She said "bossy-bRitches" not the other one. Not to nitpick, but nobody was swearing.

DH might be getting me this for Christmas...not sure if he's aware of that yet...I made it easy for him. He just needs to wrap it when it arrives.

They nailed it with PA....we do eat a lot of bacon 'round here.

On at dusk, off in the morning. We live in an unlit neighborhood (no street lights) and our HOA asks that everyone keep outdoor lights on all night. So we do (so compliant!) It's still pretty dark on our street, though.

My boys are all almost exactly 3 years apart. It makes us appear to be under-control, super-planner type of people. We are not. Nature is funny and although all of our kids are naturally spaced, the boys came like clockwork, every 3rd spring. That said, there are nice things to the 3 year spacing. Never had 2 kids in diapers. Our 3 year olds were always excited about the new babies and there was little jealousy. Hand-me-down clothes work out well. My brother and I were 3 years apart and got along very well growing up.

We bought our boys BB guns when they were 5 and 8. They are now 7 and 10 and still enjoy using them. Was the 5 yr old a bit young? Maybe. But he enjoyed it and took it very seriously. They have never used them without supervision. Both boys have also used BB guns/archery in cub scouts, starting at age 6.

I have had an enlarged thyroid since I was in my teens. All testing has always been normal. Because my thyroid was large, I had periodic ultrasounds (every few years) to check things. A few years ago, they found a thyroid nodule. It was stable in size (around a half cm) for a while but got a little bigger, so it was biopsied. Biopsy was negative. After my 4th pregnancy, the nodule grew quickly and became so large that I could see it and it began to interfere with swallowing. I had a partial thyroidectomy a year ago and have had no issues since. At this point, my labs are all still normal and I'm hopeful that the remaining half will do its job and I won't need medication.

Forever, I think. My hair really only cooperates with one style (a bob.) I've had some variation on the bob since I was a tot.

I had to laugh when I read this. I've been trying to convince one of my kids that dentistry is the way to go - we have pretty awful teeth in this family, I figure having a dentist would be quite convenient. In all seriousness, though, DH and I have given this a lot of thought. He had a lot of "steering" as a kid, ended up in an engineering program that he hated, transferred and wound up with a business/finance degree, which he doesn't really love but it works. I had almost zero "steering" and, after trying out about ten very different majors, took six years to graduate with a nursing degree. There has to be a middle ground and it's our goal to find it with our kids! We plan on giving them as much real-life exposure to different career paths as we possibly can. And, obviously, a well-rounded education that would allow them to pursue whatever field of study they choose.

My kids want one. They want to name it themselves....I think they think it's like a pet or something.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

We have the Rotator Professional. Love it!

This! Safety razor blades are incredibly inexpensive and give an excellent shave. Even the "expensive" blades are less than $1 each. The upfront cost was about $75 but DH has had the same razor handle for 8 years and it won't need to be replaced for a long while.

I used to say "call in" but my current workplace (of 7 years) uses the term "call off" so that's what I use, too.

We have Shark Rotator and it's been great. It has the lift-away feature for doing the stairs, easy enough that my kids can handle it. It works well on hard floors, carpet, and area rugs (we have all kinds of floors in our house.) I've been extremely happy with it, particularly since it was so reasonably priced. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

Don't skimp on a stethoscope! Buy a good one, and try some out first to see what works best for you. Littmans can be a little spendy but are worth the price. They have replacement parts available so they can last a very long time.

My tall brother buys most of his clothes at Eddie Bauer or LL Bean.

Another vote for a Brother laser printer. We've had ours for 3 years and it's been great. Bought it for $70 on amazon. I buy the generic toner cartridges and have never had any problems with them.

It sounds like you're doing quite well for your first month or so of homeschooling....take a deep breath and give yourself a little credit! It sounds like you have a full schedule and it's tough. I can sympathize, my DH is doing his MBA and it's a huge time suck. I work, too, and balancing all of that is insane sometimes. When we started homeschooling, I went through a similar phase...I was worried! All the time! I wasn't sure if what we were doing was right or enough. Finally, my DH suggested that I treat HSing like I would treat a new job. With a nice, comfy orientation period. I wouldn't expect to start a new job and do everything right the first week. HS was completely new to our family and we did need time to adjust and work out the kinks. Ramp up gradually. Even after a few years of this, I don't start every subject immediately. I ease in and add something new every week or so until we are working at "full capacity." I had to be kind but firm with friends and family when it came to adapting to our new schedule. My mom and I used to chat on the phone every morning at a certain time. I had to change that, otherwise it interfered with school. Friends started inquiring if we were available instead of just assuming that since we were home, we were free. Again, it took time to adjust. This year I've been better about planning. I've had to carve out a little time on the weekend to sit down and plan the upcoming week. Planning our schedule, meals, etc. makes me feel a little more in control. Ultimately, watching my kids succeed and learn and progress was what allowed me to let go of a lot of my anxiety. The proof was there that we were moving in the right direction. By the end of the first year I was a lot more comfortable and confident. Keep looking for other homeschool moms in your area. I found a bunch through a co-op and it's really nice to talk to other HSers about this kind of stuff face to face.

Those are my favorite! I love all See's truffles but those are amazing. :thumbup: My other favorite are the scotchmallows. Mmm...

What an amazing young woman.

Don't get too worried about it - it's really not that bad! The askpauline.com site is wonderful! I particularly appreciated all the portfolio samples she had on her site, it made making our first portfolio very simple. The paperwork boils down to a once-a-year kind of thing. When I turn in the portfolio at the end of the school year, I file my paperwork for the next year. Then I'm done for a whole year. Way less overwhelming than I had anticipated.

I usually use "Native American" since I grew up with a lot of people from India and it got very confusing otherwise. I don't live in an area with a lot of Native American people, so I don't have any first hand experience with what they might prefer. Anybody know why the Smithsonian named their museum the Museum of the American Indian? Just curious why they chose that particular name.

We had terrible stinky laundry issues until we installed a water softener. I could.not get my clothes smelling clean. We bought a softener at Sears and DH installed it. Around the same time, our front loader washer died and we replaced it with a top loader HE. The combo has been life changing. Seriously.

:grouphug: I'm so sorry.