I think proper etiquette says that if one is invited to multiple wedding showers for the same person, one need not bring a gift to all of them. I wouldn't worry about a wedding gift. I'm sure they know by now that you love and cherish them a lot, and I doubt they would even notice the absence of a wedding gift, let alone comment on it or take it negatively!

I have a sibling whose middle name is Lucia, pronounced Loo-CHEE-ah.

As far as I know, the whole original point of the AG dolls was to give preteen girls a doll who was based on a character like them, who *wasn't* wearing shirts that said Hottie. So yes, I agree with you on the distastefulness of those clothes. On a side note, I have a Samantha doll as well! Unfortunately they are no longer making her or any of her accessories..but all the AG doll clothes fit all the dolls, so it's not like you can't find clothes.

I think I'm a bit confused. Are we listing the books we own which we think would actually be banned? Or are we listing the books we would save at all costs? For me those two lists are different. :) Some of the most controversial books I own are things like Harry Potter, the Philip Pullman trilogy (the name of which I've forgotten), The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, some Anne Rice books, The Mists of Avalon..but maybe those only seem controversial to me because of how I was raised? Or they would only be controversial in certain environments. I also own the Bible, several Christian books, Plato's Complete Works (thank you UD), Paradise Lost...and many many other books. I would have a hard time figuring out what needed to be hidden and what could safely stay on the bookshelf.

I completely agree on the car seat issue, and on everyone being buckled in when driving. In fact, TX now requires everyone in the car to be wearing a seat belt as far as I know. I think some of the booster seat laws are a bit odd though. It just seems weird to me that a 10-year-old or even a 12 year old would still be in a booster unless they were super small for your age? Do any of you ladies have links to more info/research about the usefulness/purpose of booster seats? :) I'd like to educate myself more.

I've been a church goer all my life, but my family switched denominations quite a few times, so I was exposed to a lot of churches. I've always been grateful that I've had that exposure!! I think it would be awesome to take children to different churches so they could see what they were like! I'd suggest doing research on the way the service is run beforehand, so they have some idea of what to expect, and going through the motions (e.g. standing/sitting when others do - could probably get away with sitting instead of kneeling) with the churchgoers during the service. Also, while communion/Lord's Supper may be offered, you probably wouldn't want to participate. At Catholic or Orthodox churches you would not be allowed to unless you were a part of their denomination. I think bigger churches would be better for this..you'll be less likely to be singled out as visitors. Also, some churches do like the children going to a separate children's church, but as far as I know you can choose to keep your children with you instead. (My parents always did.)

Are you trying to get your students ready for the college environment, or do you want your students to just turn in their papers when they're supposed to? At the college I attend, late papers are either not accepted or have a letter grade deducted for every day they're late. Missed tests are usually not able to be made up. If there are extenuating circumstances (serious family crisis, serious illness, death, massive conflicting papers in different classes) these rules can be negotiated, but the student who sleeps in is out of luck. So, if you are trying to get students ready for college, I'd say follow guidelines like that. If you just want to make sure your kids get stuff done, I like ideas posted by people like Faithr. :) I think they would definitely be effective!

MacBooks are awesome. Will your dd need to use any specific music software? I use iWork instead of Microsoft Office, and the only problem I encountered in typing up papers is that the papers somehow shorten themselves page-length wise when I export them as a .doc file. (When going by word count there's no problem.) I got around this by printing the papers myself instead of changing the file format and emailing them, or by emailing them as .pdfs. Also, this was with an older version of iWork. The new one has better Word compatibility. I love Keynote, as well, though I haven't used it much. I think the biggest thing with iWork vs Microsoft Office for Mac is whether she will be emailing everything, or printing papers/running powerpoints from her own computer. With the latter, it won't matter which she has. With the former, I would guess Office would be better.

Actually..in a way..block scheduling where you take 4 classes one semester and 4 classes the next is more like college than high school. Every college class I've ever taken was a unit in itself, though some classes (e.g. math) did build on each other. I can absolutely see how this could present a problem in math/language courses especially, however. College gets around the problem because people usually take courses that build on each other consecutively, and then they're done with the subject. With high school you need to remember the info for standardized tests, etc. let alone other courses. My high school had A/B days when I was there, and it worked really well.

I've always lived in places with fireworks bans - I'm in a large city/suburbs area. I'm perfectly all right with it! I don't really think it's safe for individuals to be setting them off around here, private properties are just too small. Plus it's a fire hazard, and much of the time by July everything is too dry. However, I think all the more rural areas around here allow fireworks by individuals. So anyone who really wants to set off fireworks can drive an hour max and be in a place where it's legal. At the turn of the year 2000, our neighbors across the street set off a couple of small fireworks, though..that was fun. :D

My ring is important to me because it's beautiful and it is a sign of our marriage. It's something that others can see, as well. I think the fact that I'm young to be married also makes it more important. I actually have two wedding rings, my actual wedding ring and another one which is much more durable. I wear it while working. :) My husband never takes his ring off, for similar reasons.

I got married in January of this year, so I'm still a newlywed! :) The Bad: It was *cold* and my shoes and the bridesmaids' dresses were not designed for cold! Yes, it was January, but we're also in TX, and it was below freezing, which is very rare. DH's and my decision to get married (we were engaged in May, planned to get married the next May, but in October moved the wedding up to January) was greeted with almost universal disapproval..and led to some intense family drama, to say the least, which was miserable. The Semi-Bad: Our wedding ended up being way bigger than we expected. DH's parents wanted to invite a lot of people, most of whom DH and I didn't know. The Good: The family drama was all worked out by the time the wedding happened. We had many, many people volunteer to help out with various aspects of the wedding. The reception food was provided by various people from our church/my in-laws' church. Volunteers set up everything. Both my in-laws and my parents contributed to paying for things. My parents paid for our cakes, which were absolutely wonderful. Also, the entire wedding was not expensive at all! We had great photography, both the person we hired (someone we had gone to high school with - but she could actually take pictures!!) and a guest who took many pictures and gave them to us afterwards. My dress was beautiful. I loved it. It was from David's Bridal, an as-is dress, and it was perfect. My bouquet and all the other flowers were done by someone who attended our church, and his daughter. I really didn't care much about what they looked like. My bouquet was *PERFECT*. The wedding and reception was actually very, very wonderful. In fact, all of it was wonderful. The honeymoon was short, but very nice and peaceful. And then we were married!! So yeah, I really enjoyed my wedding! :D

I went to college on a scholarship, along with good financial aid. I was undecided at first, then declared a German major in my sophomore year and quickly ended up switching to history. I'm doing history because I like it, and because I have a really good deal money- and education-quality-wise at this college. So, there's no point in dropping out now!! If you want to major in history, you can do teacher certification and become a high school teacher. You can also go on to grad school for something else after majoring in history (e.g. library science, law school). Plus, any 4 year degree somehow makes you look better to potential employers, even if the job in question has almost nothing to do with your degree.

XL twin sheets are harder to find and I think cost a bit more. I've seen them at Target and Walmart..then again, that's where I've gotten all my sheets! The selection grows a lot around back-to-school time. If you don't care much about thread count there will be plenty of inexpensive sets.

I got a checking account at 16, when I got my first job. At the time, the rules said that I wasn't supposed to have a full checking account as a minor. However, my mom also put her name on the account and so I ended up with a full, adult account complete with debit card. However, when we wanted to have my mom removed from the account after I turned 18 we were told that wouldn't be possible. I still have that account, actually..I keep it open just in case I need to transfer money to my mom or she to me. I got my own account by myself after I turned 18.

Have them read. Read, read read. College classes usually work based on a syllabus, with a few major assignments due at different points. The students are expected to plan how to get those assignments done by the due dates. The professors are not going to give them a plan of action. You could emulate this. In high school I never had to deal with cumulative midterms and finals. In college, I did, and they still cause me quite a bit of stress! If you can, make up a midterm and a final for a subject, and put stuff on there from the entire course. That way their first cumulative final won't be nearly as high stakes as the college one.

I picked the second option (Christian believing in combination of creation and evolution), but I'm not entirely happy with it. :P I believe God created everything. I have no idea how He did it, but I know He did it. I believe that Adam and Eve were real people. I do not believe that every living being in the world came from one organism. In other words, I do think microevolution occurs, but am unconvinced as to macroevolution. Most of all, I don't think we should be arguing with each other and debating non-stop over this..especially Christians vs Christians. The important thing, to me, is that God did create the universe etc. He could have done it any number of ways, including some no one's thought of I'm sure, and none of us were there. So..yeah.

I didn't read them until about 12, because when they first came out my parents were dubious about them. I read the first four books within a month. I think the later books may not be very appropriate for 8 year olds, but the first ones certainly are. The books get darker and more adult as the characters age.

I am currently 21, married, almost done with college, and expecting a baby. I am independent. I even have health insurance, which my DH and I pay for independently. (My college does offer health insurance for students to buy, but it is *awful* and covers very little.) HOWEVER: this health insurance *DOES NOT* cover maternity. The *ONLY* insurance plans which cover maternity are *GROUP* plans, which as far as I know cannot be acquired by individuals unless they get them as part of a job. NO job my DH or I can get at this point in our lives offers their employees insurance. I'm hoping to get on Medicaid so that my prenatal care and delivery can be covered. I'm also going to a midwife, which is much cheaper than a hospital birth. If I can't get government aid we might be able to scrape up the money out of pocket or work out a payment plan without bankrupting ourselves, but it would still be hard. The new regulations will apparently let anyone under the age of 26 back onto their parents' work insurance plans under certain conditions...including those who are married. This could be very, very good for me, because I would be covered in case of pregnancy, which cannot be achieved otherwise except through government aid. Also, my parents are willing to let me back on their insurance. No parent should be obligated to cover their adult children for insurance, especially if the children are basically independent otherwise. But if parents want to have adult children on their insurance still, this gives them the option. And it gives the children/young adults without good jobs a chance at *really good* insurance which they will not be able to get any other way.

This is one of my absolute favorite shows. It's the best show that never got off the ground. It's a sci-fi western about outlaws in space. It's extremely character driven. The camera work is different - you get to see ceilings, walls, floors, the flow of the ship they are on most of the time. The dialogue is brilliant. And the theme song is absolutely amazing. Watch the pilot first!! Everything is really confusing without it. Then watch The Train Job, which should be the second episode on the DVD (and was the first one aired). And if you like the TV show, there are at least two comics which have been done, another one coming about about Shepherd Book, and the movie Serenity, which is the should-have-been-second-season smushed into two hours of movie.

I was a pantsless Christian for a while as a child. We could only wear skirts, and they had to be below the knee or longer. I think most pantsless Christians think women and girls should wear longer skirts. A miniskirt would never be considered acceptable. Skirts are supposed to be more modest because they do not follow women's curves. I still love skirts, and think they are more flattering than many pants styles available today. :)

I grew up in Duncanville, which is south of Dallas. I graduated from the city's public high school in 2007. I love Duncanville. The suburbs south of Dallas tend to be lower income, and the ones north of Dallas tend to be higher income. Southern Dallas is also more diverse, as far as I know. No stats here though. I currently live in Irving, which is really a proper city by itself and has a lot of diversity. It's really only miserable if you spend a lot of time in the heat, you come from a cold climate, or your car does not have AC. That being said, I grew up in cars without AC and we survived. Cost of living is not bad. My husband is a waiter in a higher income business area and it pays for all our bills easily. That said there are only two of us. I'm not really experienced enough with life to know how it compares to other states. We have no state income tax!! I think someone else has already said the sales tax. It's never bothered me. Homeschooling is very popular indeed. The Dallas County Community College District has many different community colleges. Some are better than others but I believe all are good. I know of multiple homeschoolers doing dual credit programs. I *think* that homeschoolers can take so many classes for free, but I've never done the program so I'm not positive. School districts, as far as I know, are good. As I said, I attended Duncanville High School, which is a *great* school if you take advantage of the offered opportunities. The magnet schools in Dallas proper are said to be wonderful, and I knew people in my school district who were able to go to the magnet schools for free. Highland Park, the ultimate high-income area, has a wonderful school district, of course, but pretty much all the students from other schools have very little good to say about the kids and the attitudes. Having grown up here, I don't think there are very many tourist attractions. There are a lot of different shopping spots. Cedar Hill and Arlington are the ones I'm most familiar with. There's Cowboys Stadium, the Ballpark at Arlington, several malls, several museums, a couple of zoos and aquariums..so I suppose there's plenty to do. The Dallas Library system is phenomenal. If you live in a city in this area you can get a TexShare card, which will give you free, limited access to any library including the Dallas Library. Or you can live in Dallas proper, or go to school in Dallas proper, which gives you a free card. Or you can buy one and get unlimited access. My DH and I have gone to Austin once or twice for a weekend trip. We have relatives there. Weekend trips aren't something we do usually, or that my family did when I was younger, so I'm not sure what exactly you could do. Honestly, it takes a while to get out of TX from Dallas, so...

I didn't realize until I was a college student with a wonderful, older lady supervising me, that women could not do things like have their own credit cards not too long ago. Or they couldn't get into graduate schools. Etc. etc. Honestly, I have to be a feminist. Because I believe that women should get paid the same as men do if they are doing the same work! It is, pure and simple, common sense. I don't think women should be barred from professions simply because they are women. I think women should be able to get as much education as they like. And pregnant women should never be fired for being pregnant. Also, pregnancy should NOT be considered a preexisting condition, and all health insurance should cover it! However. I do NOT think "equality" means that women should have the right to have an elective abortion for any reason whatsoever. It has nothing to do with my religion, and everything to do with the fact that I have eight younger siblings and have never understood how one can draw a line between an embryo and an infant. (And I have read stories of women dying as a result of *LEGAL* abortions. It didn't stop happening just because it became legal.) Because of this I may never donate to any feminist organizations. I won't give money to support something I abhor. I can't in good conscience do that. It seems to me the feminist movement was about a lot more than abortion, and that shouldn't be the litmus test! Then again, I'm only 21...so what do I know? Heh.

I bought myself a laptop the summer after I graduated from high school, with graduation money and money I had saved from working. My parents had paid for a two-week summer program at a college, which is why I bought the computer. Otherwise I believe it would have been my graduation present. Before that, I had free access to the family computer, if no one else was using it or needed to use it.

Well, I had trouble finding the actual list of books on the Sonlight British Lit core..but I looked at the picture, so hopefully these will be ones they didn't mention! The first thing that comes to mind is Dickens. He's written many many books, some more popular than others. Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Our Mutual Friend, Great Expectations..those are just the ones off the top of my head which I've read and would recommend. I have not yet read Bleak House, but apparently it is very good as well. Jane Austen, of course. Everyone reads Pride and Prejudice, but she has several others which are less popular. The other Bronte sisters wrote books as well. You could try looking those up. They are not well-known, but they are good. I'm sure I've read many other British literary works, but I don't think of those things when I'm reading them, so this is all I have for now.