'd do it in a heartbeat and not be concerned about not being able to resell. Gee, didn't we have a thread a week or two ago about Learning Adventures whining about not being able to continue in business because of the people selling their books used and so they weren't getting enough business? I'm sure that other publishers/authors feel the same (without the public whining) so perhaps they should consider the advantage of giving me the inventice to buy ebooks. Their costs would go way down because while there is bandwith to consider in ebooks it's not nearly the same as buying, and storing, hundreds of hardcopies waiting for sales, and the used market would dry up which would mean more people would buy their product directly from them. Yes, there is still those who will resell the ebooks, despite the copyright violation, but there are those who actually scan and share textbooks now so I guess someone somewhere will always be cheating. I've had to leave wonderful yahoogroups because of this sharing....the discussions and information were great but I hated having my inbox clogged with page after page of illegal documents. Not only was the full inbox annoying, but even though I didn't print those documents out, I felt like I was "in possession" of stolen goods. I miss some of those groups. So...publishers/authors, if you're out there and interested in lessening your costs, increasing your sales over used copies sold without you getting anything....cut the prices of your ebooks. And then PM me as I'm starting to look for next year's stuff already, so I'd love to hear from you! LOL

Weather.....extremely hot in the summer. Around here the news weather guy takes bets from the anchors about when we'll hit triple digits.....when it's a bad year that happens in May and doesn't stop until mid October....good years it waits until June, but still doesn't stop until October, lol. BUT.....we have NO SNOW in Phoenix. The last time it even pretended to snow was in the mid 90's one winter but not even enough to make a snowball. And.....from mid October to May or June (see above, lol), the weather is drop dead gorgeous. As you might guess from my comments, I hate the heat......but having grown up on the east coast I'll take it any month over snow. Every building has air conditioning so in the summer you go from your a/c house to your a/c car to the a/c building......but at least I can get out of my house! I remember way too many winters not being able to get outside until someone shoveled us out. People: We are definitely more laidback here than east coast. And more casual. Going to the ballet tomorrow for opening night.....going to wear blue jeans and we will fit right in with 70% of the crowd....the other 30% dress up, so if you can't imagine going to the ballet in jeans, you're fine in your high heels. Think wild west, cowboy atmosphere. Cost of living: Well, it's definitely cheaper than California. Unfortunately the folks in California (ok, we were one of them but that was 14 years ago) have discovered us and are moving here in droves. Before the recession they were bringing all that cashed out equity with them and raising our housing prices. We have crashed like many states in the recession. But....we have it all, we have houses under $100k and we have a lot of million dollar homes as well. In a good neighborhood, a decent sized house you can average $150-250k. Plenty on either end without having to live in questionable neighborhoods. Good neighborhoods....well, the strange thing about Phoenix and the surrounding valley is that it's not rated by town.....there are great parts of Phoenix and not so great parts. Scottsdale and Fountain Hills are probably the "rich" part of town, but Scottsdale most definitely has some scary neighborhoods also (FH not as much, but I'm sure they are there). Mesa and Tempe are probably the moderate having more good neighborhoods than either great/bad. Tempe is a university town, so depending on what your DH teaches, that may be a good choice. The Valley is big.....without commute traffic it can still take you two hours to go from the far west to the far east side. So you will definitely want to know where he's going to work before you start choosing a town to live in. My DH works 17 miles from home and most days it takes him 30 minutes to get home.....but they did such a poor planning job for freeways that one accident that closes a lane or two, and there are no real alternate routes except city streets. Homeschooling in the Phoenix Valley is wonderful. The laws are easy.....within 30 days after you begin homeschooling in Arizona you must file a single page document "Affidavit of Intent to Homeschool" that you can download off the Superintendent of Schools website, have it notarized and provide a certified copy of the child's birth certificate. Ok, you're done. You don't have to do this again. There is no testing. There is no reporting. There is no portfolio requirement. No one will come to check if you are doing what you're supposed to (the law does specify that you must provide instruction in math, reading, social studies, science). There are no requirements of the parent doing the teaching (not even a high school diploma is required). The Superintendent's office is "happy to help" if you have any questions or need help. (Ok, but I don't know anyone who has taken them up on the offer, lol). There are LOADS of support groups all around the valley, there are many co-op groups. In fact, I've often joked that so long as you were willing to drive to all the different groups, you wouldn't have to teach your kids anything, the co-ops could do it all. My kids take Logic and Latin and have done theatre as well. We'll probably do co-op for high school science simply because I can't afford all the lab equipment we would want available. There are homeschool athletic groups. There are homeschool PE co-ops. You name it, there is likely a co-op somewhere. Not just in academics either.....there is a lady who coordinate fine arts field trips to live theatre, opera, ballet, symphony......not just one or two a year, but probably 50 or more each year. There are craft/art opportunities (we've done ceramics/pottery from a hs mom who brings it all to you, her company is Van Go, lol), there are hs dance and gymnastic classes, the Science Center has developed homeschool classes (that regularly sell out) based on the requests of hs moms....they invite us to their educator conferences. There are literally hundreds of museums in the area...all allow us to go on field trips with the school rates and many have courses specifically from our requests, and most are willing to work with you to create a specific course to match what we're studying (the Art Museum has been fantastic about putting together a tour of the era/artist we want). I could go on and on about how homeschool friendly the Valley has become (it wasn't always this way, but I think I can honestly say that there are very very few businesses that don't recognize our value now). Now....other things......your DH should definitely have a job commitment before moving here. The public school system laid off a large percentage of their teachers last summer.....and just this week there was a request on the ballot to extend a funding source that is set to expire in May....and it failed. That means that next year there is going to be even less money and the prediction is that another large chunk of teachers are going to go. The University level however is building a new huge campus and if he teaches at that level it might be easier to find a job when that opens (phased opening starting in 2010). Ok, you get the idea. Sorry if this is runon and doesn't make as much sense as it should.....I've got a splitting headache/sinus and instead of proof reading, I'm going to go to bed, lol. If you want more specifics, or if something doesn't make sense, PM me. We have one of those field trips I mentioned (the lady doing the fine arts) tomorrow, so I may not be back here until tomorrow night.

