Great adventure stories by Ridley Pearson: Peter and the Starcatchers Peter and the Shadow Thieves Peter and the Secret of Rundoon These really pull you in even if you're not an adventure story lover (me) and they have a familiarity to them as they are prequels to Peter Pan.....which makes it fun to feel you already know the characters. Another great series from Ridley Pearson is Kingdom Keepers (they are set in Disneyworld). Can't go wrong with Jim Weiss reading anything.....most of his CDs are pretty short, though, at about an hour each, so be sure to take several. He has a few that are longer....Old Yeller, Rascal, Swiss Family Robinson (this one is a dozen hours at least!), Kidnapped, and probably some others.

I currently have friends that I know not to reveal too much private information or it will be spread. But, I know this of these people and can still be friends with them, just not confidants. I would imagine that she is feeling betrayed by you just as you are of her.....there is always two sides, after all. Because the military community IS so close knit, you really should make an effort to patch up any past problems (otherwise you both may become gossip fodder). I wouldn't however expect this to be a "long-last best friends find each other again reunion". I'd aim for friendly, but distant so that you aren't hurt again. If over time that friendship warms up, then wonderful, but watch yourself until you can be sure you trust her with your personal information. In other words, don't close the door, but be careful how wide you open it until you assess the dangers.

Well, if as a boy he is told (or overhears repeated conversations Mom has with sister) that he "can't help himself"....then off course he's going to grow up thinking it's acceptable. Isn't that akin to the last 40 years of telling young girls that they can be whatever they want to be.......and now they are doing so! Most of my grandmother's generation (born in the 20's-30's) could never have imagined having a career in something like law or medicine or even business. If a woman had to work, it was in a very few career choices...teacher, retail store (and extremely seldom as the owner/manager, usually just as a sales clerk), seamtress, etc. Two generations later and we almost had a female for President! I think telling young girls for all these years that they can do it made them believe it. Telling a boy that he can't help being unfaithful and his wife will just have to accept that, means the boy will believe it. Thankfully, my DH doesn't think that way....or he'd be single with a very large support bill, lol. By the same token, if I strayed, I'd expect him to leave me as well.

I copied this directly from http://www.peacehillpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=11 May we copy the Student Pages in the Activity Books for use within our own family? How about the tests? Absolutely! When you purchase the Activity Book, you have the right to copy the Student Pages (maps, coloring, pages, project templates, review cards) for use within your own family. The same is true if you purchase the tests. Now if you don’t feel like lugging the whole Activity Book to Kinko’s, you can purchase separate Student Pages from our site. It works out to be about 6 cents a copy. (Note: There are no coloring pages for the Volume 4 Activity Book.) If you need to copy pages for a co-op or a school, please contact Peace Hill Press for licensing information. And then on the Student Pages link from that FAQ it says: Consumable sheets from the Activity Book for The Story of the World, Vol. 1 If you've already purchased the Activity Book, you're free to make copies for your family to use. Many parents find it easier to simply use these pre-copied sheets. So, the only problem would be if you want to make the copies so that you can re-sell the Student pages, and that would be a violation of copyright of course. But, the separate Student Pages are identical to the ones in the book, just that book is a pain to copy from when it's bound. Trying to get the book lined up nicely and pressed down hard enough was impossible. I solved that by having Kinko's remove the spine and 3 hole punch everything ($2 charge). Then making extra copies of the Student pages was easy to do on my DH's office copier. If you didn't want to take your book's spine off, just buy one set of the Student pages and make copies of it for the 2nd/3rd, etc child in your family because the Student Pages description says that's ok to do. Or, if your copy place charges more than .06 each it's cheaper to buy it from PHP.

:iagree:

An alternative to more memory cards......consider checking with the hotels ahead of time to ensure that they have "business centers". We found them even more prevalent in Europe than they are here (in Europe business centers were in less expensive hotels whereas here in USA they tend to be in the mid to high price hotels). Then take along a box of DVDs to burn your memory card contents. Then you can erase your memory card and reuse it. I still would recommend that you have at least two memory cards....you don't want to be on a tour and have a full card without the chance to burn it off until you return to the hotel that evening. Also....here in the USA you can take your memory cards to most camera departments at Walmart/Walgreens/CVS, etc and for a fee they will burn you a DVD. We never had to do this in Europe as the hotel's all had business centers for us....but I'd venture to guess that a decent camera department in Europe would have this capability as well. This can of course get expensive, but it's an alternative if there are a couple of the hotels you'll be visiting that don't have business centers. If you're going with a professional tour guide, you might ask them what they recommend....I'm sure this is a common situation and they'll have some alternatives for you. Hey, maybe it's even a service available through the tour guide themselves, since they're likely to have a computer at their disposal. Have a wonderful vacation!

