:grouphug:

Isn't this the second use of Kleenex? Seriously....gross as it sounds, use wash cloths....set up a bucket with some water to deposit them in....dump water and cloths straight into the washer and well....it's what you do in a crisis. Hope the kids are feeling better very very soon. Oh....and when they are...get a 4pack of TP and stick it in the way back of the cupboard to be opened only upon emergencies. We typically buy TP in bulk cases but have a 4pk for just such occasions. No, I will not tell you why. See above and guess.

I like this idea....however, I'd require that he replace his sister's game immediately....she shouldn't have to wait because of his carelessness. It won't be much fun for him to spend HIS birthday money on a game for her that now he can't even borrow because he doesn't have a system to play it on. I think I'd probably go so far as to not allow him to borrow her system during his period of suffering either....that would also defeat the purpose. I'd probably also have to remind sister about lending to someone who is careless....she got lucky that he now has the money available to replace her game so quickly, instead of having to wait for him to earn the money. This is a lesson for both of them....she may not be so quick to lend to him in the future.

How scary! I'd like to relay a story that happened to my aunt.....just in case you want to see if there is any similiarity....I am NOT saying that you were wrong just asking you to consider the possibility. My aunt was walking through her dark kitchen and glanced into the back yard, and saw a person standing there. She was of course terrified and in shock and just stood there watching this person, who also didn't move just stood there. My aunt realized that the telephone was just a few steps away and lunged for it.....the person lunged for the doorknob.....scared my aunt even more and she grabbed the phone and ran out of the kitchen. Called the police, called her husband at work....both came rushing to the house, but could find no person or even footprints. THe police blew her off. My uncle (wise man) believed her, comforted her, and even changed his work schedule to be home at night for several days until she felt safe at night again. Two or three nights after the incident, my uncle went into the kitchen at night without turning on the light....just as my aunt had. He glanced toward the backyard and saw someone standing there! Now, he's a big guy.....he's not gonna run like aunty did.....he headed around the counter toward the door and realized that the person was heading towards him! He yelled for aunty to call the police and kept going toward the door. Aunty rushed in and turned on the light. And the person disappeared. Turns out that they used to have a screen door on the sliding door. It ripped and they took it down and took it to a repair shop. So for the first time in all the years they'd lived there, you were looking straight out the sliding glass door without the benefit of the sunscreen. And what they saw, both times, was their OWN reflection in the glass!!!! Now, again, I'm not doubting you, as obviously I wasn't there.....but your description talked about you thought it was your husband and you pointed downstairs....and the person pointed too. Is there any chance that it was your reflection pointing???? Even if it was like my aunt, I'm sure that the uneasy feeling will be hard to shake, and having motion sensing lights is relatively inexpensive and always a good security measure! It's said that if you make your house uninviting to a thief, he'll go to another house....not exactly wishing that, but not wanting them at my house either....so we have a lot of "uninviting security measures".

Ok, then I agree with #5 from Remudamom. I think if she started in on racist remarks about your children a jury of your peers would consider it justifiable homicide.

We have a few relatives that are unpleasant, though I have to say listening to your descriptions maybe mine aren't so bad. :tongue_smilie: However, when they start in on a controversial subject I typically try the bean dip and if that doesn't work, I come right out and say "You know what, we aren't going to see eye to eye on this, so let's talk about blah blah instead". The first time I did that there was dead silence for at least 2 minutes, I kid you not. Total shock. But it worked....what are they are going to do say no, I want to talk about this nastiness, lol. I honestly think that they are just such unhappy people that they don't have any clue how to talk about pleasant things.....ranting on about wrongs from decades ago and gossiping about the shortcomings of everyone else seems to fulfill them. I can't say it makes them happy, because it doesn't do that.....it just seems to make them content. Sad. Would you MIL be that way around "strangers"? If not, then consider inviting some of your best friends over.......I wouldn't do this if she'd be rude even among strangers but my inlaws seem to behave or at least tone down when non-family are around, so I tend to fill my house! Otherwise.....I'd probably leave her to her own devices...."Well MIL dearest it's time for tykes and I to go to this or that, we'll be back around 4pm, lunch is in the fridge for you!". Normally I would consider this rude, but honestly, she's going to have nothing nice to say about you anyway, so why not give her something true to say......the other relatives that she gossips to about you might actually be secretly pleased at your actions.