How about first setting her up for success. She says that she forgets the things that she's supposed to have ready.....even though it sounds like it is the same items each day. So....make a simple list to tape to the computer, desk, wall, whereever it would always be available and easily seen. Perhaps it's not a responsiblity issue so much as remembering all the things she's going to need. Having a list would mean that she could go down it like a checklist. If she still fails then at least you'll know that it IS a lack of responsibility/follow through on her part and not an honest forgetfulness. I realize that you'd prefer that she remember all these things, but I have always been forgetful without my lists and reminders. Most of us have chore charts for our children, so they remember to do them. This is an extension of that....in fact, for my children the chore chart consists of index cards with not just the chore but the step by step requirements to complete the job. Otherwise, telling them to clean the bathroom means a few things are done but not everything....the list includes things like putting away the cleanser, and taking the cleaning rag to the washer, putting up clean towels to replace the ones they took down, etc. There is then no excuse for not doing the job right....if you can read then everything on the list should be done. Period. No excuses.

I find your comment interesting....because I think buying those processed foods costs MORE around here, so we don't buy them at all. Even if around you these things are cheaper, I'd caution you against doing this. I don't think it would ruin their health in just 4 months, but I think the real damage would be in their habits......they're not going to give those junk foods up easily after 4 months of eating them! You've gotten lots of great suggestions, and I'll add mine: Check your library for the books suggested.....but even if your library doesn't have those specific books, check for titles that are meatless, or vegetarian as those tend to use a lot of natural and healthy ingredients. Definitely agree with the buy in bulk but ONLY after you're sure your kids will eat the meals you're considering. Nothing worse than buying 20 pounds of something no one will eat, lol. Oatmeal is great for breakfast but we grow weary of the same flavor day after day, so we change its flavor every day. Add some fruit and it's even better both taste and health wise. We like to puree bananas that are a little past their ripeness (no one likes them when they get squishy, but they have the most sweetness then....so we either puree them into oatmeal or smoothies or freeze them for later use...warm banana bread as dessert is wonderful). I just bought 10 huge pumpkins in the "after Halloween" sale...check if your local store has some left. Cooking the meat and freezing for later use is pretty easy. A spoon or two in oatmeal with a dash of cinnamon is amazing! Apples are another relatively cheap fruit that we cook and freeze for use later in oatmeal and many baked goods in place of oils. Check out farmer's markets in your area.....we get almost all our produce and fruit at several around town. Not only is it usually cheaper, but the quality is higher than grocery stores because the fruit/vegs are brought to market at the peak of ripeness, not having been picked a week ago and trekked across state lines in a truck. I can't say enough great things about farmer's markets! If meat is an important part of your diet and you're not thrilled with the idea of giving it up to save money, check local farmer's markets or ranchers to see about buying a quarter or half side of beef. It's a big monetary outlay but then you don't have to buy again for months and months.....and it's cheaper BY FAR than even the loss leaders at the grocery. We have a large stand alone freezer and are able to fit a half side in with room to spare and it lasts us about 5-6 months and we eat meat 3-4 nights a week. We also get chickens from this same rancher....they'll even cut them up for us for pennies a pound more. Bake your own bread...either by hand or scout around for a used breadmaker. Even new you can get one for about $50, but used I've seen them at $10 and $20......Ask friends if they have one hiding in a closet, check garage sales, etc. Instead of paying $2-3 