My thoughts exactly....sounds like the PIF is now online but the form doesn't realize it yet, lol.

Yep...that's exactly what I was trying to figure out! I know that my kids' bedtime is early by most peoples standards, so it's tough when they just say their kid doesn't get up until noon....to me that's appalling when I'm thinking in terms of a bedtime of 8-9pm, not midnight or after. So it really helps when people say when the kid goes to bed not just what time they get up. Sounds like my daughter is just a typical teen.....unfortunately she's going to have to figure out how to get those hours of sleep in but still getting up to do her activities....or choose to stop some of the truly "extra" activities.....the school ones aren't an option, lol.

Thanks! That helps...even if you aren't morning people, if she's going to bed at 11 and up before noon, that's 12+ hours of sleeping. Doesn't matter what time she started or stopped, it's 12 hours. So if my DD is going to bed at 9pm and getting up at 8am, that's only 11 hours, so it sounds like she's not sleeping as much as other teens, so that helps to know she's "normal" for a teen. I've always been one of those annoying people who can get by on 6-7 hours of sleep a night.....the one exception is that the first night after my period starts, I can sleep 10-12 hours before waking on my own (if my schedule allows, otherwise, I wake when needed but drag all day). Been that way my whole life, so it's been worrisome when the teen's sleeping habits changed to sooo many more hours, I couldn't figure out if it's ok. Sounds like it's normal.

We were your family up until about two years ago when the store I was working part time at closed....it severely cut our "extra" money and so eating out three or four nights a week and buying a lot of convenience foods for the rest of the week had to stop. So I had to start cooking again. I agree with the others.....make ahead to freeze and eat next week/month. I tried the "once a month cooking" where you spend an entire day cooking and preparing meals to freeze and use for the month. First, with our schedule, it was just plain hard to find an entire day to devote to this....it became yet another thing on the already packed calendar. But even worse was how exhausted I was at the end of that marathon day. And I normally enjoy cooking, but that was just too much. So that wasn't going to work on any regular basis. But what I do that DOES work, and is very little extra work....every time I make a meal that can be frozen....I make two. For instance, tonight's meal is Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl......we'll make a double batch of the sauce, which takes no extra time at all, just a larger pot on the stovetop. My DH will grill twice as much chicken.....this does take twice his time because our grill only holds about 1 1/3 batches....so he does have to stand there and grill two batches....but now instead of starting the batch when the rice is half done, he starts grilling when I start the rice. Not a great deal of extra time or effort. Tomorrow I will have chicken and sauce in the freezer to use next week (or the week after) and all I'll have to do to have a meal that my family really loves is throw some rice in the rice cooker for 30 minutes....and our rice cooker has a steam tray in it to throw some cut up veggies (I decided I don't like thawed steamed veggies much, lol). I am typically home 30 minutes before we want to eat dinner, but in a pinch I have set up the rice/water sitting in the rice cooker with a lamp timer plugged into it....lol....the problem with that is the rice tends to be a little gummy because it sat soaking up the water for a few hours ahead of time, but it's not bad. I do the same thing when making spaghetti, lasagne, taco meat, etc. When I marinade meat for a meal, I marinade another batch in a freezer bag....it's usually even more tasty because it marinades longer. For seasonings that I use regularly, I've made up my own batches so we don't have to use those little envelopes with filler ingredients.....just save your empty spice jars and label them "Spaghetti mix" or "Taco seasoning" or "Asian chicken"....etc. No more getting a half dozen spices out and having to measure each one. The other thing that helps is making advance plans for meals for the week. We have a white board in the kitchen and it will have our plans for the week of meals. We make this menu plan on Wednesday evening because the sale ads come out on Wednesdays....so we can go over what's on sale and make menu choices based on the best price....if there isn't enough good prices for a week, we'll raid the frozen meals like the Chicken Teriyaki. THe white board also keeps a list of the meals that are already IN the freezer, so I don't have to dig around to see what we have to make choices. When you take it out of the freezer, it gets erased, when it goes in you add it to the list. While we make up the menu on Wednesday because of the ads, the menu from that ad doesn't start until Saturday....giving me Thurs/Fri/Sat to do the shopping on the ads. Another advantage is not having to constantly deal with the "what's for dinner mom"...the kids can go look for themselves and the picky eater can see that although they may not have liked last night's meal, they know that somewhere this week is a meal or two they really like. It has cut way down on the "but I don't like that, and we never eat what I like" whine. I can point out that three meals this week are their favorites, two are acceptable and so they have live through only 2/7 of the week's meals. If you have a plan for a meal you're more likely to follow it, rather than just opening the freezer door, declaring nothing in there, and asking if the kids want Italian or Japanese tonight, lol. If you have some meals already frozen ahead then the hardest part is remembering to take it out of the freezer the night before. Make that a part of your bedtime routine...the kids go get into PJs and start brushing teeth, and I go pull out the frozen meal for tomorrow. There are hundreds of books in the library with meals that can be made quickly. The problem with those is that unless you've made them and incorporated them into your kitchen, you may not have everything you need the same day you bring home the cookbook. BUT....I have an arsenal of these that we have tried that we do like and have made sure that we regularly have the ingredients that we need on hand. Then when I've forgotten to take something out of the freezer, or we haven't quite gotten the shopping done yet, etc....I know that I can pull the meat out of the freezer and microwave thaw it, and the rest of the ingredients are in the pantry. Those are our "unplanned" meals.....and also work great when our planned meal was for all of us, but half of us aren't going to be home now. Take it slow....but start making steps towards eating most of your meals at home in a month or two. Pick one night this week that you'll be home in time to cook.....plan that meal now so you have the ingredients and make a double batch of it to freeze. Ok, so next week, you now have one frozen meal to cook, and that one night to cook another double batch (different recipe of course). So you're up to two meals every week not eating out. Now try to incorporate a second day of the week making a double batch.....pretty soon you'll have a nice size stash in the freezer and be up to more than half your meals at home. Oh, another idea that I do when we've been so busy and the freezer meals are dwindling.............cook double batches of meals in your crockpot, but do it overnight, while you sleep. Freeze both those meals in the morning and now you're building your stash, but you can also throw another crockpot double batch in that morning, leave for the day and come home to another meal to eat and one to freeze. In the span of 24 hours you've fed your family one meal and frozen THREE more meals. It's two different recipes so there are two meals for next week, one meal for the following week, with no extra effort or time. Do this overnight for a week and you'll have two weeks of meals in the freezer, all while sleeping! THere are millions of crockpot recipes online, in library cookbooks, ...even a blog at crockpot365.blogspot.com. I have to say that we found only a handful of good recipes on the blog, but they did turn out to be favorites, so it was worth reading through. If you don't already have your own personal cookbook, start one! I have a bookcase full of cookbooks that I've been given or purchased and we use many of them, but it's often hard to find the recipe I have in mind...which cookbook is it in? So...I make copies of the recipes that we used and liked and put them in a binder. My own "best of" cookbook. I can make all the notes I want on them without messing up the original book (I am NOT one of those people who can write in a book that I own....mom's voice yelling at me for scribbling in a book is still there 40 years later.). I will note any changes I made...any steps that didn't work as promised and how I fixed it....how long it takes (because the cookbook estimates are never my reality!). Even things like, I can't double this recipe as it doesn't fit in the crockpot, so do 1 1/2 and it will fit. This also helps the kids as they plan our meals they can find the recipe and be sure that ALL ingredients are either in house, or on the shopping list. It's also a great source of inspiration in making up a menu....a binder full of recipes that we love, no experiments this week, lol. I have simple binder tabs dividing by main dish, side dish, dessert, appetizer/snack. I'm too lazy to break it down further, lol. Good luck with the transition....it takes a bit of effort to break the habit, but once you do the results are well worth it. Money saved, yes, but you'll also find that the kids get more involved in meals and so the work lessens (obviously depends on the age of your kids, but eventually they will be old enough!), mealtime becomes a family affair so prep/cook time plus sitting at the table eating time, adds up to more time than just the restaurant booth time before. And healthier. You control the amount of salt, sugar or unreadable ingredients in your meals. Eat This Not That's website was a huge shock to me...I knew those restaurant meals were high calorie, high fat, high salt...but I never realized HOW high. No wonder we were all gaining weight, and feeling less than chipper. Read that site about your favorite restaurants and it may help motivate you!