It's probably all the love that was added. :grouphug:

Hmmm, well, my daughter doesn't turn 13 until this summer....and she's already been asked out twice. By public school boys who are 13 and 14. MY rule is not until she's 30....and then only if I'm dead.....DH's tells her that he'll discuss it when it's someone she actually wants to date, not just that some kid she just met asked her out. But...hey, I've also learned to tell people like that to name any homeschooler they know that fits whatever it is they're telling me is wrong with homeschoolers. So far, lots of people can spout off all the horrible things that will happen to my children because I homeschool.....but they can't name one other person that has had this horror happen to them. When they can name names, I'll figure out whether I'm doing something wrong.....but for now....I'm happy to have a 12 year old who says "no thanks" when boys ask her out. She's not desperate to date just for the sake of dating because there is NO peer pressure on her to do so. She likes boys as friends, but thinking kissing them is probably too gross. I'm ok with this, lol.

Perhaps we should talk......I told my daughter she could begin dating at age 30....so since she's now 12 and your son is 10.....hmmmm, call me in 18 years!

My oldest is 12 (13 this summer) and she stills appears to believe. We have never been asked, so we've never told. If she asks, we'll tell. But...she put a carrot and basket out this Easter and was delighted to find goodies the next morning. Last Christmas she was the most excited to find Santa had left an MP3, and has said to many people who have admired her unusual looking player "Santa got it for me". Now....I suspect that she deep down knows the truth.....that it's mom and dad handing out the goodies. BUT.....she always knows in other things in life that part of the fun is pretending.....and I think that has led her to not reveal her knowledge. Unless it's actually causing your son distress....for example he's defending Santa to another child who is telling him he's wrong.....I'd let him be a child for a bit longer. If he's not causing him any problems, then let it be.....he'll get it someday on his own. Let him continue to be a kid now. Now...if he's 18 and packing for college and saying he worries that Santa won't deliver to his dorm since there is no chimney and can he please take the Magic Key to college with him.....then it might be time to have a talk. In the meantime.....start writing your script for the other difficult talks to come.......11 was when my son asked during a science lesson HOW "it" got "there". Before that he was content to know that it got there.....without wanting to know how. Thankfully I knew this would eventually happen (it happened with his elder sister about the same time, but thankfully privately not during a group science lesson). It went over the heads of the others and we had a private conversation a short time later......of course now he's grossed out by the whole thing, lol, and vowing to never have a girlfriend and telling me to forget about grandkids. :tongue_smilie::lol: My philosphy about all these sensitive subjects have been to answer questions that I'm asked openly and honestly....but not to give more information than they have indicated they are ready to get. It reminds me of the goofy story about the day that little Bobby burst into the kitchen asking his mom to tell him "where did I come from".......mom was prepared and pulled out the books, diagrams and lesson plans and explained the birds and the bees in full detail. When she was done she asked Bobby if he had any questions. "Yes" he said, frowning at her "you still didn't answer my questions, where did I come from? Mickey down the street is from Brooklyn." Good luck!

