I figured it was Cranberry Thanksgiving! We own that one. Thanks for the reminder about doing it soon, are you doing FIAR? In my library, it would cost $0.40 to keep a book four days past the due date. I have heard of libraries where the fine is $1 per book per day, and this is usually for books that have been reserved/requested by others. It seems that people with higher fees are more likely to get the books back on time, especially when the fees can quickly add up to the cost of the book! I can't say it's the right thing to do, but I have kept videos a day late so we could watch one or just because dh was away and one of the kids was really sick on return day and I decided it was worth paying the fine.

I thought that too but found out you can be called every year but do not have to serve. You do have to serve every 3 years. The last time I was called I was breastfeeding, I have a child with severe food allergies and I was homeschooling so I put them all.

Sugar withdrawal! If you've really avoided it in any form for a long while, like I had, then had it, then stopped, I wonder if it affected you. It takes about 3 days to get over the withdrawal. How do you feel now?

Karen, I'm wondering since I was with you on Friday, if you were just exhausted from that Corn Maze. My dh thought he was coming down with something that night but he went to bed and slept a lot. I too slept a lot after all that walking around. I don't know if you did anything after the Corn Maze but we did. My dh and I were exhausted yesterday too. Christina

Jotham's Journey is back in print! http://www.amazon.com/Jothams-Journey-Storybook-Arnold-Ytreeide/dp/0825441749/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224990510&sr=1-1 We have read each of the three stories, Jotham's Journey, Bartholomew's Passage, and Tabitha's Travels. We pick one each year for Advent. I read someplace last year, but cannot find it now, that if Jotham's Journey does well the others will be printed.We really enjoy them and plan to continue the rotation. Warning: The story is suspenseful and there is some real action. There is a scary character and my dd did not want to hear this before bed when she was younger. Last year when she was 6 she was ok with it. My ds9 has enjoyed it since he was 5.

Magnesium. Natural Calm brand. Cheaper at Vitacost. http://www.vitacost.com/productResults.aspx?Ntk=products&x=0&ss=1&y=0&Ntt=natural%20calm

Get frustrated of course, take a break sometimes, see who's hungry. What I found we needed - Fish oil - Carlson's Lemon Flavor Fish oil - for the Omega 3s. We ran out recently for over a week and just got more. What a difference it makes! We already take Cod Liver Oil, but found that we need more Omega 3s.

Here is the second (and final) set of pictures I have: Gretchen in NJ, Regular Mom, Susan Wise Bauer [attach]526[/attach] Gretchen in NJ, Regular Mom, Susan Wise Bauer [attach]525[/attach] Elaine, Gretchen in NJ, Regular Mom [attach]524[/attach] Shannon, Mary C. in NJ (not the same as Mary in NJ), Karenciavo [attach]523[/attach] Susan Wise Bauer & *anj* [attach]522[/attach]

Here is the first set of pictures: Susan Wise Bauer & *anj* Gretchen in NJ, Regular Mom, Susan Wise Bauer Elm in NJ & Jumping In Puddles Jumping In Puddles, jsmehaffy, Sahamamama

Lucy, I'm Home! (click on link for audio)

Well, is it a Speedo or isn't it?

I like it! I think mine is better though! Classical Michele's DH in action.

I like Mattress Cowboys the best, but I think it is just a local store in Central NJ. The Queen size bed I bought pre dh from 1-800-Mattres is too firm. I wanted firm, but I also wanted soft. There was no place to try out their beds, I just had to take their word for it. After we got married and then bought our house, we went to Mattress Cowboys to find a King size bed. I told them what we wanted, firm but soft, and I told them the brand and name of the one I had and when I bought it. The salesperson was able to direct us to 3 choices and I found I liked the firm pillowtop but what I liked best was that we could try them out. I still find I get the best sleep on that bed even though it is almost 12 years old. We actually drove by a few weeks ago and I was happy t see the store still there. :)

Frustrating isn't it? :willy_nilly: If the farmer consistently overcharged, then the co-op owners would check so they do not overpay. If they overpay, it would come out of their pocket. I'm guessing the co-op owners are going to have to check anyway so they do not overpay, which I'm sure is sometimes the case since sometimes they probably make a mistake too (like maybe today?). This means that the checking is really not undue effort, since they would do it to benefit themselves or technically protect themselves from paying too much. They are going to check anyway, although you might think they shouldn't have to. Some people accept their grocery receipt as is, others check it for accuracy. I once found I was undercharged by two cases of a product. I was charged for eaches instead of the two cases. I went back to the store to explain since I, in good conscience, could not keep the extra $24. They decided to only charge me $12 more and only since I insisted. At that point I felt I had met my obligation and if they chose to let me keep $12 so be it. What happens when the co-op owners find an error which puts the bill too high in the farmer's favor when it should not be that high? Surely they adjust the amount they send so they do not overpay the farmer. Maybe for $1 they don't mind but probably they don't want to pay an extra $5 or $10 or $50 or $300. So they deduct the amount in error and pay what they owe. Fair enough. What happens when they find an error in their favor? If they know they were undercharged, how much "extra" do they keep? Do they keep the extra $1 dollar? Maybe since that might be considered a basic accounting principle - anything under a dollar just round up. What about $2? $5? $20? $50? $300? (I'm sure this has happened) I would venture to guess that the conscience of the co-op owners would bother them if they kept too much or what they did not consider fair. They might say that for the extra effort involved in researching this farmers bill, they are going to keep a credit of say $1 - $5 if they find it in their favor. Or should they? I think the $1 is reasonable, but keeping more than that seems like the farmer is being cheated or that it would be stealing. Again, it might depend upon how much the co-op owners would be willing to overpay in error since the error could be in either direction. If I know, then my conscience (the Holy Spirit) would prompt me to do the right thing even if it takes more effort.

motherwise.org? Does it have anything to do with Babywise? Please let's not discuss the merits or drawbacks of Babywise. I am on the Bible Study Leaders Team as an admin., and I usually help recommend Bible studies, etc. One of the leaders suggested this site. Her children are grown, and the other leaders children are grown, so they asked what the three of us with young children thought about the site before we recommend it to others in the group. The group is focused on marriage and parenting studies since most of the ladies in the group have dc from birth through 5th grade. Thanks~!

This is available on Netflix. Search "Basic Math" on the Netflix site. Netflix has one DVD per lesson instead of the 6 DVDs offered on the Teaching company site. 3 appear to be missing: http://www.netflix.com/RoleDisplay/Murray_Siegel/30022350 Algebra 1 is also available from Netflix but I do not see TTC's Algebra 2. Geometry is also available from Netflix. Chemistry is also available from Netflix.

My portable GPS can serve as a speedometer, as long as the satellite connection doesn't fail! But I'd have to be out of the map mode and go into the trip mode and I prefer the map mode since I like the visual. You could learn to count seconds from a certain spot to figure out how fast you are going, but you'd have to know how far it is. For example, if you have telephone poles a set distance apart down a highway, you can figure out your speed by knowing how long (time) it takes you to pass from one to the other, or every 10th one. But who knows this or want to figure it out, and then only drive those routes! Sounds like a royal pain! Certainly you can review with your dc about measuring your speed. Here's a link/quote: For us it's a broken gas gauge on our 1999 Chevy Venture. Our other car is a 1995.:lol: Our solution: We know how large the tank is - 25 gallons but we pretend it is 20 so we never run out. We actually have a digital gauge that tells us how much gas it thinks we used - but we know it's off by a gallon or two and we are not sure if this is due to idling or what so we fill at 17 or 18 gallons. We know how many miles we should be able to drive on a full tank so when we hit 300 we start wondering when we will be by our favorite gas station and at 350 we buy no matter what. So the problem the other day was that the gas pump quit before it was full. We live in NJ so we are not allowed to pump our own gas. We asked the guy to try again and again it quit too soon. So we left and knew we had to fill up within a day or two since our solution relies on always filling up at the pump. It's a micromanaging pain in the behind, but I'm used to it. Once we get a newer van in the next year or so, I'm sure it will take a while to realize I don't have to constantly check the mileage and estimated usage, just the tank level. Christina

Based Debbie in OR's recommendation we bought the Kodak Easyshare 5500 All-in-One yesterday and we too really like it. One of dh's work buddies has the 5300 and he likes it. I wanted the duplexer so we needed the 5500 to get that feature and it's great. It was on sale at Circuit City yesterday for $30 off so we bought the last one in the store - although they had just sold the display 5500 earlier that day. It was that or spend more $$ for more color ink for our old HP deskjet 952c that had started streaking anyway. The ink is $9 for black and $14 for color and there is black on the color cartridge for photo printing. This is the cheapest we have seen ink and it used to seem like so much just to buy ink - more than what we might spend for dinner out. The 5500 can also scan multiple pages into one .pdf file whether using the flatbed or the automatic feeder. We already had an Epson scanner which could create one .pdf from multiple pages so we like that this one has the same feature, but our Epson does not have an automatic feeder, only a flatbed. We'll probably keep the Epson for awhile as we learn the new features of the Kodak Easyshare and since the Easyshare is in a precarious position that won't allow it to open easily to scan books - not that I do that too often. I feel "freer" knowing that I can set something to print and walk away or set something to scan or copy without having to micromanage the printer/scanner as much. Thanks Debbie in OR for a great suggestion!

Glad it turned out to be an enjoyable evening for all!

In 1996 we offered $40K less than the asking price. Realtor thought I was crazy or was upset that she was getting less of a commission, but put in the offer for us. Even dh thought I was crazy and thought we might lose the house but agreed no way were we willing to pay the asking price and end up not having 20% to put down. The owners actually had an offer about $10K higher than their reduced asking price when we saw it, that they rejected but then their asking price was $40K higher. I knew it was a divorce situation, she had left him unexpectedly in the summer while he was at work and the neighbors had tried to find his work number to let him know. He had moved out in December. We saw it July 1st the year after she had moved out. I knew I had bargaining room because they needed to sell. We were preapproved, had 20% to put down and it was our first home so we could close at any time (no ties to selling another home). We ended up splitting the difference and agreed to close within 6 weeks. We came up $20K they came down $20K and they did pay for minor repairs - stretched out wall to wall carpet that needed to be reset and fascia that had blown off in a storm. In the end they came down almost $60K from their original asking price (higher than the asking price when we saw it) and accepted our offer. PM me if you want real numbers to make sense of this.

Ah! We had similar issues our first year. Our homeopath started two of us on 6c and two of us on 200c, all remedies in water with succussions. That helped b/c we could gradually increase the dose each time. It got to be a little crazy that first year since my dc needed their remedies more than once per day and once per day of the chronic remedies is usually the max. I did end up using Zyrtec up until the middle of June, especially for my oldest who was also having asthma symptoms. I found out later from my friend who is a pediatric nurse, that she learned in her office that Zyrtec and similar meds can trigger asthma symptoms. I took my oldest off of Zyrtec shortly after learning that and he has only had 1 or 2 wheezing episodes during illness, and not for a year recently. Since we have all continued on our remedies they have worked "deeper" each year and I find we needed them less often and less quantity each time, while the dose level goes up. I also learned from my homeopath that she learned in her recent class with Dr. Luc DeSchepper that if necessary you can stir you last dose and give it again as long as you do not succuss it until the next day. My worst allergy symptom this Spring was an itchy nose and a sneeze or two which pales in comparison to prior years of needing Allegra daily for months! My ds9 is on the same remedy bottle since Feb. 2007 and it's still working, although this spring his need changed from Calc Carb to Pulsatilla. If you are working with a homeopath you can get to the point of not needing a remedy but on the way you can need it less often. That's my goal, to heal enough that remedies are no longer or quite rarely needed. One dc is almost there. I'm not sure how familiar you are but chronic remedies can heal, acute remedies are for specific symptoms.

I like Bible Study Guides for All Ages. This year we did Leading Little Ones to God but we are going back to BSGFAA shortly. I like how we read a chapter in whichever version we choose, and then review it together at each child's level. My dc like the Student Pages and the summary cards. My dc participate in Pioneer Clubs and have weekly memory verses, but I like that BSGFAA goes deeper into each Biblical person's life, chapter by chapter. We finished Joseph and are near the end of Daniel (about lesson 19), but I want to get back to it and plan to this summer. I know it's not chronological, but I've gotten over that. In 4 years (if we do 2 lessons per week) we could cover the entire Bible in depth. It looks like they have now completed up through lesson 312 (year 3) of the new version of pages, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. When I first looked they had only completed year 1.

Which Summer Olympics unit study? We really liked Amanda Bennett's Summer Olympics study 4 years ago and are waiting for it to come out again. Oh and I too took a long needed nap (needed for about 4 weeks) and I too woke up at 6:30 pm!

I addition to all of the above, since you should get cleared of everything else - could it be Candida? How to Overcome Candida Part 1 Candida Part 2 Candida Part 3 Bee has a Yahoo Group.

My ds has lots of food allergies including milk, soy and nuts. The closest I have come is to take allergy safe Enjoy Life chocolate chips and temper them by heating them in a double boiler with water underneath. I add some coconut oil and pour the melted chocolate into molds around holidays. It's not exactly what you are looking for but it's what I've done to be able to give him shaped safe molded chocolate without paying too much. When I look at the price for equivalent safe molded chocolates it just seems so high.