Once you get to your destination will you have a car seat available for him to travel in the car? If so, then I'd leave the car seat home, he'll be fine in the airline seat, just put him in a center or window seat so he's not sticking his hand out for everyone that walks by, lol. On United and American (perhaps others but those two we've used this year) you can bring the car seat to the gate and ask that it be checked and it will NOT count towards your baggage. We didn't really need for them to sit in the seats, we just didn't want to pay for them as extra baggage, so we took it to the gate and asked. They said we could take it on board or check it, so we checked it without cost. If they'd insisted on charging us, we'd have just taken it on board. As for things to do....we have a lap table for each of the kids (it has bean bag like bottom but a writing table on top) and coloring supplies (NO markers, lol....color pencils and crayons only). We brought books to read. We let them use an iPOD (since they don't use them at home, just the novelty of listening to stories through headphones gets us a long time, lol).....but typically want something to do with their hands, so we got silly putty. Playdoh is too messy but a couple things of silly putty keeps them going a long time with the story playing. Snacks are essential.....little things that we can dole out one at a time so it takes longer, raisins, fish crackers, baby carrots, dried fruit. Unfortunately you can't bring drinks, so we bring their water bottles empty, fill them in the fountain or bathroom once we're past security. I bring along one flavor packet for short flights and two for longer flights and let them alternate plain water with yummy water (LOL) so they stay hydrated. Dole these out slowly too or you'll be trying to cram you and the kid in the airplane toilet which is an acrobatic accomplishment. We also don't take advantage of the early boarding.....we have assigned seats so we simply wander the gate watching the planes and such until last call and then we go sit down. The less time strapped in the better for my wiggle worms. When we did take their car seats into the plane, DH went ahead during the preboarding to fiddle with the seats since it can take a bit of time, while I had them get that last burst of energy out before we went onboard (just let the flight attendant know why Dad is preboarding and baby is not and they've always been understanding). Avoid things with small parts that can fall (I bring enough pencils and crayons that we simply retrieve dropped ones when we land). Legos sounds like a brilliant idea until they fell or were thrown. :tongue_smilie:

:iagree: :tongue_smilie:

This is the second house that we will pay in full in half the time. The first was a 20 year mortgage (yep, a long time ago in a galaxy far away)....but made the payments as though it was a 10 year mortgage, but actually paid it off in 7 years 2 months. That 10 year payment was almost 50% of our income, but we only had one child at the time and I was working part time, so that made a huge difference. We paid if off and moved to the next house when I was pregnant with #2. We paid that 30 year mortgage at the 15 year rate, but sold it before it was paid off, when #4 was on the way, lol. Currently we have a 30 year mortgage but have been paying for it at the monthly rate for a 15 year mortgage.....so long as we keep it up we should have it paid in full in about 6 more years. We do this with car loans as well.....take out the loan for the 72 months, but pay it like it was a 48 month loan. Gets it paid off before it's value is worthless in case we want to sell it, but also saves thousands in interest. Some people may wonder why we didn't just get a 15 year mortgage (or 48 month car loan) to begin with.....and the reason was that while I wanted to budget for the larger payment, I wanted to have a much lower payment in the event that something drastic happened....lay offs, injuries, a long hospitalization. Those have all happened and it was a great relief to be able to temporarily pay the lower amount. While paying off your house early feels great, it's not a good financial plan to be paying off a 5% house loan while you have huge balances on 20% credit cards......so definitely get those paid down or off before you start putting large chunks toward the house. What we did in the first house was that every time DH got a raise instead of raising our living standards, we were happy and content as we were, so the entire raise went towards the house, which is why we paid that 20 year loan in 7 years 2 months. We still don't have any other debt except the house.....our cars are quite old (1996 and 2001) but they still run so no need for new yet....but probably in a year or two. No credit card debt.....we use them to get reward points but pay it off each WEEK religiously (yes, I pay it weekly so we don't overspend thinking there is more available in the checking account than is true. We live very frugally compared to a lot of people I read about, but we're ok with it. We don't have cable, we borrow movies from the library so while we don't get to see the brand new stuff in the theatres, we don't mind waiting until it comes out on DVD. We probably only own 50 DVDs and those are ones that we watch over and over and over, and typically we wait to buy them until they are heavily discounted because they aren't "hot" anymore. We rarely eat out and that saves us a ton (it's also a relatively new thing in our life, about 3 years ago we were eating out 2-3 times a week, sometimes more, so I KNOW that saves us a ton). We don't have a closet full of clothing.....I have maybe a dozen shirts to my name, the kids a little more, hubby wears uniforms so he has only weekend clothing and a couple suits bought at Goodwill (you'd be AMAZED at the newness of suits there!) So we have mortgage, food, utilities, gas, insurance, retirement and that's it for fixed expenses. We spend a bit more than average on "entertainment" by having season tickets to ballet and symphony and a live theatre company. But those are our wild and crazy nights on the town. Otherwise, we're at home each evening reading, doing some school work, watching a movie together or playing a board game. Once this house is paid off we're going to put more toward retirement and college as we have college looming in 5 years and hope for retirement in about 15 when all the kids are through college. We have the matching funds from DH's employer and we'll have a pension from the military, so we should be ok. We'll likely sell the house and move to a cute little no fuss no work condo once the kids are all gone. Or, DH keeps telling them to be sure to get an apartment with a guest room as we'll just tour the country staying with each one for a few months before moving to the next.....they'd have to put us up for a few months every couple years that way, so he reckons it's not too much to ask, lol. I hope to travel so if we didn't have a home to pay for that would be cool with me....we could travel and stay with the kids when we're back in the states, lol. Saving money is a committment that you have to make to yourself. It's too easy to say "next week, or next month". Pay yourself first, move it into an account separate from your checking account where you have to conciously withdraw it.......knowing that it's there if you HAVE to have it makes it easier to leave it there. It's a cushion should you have a bad month, but if you can keep telling yourself, we'll be ok without it, then you will. If you constantly dip into it for wants instead of needs it will be gone.

No matter your opinion on HSLDA, your heart just has to ache for a family that loses their father/husband. I had no clue who he was before it was posted on so many of the boards/email groups that I'm on that he was sick and I went to read his story. I'm glad for the children's sake that they were all able to be there....a few days ago there was concern over whether one or more of them would make it in time, and it appears they did. May their father rest in peace, and may they find peace to go on with their lives without his presence.

Ok, maybe she wasn't actually the one with her arms inside the animal, but she also wasn't back at the house having tea with her friends either, lol: http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2009/04/prolapse/ . She does get out there with the animals: http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2008/01/cows_and_the_positions_of_classical_ballet/ ok, maybe only to take photos, lol. But she's out there, in the cold, among the aroma of those animals. Pee-ewww.

According to the cenus website there should not be any door to door folks out right now. Fall of 2009 they are recruiting for cenus takers for the "peak workload of 2010". Spring 2009 they were sent out door to door to "update address lists nationwide". They shouldn't have to knock on your door for that, it's to be sure that they all the new homes built since the 2000 census are on their list and any homes that don't exist anymore are off the list. I would be careful about answering personal questions to someone at the front door, even next spring/summer when they will actually be Cenus folks out. It's really easy to forge credentials when the average person doesn't know what they look like! Yes, you are required by law to answer the Cenus. That is, how many people are living in your household as of April 1 of the Cenus year (i.e. April 1, 2010 for this upcoming cenus). That is ALL that the law requires. In past Cenus there have been many other personal questions (the long form had over 50 questions) that were on the form, but those were NOT required by law to be answered. Of course the Cenus door people fail to explain that part. The good news is that the 2010 Cenus is NOT going to be quite as intrusive.....the "long form" with the really personal questions no longer exists. They gather this information with another form mailed to select households on an annual basis. The 2010 form is supposed to only ask for name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship to those in the household, and how long you've lived in your home. However, you are still only required by law to provide how many people live in your household. Period. The rest of the questions are up to you. Supposedly the answers to the 2010 cenus aren't supposed to be as freely available as the 1990 and 2000 were, which caused so many people to object to answering the private questions (and why the more personal questions are handled separately now). I totally understand and agree that the government needs to know how many people currently live in my state, because with the influx of people I'm guessing we may be entitled to another representative.....and to a nice big share of the federal funding (and state funding for my particular city/neighborhood) based on the population. However, I don't see where my race/ethnicity nor my relationship to those in the household are important (and I say that knowing that my answers to those questions are pretty dull). That certainly won't change how many representatives or how much money my area is entitled to....nor should it change the state's planning on where to put services. I would hope that my race doesn't exclude me from services, nor entitle me to services that others don't get because of their race. And if the people in my household aren't blood relations or married relations.......how does that change the services offered? And since it won't change the number of reps or federal/state funding, why do they need it? I can only think of negative reasons to collect race and relationship. I do understand and agree that they need to know how many live here to provide and plan for services....and ok, maybe to some extent our ages (but why do they need both age and birthdate, seems a waste of data collecting efforts but pretty innocuous). Very young children and/or child bearing age woman might mean more schools are needed; coming up on retirement age might mean we need more elderly services. But so far, I've not seen a valid reason to know whether we are white, black, purple or polka dotted....five men living together in wild sin, or a boring husband/wife and wild kids household. And until I do, I won't be providing that information. Let them speculate, lol. I'll be providing the number of people, our ages, and that's all. If it's like the 2000 cenus, then after the April deadline they will send out Cenus workers to gather the information door-to-door. You don't have to provide that information to the door person, you can request another form to mail in (those not disclosing information to a phony, just be sure that the mailing address for the form matches the Cenus address, which will be in every newspaper and all over the news for weeks). If you still don't mail it in they'll come back again, and will ask again, but are then able to fill out the form based on their observations OR THEIR QUESTIONS TO YOUR NEIGHBORS if you don't answer the door. In other words, they can look at you and decide your approximate age, race. They can ask your neighbors how many live in the house, approximate ages, relationship, how long you've lived there, etc. Again, if it's like the 2000 cenus, so long as you answered the "how many in household" question, they won't come around looking for the other answers. Which means that if enough people refuse to answer the other questions, they won't have race and relationship statistics that are accurate, and hopefully will base their services on the things it should be.....how many people live in a neighborhood. Period.