Those of you with teen daughters getting up at 10am....what time did they go to bed the night before? My daughter just turned 13 this summer, and while her bedtime hasn't changed, she is getting up about 2 hours later than she did a year ago. I want to let her sleep if she needs it, but it's definitely cramping out style because it's not the normal routine we've been using for years! My daughter's bed time is 8:30, but it really more like 9pm by the time she actually gets settled and stops the up and down trips, lol. I know that's probably wayyyy early for most people, but we're morning people, always have been. Normally the kids are all up by 6am.....but for several months now teen has been more like 8am. In fact, last night lights out was 9:15, it's 8:30 and she's just come out, awakre, but groggy. That's going to be a problem soon when we start into our routine of field trips, co-ops and other activities that typically have us leaving the house by now. I can't imagine trying to send her to bed even an hour earlier...it won't be dark outside! How do you balance their need for more sleep with the rest of the family's need to get things done? For that matter, several of the morning activities are for her, so it's not just a matter of letting her sleep and taking the youngers to their activities.

If you're absolutely sure that this is the only property they own, if it's available via the Internet option would mean you can do it 24/7. Also, check with the Recorder's Office, they may have weekend/evening hours.....or, since it's a public document anyone can get a copy of the deed, so you could do it (yeah, like you really want to schlep the kids downtown, but ya know....that's what we do. sigh)

One caution about doing this by Internet....if you're also looking for other property they might own, or older liens, etc.....not all county's have everything available online.....many will only go back a certain number of years. I'm guessing that MIL is elderly enough that they could have purchased a property decades ago....true you'd think the kids would know about any rental property, but often parents just don't tell their kids everything about their finances......we found that my husband's grandfather owned quite a number of rental homes....and we all thought they had "nothing", turned out he had bought them when his own kids were young, so they were all paid off and just bringing in rental income through a management company and a single deposit into the bank account each month, which DH's father (the eldest son) who was helping Gramps with his finances was told was retirement income! Without having searched the records carefully they never would have found out and of course closed the bank account and who knows what might have happened to all that money each month....or the properties. When someone dies and there hasn't been someone intimately involved in their finances for a while beforehand, it's best to search recordings from every county they've lived in, just to be sure you are getting all the records. "Our" generation is a bit better about keeping records in our home to be found after our death, but the previous generations didn't always do so....same as wives of our parents seldom knew where bank accounts, etc were...."DH always handled that"....and now he's dead. Many many life insurance policies never get cashed because the deceased never told family about the policy. Another thing to check is with each State where they have lived (or worked if they ever crossed borders to work or regularly do business) for "unclaimed property". This should be done for a couple years after the deceased, because each state has different rules about when something is abandoned....some bank accounts have to have no activity for two years and then the bank is required to attempt to locate the owner, so it could be three years after their death before it's turned over to the State. For those who have elderly relatives still mentally competent....it's best to have a discussion about their finances....if only to tell them stories like these so that they either keep their important files neat or at least make a list of what they have and where! Almost all documents can be replaced if their file "system" isn't too good, so long as you know where/what to look for.

