Just curious why this program would be horrible for a child with actual artistic ability? My 8 year old daughter worked through some of those last spring and loved them... she's pretty artistic, too...

Hong Kong Disneyland (2 trips- 2008 & 2009) Disney World (um, once a week or more since January 2011 when we moved to Florida?)

Oh, I've always known that was you, Jannylynn! :)

Yes, Ester Maria- I was accused of plagiarizing in 9th grade because my history teacher said my writing was "too gramatically correct". Seriously.

I worked at a Vida Nueva weekend last year. If you're not familiar with the Vida weekends, it is a retreat for high school students. The kids are told on one night "before you can leave the room, you have to give 40 hugs!" or something inane like that. It was so beyond uncomfortable to me. I tried to get out of the room but there were so many people... I ended up being hugged against my will over and over. I was so NOT comfortable with the whole thing and I was there as an adult leader!! Anyway, after that the kids continue to hug US and each other when they see each other at school and throughout the rest of the weekend. Yuck. Anyway, SO sorry! I hate hate fake contrived fakeyfakeyness!

Oh, and thanks for the Meetup tip- I thought that was a dating website! Ha. :)

We haven't met any neighborhood kids, because they don't seem to play outside. I don't know where they go!! It is too cold for the neighborhood pool, or I'm sure we'd meet them there. It is a really nice area and there are sidewalks and lake/pond things and such so you'd think people would be OUT enjoying them. I walk a few miles in the morning sometimes and when I am walking, I always think I should post flyers "Wanted: A friend" So pathetic!! What group are you in? Can you PM me? We'd like a good diverse group.

Thanks for the suggestions. Ironically, right after posting this, we visited a new church and really liked it and it may very well be "the" church we end up at, so we may end up getting plugged in there and make friends. UmMusa- :( ((hugs)) I just felt like you needed a hug after I read your post. It does suck sometimes. I am on one "inclusive" hs yahoogroup, but I think I need to find some more groups. I have posted on it specifically looking for girls my girls' ages but haven't had much response. Honestly, I probably just need to be patient. But it is really hard for me to go from our lives in China (where we lived till Dec 2010) where I had social coffees with other moms almost every day and often went from a social coffee to a social lunch to school (where I taught) where I had more social time. I was constantly social, and now I just get lonely! I think this season of life is just different and it is good in many ways, I just miss friends! And I know my girls do, too.

Oh and Mystic Dunes is near Disney but is not a Disney property.

You could do Downtown Disney because it is free. It is just shopping and stuff with a Disney theme and a Lego store and stuff... It is a nice area to walk around. Free parking too. MK is fun, but it is $$$, no doubt! A rental car would be really helpful. There are buses and stuff, but it is not always convenient and can take FOREVER to get places on them.

oh... hmm, no, no Betty in charge! It was a Kristin...

ok, I just knew someone who was at LL on Friday who homeschools and has 9 yo twin girls. I don't know if she's on here though! That's my only guess. Did you go through the midflorida homeschool yahoo group? that was a huge group!! I think 320 people went?? Crazy!

Did she have twin 9 year old girls?

Our family's core group of friends has always been from church, with other friends picked up randomly from playgroups (when the kids were younger) and such. And some of our closest IRL friends were first online friends that we met up with. We moved to Orlando almost 2 months ago. We haven't found a church yet. It may take awhile... It just isn't going to be an easy process because we have some hurdles to cross as far as finding a place that's going to work for us. We're also wanting to be a bit peripheral and not overly involved with a church at the moment just to heal from some past hurts and not get bogged down by "ministry" and such. I have one daughter who recently started ballet & acro. I talk to a few other parents there and maybe we'll be friends at some point? I was kind of hoping for that. I have another daughter starting soccer in the spring, but there isn't a league until the end of February. Maybe we will find some families to be friends with there? I am a very outgoing person and usually make friends easily but with no "church crutch" to fall back on, I'm starting to wonder... where do you make friends if not at church? My husband is a teacher and his co-teachers are fine, I'm sure, but he is not chatty and would never ever invite them over for dinner. So I can't really count on that as a source of friends. Anyway, I'm feeling a little bit pathetic with my 1 friend in the whole city and 2 people I've met up with once from a homeschool board. We go to the library, but just to get books. We don't go to the park because my kids feel like they're too old for that. We ride bikes in the neighborhood but don't really see other families with similarly aged kids... I don't want to be friends with only homeschooling families because a lot of the homeschooling families in our area seem to be super-fundie and that's not our style. I would ideally like us to have a diverse group of friends. So, where do you make friends? Did you have to be intentional about it?

Yes. It probably is. I have never had hair at or past my bra band, so I am pretty close to the longest my hair has ever been. But if I had always had mine as long as yours I can imagine I might feel the way you do. Anyway, it isn't important. I just thought it was interesting because I hadn't thought about the ways people might classify that differently.

The reason this came up, FYI is that I have been growing my hair for awhile and recently commented that my hair was getting long. It led to a discussion with her about hair length. She said my hair was getting "almost to medium". Anyway, I said both of my girls have medium length hair and that mine was somewhere between medium and long. A recent photo of us is >>here<< if you wish to give your opinion! ;)

I douse many many things in tabasco sauce. I just love fiery hot sauce! It is not a statement on the quality or flavor (or lack thereof) in the food I'm eating. I just adore hot sauce. Except on cookies. Although... hmm... that could be good!

I have a debate with my daughter, and I'm curious what the consensus is... What length defines long hair (for a woman)? For example, if you were to describe a woman (to someone who has not met the woman) as having short hair, medium hair, or long hair what lengths would you place in those categories? Is hair longer than touching the shoulders long hair? Is hair longer than the collarbone long hair? Is hair longer than the armpits long hair? Is hair longer than the bra strap long hair? Feel free to explain....

They squick me out. I remember "re"praying "the prayer" many times in my youth because I was jealous that some people knew the exact time and date and it seemed to devalue my faith that I didn't know when "it" happened. And yes, all of those quotes were necessary.

Re: the car, the blackmail, etc... I think the fact that she has such a manipulative and jacked-up relationship with her father as an adult is further evidence that something wasn't right in her childhood. You aren't going to have a rational, normal, two-way relationship with someone who abused you. Control, manipulation, deceit, and abuse of power are the defining elements of that relationship and that doesn't end when adulthood begins. Is she probably completely messed up in her ways of relating to her father? Of course! He beat the crap out of her! I don't think the girl needs to defend her actions. She had her innocence stripped from her. Instead of her parents teaching her boundaries, they annihilated her boundaries. So yeah, she's gonna have boundary issues in adulthood that are evident to others. But I don't think it is fair to nitpick her because of her boundary issues- they are evidence of the damage he's done to her.

any update?

See the doctor! My husband was just in the hospital for 4 nights... young, healthy guy... had some minor lower back pain for a few days... then one day he had head-to-toe rigors (shaking) and 2 hours after tylenol his temp was 103.7. He was treated for sepsis and kidney and prostate infection. It was quite a serious thing and I wish we'd had some warning. With nausea and back pain you could be looking at a kidney infection or stones or something else... better safe than sorry!! And oh MY the hospital bills- antibiotics at home started earlier would have saved us a fortune!!! I about DIED when I saw the bills! Nearly $30K before insurance!!

My daughter and I. :) And the girls in their "happy witch" look... we had a great time!

Our neighborhood was insane. HUNDREDS of people everywhere... 2 houses had haunted garages you could go through- one even had a giant tent set up in front with a guy on stilts welcoming you and it was just quite the production! Kids got loads of candy, we had fun, I'm done! :) This was my girls' first Halloween in the US since they were 2 & 3 so it was quite fun for them. They got to learn all about different American candies they have never eaten and we had a little "tasting bar" at home afterwards where I cut the candy bars that were "new" to them into slivers and they could try them. And now I'm wiped!!!

"I was cleaning up and came across a lot of your daughter's things. Just wanted to clean up our house and keep it tidy, so I'm returning stuff to the owners! Have a great day!"