or more a loaf for high quality wheat/grain bread, you can throw the ingredients in the breadmaker in maybe 5-10 minutes if you're slow, and the walk away.....the house will fill with wonderful smells and you'll have fresh bread in less than 3 hours. And half the price or better. I find that the closer I stay to natural the cheaper it is.....fruits and vegetables, rice and beans....all are cheaper than "convenience" foods from the store, not to mention healthier by far....and heartier, meaning they won't be hungry an hour later! Making your own mini pizzas is much cheaper, and healthier, than the frozen pizza rolls, PLUS the kids can have some fun helping you make them, choosing their own toppings (heavy on the veggies, light or no meats) and so they love this meal! We make the dough in the breadmaker and keep it in the fridge to break a small piece off and make our own. We make our own sauce as well, so we know what's in it, and it's cheaper and tastier. Crockpots are wonderful for taking a really cheap cut of meat and making it tender....no need for expensive meat. Add more potatoes and carrots on the plate and you need a smaller chunk of meat as well. Breakfast for dinner is the norm around here once or twice a week....eggs, omlets (great way to use veggies that aren't quite crisp anymore, no one wants to eat them raw in a salad, but sauted and in an omlet is great), even french toast (made with homemade bread!) or pancakes (don't buy the expensive premade mixes or frozen pancakes, make your own mix......make the pancakes in cut shapes and make the kids giggle over their dinner, lol). Bean soup is great the first night as a main dish....and thereafter for lunches and even as a side dish to dinner that doesn't have a lot of protein (i.e. veg dishes). Even buying beans in the small grocery sizes it's a cheap meal....buying beans in bulk is almost free per meal per person! Lots of soups can be made cheaply....when we have chicken one night we almost always have chicken soup later in the week....boil the carcas with veg clippings for a wonderful broth which you can save to use as broth in other recipes, or use the broth as the base for chicken noodle soup....noodles are cheap and filling, add chunks of leftover chicken, some carrots and other veggies. A loaf of homemade bread and it's a main meal and then lunch for a few days. If you're willing to do the work there is very little in the frozen foods section that you can't duplicate tastier and healthier and cheaper. If your kids don't like the taste of plain water because they're used to juices......water down their juice a little more every few days.....they aren't likely to notice the gradual change in flavor but the juice will go much further. If your kids are milk drinkers...try switching to the powdered milk. If they don't like the powdered right off, mix it 1/4 powdered to 3/4 fresh milk....and gradually increase the powdered and decrease the fresh until it's all powdered and they don't even realize it. Things like this are typically a matter of habit and taste......if you can gradually change the taste so they don't really notice it, then eventually you can ease them into the cheaper juice, milk, even soda. Years ago when DH drank soda many times a day he "had" to have the expensive name brand.....I wanted him to switch to the cheaper store brand....he complained it tasted funny....I asked him to drink the store brand every other can.....eventually he stopped noticing the difference in flavor and even found he liked the taste of the store brand better. I have a friend who tried this with her children and they still complained, so she was sneaky.....they used those big liter bottles of soda....so she poured the cheaper soda into an empty name brand bottle and they didn't even notice! That's when she knew it was a psychological desire for the name brand not even really a taste issue, lol. Don't be surprised if all these changes feel a bit overwhelming for the first few weeks....but after 4 months of necessity, you may be surprised that you don't want to go back to most of your old ways when the budget relaxes again. We started quite a few of these habits in lean times but even though things got better financially we found we enjoyed the homemade items better. And that freed up money for other things!