My husband says that I can crawl at commercials. And he's only half kidding...I've cried at some of those charity commercials with all the sick kids. I cry at anything remotely touching or sad and I bawl at the truly sad things on TV shows, books, movies, songs. Sometimes it can be embarassing....but most of the time my family just moves on, because they know it's just me. I'm grateful that none of my kids is quite the same waterworks that I am....it's not something I would wish on anyone. But, I also have no clue how to do otherwise, except to tune out (which is what I tend to do in public situations so as not to humiliate myself or family......sermons with stories in them make me start reading the announcement bulletin frantically and singing a song in my head, lol). I wouldn't be worried about her thinking you've lost it.....just explain that yes you know it's not real, but the writer is so good that they make you feel like it could be real....and your imagination comes up with things like it that are real and that makes you cry. Thinking of any mother not being there for her kids would choke me up....spider or human.

My sister's wedding was in their backyard......in June.....but in Arizona the temps in June can be 100+. I made their cake (tho it wasn't nearly as gorgeous as yours!). I froze the cake layers and frosted them an hour before the service. The reception was cake and champagne only. The cake was thawed and no one knew the difference by the time the ceremony was over!

You can obtain a copy of it by going to the County Recorder's Office. Each County is different, of course, but typically the Recorder's Office is in the Courthouse. All you need is the address of the residence to find ALL of the documents that have ever been filed regarding that property (you'll want to check for any liens against the property that are still oustanding so you can start dealing with those now so it doesn't delay or kill a sale). I would suggest also doing a search under MIL's name (and couldn't hurt to also do FIL) to be sure that there isn't other property they own that you aren't aware. For any property they owned and sold you'll see the paper trail of the purchase then the sale....any that don't have a sale would mean they may still own it. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this....that disease is just awful. :grouphug:

Dressing for breakfast? Heck, I consider it a good day if by the time dinner rolls around I've showered. If we had nothing to leave the house for I have trouble seeing the reason to shower and get dressed. Hmmm, why is everyone backing away?

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree: I once had another child question why they had to wear a seat belt in MY car but their mom didn't make them. I was totally at a loss for words on how to explain that without making it sound like his mom didn't care about him.....because the few times my own kids have asked, I've responded "because I love you and don't want to even take a chance that something would happen to you." I mumbled something about rules instead, but felt so awful at not being able to really explain to a child that a seat belt could mean the difference between life and death IN AN INSTANT. There is no "I'll put it on if it looks like we might be in danger". Most accidents happen in a few split seconds barely enough to register that it is happening and definitely not enough time to even register the thought of "I better put that seat belt on now" let alone actually reach over and do it. How many accident victims have you heard say "I didn't even see it coming". There are sooo many dangers that we can't protect our children from....but reducing the risk of injury/death by wearing a seat belt is too simple not to do. I still say that my car won't even start the engine unless everybody has their seat belt on. I've gotten rolled eyes from teens (and a few adults) when I've actually sat there with the key off waiting for them to finally give in and put it on.....but so be it. At least I won't ever have to go through my life with "I wish I'd made them wear seatbelts so they'd still be alive". I know several parents who have regrets like that over seatbelts, young child swimming unwatched, going out with friends the parents didn't approve of, etc. Sadly, my own kids have learned that they'd rather me be the 'mean mom' by watching our friends go through the deaths of their children. I was called the "mean mom" by a child that refused to keep their seat belt on in my car and was therefore driven home immediately and left behind for the field trip I was taking everyone on. That child wears their seat belt now, lol.

oooo, I definitely second the Cheryl Mendelson books (she has a laundry book that is wonderful too....our copy lives in the laundry room, lol). If you've got girls ....a wonderful 7 YEAR program is Training Our Daughters To Be Keepers At Home by Ann Ward (aka TODKAH). The book itself is a bit expensive ($75) but remember it's a 7 year curriculum, so cheap by the year. There is also a CD-Rom version for $35, but somehow that flies in the face of the 1930's woman doesn't it? Anyway, both can be found at http://www.homeschoolfcgs.com A yahoogroup that espouses the TODKAH lifestyle is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tod-kah/ Alas, it has slowed down a great deal in the past year or so, but perhaps some new blood asking for help will revive it. If not, the archives would be a treasure trove. Another great website (though I don't believe she updates it anymore): http://members.truevine.net/theingrams/ I love learning all these womanly arts....but I gotta say that I could never be happy living that life in it's totality. Thankfully I can take the parts I like and leave the rest to you ladies, lol. Oh...and while the TODKAH is supposed to be for girls....around here the guys are learning these skills as well. They aren't quite as taken with them, but by heavens I'm going to pass on to my future-daughters-in-law men who can cook, clean, repair their own clothing and know how to care for others. I hope they thank me profusely, lol.

Since all children are alive and accounted for I consider it a good day. Oh wait, it's only 7am here and they're still in bed. Stay tuned.

Even if this were the scenario, she should have called OP and explained the situation, then waited while OP arrived to help with the overflow (so no one was waiting in the dark). I would hope that had she called ANY parent they would have agreed that even double belting was unacceptable and have arrived to help. I don't think OP gave an age, but if she's putting the responsbility for deciding on a ride or not on them, I'm gonna guess they were too big for double belting to actually even fit. Definitely a wake up call for OP about asking the point blank question, and also having to decide if she can trust this driver's response in the future. I'm curious if now that it's been a few days if OP talked to this other mom about the situation.....whether it's a case of this driver's seat belt philosphy isn't quite as strict as so many of those on this board, or if it was a case of suddenly an extra kid and not really thinking it through to call for help. That would be necessary for me to know to make a decision about whether this driver is someone I'd trust with my kids again.

Is that something you say often? That would be a cute blog name if so..... That is All.

I tend to be the one always driving for specifically this reason.....I know that I can trust myself for seat belt and safe driving, I can't be sure of other parents, lol. Of course, I've felt that way about relatives too, so I know I'm a bit over protective, lol. We're adamant about seat belts, so to us, yes, "room in the car" would mean that there was a space with a working seat belt. Unfortunately it sounds like this other family doesn't share the same philosphy and to them "room" meant physical space not safe space. I think I'd have a talk with my kids again about their responsibilty to call home and get me to pick them up when they're faced with someone that doesn't follow our rules. And that this responsibility trumps their feeling embarassed to ask the other mom to wait with them because they're refusing to get into the car without a seat belt. It's awkward, but they need to understand, truly understand, your reasoning. Safety must come first. It's tough to have to place the responsibility on a child's shoulder's but obviously the other parent doesn't share your rules and therefore you have to either decide never to let another parent drive your children around town, or to place the burden on your own child to make wise decisions. If they're not old enough, or willing, to take that responsibility then you either have to alway be the driver or be more specific from now in your question...."Do you have enough seat belts for all the passengers?"

I don't like using those "cream of" soups because they are sooo high in sodium. Here's a mix I make up in bulk to use as a substitute: 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder 3/4 cup cornstarch 1/4 low sodium instant chicken broth powder 2 T dried onion flakes 1 t each dried basil and thyme (sometimes I just use 2t Italian seasoning) 1/2 t pepper Store in a well-sealed contained until needed. Then use 1/3 cup mix with 1 1/2 cups of cold water. This equals one 15oz can of cream of chicken soup.

We have a small cooler/fridge that plugs into the cigarette lighter, so we're able to take items that need fridgeration on trips....some of what we take (I know you asked for breakfast foods, but we like to eat anything at breakfast, and hopefully these are some good ideas for lunch too): yogurt (take plastic spoons to ease cleanup). When the kids were smaller and couldn't eat a whole yogurt, I'd spoon it into those 1/4 cup tupperware type containers ahead of time so there was no opened unfinished yogurt to deal with. cheese (we don't like the prepacked sticks, too salty, so we simply cut block cheese into nibble size sticks and put in a baggie) lots of water bottles (often hunger pangs are either boredom or thirst, so I always have them drink water first if it's not normal meal time) trail mix (nuts, cheerios or other dry cereals, dried fruit, broken pretzels, etc packaged in snack baggies...the only time I buy the snack size, lol). Obviously, this one doesn't need refrigeration. Veggies and fruits cut into bite size pieces. My kids love to dip them veggies into ranch dressing and fruit into flavored yogurt. I use those tiny 1/4 cup tupperware containers for the dips. Label each with kid's name and they are reusable later in the day (unlabled got the eww, double dipping gross, remarks, lol). Cooked chicken strips (we grill the chicken the night before and cut into strips.....a little spice while grilling gives it good flavor, and the protein count is high so it will keep you full a while). One of my kids likes to dip this in ranch dressing. If you are going to make it at home to eat immediately after you get in the car, breakfast burritos work nice....eggs, cheese, maybe some crumbled sausage and a little salsa. These don't work well for something to eat after you've been on the road a while tho, as cold eggs and sausage are a little yicky. I have scrambled the eggs and precooked the sausage the day before and then that morning microwaved on paper plates and assembled....then there is no dirty dishes to deal with while you're trying to get out the door, and none to leave in the sink! Take plenty of napkins and I always wet down a few washcloths and put it in a zip lock for bigger clean ups. In the cooler they'll stay moist for hours. When we reach our destination they just go in the laundry (or the trash for icky messes). I know a lot of people use travel time as "special treat" time and get donuts and other sugary things....my kids would be bouncing off the windshield if I gave them sugar and then made them sit still for hours! We don't do a lot of sugar so while I love vacation treats, I try to make sure that they'll be able to burn off the unaccustomed sugar rush. Protein will keep hunger away much longer than sugar also, so with sugar you can almost guarantee that you'll have to stop again in another hour or two. When the kids were younger I also used to dole out the food in very small amounts.....a slice or two of chicken.....wait 10-15 minutes, then a piece of cheese...wait, then some fruit. This stretched the meal out which kept them full but also kept them occupied. Reading or listening to stories in between and then stopping to eat something, just ate away at the time.

While I totally understand your anger, and really it would probably be more properly called "after the fact fear"....because of all the "what if" and potentially deadly consequences, with all due respect, while your daughter trying to use a burner that was obviously broken was irresponsible, it sounds like your anger is pointed at the wrong person isn't it? You said that daughter turned it on, but that dad when her father comes in to turn it off, he accidentally turns the knob the wrong way so that, even though the fire is now off, the burner is still on and, unbeknownst to anyone, still spewing gas into the kitchen. So...if I'm reading this right while the initial cause was your daughter it sounds like it was your husband who was then also irresponsible in making sure that he repaired it properly and that it was not spewing gas. Now...that doesn't excuse her lack of judgment in trying to get a burner that was obviously broken to work again, but I would not, could not, lay the blame for the potentially deadly situation on her shoulders, because it belongs on your husband. Had daughter not told anyone and just left it running, then I'd share your anger at her.....but she did the responsible thing and requested dad fix it....he failed to do so properly. The fault is his, nor hers. I would however, AFTER I've calmed down from the fear of all that could have happened, talk with her about the dangers of using a burner that was obviously not working properly. She does need to realize that she played a part in all this, but only a part. And then I'd trundle down to the hardware store and get one of those carbon monoxide detectors to install in the house so that this type of mistake never has the potential to be deadly again. Seriously, I can't imagine living in a house with a gas stove with a detector (we also have a gas dryer and gas water heater so we have a lot of potential leaks). We have one downstairs near the entry to the kitchen (the utility room with the other two gas devices is off the kitchen) and we have another at the top of the stairs near the first bedroom. Right next to both are fire detectors.

Well, consider for a moment how many of us on this board were taught "new" math.....and worry that we don't know math well enough to teach our children! Oh yeah, and then remember that the schools stopped teaching the "new" math and went back to the old math. Sorry, the only school items that I would even check the copyright date is science and history. And being old doesn't necessarily mean that I'd not use it....I'd just be mindful of new scientific information and new findings in historical evidence. Math, language arts, I would never even both to check. And....unless your child is currently in high school, remember that the information on those all-holy tests will change a half dozen times before this year's Kinders reach it! As for throwing out your classics......heavens, don't do that until you've had a chance to preview some of the "new" classics. We on this board call most of it "mind candy" or "twaddle". It's ok to read, but if you want your child to really enjoy quality literature and gain something from their reading.....you pretty much gotta go back 50 or more years for it, lol. There are some books in the last 50 years that are worthwhile, of course, and many of those will be considered a "classic" by our great grandkids, lol....but for the most part, they are the story of the year and next year no one will be reading them or even remember their titles. Same goes for movies. I agree with the other folks who warn against letting your sister eat away at your budding confidence. If your son is learning his ABCs, his numbers, reading books that you consider quality.....then guess what you're giving him a quality education. The college exams don't test on what method you learned to use to add/subtract/multiply....it wants to know if you can come up with the correct answer. Those tests don't require (or even have a place) to "show your work". The lit portions provide you with an essay/excerpt to read and test your comprehension skills. The writing portion gives you a topic and requires you to write an essay. Nouns, verbs, adverbs, sentence structure hasn't changed much over the years, though the methods of teaching it may have.....but again, the test doesn't have any way to test whether you learned in a public school or through IEW or Writeshop or any of the other hundreds of programs out there that in the end teach the same basics. Definitely time to learn what this board calls "pass the bean dip"....which if you haven't seen yet, is basically a phrase that we throw around that means that sometimes it's best to just nod and change the subject. "Hmmm, ok, yes, I'll check my copyright to be sure I don't have any 6 year old books......would you like some of this bean dip? How about dem Red Sox?" Oh....and part of the reason public schools change books so often.....the book companies work very hard to convince them that the information is more up to date....so they buy new books from the book company! And often those same book companies no longer have available additional copies of a 5 year old textbook, specifically so that schools have to replace ALL their books, rather than just the ones damaged, or get extra copies for a larger class. And with all love and respect to our dear Susan Bauer......remember that each time she has issued a new edition of her Well Trained Mind book there are lengthy threads about the fact that the new information may be nice to have, but it's not worth throwing out your old edition to buy the new one. The general consesus with both the 2nd and 3rd edition have been if you're buying WTM for the first time, get the most up to date....if you already have the 1st or 2nd edition, you probably don't need the newer one. Her wisdom about the basics hasn't changed, almost verbatim even, in the new editions....what has changed is her recommendations for books, because some of the original recommendations are no longer available, or newer books have come out that more closely follow her advice, or are just "new". I still remember the old boards when she was on them more often and she'd often say that there wasn't a science curriculum that she wholeheartedly liked....in fact I remember at one time it was on the top of her list to find someone to write one, but that never came to be that I'm aware. And....most of the old timers here realize that her recommendations are just that.....recommendations that are wonderful for a newbie to use as a jumping off point....but as you read this board more you'll see that there are very very few who use her recommendations for every subject....most of us read threads voraciously and overbuy curriculum trying to find the "right" one for our family. New curruciulum come and go rather quickly here.....if you really want to know the "best" you'll read some of the oldest threads and see what is being recommending then and still being recommended now.....those are probably as close to "best" as your going to get. Hmmmm, and that brings us full circle, because many of those are definitely over 5 years old, lol.

Well, you do realize that that is the reason why most prices are now ending in .99 (or .88 if it's walmart lol)....because somehow psychologically $99.99 SOUNDS better/cheaper to us than $100. Yeah, ok, it's a penny savings, like you'll even notice that after they glob on their 7, 8, 9% tax, lol. Gas prices are the same way.....if the pump says $2.47 9/10 how many of us actually think "that's basically $2.48? Nope, most of us consider it $2.47, because that sounds better. Sheesh, right now $2.48 would sound better since gas is creeping up over $2.60 now. As for the 1/8" extra thickness in padding.....well, hey, us Princesses need that extra so we don't feel the pea. I found it especially funny since it's a play mat.....tell me how many kids would even notice they were on a 1/2" thick mat versus sitting on the hardwood floor? So that extra 1/8" isn't gonna matter either. Not mine....they actually prefer sleeping on the hard floor in the living room because it's a "camp out" than sleeping in their several inch thick mattress! Of course, when I was young I felt the same way....but I'm old now and want my mattress, lol.

I write detailed lesson plans also, but I do NOT specify what day anything is supposed to be done. I'd have all the handwriting plans written in one section, all the history in another and all the sciene in another. I combine music and art appreciation with History so that would also be on the history sheets. By having each subject on separate sheets I don't have to worry if we don't, for example, get to handwriting on Monday.....then I don't feel like we're behind or failing, because Monday still has activities left to do. Instead, I break each subject up into about what I think we can do in one session......and when we're ready to do that subject I just go to the first unchecked box and that's where we start. Most of the lessons are set up to take about 30-60 minutes but even if we cut short without reading the last book or doing the last activity, I don't worry because the next time we do that subject we just start up where we left off, whether it's the next day or the next week. If that subject is the only one we do that day, none of the other subjects are "behind" because they too will just pick up where we left off the last time. Occasionally there will be something that I want to do on a particular calendar date so that goes on my calendar....and occasionally something in science will correlate with something happening in history, for example, so I'll make a note on both history and science sheets so that whichever one I get to first I'll know to talk about the correlation (or wait and talk about it when we get to the other subject, whichever is appropriate). The best schedule is always going to be the one that works best for you and causes you the least anxiety, lol.....it took me several years of tweaking to come up with what works for us, so be patient with yourself and spend a bit of time evaluating why something isn't working for you before you decide you've failed. Most times a little tweaking will make it work again. I felt the same way with calendars and lesson planners....I never found a store bought one that worked for me....either it was missing things I wanted, or it had a lot of extras that just took up space for me and was never used.....so I started making my own. And we love it, we get the designs to pretty them up that we each like, no more generic sunsets, but now we have actual photos of sunsets WE saw, lots of characters for my younger ones without the expense of buying a licensed calendar, and lots of little reminders that are specific to our family (like this month we celebrated the anniversary of moving into this house....we made a house shaped cake and ate dinner in the living room sitting on the floor with boxes for individual tables, just like our first night living here, lol). Good luck coming up with a system that works for you.....a planner/calendar that flows smoothly for you is like a brand new box of chocolate....heaven.

I'd be very careful about doing that, as it would likely violate copyright and we don't want to get Susan or this forum in trouble.

Not every listing has it, but most that I've come across do, and while I've never had to use it, my understanding is that it's basically Ebay guaranteeing you that if there is a problem they'll help you get it resolved or refund your money. One of the biggest pitfalls of Paypal disputes is that you have to wait 30 days to even start one....then there is a bunch required waiting periods...you make your dispute, seller has a certain amount of time to respond, then you can respond, then you can escalate it for Paypal to decide, Paypal takes a while, etc. And of course, the seller knows all along that you are disputing, so the truly scammers will empty their paypal bank account and move on to a new ID, leaving you to win the dispute but no money left in the account means no cash back. The buyer protection is supposed to eliminate that mess because Paypal/Ebay take on the burden of hunting down the scammer to be reimbursed. I know you posted this a while ago, and I apologize for not responding, email never told me that there was a response to look at, I stumbled across this. But I was wondering if your daughter has received her sewing machine yet? I hope so and that she's already created something wonderful with it.