I find the subjects, like math, with a set number of lessons and very little in the way of "extras" to add in are the easiest to plan. It's the ones like History that have so many rabbit trails that we might want to hop down, and so many extras to add in, that bogs me down. For your math, when I am trying to decide how many lessons we have to do in a week/month in order to finish a book by a certain time, I just do it like a math word problem. The numbers don't always come out perfect, but it gives you a little bit of an idea of where you need to go. You have 9 books with 30 lessons each, so that's 270 lessons. You plan to school year round in 6 weeks on 1 week off, so you are schooling approximately 45 weeks per year. 45 weeks x 5 years is 225 weeks. So doing one lesson per week would leave 45 extra lessons. Spread that out over 5 years and it means that you need to do 9 extra lessons a year. The problem is in trying to force this into a literal number.....technically to stay exactly the same each week you need to do 1.2 lessons per week (270 lessons divided by 225 weeks). But that's a bit impractical to try to plan out or implement. AND...the big thing for me on math would be that some weeks the lessons will likely be relatively easy for your son to finish in the alloted week....and other weeks he may struggle with the concept and it may take him into the following week to complete. Math is not one that I want to force us along just because the week is over (whereas history we simply cut out some extra readings, skip a project, etc) But moving along in math prematurely will cause problems in future weeks since usually the lessons build on each other. That's something that you can't plan for....because you don't yet know where he will struggle and where he will excell. What I do with math, because it has a set number of lessons and isn't one that we do a lot of tweaking or adding in other resources like we do for history or science with extra books, DVDs, field trips, experiments etc......so for math, I simply keep plodding along. If he finishes this week's lessons on Wednesday, don't give him Thursday/Friday off from math, just have him start the next lesson. Not only will this help with retention, it will move you along at something probably close to the .2 lesson per week extra you are supposed to be doing. Then what I would do is after each 6 week period I would recalculate the number of lessons left over the 5 years and be sure that we're lowering that overage of lessons and not falling behind. Again I wouldn't be completely literate and go nuts if over 6 weeks we didn't complete 7.2 lessons....but I'd be watching that we never went less than 6 lessons in 6 weeks and be much happier if we were at 6 1/2 or 7 minimum. And if each time I did this evaluation we were only getting the minimum 6 done..... then I would probably make him do either a longer math session for the next 6 week block or during his 1 week "off" I'd make him do math only and have the week off from other subjects. At the end of a year I'd want to see that we'd done those extra 9 lessons. If you increased his math time each day by only 10 minutes you'd have almost another hour each week that he'd be spending on math....surely he can complete at least an extra lesson every five hours (50 minutes a week x 6 week block). The other thing that I always keep in mind is to be flexible (and this really goes for all lesson plans not just math). Life will creep into your homeschool days whether you want it to or not......what happens if your child comes down with the flu and can't do school for a couple of days. What about during the holidays, will you really keep to your schedule? I greatly admire those who can stick to doing school each and every day planned, especially during holidays!, but it just doesn't happen in my house. That's actually why we school year round and DON'T schedule in weeks off. That way when we want to take a day off here or there for a life event or because a great field trip opportunity comes along, or just because the sun is shining and we can't concentrate, I don't sweat it. If I did your 6 week on 1 week off plan, I'd be very unhappy if at week 3 a great opportunity came along and I had to say "no" because of our schedule. Many times fun things happening around town aren't going to wait for our next "break". I evaluate where we are against my goals every 3 or 4 months (or sooner if I feel like we've gotten off track). It takes me less than an hour of concentrated thought to determine if we're moving along at a good pace and staying on track.....and I also look over past work to see if we've improved or been stagnant in progress (sometimes looking at it as we go along I think we're progressing, but comparing work from 3 months ago to today's really tells me if we've made ENOUGH progress)...or perhaps even that we've worked faster than I thought we would and then I reevaluate whether that's a good thing or not (could we be doing more hands on fun things since we're moving along faster, or perhaps add in those books that I didn't put on the lesson plans because I thought they were too many). As I said, I greatly admire those who make a plan and stick with it month after month without change, because I wish I could have that kind of confidence that my plan was right.....but I'm a tweaker at heart, and I am constantly discovering new books, ideas, websites, movies, field trips, methods, etc (reading this board guarantees that won't ever end, lol). So, I tweak much more often than yearly....probably more like 3 or 4 times "formally" and a half-dozen more times informally.

Figures.

You mean that since I've not had any surgery, I don't own these puppies? Ok...will the real owner please come get them....they're too heavy I don't want them anymore. :lol::lol::tongue_smilie:

Ok, if they were trying to arrange for a police officer, that would have been enough for me to say no. We have twice had schools in our area go to lockdown because of a student with a weapon. The first time it was a real gun and the boy had voiced his hatred of many people in the past; the second time it was about a year later and the boy thought bringing a toy gun in would be "funny". Things like this have only confirmed that I made the right decision to forego a career I enjoyed, and the monetary comforts it would have brought all these years, to stay home and care for and then to formally homeschool them. I still remember watching the news reports that first time and although I had no children that went to this school, and don't think I even knew any as it was across town.....I still sat crying and shaking at the thought of what could have happened. When Columbine happened my eldest was still a toddler, but I was physically and emotionally ill over the thought of losing a child somewhere that we once thought they were always so safe. I knew already that I planned to homeschool when the time came, but I still feel like that was the point where it was no longer "probably going to homeschool" and became "I will be homeschooling". And I constantly tell my kids that when they marry they have to be sure to live nearby as I want to homeschool all my grandchildren. Since all my kids have expressed an interest in a career (as opposed to a job) I want them to have that opportunity, but I also want grandkids! So far they all love the idea. Gran's Schoolhouse we call it.

I would appreciate it if someone could, because I don't even know what you mean by the old forum or the general forum. Thanks!

Gotta agree with this not being a thoughtful answer....and actually it's a scary answer. Can you imagine for a minute if my parents' generation had kept to that mentality? The Civil Rights movement would not exist. I'm not sure I would want to live in that world (then again, if we all kept that same mentality, we wouldn't think it was a wrong way to think! That's scary). I am trying to raise my children to think things through before deciding how they feel about any issue......whether it's that strawberry is the best ice cream flavor or whether it's on the issue of whether a marriage is one man and one woman or simply between two people. I don't want them to agree or disagree with an answer simply because that is what their siblings, friends, or even their parents think. But I also want them to be able to defend WHY strawberry is the greatest flavor on earth, lol. Otherwise, they need to be prepared to be questioned intensely about it. We actually come up with questions like the ice cream flavor in order to make them think of reasons better than "I like it" or "it's pink". This generation is having to defend their way of thinking much more so than even my own generation, let alone my parents or grandparents generation. And....these contestants supposedly rehearse and practice how to answer the possible questions that will asked of them....now this may not have been one they rehearsed, but I guarantee you next year it will practiced by every single contestant! Just like politicians rehearse possible questions that will be posed for them so that they aren't caught off guard, she really should have some idea of what she wanted to say in a much more comprehensive and intelligent answer. Yes, most people think pageant contestants are airheads, but most have or are getting a college degree, so they aren't total airheads. They may not have a classical education under their belt, but they aren't 8th grade dropouts either. That said, I can't imagine how I'd have answered that same question standing there in the spotlights with literally millions watching and waiting for my answer, knowing that the Miss America crown was in reach (which presumably she worked hard to reach that point and it was uber important to her). I get nervous enough and can't explain myself well just talking to a large group of friends, lol. I do much better either in a small group where I don't feel pressure, or I what I really like is on the computer where I can type out my opinion, improve on it, and even change it before anyone gets to read it, lol. But....had she been able to intelligently defend her position, like some on this board have done on this issue.....would she still have been villified? Probably, as this is one of those questions where you can't really be in the middle, so it's a very volilatile question that you can't possibly please both sides with an answer. Same for abortion, creation/evolution, and a whole host of issues. It divides the population too strongly. I wonder if any changes will be made to the questions asked in future paegants. For that matter, I wonder if these questions are known to the organizers ahead of time, or if Hilton sprung it on everyone. I guess in a way it surprises me that he'd be a judge.....I haven't watched these shows since I was a teen wishing I could look like that....but I recall the judges panel to be people that impressed me. He does not. Maybe I'm just old.

Obviously when we hear something like this we all immediately start thinking about Columbine and the other horrific events, and I'm definitely one to "better safe than sorry" about things like this, but it sounds like the board is just being prudent and cautious. I'd probably call and ask them to explain more clearly why they felt this necessary....was it because this child made actual threats of violence or just because they were angry that they were removed. The fact that they were removed with only 1 class left would definitely concern me, but if they truly felt that there would be the potential for this student to bring weapons to avenge himself or other acts of violence were threatened, I would hope they'd either be cancelling class, or hiring a police officer with a weapon himself. The fact that the provisions they've made are more to keep the entry points to a minimum and keep children a little closer reigned, sounds more like they worry about a distruption not violence. Of course, I'd want to talk to them about it but that's my first impression. If it's a matter of they just worry that the child will try to be disruptive I think I'd feel a little more comfortable about my children being there knowing that your DH would also be there. Perhaps you could go into class with the other child as well? If there is a hint of potential violence though, I'd probably skip it even if it means disappointing my child. If they're old enough I'd explain why their safety is so much more important to me even though the event is important to them. And then, since dad already has the day off, I'd find something really special to do to show them you're sorry they're disappointed.

Can you provide a link to her post....I'm always interested in others systems and trying to learn from them!

Apparently the state of California pagaent has a clause in the contract they sign that says they never posed nude or partially nude....and she signed that she had not. Now they're trying to hold that against her to take away her state crown (I don't think I've read they're trying to take away her runner up Miss America title are they?). Of course I don't know enough about Miss America contest...if she is removed as Miss California would she automatically disqualify as runner up Miss America?

Who did the calling for the interview? If it was an employment agency/head hunter, that's standard procedure...because if they told you the name of the employer and/or the position than you could by-pass them and go directly to the employer. They want you to come in the office and sign the contract before they'll give you that information. BUT....he would have signed up for this and should know the procedure ahead of time. If you're talking about answering an ad in the newspaper or online that was very vague about what the job was, sometimes they just list skills needed, or even less....then yeah, it's very possible it isn't all it claims to be. Or, where he has his resume on one of those job sites and someone contacted him that they have a potential job available. My DH had his resume on several of those and went on two such interviews.... First one it turned out not to be an actual job being offered, but a chance to BUY into his own business. He went ahead and listened just because he was already there, but it was obvious it was a scam or at least an "unlikely to make anyone but the interviewer money" situation. He would have had to have paid a fee to take a class to learn how to build his own business, then they "guaranteed" him that he'd make at least half of the advertised salary in his first year......the more he talked with them the more he found out it wasn't likely to happen. He came home furious and complained to the website and also to our state attorney general about it....the website did nothing, but the AG investigated and found that while the AG personally agreed with my DH, the company wasn't doing anything illegal, so nothing happened. The other one was even weirder.....it was a job as a stock broker (this was 6 or 7 years ago when that was a profitable field, lol) but an entry level, they promised to train you without cost for a new career. Turned out that you had to work for 6 months of training without pay (they didn't charge you for the training like a school might, but they didn't pay you either, so they got free employees). At the end of that 6 months they would then decide whether to offer you a paid position. May have been a great opportunity for a fresh out of school kid who could live at home while working the estimated 50-55 hours (which we figured was low-ball), but for a man with a family and bills it was impossible. We tried to find this company a couple years later because we had a friend with a son who wanted to get into the field fresh out of high school....but it appeared to have disappeared (or DH thinks changed names as it probably got a bad rep for the questionable tactics). On the other hand....DH found the job he is currently in, and enjoying, because of his resume on that website. It was a head hunter but the employer paid the fee, not DH, so he was willing to go through the clandestine type hoops of going in and signing the contract before learning any truly valueable details. All they would tell him before then was the starting salary, the general address (district not street level). They did ask him several questions about his experience to be sure he qualified so it felt a little more legit...and turned out to be a job he still enjoys. BUT....had it been a job where he was expected to pay their agency fee, he'd have never done it. That fee is a percentage of your first year salary, and it is HUGE....like 20-30%...i.e. tens of thousands of dollars. We decided we weren't quite desperate enough for a job yet to pay for it! Does he have any vacation days or sick days available that he could use so he doesn't lose a day off work? If the interview is 25 miles away, and you consider that a long way to drive (where I live 25 miles is a short commute), would he really want a job that was that far away? Or is the interview at one location and the job closer, or you'd move closer? To me, 50 miles is about 2 gallons....or less than $4, so that would NOT cause me to rethink an interview if I was looking for work and this sounded like a good potential. Losing a day of pay might though if your financial situation is tight. Would they be willing to do the interview in the evening or on the weekend? Many employers realize that the people they're interviewing have a job and might actually respect the fact that the employee doesn't want to call in sick (a lie) to interview, but it's also not like he can go to his boss and tell him you need a day off to find another job! Is there any flexibility in his current job...could he leave an hour or two early the day of the interview, and work to make up those hours another day of the week? Ok, enough rambling, but we've been through the between jobs life so many times in our marriage that I totally know where you are coming from! It's a real toss up in figuring out what is best. Good luck!

Miss California is the one that answered the marriage question at the Miss America Pageant. Personally, I think she was set up by that Judge, but he does that a lot. Anyway.....according to that Judge her answer is why she was runner up and not Miss America. Kinda amazing to think that she made it to the final group with him as a Judge...but he may have done it just to do exactly what he did. scary. Of course, this started a media frenzy, and the media started digging into her life to find more to write about. She's a model and apparently posed in undies with her hands covering her chest. Those are the racy photos that she says they're trying to ruin her reputation with. There are more details here: http://www.usmagazine.com/news/miss-california-nude-pics-trying-to-undermine-my-reputation-200955 Frankly, my opinion is that that nasty judge is the one that should be villified not this lady. But...he does have the reputation for putting people ont he spot and trying to do exactly what he did to her.....so shame on her for not knowing her judge's better and realizing that since she's been outspoken about her Christianity and he is so anti-Christian that she was likely to be his target. I still think she had every right to say what she believed....unfortunately because of this judge bringing his own personal politics into the situation she lost first place....but runner up is still pretty amazing. Anyone remember Vanessa Williams and her losing the Miss America crown because of her racy photos. The media has several times tried to make the two seem connected, but there is a HUGE difference. Williams' photos were of her seemingly performing a s** act on another woman....a little hard to explain that away as you would a model in her undies with her chest covered. Williams says she was young and naive and didn't realize how the photo would look....ummm yeah, right.

I would tend to agree with the previous poster that your rate should change when she's late without calling. I know back when I was single and working there was a single mom who would practically leap over the desks trying to get out of the office on time.....her day care center charged $1 per MINUTE that they were late picking up their kids. I once said "well, why don't you just tell them you'll pick them up at 6 instead of 5:30, so you're pretty sure you'd never be late." Turns out that they are charged based on when they SAY they'll pick up not actually when they do....so if she says she'll pick up at 6 and arrives to get them at 5:15, she's paying for 45 minutes the kid isn't there, every day. I always thought it was quite the racket until I had kids and watched other people's kids.....and then I totally understood the reasons. :tongue_smilie: I would agree that you did the right thing charging her for an hour when she was half hour late. While I see her wanting some leeway, I'd go to the reasons you're watching the kid to decide....if it's work related I might cut her a little bit of slack, but insist that she call....you don't always have control over leaving work. But, if it was Girl's Night Out and she was late because she chatted and said goodby for 30 minutes, well, I'd have a lot less tolerance of her disrespect for my time. And...I'd point out that she asked for 20 minutes leeway but was 30 minutes late today, so even if you gave her some leeway, she already would have violated it. Tough situation, but I now know enough mom's who do daycare to know that if you don't set the tone early on, the parents will walk all over you.

You do realize that if you take the ads into Walmart they will price match.....so long as it's the same product, same size, etc. They don't price match on percentage off items but most times I find that walmart beats those anyway. I know I've read how some Walmarts across the country give people a hard time, so perhaps you live in such an area....but all the Walmarts in our area are very easy....I don't even have to have the ad. I've been questioned a couple times when it's been a really really super sale (and usually only on Wednesday when the ad is so new that the staff hasn't seen/heard of it yet, lol)....but I pull out my internet phone, call up the ad and show it to them, lol. The biggest heartache I ever got was when Joann's was running a 99cent pattern sale and the closest one didn't have the size I wanted.....went to Walmart wanting to price match and the cashier had to call her supervisor who then called the store manager. It was something like a $10 discount so the cashier and supervisor couldn't do it....the manager did it with only a slightly shocked look on his face, lol....but didn't give me a hassle about it. Patterns are so overpriced anyway, lol. Lately I've seen Walmart having fixed prices for their patterns based on manufacturer, so maybe they wouldn't be as shocked now, lol. I know others complain that Walmart's meat is not the greatest quality, and I'd agree it's not always the best......but I buy a side of beef from the local rancher and it is soooo much cheaper. We got an upright freezer for $150 several years ago and the meat all fits with room to spare. When I have compared the price if I were to buy all the same pieces from the store it's always been more than half off. Yes, we have to take it all and that has meant I've had to learn to cook some pieces of meat that I normally wouldn't have bought, but a few of those recipes have turned into family favorites and now almost nothing we're given goes to waste. This wasn't the case the first year, and I almost didn't do it the second time, but the rancher's wife helped me figure out how to use things, so that was very helpful to me (and of course benefited her since we bought again). And I gotta say that this meat, even after having been frozen for months, just smells and tastes fresher to me than when we have to buy something at any of the local groceries because we ran out.

Ok, my total white cell has never been that low....but the new typical is in the couple hundred (normal being 5,000+ I believe), so it's not great. And yeah, my doc lets me out of the house, but I've had all the lectures I'm going to take....I do take huge precautions and by virtue of me so do my kids.....but even if I come up sick I can't even begin to pin point where I got it....coulda been the wall I touched, could have been something "floating" in the air, coulda been something my kids touched....the woulda/coulda can drive you nuts so I just don't listen to them, lol. Life would be a lot easier if others took even half the precautions I do. :tongue_smilie:

Oh my, then how do you get out of the restroom....stand around and wait for someone else to touch the handle and open the door for you? :D Or, maybe you are the lady that paces back and forth in front of the stalls for hours on end (we have such a lady that "hangs out" in the mall bathroom, she's rather infamous actually). I never could figure out what/why she did that....maybe it's because she can't figure out how to open the door without touching the handles!!! :lol::D:tongue_smilie: