Thank you!! I feel like I'm pointed in the right direction now! :) The one winter she spent here in OR before she left for college didn't prepare her. In So CA we rarely had days lower than 60* and the vast, vast majority are 70* and above. Even in January. ;) She runs cold anyway so moving somewhere like NOVA was a weather shock to her. I will run all of these suggestions by her and we'll see if we can't keep her warm this winter. :)

Dd goes to college in Northern Virginia. She was born and raised in So CA. :) Last winter her outerwear wardrobe was lacking. If you have daughters who are fashionable and live in a colder climate, where do you get their coats/boots/etc. for the winter?

I haven't found anything that compares with MAC. They are the best for me. I don't care if I have to pay $15-$18 per tube. :) I wear Fresh Brew.

I'm a born and bred California girl and I don't like In N Out. :D I refuse to eat at Carl's Jr (Hardee's) because I find their ad campaigns offensive. It's the one boycott I've stuck to for years and years. Granted, I don't like their menu offerings so it hasn't been too tough. :lol: I do not like Subway. I'll eat there if I have to but I don't like it and can always smell it on someone if they've been there. I love Chipotle! :) I love Starbucks but I love Dutch Bros even more since I moved to the Pacific Northwest!

Agreeing with Monica. You don't have to have money to implement her ideas. I don't remember them being millionaires but they seem very comfortable financially. They live in NYC where, of course, a million doesn't go anywhere near as far as in the Heartland. ;)

My 9 year old is peanut/tree nut allergic and we fly. I alert the airline ahead of time that we are flying with an allergy. We are granted pre-boarding. Dh and I have a smooth system for wiping down everything in our row and we put ds in between us for the flight. We cover his seat with a crib sheet which fits perfectly over an airline seat. Sometimes the flight attendants will speak to the people a few rows ahead and a few rows behind us and ask them not to open or eat any nut products during the flight due to an allergy. Sometimes, they will make an announcement to the whole flight alerting them of an allergy and ask them to refrain from eating any nuts. My ds's allergy is not airborne so we feel pretty comfortable with this system. He has flown several times per year his whole life.

"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison "Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth." - CS Lewis

Loved those books. I'd be interested! :)

It's moments like those that remind you how interconnected we are supposed to be with our fellow humans. So glad you were there. :grouphug:

I think most of them are lovely and inviting. I especially liked 2, 4, 5, and 7. I noticed #4 is actually in multiple photos - #14 and #15. When we moved into our new house, one of the things that really made me excited was having a room for our schooling! After homeschooling for 15 years at the dining room table or kitchen counter, I was really looking forward to a dedicated space. I love having it! I love being able to get up, walk out and shut the door! :) I'm still working on decorating it. I do have the large Expidit which makes my life so much easier. I'm trying to make a space that functions easily but still inspires me because I spend a lot of time in here! :) I was at a homeschool event a few weeks ago and the speaker said, "If you want to inspire your children, you have to be inspired yourself." That really stuck with me. I need to engage in things that inspire me so that I can inspire my remaining homeschooler. For me, one way to do that is to have my schoolroom be a place that suits me. Yes, it needs to be functional for my kid and it is. He has his own desk space and I even let him leave it how he wants most of the time. You should see it right now. :ohmy: But it also needs to be a place where I want to spend my time and where I am happy and content. If that means some beautiful things and some labeling and color coding, then that's what we'll have. All of those rooms appear that way to me - a functional place for the kids and a nice place for mom to spend the bulk of her days. It's going to look different for everyone. I love looking at the homeschool rooms of other families because it gives me a peek into their personalities and what they love.

I was reading the entertaining thread with interest. I do enjoy having people over but it seems like it must involve a meal and I am rather clumsy in the kitchen. ;) I can cook but I make a mess and have a hard time having everything come together at the right time. If you regularly invite people over, what kind of meals do you serve?

Thanks, all. Great suggestions as to where to start.

We lived for over 20 years in a 1482 Sq ft house with 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms. We moved out of state 2 years ago and our new house is 3975 Sq ft with 6 bedrooms and 3 full baths and a powder room. One of our bedrooms is my dh's office and he works from home. One of the bedrooms is part of a guest suite with its own living room, bedroom, and bathroom. We wanted the possibility of having a parent move in with us at some point while giving them their own space. Upstairs are 4 bedrooms-the master, one for each of our sons, and one is our home school room. Our daughter occupies the guest suite when she is home from college. We don't *need* this big of a house but we are all here all of the time and 4 out of 5 of us are major introverts. The ability to retreat to a quiet spot in the house saves all of our sanity. :)

He signed it today.

My understanding is that if a child is already in public or private school, they can stay until 7th grade. If they are not vaccinated by then, they will have to be homeschooled or in a public off campus charter. If they are in daycare, they can stay until kindergarten at which point they must be vaccinated.

Hi Everyone, Not looking for debate in this particular thread. :D In light of the new law in CA eliminating the "personal belief" exemption for vaccines.... Let's say you had a kid you had not vaccinated or have a close family member or friend who has kids they have not yet vaccinated. They do not live in CA but speculate that similar laws will start to be passed in other states. So, they want to slowly start vaccinating in anticipation to avoid having to get a slew of vaccines at once. For those who have had a delayed schedule or spread out schedule, where would you start with getting the kid(s) vaccinated?

I am just so, so sorry. Praying for your family in the days to come.

:lol: I almost spit on my screen. We have an Oxford comma war at our house. Currently it's 3-2 in favor. :)

I have become more opened minded as I have gotten older. I used to think I had everything all figured out. Now I know that there is more that I don't know than what I do know.

I apologize for ruining the thread for you, Sadie. I certainly did not want to do that.:( I don't know what "about a person" means. :(

Ummm...wasn't I talking to her? Not about her? And, I did post directly to the original question. It gets frustrating to be accused of bashing when that is not at all what I've been doing. I assume these posts have been directed at me since I engaged albeto about posting style?

No one has dicussion albeto's moral character. To try to encourage someone to consider why their posting style may sometimes be off putting to others is an attempt to try to improve the quality of debate. No one is attacking her personally. I'm sure albeto is a lovely person. I may sometimes find her writing style abrasive but that absolutely does not mean that I don't like her or am questioning her character. You are a deep thinker, albeto, and I appreciate your thoughts even if I find you to somimes be a little rough around the edges.

The pattern (as I'm pretty sure I've said) might be why people are skeptical of your original question or why they have a hard time responding to you. I thought the Christians whitewashing slavery (not history) was what you may be referencing. The original comment was made in post #62 of this thread. I found that comment offensive. You said in post #139 that you were not broadbrushing Christians as I had claimed. In post #161 I said I would take you at your word. Fast forward to this thread. You were postulating that the blogger in question was broadbrushing homeschoolers. I had been telling you that your reading of her was not what she intended since I knew her. I then used the "whitewashing slavery" discussion as an example of when you had been understood to be saying one thing when you say that's not how you meant it. That is not using an unrelated quote to make an unrelated point as you asserted up thread. I was using a relevant example to illustrate a point I was making in direct reference to the conversation we were having. I can be done with this part of the conversation as it is likely to go nowhere. I should note that I did answer the original question of this thread in post #190. :)

I did not attribute a statement to you. I gave an example of something that would not go over well if I kept saying a variation of it across threads. I was trying to illustrate a pattern I observe in your communication. You asked me to show that pattern through quotes. I did and you chastise me for that. There was no straw man. May I ask what you mean by this is the second time I've brought in unrelated quotes to make an unrelated point? Obviously you and I have a major communication gap.

No. They are not from this thread. I was sharing with you a pattern of those types of comments in a variety of topics which is what I claimed and what you asked me to quote.