I think she's loving it, and that's great....me, I doubt it, lol. I am definitely a big city girl. We tried small town........not ranch, just population 5,000 nearest grocery 20 minutes away, only 2 in town to choose from, and if you wanted clothing it was a 40 minute drive to the first possibility. All that was a pain with toddlers, but I might have been able to live with it....but the killer for me was the crappy library. The children's section was TWO bookcases about 10 feet long and 4 feet high. Period. And the rest of the library was 90% novels and romance stories. By the time the toddlers were ready for homeschooling we knew we had to move to the city. I have to respectfully disagree though that because we don't live on a ranch that we're missing out on experiences or that somehow our life isn't good, lol. We have different experiences, but they are just as good and rewarding as kids with lots of wide open spaces. No, my kids aren't learning much about animal husbandry or mowing a thousand square feet of grass, lol.....but hey, we aren't exactly locked in our closets waiting for the ranch life to be available to us, lol. I think it is indeed the "grass is always greener" situation. We have a lot more cultural opportunities than I would presume were available to a ranch community. We can go to the opera, symphony, ballet, and have our choices of a dozen live theatre events each week. We have the opportunity to explore cultures quite different from ours....the Greek Festival is coming up this month. Also this month we will be attending/learning about the Mexican "Day of the Dead", our area will be hosting a huge Storytelling Festival with experts from all over the world here to tell stories to the kids and teach the adults how to do their craft at home. And that's just this month, and special events, we can visit the Asian culture center anytime to learn something new about those many and varied cultures, and our town is rich in other culture centers, Muslim, Hindi, African and others. My kids may not have 100 acres to run around and play, but we participate in a lot of wonderful hiking in our beautiful desert and our mountains, just minutes from home. While a city park isn't as big as a ranch, my kids plenty of work out running around.....I doubt any kid needs much more space. Yes, our city lights blot out a lot of the stars at night, but the ones we can see are gorgeous in their own right....and while it's a different view, it's not worse to see. And besides, if they really want to see stars and planets, even ones that Pioneer Woman can't see, we have a top notch planetarium observatory here in town that gives monthly free family nights to come in and see the stars. Our town was/is instrumental in the vehicles that went to Mars....and we got to see the actual vehciles before they left, and can go and explore replicas and talk to the men/women who built them, and monitored them, and still work with the data coming back. I'm sure I could go on and on.......and it's not to put down Pioneer Woman's (or other ranchers or people who live away from the big city in smaller towns or where).....it's just a different experience. I wonder if Pioneer Woman's kids ever wish they had the chance to choose from about 50 different movies playing at the dozen 'huge-o-plexes' in town? When we lived in the small town there was one theatre, playing one show for about two weeks before a new show come along. And of course, most weren't the G rated ones, lol. Of course, DVDs make that almost unnecessary anymore, but you get the idea. I'd certainly be open to visiting for a week or two.....but in the end I'd want to return to our life. I imagine Pioneer Woman wouldn't mind visiting us for a short time too. But, then we'd each be happy to return to the life we've built and makes us happy. And I heartily, but respectfully, disagree with the poster who thought because Pioneer Woman had married into a wealthy family that this somehow made a difference in the experience. From what I've seen/read of her blog, Pioneer Woman, when she's not cooking for them hungry cowboys, is out mucking stalls and fixing fences and birthing calves. That's not what I'd call a typical wealthy wife experience....where are the maids, manicures and massages (oops, maybe don't go to that last one, but you know what I MEANT). Sure she may have it easier than some ranchers who are struggling to make ends meet, but that could be said for us city dwellers too.....I certainly don't have a maid, my last manicure was the day before my wedding, and massages, well, those involve my kids or my husband only. We don't have a huge house, but we have enough space for our true needs. But a few blocks away from us are the wealthy folks with their thousands of square foot houses with more bathrooms than the airport and paid help to take care of it all. I wouldn't mind visiting them for a week or two either, lol. But in the end I love my life and I'm guessing it would only make me appreciate what I DO have all the more. Grass is always greener is a romantic notion, but it's not always reality. I know that some on this board are going through a world of hurt and misery right now, and my heart goes out to them.....but the answer does lie in others' lives, much as we wish it could. And having had money, lots of it, once upon a time and given up that fairty tale because I wasn't happy, I can unequivocally say that money won't make your life better....financially easier, yes, but happiness is not the size of a checkbook. There are a LOT of very unhappy wealthy folk too, and they get less sympathy, lol, because people tend think they're whiners for complaining. Ok, I think I need to go find a horse to pet and get over the romantic idea of actually taking care of them, lol. Pee-Eww.

:iagree: Several years ago a friend was pulled aside by a Jay Leno staff members and "interviewed".....this friend (like most of this board's kids) knew the answers to whatever silly question it was and was thanked and told to move on. He hung around curious why answering the questions correctly had him dismissed (he knew who Leno was but doesn't watch). Turns out that the staff finds people who DON'T know the answers, gets all the paperwork taken care of (you have to sign a waiver to allow your image to be on TV), then sets them in place for Jay to "randomly" pick. If you watched Leno often enough you'd think all of NYC were idiots, but it's a set up to be "funny". But good on your kids for knowing!

Actually if he is in fact an attorney, he is required BY LAW to provide you with his State Bar number upon request. It is then possible for you to look at your state bar's website and find out if in fact he is a legit, and upstanding, member of the bar (for instance, if he has been suspended he can't call himself an attorney even though he may possess all the education and experience, he's not in the eyes of the law and can't call himself one). LYING to you about being an attorney is illegal and can have serious consequences for the bill collector. Here's more details about what bill collectors can and CAN NOT do: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/article-29999.html Also DO NOT pay your doctor directly. Since they have placed your account for collection, paying them directly may NOT resolve this matter. Your doctor made a contract with the collector that gives the collector the right to collect not only the debt but interest and whatever fees are legal in your state. After the collector gets paid from you, they pay a percentage to the doctor, per the agreement, and the rest is profit for them. If your doctor instead takes your money and marks their account paid in full, the collector still has a contract that says he can continue to collect from you....and sad to say, you're caught in the middle. If you're willing to pay the doctor directly, require that they contact this collector and revoke their contract with him. And that you require something IN WRITING from the collector saying that they no longer are pursuing collection against you at their client (the doctor)'s direction. You don't want to be in the middle because the collector will trash your credit even more by marking it uncollectable when you flat out refuse to pay him when you've already paid the doctor directly! This typically happens because the doctor's staff doesn't understand that marking their account records paid doesn't call off the dogs..errrr.collection company.

Well, I used to plan by opening the freezer, anything that fell out and hit me was an automatic winner....if nothing fell out, then it was whatever came out easiest without toppling everything else out. Ok, slight exaggeration, but basically, there was no planning until that panic moment when I realized I should be starting cooking soon! Now....we're so organized about it that it is almost scary to those I describe it to, you can see them backing away slowly and calculating the best moment to turn and bolt. If you're easily scared, stop reading now. If you can take our A personality method and glean something reasonable from it, keep reading, lol. And hey, I even managed to turn our method into an educational project....combining math, home ec, science and critcal thinking/debate all in one! Advertisements from the grocery come in the mailbox on Wednesdays. So, Wednesday evening's school assignment is the menu for next week (Sun through Sat) and grocery lists. The kids and I go through the sale ads and decide what is a good price (the kids have price booklets to track prices on things like meat, fresh vegetables and the few canned goods that we use.....that's part of the math work). Once we have a list of the sale stuff we talk to Dad about it, and then the whole family gathers round our white board (inside the pantry closet) to set up the menu for the following week. Everyone gets to make suggestions, preference is given to the use of something already in the freezer (bought on sale previously, lol) or something that is currently on sale. Other main dishes are considered if they'll still fit the budget without being on sale. The kids have also gotten really good about seeing the trend....such as our favorite Chicken Sausages go on sale about every 7 weeks....so guess what's for dinner every 7 weeks, lol. The choices must also fit into our budget so we typically have a longish list of suggestions and then the kids have to look around the house for what we already have that will make these suggestions and see which will fit. We have "daddy rules" about limits on how many weeks in a row we have things like hot dogs or spaghetti, lol, and basically try to not repeat recipes for a few weeks. We love to try new recipes so we usually have a cookbook or three out from the library to experiment. Good ones get written up and put in our own cookbook binder. We also take into consideration whether we'll be home to cook from scratch or need a crockpot meal we can start in the morning, or take one of our frozen meals out to thaw knowing we'll only need to pop it in the oven when we get home later. (We don't do once a month cooking, but instead we'll make doubles of many meals and freeze one for later....like tonight's meatloaf we made two weeks ago, ate one that night and now when we get home we'll have no prep time for dinner....1 hour of cooking and we're at the table). Once the menu is set then we make up our shopping lists based on checking through the cabinets for "go-withs" and other ingredients we'll need for next week. Having the menus that go with this shopping trip not start until Sunday means that we have 3+ days to get our shopping done as I only want to go once a week to the grocery stores (typically Thurs or Friday as I hate shopping on Saturdays due to crowds). We hit the farmers markets twice a week for fresh veggies, and we buy a half cow twice a year so we often have meat in the freezer already (hence the rules that first priority on menu goes to frozen stuff, lol). We also have a favorite store to get seafood (living in a landlocked state makes it tough to find truly fresh, I miss California.....but we try to have seafood at least once a week, if not more often depending on budget). The critical thinking/debate comes into play in the grand negotiating that goes on for coveted menu items versus the budget. Science plays in as nutritional goals must be met for every meal. And this often involves a lot of crticial thinking......they quickly came to love those cookbooks that "sneak" vegetables into meals, because typically you can barely taste the added veggies and for some of the veggies I require be eaten each week/month they'd rather hide it in the spaghetti sauce then see it in a pile on their plate, lol. They're not allowed to argue or snipe....but a well spoken debate is encouraged to campaign for their menu choice. Mom has the ultimate say however in both the menu and the budget....I've been known to nix mac and cheese as a main course just because they want Salmon or Lobster another night, lol. Moderation in all things. Ok...so who actually is still reading and not looking for the nearest exit? Seriously, if my method is too rigid, (and if it's not, seek help immediately), at least consider a white board with space for two weeks of menus....not only does it help to have it planned out in advance for ease of shopping and no panic at 4pm about what's for dinner, it also stops the annoying question of "What's for Dinner" (there was a thread on this last week, lol). My response is "check the board". So...today is Friday and we didn't shop yesterday, so we're going this morning....but I know what we're having today, tomorrow and all next week through next Saturday. Ahhhhhh, no decision making about food for another week.

Your co-pay is cheap compared to ours....we have a $2,000 deductible which we never meet (insurance is really for the big illness, hospital stays and knock-wood, none of those here in more than a decade!). So we'd be on the hook for the entire "exam"....couple hundred bucks. Ok...so here folks we have reason number 241,492,459,783 why I'm glad we homeschool. And probably why the schools are glad I homeschool, 'cause I'd flat out refuse to pay a couple hundred bucks for a waste of my and the doctors time (not to mention the chance at catching the NEXT illness waiting in the doctor's office instead of my kid being tucked warmly in their bed sleeping and getting better). I'm curious about what they'd do if you refuse to take them to the doctor for a note.....kick 'em out of school? I know their concern is the money they lose when your child doesn't attend school....but wouldn't kicking the kid out for "excessive absences" be self-defeating since then they'd not get his per diem for the rest of the school year? Sounding ancient here, but "back in my day" they had a truant officer that would come by your house after so many days absent to check on the child......as a child I had chronic broncitis (spelling?) and would be out for a week or more at a time about once a year.....the guy would come by, say hello, have a cup of coffee with my mom while I hacked and wheezed and watched TV in the living room and then he'd leave. Back then, I always thought that was to make sure we weren't playing hooky without mom's permission....as an adult I figured it was also to be sure mom wasn't abusing the kid and keeping them home until the bruises fade. :glare:

Winner of the mean mom award says make the kids take their showers first so the steam has accumulated for her shower. :lol:

Well, since the front door makes a horrible screech sound (from the insulation around the door) and it's near our bedroom, I know I wake from when my DH comes home later from work. None of the windows in the house open without removing the insulation insert (old house, leaky windows and doors), so they aren't getting out that way. That leaves maybe the chimney since the flue is quiet....but it sure would be messy, lol. I was also a naughty teen who snuck out but only a few times....even took the family car one night. I always thought my parents never had a clue about it.....but several years ago I learned that they knew about it, and apparently Dad had even followed me once! So much for thinking they don't know, lol. They knew I was someplace they'd approve of (female friend's house) and were concerned that if they punished me they'd drive me further away. Smart parents! Do I know for certain that someday my just-turned-teen won't figure out some way to get out without my knowing....no of course not. But they also aren't the type....at least not yet. Their defiance is such minor things, so far I'm not seeing the personality for them do do something like that. Guess it'll be a few years before I can say for sure, though.

:iagree: I don't know that I'd be doing the TP buying, or driving them around or anything, but if my kids came and asked if they could go with another group of kids and a parent (i.e. not on their own and with someone that was semi-responsible to be looking out for their safety), I'd probably let them. If, however, they snuck out without my knowledge....the punishment would be extremely severe. I've made it clear to my kids over the years that lying, or deceiving (and I consider sneaking to be deceitful) are going to rate a worse punishment than whatever it was they were too afraid to tell me the truth about in the first place. Better to come clean and face the punishment for your dirty deeds, because I am very good at catching the lies (even the kids agree that I seem to know things I shouldn't....bwahhhhh...it's those eyes in the back of my head, right next to the extra ear). All that said, though, if OP feels strongly (or Dad does) that this type of prank is wrong, then I'd tell my kids my reasons and say no. I personally see it as harmless fun, especially since it's the football team (I'd not see it the same if it wasn't someone who would not likely appreciate the humor of it). But I know many families may view it in a less than harmless fun way. Do what you feel is right, explain your reasons to your kids. THey may be unhappy with you at the moment, but someday they'll have to deal with their kids in the same kind of situation.....and they'll look back and realize you weren't as mean or dumb as they thought. I'm learning my parents' weren't.

Don't feel that way! Consider it a fire drill for YOU. Since you know when all the others are supposed to happen, you are already prepared for those. This one wasn't prepared and you came through with flying colors. Both for yourself (it's great to know we can actually handle a crisis!) and in the eyes of your teachers....they now know they can depend on you to handle a crisis. I say Principal gets an A+. Now...find out if there is a way to fix the phone so no more false alarms. A body doesn't need that stress often, lol.

Asian countries are most definitely more focused on the "greater good" than on individuals. Drugs and guns (crime) bring society down, therefore they must be stopped at all costs. Obedient citizens are preferred. They also are big on personal responsiblity. Social aide is much less acceptable in most Asian countries, it's not available like in the US. Asians take care of their own....children grow up knowing and expecting to take care of their parents and grandparents. A person that is living in the streets is not looked down on nearly as much as their family for allowing them to do so! Safety is also very oddly not stressed in Asian culture.....yet considering the chaos that is traffic it's very strange that there aren't more accidents than there are. Driving in Singapore terrified me! I preferred walking (which is a hazard all it's own) to driving, and that is SOOO not me in the US....take my car away and I can't function knowing it's not in the driveway if I want it, lol. And I don't walk here except around the block for exercise, lol. I do wish we had a lot harsher laws for drugs....the drug dealers look at it as "IF (big IF) I get caught, I'll just use some of the huge money I'm making to pay an attorney to get me a fine and I'll be back selling next week". Drug users don't truly get the help they need to get off it once and for all...our drug programs are good, but when you finish there is no net to help you turn your life around so most go back to using to ease the pain or because it's all they know. Treat and street is the term used, sadly. I'd vote for death for drug dealers in an instant. Sadly that would mean the loss of a family member, but honestly, the betterment to society would be worth the loss (ok, and he's "lost" to us now anyway as we want no part of his life in ours). Our jails would be a LOT less overpopulated, maybe we could start putting away the other bad folks instead of having to let them go because of overcrowding both in the jails and courts. Gun control....in a perfect world I'd like to see this, but I don't see how it would be possible to ever get to that point here. Honest folk like me would not be willing to give up their protection until all the bad guys didn't have guns anymore....and so it's a big Catch 22. I loved living in Asia (Hong Kong, Sinapore, Thailand, Tokyo and some smaller places). It was hectic and chaotic, but even with the lack of personal bubble space which was difficult to get used to at first.....there is an underlying respect for fellow man that is gone here in the states. It isn't a "me" society. But it's not a pushover one either. I miss it.

I second (or third) the suggestion for an age appropriate book. If you know anything about them you could likely pick something that goes with their current "favorite" thing.....if not, a classic is always a good choice. Our non-homeschooling friends/family rarely have the classics laying around, but the kids always seem to appreciate the stories once they start reading it! Bookcloseouts is having a HUGE sale right now...50% off craft and hobby books; 85% off scratch and dent and even their regular stock is always at great prices and there are many many many choices below $5.00. Here are some coupons too (password for each coupon is bookcloseouts) $5 off $25 purchase get5off $10 off $50 purchase: clearance $20 off $100 purchase: brickcity-20 or supersave22-20

Hmmm...is this the mom version of the military's don't ask don't tell policy? :lol: If I don't ask my kid if they're sick I don't have to tell you they threw up? Sheesh.

Sounds like it's time to go to the governing board of the soccer teams and request that they put into place a policy about sick kids. While I don't normally pay much attention to such things because my kids don't go to public school nor play sports, there has been a LOT of chatter about it on my support group because lots of those kids DO play sports. I just went and asked and the policy for the football league is that the child has to have been fever free WITHOUT MEDICATION for 48 hours or they may not play. Apparently because of H1N1 this type of policy is getting to be very common, and the wording they used for the football league is the same as the public school system for our county adopted before school started this August! The school's policy is that any child in a classroom who is running a fever or obviously ill is to be taken to the office for the school nurse to notify the parents to pick them up. Now I can't really say I know since my kids have never been to public school, but enough friends have complained over the years about their Susie getting sick because little Johnny came to school sick and no one does anything unless the kid barfs......so this would seem to be a BIG change in policy. I know a lot of parents send kids to school "drugged up" to mask the illness because they have no sick care plans and can't (or won't) take the day off from work....financial.....so this new policy IF ENFORCED is going to be quite a hardship for some parents. I know the day care lady down the street has a strict policy (and has for years) about no sick kids....that's to protect the other kids and because she jokes she doesn't get paid enough to clean up barf. An elementary school on the other side of town apparently had almost 200 kids out on Friday due to the flu. So it's here, and it's spreading fast. Ok, time to go wash my hands again! :tongue_smilie: