I quite agree. It's hard to put into words but I am shocked at how Pro-McCain I am right now. He has completely changed my mind. I loved his specifics, his plain account of himself and how he has changed, and his direct appeal to voters - "I love this country and will always put it first." Has anyone noticed his new thrust - Reform Republicans?

I was reading through it to try and quote parts of it for you but, frankly, I knew I couldn't do it justice by breaking it up. Here is a link, the POW story starts a little less than half-way down the page.

I watched it on Fox news and afterwards some commentator said something to the effect that ''everybody knows all that." I'm with you, dh and I were heart-sick to hear all that he went through.

OK, since I can't quote everybody... you all are hilarious!!! And yes, I want to 'squish' Piper and Trig. (Trig made my dh go all misty, he's such an adorable kid!)

I agree... and my dh and I both have decided that Mr. Sarah Palin is purdy too!

I wasn't sure about it either until I watched my Primer video (an older version) and Demme expressly encourages the children to play with them. Just like an earlier poster, my ds has picked up amazing math facts purely through playing. He even mastered the color/# connection by himself- I have no clue how he did that. I had to make up a system for myself to do it! I follow all the other posters rules as well. Take care of them or they're off limits for play.

OK, I am far from a fashion guru but, from the looks of the collar I think it is a housecoat thing - maybe for spitup? Wasn't picture number 4 beautiful? I wouldn't mind that one being circulated about me.

This is what I didn't like: We are not generous because of this? That tweaked me. He didn't tell the full story so I wasn't totally clear if he meant entrepreneurs or employees. Entrepreneurs take risks, that's why they get paid better when a business thrives. If he was talking about employees, then the fact that some of us believe in a free-market economy doesn't make us lacking in generosity. Our country promises the 'pursuit' of happiness, business changes will happen. Exactly how many times do we have the government pass legislation to prevent individual job losses before our country goes in the tank? Blame the business that didn't change with the global economy and not the government. But if you do want the government to do something about it then you have to let businesses be competitive or as Obama called it, "give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else." You can't have it both ways. No one loved the destruction of New Orleans but few people have really given much thought to how the restructuring of FEMA after 9/11 affected this. (OK, is it effect or affect - always confusing) It was their first major disaster after this - there were tons of problems but that doesn't mean uncaring. So, I think 'sits on their hands' is just inflammatory. When he said "we are more compassionate" this came across to me to say, we should be have more compassionate but we just weren't. I don't believe in separating myself from government when I am ultimately responsible for voting that government into power, so apparently (despite all my prayers during that time,) I'm just not compassionate. For those who didn't get my O'Reilly reference: I believe O'Reilly has clearly made the case that those suffering from mental illness and with drug addictions routinely refuse help. (I'm paraphrasing him for sure.) So, again it is inflammatory to say the we our 'letting' our veterans sleep on the streets. I guess I should restate my original problem with it, maybe he wasn't ridiculing our country but he sure sounded like he was ridiculing me.

From Billoreilly.com

I appreciate that it is totally fair to request specific examples but I honestly don't have the time to go through his speech. My guess is some of what I felt was ridicule many people would call 'Bush Bashing' which is what I thought he wouldn't be about. He did also quote things like the very wrong facts from John Edwards-our-veterans-are-sleeping-under-bridges which Bill O'Reilly has, I believe, debunked quite thoroughly. This posting has reminded me to get back to work.

You just need to go a bit farther into his speech. I think that portion only took him about two minutes. I can't say for sure how long I stayed tuned-in but I recognize that part and it was past that.

My ds is flying through it as well. I would encourage you to let him continue. I think that, especially at this age, having a sense that school work is easy is a good thing. When it begins to gradually get more difficult you can both draw on the confidence that he is building right now.

Crying at the end, fair enough, but since I only could stay tuned at the beginning, I saw people crying just as he walked to the podium. I certainly don't blame Obama, I think that these people just need to remember that politicians are supposed to be public servants.

I didn't stay tuned-in for very long because he just started right out by ridiculing everything about our country. In clips I'd heard before from him, he sounded so uplifting, which is why I wanted to watch, I wanted to sort of 'get to know him.' I've been trying to tell my son that while I don't think he would be the best choice, if he is elected we will hope that he is a fabulous president. But in this speech he sounded like an angry Dem instead of the different politician that he was touted to be. Also, is it just me or is the crying in the crowd a little.. creepy?

How do you do it? You seem to find so many cool things... thanks!

I know that tone... and I receive actual head patting since I'm 5'2" and he is 6'3"

I realize that my dh knows about and accepts my nerdiness but what will he think when I ask for this for Christmas?:tongue_smilie:

I hope no one ever enlightens him! I would've been grinning from ear-to-ear.

Pop!... Ahhhh...

I have been thinking for a long time that it is definitely harder than it was when I was in high school. Last weekend I went to my 20 year HS reunion and it just emphasized it - now I can't even feel comfortable with those old friends! I would love a friendship-matchmaker!

I've loved seeing the responses of the athletes to his presence. Our volleyball players seemed so thrilled to have him there. I think his presence is only helpful, wherever he is the press is sure to follow which means more attention to the hard-working athletes, more attention to China's policies, more attention to the dismal smog conditions in Beijing. Not much wrong with all that.

Another Math-U-See user here. My ds-4 really likes the watching the videos with 'The Math Man' and playing at teaching back to me what he saw which is obviously an excellent learning tool... and so adorable!

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your wonderful news with us all.

Congratulations - enjoy the 'not sending your kid off to school.'

First, thank you both for your ideas. Second, thank you for asking about my curriculum. I'm about to burst because I'm so excited about it. (I'll try to be as brief as I can... we'll see how well I do.) When I was thinking about K, I just remembered fun manipulatives so I went searching. Somehow I stumbled upon these. They were designed by the original K inventor, Friedrich Froebel to teach amazing concepts about nature, science/math and art through gentle guidance from the teacher. (Much more than I had been seeking.) There are free access books from the late 1800's that instruct how to teach with these so that the focus in on the child learning through play, "play in work and work in play." I love playing as long as there is some point to it - I'm thinking these are going to be great. Thanks again for asking - my poor dh has had to listen to me bubbling forth for a couple months so it is nice to chat with other people about it. :001_smile: