I coudn't pick two. We try to have a weekly family cleaning time. Includes, changing beds, vacuum, dusting, kitchen, bathrooms, & basic tidying. But, we also try to do a 10min cleanup every few days. This is mostly a basic clean up and tidying...whatever we can do in 10. It's amazing how much we can spiff in 10 min. But, it is getting harder to do the weekly cleanup because my kids are older and often busy on the weekends.

Henry Chadwick is/was a very respected author - both East and West. If you can find a church history book by him in the library, it's worth a look.

That is hilarious!

Oh yes, I've definitely thought about how I can make my interest in hospice care into a vocation. Not sure I can get the nursing degree, but I'd like to do something with patients.

It might not help you, especially since you've found something that works.

my kids don't participate in my blog, but I think that is a great idea.

Hee hee..

No it isn't pointless... but.... 20 carbs per day is only for induction on the Atkins diet. That lasts for 2 weeks only. I suspect that over 100 carbs per day is way too much if you're trying to lose weight. I was nursing a 6month old at the time. He wasn't nursing exclusively though. I think Atkins doesn't advise starting induction while nursing. I would suggest you got to http://www.lowcarbfriends.com and look around. It's a great place to learn and to get some company on your LC journey. Ask questions about it over there and you'll get a lot of helpful advice,. My sis last over 100lbs on Atkins and has kept it off for nearly 10 years. I lost about 35-40 lbs but haven't been as successful because I cheat too much. But, I've since gotten serious about my wheat allergy, so maybe that will help (we can hope).

I forgot to add: I'm breezing through the time management stuff. It doesn't really apply to my family. I'm ready to move onto Part 2, where it seems the meat of the book is.

I'm not far into either. Honestly, I DO NOT like the idea of writing a "family Purpose Statement" (where's the rolly-eyes). It seems way too touchy feely and a lot like belly button gazing to me. Let's just get on with doing some work! Besides, this is something I want to do, and now I have to bring my husband and kids in on it to discuss our "purpose". Sorry, don't mean to be snarky, but honestly, I hate that kind of stuff.

I just went through a fairly emotional move. I feel for you and hope that it will all work out wonderfully in the end.

I forgot to say thank you when I saw this yesterday. Hope it isn't too late for others. These are the type of books I need to encourage me.

I have two things. Weaving - learned how to weave about 18 months ago and I love, love, love it. End-of-life care... I'm currently a hospice volunteer and go visit patients once a week. I really wish I could do it more. Even though I'm no longer homeschooling I can't believe how quickly my week fills up, so once a week is about all I can do right now.

I volunteer for hospice and that sounds fairly normal for entering hospice care. Hospice is palliative care which means they provide medical and emotional help for those in the later stages of dying who are no longer in active treatment.

Amen! Dealing with a houseful of small children - diapers, toys everywhere, missed naps, sleepless nights, sharing colds, bickering and generally not sharing, et.c etc. etc. is SO much easier. And way less emotional. I have a friend who has 5 little ones, she's always telling me how much she wants more - which is great, really (I have 6 so I know that experience)... but I keep thinking, "Yes, babies and preschoolers are fun, but then you have to deal with them growing up."

we just moved and have 2 boys in college (and another living at home in cc). Anyway, when the boys came home at Thanksgiving we took them to the house and talked about making them feel like this is their home. This was very important to me because I always want my kids to know they can come home. I originally thought they would take the bigger basement bed-room w/ its own bath to share, but they both said that being upstairs w/ the other bedrooms would make them feel more like part of the fam. My 20 yr old dd, who is at cc, took the downstairs room.

Me too. We pretty much watch most things they put out - on the classics. The modern stuff is hit or miss (IMHO). Mysteries are usually pretty good. I miss Morse though.

I'm glad it was such a positive experience.

It's in the theaters

I saw it a week or so ago. I agree, good movie, but don't expect action. It's a thinkers movie.

When I was a teen I babysat for a family that was very frugal. One thing she did that seemed radical was she would take the bath water in buckets and fill the washer with it on the wash cycle. It was just one baby in the tub at the time so it wasn't that dirty but then again, she was washing dirty clothes with it. She rinsed with clean water, of course. I believe she told me she was at the point where the water co. was giving her money back! I don't know what else she was doing though. Now that I'm no longer on well water I'm pondering this for myself, at least a couple of times to see how well it works. I love to take a nice soaking bath at night in the winter, but it does use up so much water. It'd be nice to re-use it, but it might be too sloshy from the upstairs bath to the laundry room. We'll see.

Forgot to add "Martin Chuzzelwit"to the Dickens list. I just loved that mini-series.

You might like any of the Masterpiece Theater adaptations of Dickens novels. My favorites are: Our Mutual Friend Bleak House Little Dorrit Also, "Cranford" and "North & South" (NOT the Swazye mini-series) which are both adaptations of Elizabeth Gaskill novels. All are brilliantly done, IMHO.

Thanks! This is very helpful.

I apologize for my ignorance. Can you tell me exactly what this is called? Did you put this on top of your existing insulation in your attic?