Yes, I am often mistaken for Angelina Jolie...I think it's the lips. Well, it sure ain't the hips! Cute article, thanks.

I agree with the pp about being sure that it's not important to your kids before giving it up. Some of my fondest childhood Christmas memories was the box of lifesavers that everyone received in their stocking....then the trading began as we all tried to trade to get only the flavors that we loved most......it was silly and crazy and sometimes went wrong, but it was tradition. I can't recall anything else from my stockings all those years so the other stuff was obviously unimportant, but I think if my mom would have decided to suddenly stop those, we'd have all been quite upset, and maybe angry. Though I'm thinking if she just put the lifesaver boxes on the coffee table we'd have been just fine, lol. But, if they are ok with it, then A few ideas.... Advent Calendars typically have spaces for small gifts. If you aren't Christian and therefore don't do Advent, it could simply be a Countdown to Christmas. I know you don't want to 'do' Christmas, and so counting down seems out of place, but it sounds like Christmas is going to happen whether you want it to or not, for the stepkids if nothing else. We use our Advent calendar as a reminder to give to others.....each of the 25 doors is big enough for a small folded piece of paper....and each paper has something for us to count....like how many TVs do you have in your house, how many pairs of shoes, how many cans of soup in the pantry, etc....things that show that you are blessed to have "things". Then for that day you count whatever the item is, and that's how much you donate.....some years money has been tight and our donations have been x number of quarters, some years it's dollars, and one year when things were so bad we may have qualified for "needy" we vowed to give that many hours of our time over the course of the following year. That was probably the most significant actually.....because it was a large number of hours because we still had much material things, even if our bank account was almost empty. We found places to donate our time...some charitable some just volunteer time....food bank, library, we even did a couple of hours at a senior center (and this one we actually still do on a semi-regular basis). Or, make a game out of it.....each day hide their little gifts and leave hints or riddles (depending on their age and ability of course) like a scavenger hunt to find it around the house. Maybe make the gifts for your children wait until they are with the step-siblings. Make Christmas morning at your house not be about Santa or gifts, or stockings, or any of that.....but about family time. Find something that your family loves to do together, but rarely has time, and make the time that morning. Maybe a special board game, or cuddling in bed and reading stories, or going for a hike (depending on where you live, of course, around hiking is wonderful and we always do this as a family on New Year's morning). New Year's Eve we always play a long drawn out game of Monopoly....I hate the silly game so I'll only play it once a year, lol....the kids play it together throughout the year, but Dad and I only join in on New Year's Eve....a great way to waste time waiting for the ball to drop so I can go to sleep, lol. Depending on the age of your kids, I would probably bring them in on it.....have a list of ideas that you can live with and propose them to see which they want to adopt as their new tradition.

Having only watched bits and pieces of The View as I channel surf something else...plus our twice weekly doctor appts are now apparently at the same time as this show as it's always on, sigh...... but....isn't that pretty much what this show is all about.....these woman who all talk over each other (loudly) giving their opinions on things they know little or nothing about? Sorry, but either they, or I, are way way off on thinking about almost every topic. I find myself wanting to shout at the TV, lol. I've asked the nurses if we could put on something more appropriate for the children in the room, but they'll change it and then "someone else" changes it (when I complain that I thought we weren't going to watch this crapola, they claim "someone" .....reminds me of the Family Circle cartoons, lol). I keep meaning to talk to the doctor, but by the time we go in I have so much else on my mind I forget. I think I'll write it down on my "ask doctor about" list (yes, I have a list because otherwise I'll never remember to ask things! I am the worst advocate for my daughter as I'm so overwhelmed by it all....but I'm all she's got.) My DH calls them the cat women....claws out over everything and everyone. I find this show to be everything bad about gossip. As for the populating the world with Christians....I'm not seeing that as a bad thing. I don't always agree with most Christians, especially the ones on the far end.......but frankly I see the world as going to heck in a handbasket lately and if bringing it closer to the Christian way of thinking that USA had the first 200 years is their goal, then I'm all for it.....if they lean to far over that line though, I'll probably request more grandkids to push back a little. LOL

I'm very sorry for what you both are going through right now. Could I suggest that you send her a copy of what you wrote. It was a beautiful testament of your love for your friend. And it's one of those things that I think she should know before she dies. I know I have a bad habit of waxing poetic about people AFTER they are gone, rather than telling them, and the rest of the world, how wonderful they were while they were here. Is your friends health such that she could still go to Egypt and/or Portugal? And if so, can you manage to go too? I had a friend who wanted to see a particular place before she died of cancer, and she tried hard to make it happen but finances for the cancer treatment, and the loss of energy from those treatments made it never happen. It was one of the few times that I truly bemoaned not having a lot of money....I would have loved to have been able to pay for her and I to go, it would have been a beautiful way to say goodbye. The best thing you can do for both of you is to spend time together enjoying each others company, not grieving for what is being lost. There is time for grief when it's the only choice you have.....now is for the living and she is still here, so make the most of it. And take these :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: with you when you need to let those tears flow.

I think the vast majority of us have done that.....the good news is that there is a serious secondary market out there.....no you won't get 100% of your money back....but lately I've noticed that the discounts for nearly new products is very close to brand new so if you have some of the more popular stuff your losses will be minimal. Chalk it up to YOUR learning curve. And in the future....ask around and see if any of your friends have the curriculum you're considering and would let you borrow it for a week to test drive. I've done this both as the borrower and the lender and it's saved me a lot of money, and my friends as well.

We looked at houses every weekend for over three months when we were looking for our first house....of course a lot of it was the price we could afford back then and not wanting the fixer uppers that this amount could buy. Our other houses we have definitely looked at more than 4-6.....but we had a better idea of exactly what we needed/wanted so the realtor did narrow down our choices and we spent a lot more time looking at MLS photos than we did actually looking at the physical house. Because we were looking for a house in move in condition, like you say yours is, we didn't need to see them as much as when it was a fixer upper. We were more interested in looking at floor plans and whether we could use the existing rooms for our needs (being a homeschooler we didn't want a formal dining as much as we wanted a large school area, etc). Personally I think a lot of the problem with selling houses right now is the economy.....housing prices are so low in our state and there are soooo many of them (and probably half are bank repo) that obviously it's a buyers market. I am a little confused by the fact that your house is newer and has upgrades but the realtor thinks you should be priced lower than older homes without upgrades. But, you also said the builder is currently building the same base model, so perhaps your competition is really the brand new models he's selling.....so why should people buy a two year old "used" house when they can buy the same model, brand new, and therefore pick their own paint, carpet, upgrades for the same price. It's one of the pitfalls of buying a house in an area that is just starting to be developed.....there is so much new housing around you that no one wants "used" when they can get "new" for the same or very close price. All that said, however, if you feel that your realtor is pressuring you to lower the price (perhaps for a quicker sale so she can get her commission sooner with less open house work)......then that is a definite issue to deal with. Are YOU in a hurry to sell, or are you willing/able to wait for the right buyer to come along for your price? What is the average length of time between listing and sale for your area? 90 days around here is a drop in the bucket....even before the recession started making headlines it could take half a year or longer to sell a house, mostly because this area has so much development happening that there is more property available than buyers. If you're not positive that your realtor has YOUR best interests in mind, consider asking another realtor to assess your property for you. Around here most MLS contracts are 90-120 days so if that's the case for you, your contract could be coming up for renewal and it might be a good time to jump ship and get another realtor. We've bought and sold enough houses over the years to know that the realtor is extremely important....if you get one that has too many properties already listed, they don't have the time to give your home enough exposure.....some realtors are a bit more aggressive about seeking out buyers, rather than waiting for them to come to her....and some have very creative ideas about marketing that can be either very helpful, or very wrong for your house. We had a realtor here that advertises on TV guaranteeing that he'll sell your house for full price within some specific amount of time.....he's very aggressive and he apparently prices them competitively to begin with. A local TV station investigated his claims and found that if he couldn't sell them, he'd buy them....and while he did own a few properties, most of them he sold. I joked with my DH at the time that it's too bad he wasn't around a few years ago when we were trying desperately to sell a house for more than 6 months, lol. You have a contract with your current realtor (I presume) so you'll want to read it carefully before contacting another realtor to be sure you're not breaking anything in the contract.....but it would seem that getting a second opinion shouldn't be against a contract. Good luck to you!

Yep, definitely agree, go with the Disney Store dress ups, they will last until she outgrows them, whereas the cheap Halloween costumes are only meant to last for a school party and Halloween night, and tend to hold to those standards, lol. A hint though to make the price (even the after Halloween sale price) a little easier to swallow.....buy larger sized than what she wears now. When my daughter was 7 we bought a size 10/12 which was the largest they made at the time (now they have some dresses in 14/16). I didn't do it on purpose, it was the only size left in the style she wanted....so I figured, hey, it's dress up it's supposed to be too big. She wore that dress for 6 years....just this past spring she decided she couldn't fit it anymore (no wonder, she's almost outgrown size 14 in regular clothes now!) and passed it on to a friend's little sister who adores Belle like she does. The dress is in near perfect condition, despite having been worn for lots and lots of dress up play, halloween, a theatre production, and sometimes she'd just come downstairs in it, lol. My daughter loved it so much that she actually listened and obeyed when I told her if she wanted it to last to always hang it up not leave it on the floor....it's about the only thing she does hang up, lol.

Ok, we go totally un-traditional for Christmas dinner....well, and for Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve.....not sure which order we'll be doing them, but those three holiday meals will be these three menus..... Homemade Sushi/Sashimi Tempura Shish kebob

That's the name! I kept typing it and saying, hmmm, that's not quite right, but knew that SOMEONE would know what I meant. Hmmmm, not there aren't many Midwestern ballparks in Arizona, lol. Clearly I need to go on vacation soon.

My husband's family claims Abrahama Lincoln as a cousin.

Pop Rocks and those Lick-a-Sticks...you know the ones with the candy stick that you would lick and then dip into a koolaid like powder. Pop Rocks are still around.....my kids hate them, lol.....but I haven't seen those lick sticks in many years. Bubble Yum gum especially in watermelon flavor. Candy necklaces. Space Food Sticks "just like the astronauts eat" (blech) The ultimate party food that I remember mom serving was the cheese from the squirt bottle....it came with different decorating tips (like frosting does now). Always on Triscuits. I think it was called Squeeze Cheese but is now called Easy Cheese and you can still buy it...but other than a 1970's party, why would you? Salad bars were BIG.....not just in restaurants, but in grocery stores too, you could make up a salad with everything they had and you paid by the weight. I lived on those in college (late 70s). Definitely remember Swansons frozen chicken pot pies....ate those darn near daily too...and now everytime I see them in the frozen aisle at the grocery I want to run far and fast, lol. Actually lots of frozen TV dinners....I know they're still around now too, but I don't eat them now, but had a freezer full of them back in the 70s and 80s. Seriously, I can remember when the only things in the freezer were stacks of TV dinners and a bag of ice...and life was good. Hamburger Helper. Kraft Mac and Cheese. Jello with Cool Whip layers, and/or canned fruit in it. Gee, looking at this list I am starting to understand why my body looks like it does, lol. Eating habits established in high school/college and never quite got over for 35 years afterwards. Thank heavens I finally started making changes, lost weight and now feel confident that my children aren't doomed to follow in my footsteps. And I know you didn't ask about clothing, but I vividly remember the satin phase....I have photos of me in satin pants and a satin jacket looking oh so stylish. And my kids literally roll on the floor laughing when looking at them.

The CDC originally recommended that people stay home for 7 days after fever was gone without the aid of fever reducing medicines (ibuprofren, etc) or until all other symptoms resolved. Obviously there was much complaining from people who could not afford to be out of work for 3-5 days ill and another 7 days after that.....most people don't have that much sick leave and of course who can afford to lose pay for not going to work. Politicians asked the CDC to reconsider. So, the CDC (on October 23) changed that to 24 hours after fever is gone without aid except if the ill person will be around certain high risk categories of people. Sorry, but that bothers me a great deal. I do truly understand the economic impact of not having enough sick leave (we barely survived that when my husband was injured and had to stay home, if not for his fellow employees donating their sick leave we'd have been homeless).....but that doesn't mean that the flu germs care about your economics and therefore lessen the impact of the germs. The CDC have changed their recommendations not for the health and safety of those that the ill person will be around, but for economic and political reasons. Nowhere does it say that further research or new developments are the cause of the change in recommendations, but coincidentally the policitians were asking for 24 to 48 hours, and lo and behold that's now the recommendation. My heart goes out to those with low immunity children (or self). This change means that more people are going to be out there spreading germs thinking that they're safe since the fever broke yesterday. And in fact, they're spreading this all the more faster. I am on a board for Disney and there is great discussion about quite a few families bound for Disney this week with sick child in tow.....they aren't willing to lose out on their trip and one even said "I'll just keep her medicated so she'll feel well enough to enjoy some of the trip". Yeah, and the thousands of people around you will be so happy with the souvenior they're unknowingly bringing home. Sorry folks, if your kid is still sick, please keep them home until they are recovered. I cannot think of any event, including an expensive vacation, that is cause to not only subject your own child but all the people around you. Relapses and subsequent secondary infections are actually more dangerous, so you could be risking your child by taking them out too soon and having them reinfected before they have recovered. Most of the deaths I've read about are from secondary infections, things like pnuemonia (spelling?)...and I can't count how many family members have said "they seemed to be getting better and then suddenly got worse". I hope and pray that my family doesn't get sick, but if we do.....we'll be home and taking the financial hit for our safety as well as for those around us. My husband almost died of pnuemonia about 14 years ago....and that was from a "just a cough" type cold that he refused to treat. I never want to go through that again. And perhaps even more so, I don't want to be the cause of someone else going through it. As for OP.......Christmas is almost 2 months away, so surely one missed rehearsal isn't going to jeopardize the show or your daughter's ability to perform. Singing with a cough is painful too. Please consider keeping her home for her good and the rest of the children in the rehearsal too.

Ahhh, but with plain old tap water you have to scrub....soda you just have to wait. :001_huh:

All very true....of course, that article isn't even talking about MY generation....I'm older than dirt. Let's just say that the 1970 referred to above, was after I graduated from high school. But yeah, each generation seems to be adding more and more of the unhealthy habits and less of the healthy.

We love smoothies! Sams CLub has a berry mix that is raspberries, marionberries and blueberries...and also a frozen fruit mix (from Dole) that is strawberries, mango, pineapple and peaches. I love to use fresh in the summer when it's reasonably priced, but the frozen is wonderful when you run out what you bought fresh and froze, lol. We have a juicer and do apples and bananas. Pretty much whatever is in season or around the house. Watermelon is another great juice and for that you don't even need a juicer...seed it and throw it in the blender and its plenty of watery juice to thin out the fruits, but very ripe watermelon can be a bit of a flavor hog....less ripe isn't as strong. Sometimes we'll throw in some plain yogurt for a more creamy smoothie. We eat enough spinach for salads that I don't worry about that vitamin rush....but I may just try some in the next smoothie......I'm thinking it would help cut some of the sweet of all those fruits...I'm not as much of a sweet eater as the rest of the family so I tend to double/triple the plain yogurt in mine to cut the sweet....but it usually ends up being a spoon eating smoothie instead of a drink that way. THe spinach in the juicer may solve that minor dilemma. Thanks for the idea!

Well we don't drink OJ either, nor several other beverages. But OP wasn't asking about OJ or anything else, she was asking about soda. And those who think that since their kids have wonderful dental checkups now they're fine to continue it.....I'd ask the dentist about that before assuming it to be good. Some people have great teeth to begin with so they can drink soda their whole life without enamel damage....but the AVERAGE person will find when they reach middle age that over the years the damaged has been happening without their knowing.....and along with failing eyesight and lowered metabolism and all the other things we swore would never happen to us....happens.