I went to BSF last night. I was wondering if anyone else goes? I'm excited! This will keep me accountable with my quiet time with the Lord. ;)

Can someone PM me her email? I used to have it, but can't find it. She doesn't have the option on her profile on the boards. Hmpfh! I miss her, she always had to much to add to the boards. :001_smile: Tracie

thanks sleepy. Now to figure out which one she uses. You can't beat the price! I will have to email her. Thanks again, Tracie

Ria, I'm not even sure if she's here, haven't seen her. Anyway, she used an inexpensive attendance/scheduler and I'm looking for it. TIA, Tracie

7 months is a long time to show a house and keep it up where someone could show up at any time. Phew! Now to pack... lol Where are you moving to? New city or bigger house (or both?) :D Tracie

I have so many projects that need attending to, books being one of them. No, not much gets done with our current situation. Just surviving one day at a time. I did learn that it takes 3 shampoos and rinses to get poo smell out of a toddlers hair. And babies don't like nail brushes. So, I'm scrubbing nails, washing hair, rubbing poo off and R is screaming, splashing and fighting me every step of the way. Not fun. But I was patient, I was kind and now I'm stinky. :tongue_smilie: God in heaven, do I have a new appreciation for foster parents, adoptive parents, and those that work with and have special needs children. I humbly bow to them with much appreciation, respect and honor.

Cleaned up an 18 month old c o v e r e d in poop. Dry poop. No wonder she was so quiet in her playpen. She was covered head to toe, including in her mouth, and under her finger nails. This is the third time; I thought I had her booby trapped enough that she couldn't do it. Well, I was wrong. I called the case worker and left a message. I sit here the shell of Tracie. Tracie is gone. This is Robot Tracie. I'm off for a shower and I do get out of the house tonight. (half hearted yay) Really, I'm happy. Just so, so worn out. I'm going to BSF.( Bible Study Fellowship) What I really need is a vacation. I may apologize for moping later, but for now I have to wallow in my misery.

http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/fl/FL_proclamation_08.pdf :party:

Do you want to come over and help me?! You are exactly the type of cheerleader I need. LOL You are right, though. See, I thought this was all about perspective, and I have a wrong one. They are just things. Good things, but things. I can get any of them at the library. Sigh. Tracie

guess I'm the wrong person to answer this post : ) __________________ LOL :lol: That's OK. I have a mini-library. So, it's everything from books on the US, different times in history, biographies, etc. NONE of it is twaddle, which makes it more difficult. :tongue_smilie: Tracie

Seriously now. I have real issues with getting rid of books, be it giving them away, swapping them, or selling them. I look at said book and then start reading. I say to myself, "I might need that someday." "We might want to learn about that sometime." Then I put the book back onto the shelf. After several hours I see that I have two books to donate out of hundreds. :blushing: I know that I don't NEED them. Why is this so hard? I have got to thin down my library. There is NO room for new stuff, stuff we need like next years curriculum. My dh already built nice new bookshelves and they are full. So, building book shelves is not an option. I have to do this. What criteria or questions should I ask myself to help me bless someone else with these books which many of them are not being used. TIA! Tracie :banghead:

Seriously now. I have real issues with getting rid of books, be it giving them away, swapping them, or selling them. I look at said book and then start reading. I say to myself, "I might need that someday." "We might want to learn about that sometime." Then I put the book back onto the shelf. After several hours I see that I have two books to donate out of hundreds. :blushing: I know that I don't NEED them. Why is this so hard? I have got to thin down my library. There is NO room for new stuff, stuff we need like next years curriculum. My dh already built nice new bookshelves and they are full. So, building book shelves is not an option. I have to do this. What criteria or questions should I ask myself to help me bless someone else with these books which many of them are not being used. TIA! Tracie :banghead:

After a long two years of mostly flying by the seat of our pants, this year has got to be more organized and structured. My ds 13 is going into 9th - I'll call him Space Ghost. He disappears when its school time. Any phone call or distraction and poof he disappears. If he has a goal to work towards, he gets his stuff done. ie you can go swing dancing Sunday night if you get ABC done in school. So, I can get him motivated. He gets bored easily, though. I have two dd's 8 and 6. Nature girl (8) is a strong reader and likes doing school. Princess (just turned 6) is learning to read and enjoys doing her work. Maybe a curriculum that included them both... but what? Then I have Cupie doll, age 22 months. (adopting) We have two foster children right now and they are being transitioned out of our home in two weeks. :crying: Last, but not least, is Commando (17 1/2) and he's practically going full time at the local college. :coolgleamA: I'm going to have some things for him to do, but he works on his own completely. Very organized, self motivated, etc. So, here is where I'm torn. Do I give Space Ghost (ugh, why did I pick that name?!) a boxed curriculum like A.C.E. or SOS? Or do I give him a few subjects in SOS and then Lial's pre-alg and SOTW or try to follow TWTM for history? I guess it's ONLY three kiddos I have to keep organized with the school work, but when they are all doing different stuff is where I get disorganized. I need a system. A plan. I'm not a natural born 'teacher' type. The planning/scheduling stuff doesn't come naturally to me. I've done relaxed and now I need to get things more together. My dh likes to see results and work getting done. Even though the kids test wonderfully, he'd also like to see some more structure. I know you ladies can give me some tips and advice to get me more structured with our school, yet something I can handle that isn't 3 completely different sets of curriculum that takes all of my time to keep organized and graded and taught. Helllllp! :ohmy: Tracie

Sorry if I didn't articulate better. I need a plan for high school math. He needs to start with pre-algebra. I have no idea what to get, so I thought I'd ask here. :D (of course here!) So, are you saying videotext doesn't start until Algebra? Tracie

I see it as an added blessing. Everything helps. We have two of our foster children on it for formula, as its expensive. The beans are now on the checks and I figure I will learn how to use them. :D So, I feel kinda weird soaking them in the sink. ( I remember my mom doing that) Should I just use a bowl, then? Soak overnight, then cook as directed per recipe? Tracie

My son is 13 and a young July b-day. He's in 8th right now. He's starting pre-algebra (right now) We don't stop for the summer and with fostering had a very easy past 6 months. So, I'm looking to start NOW. We need a plan for high school. I am another 'math dummy'. So, I'm looking for something EASY for me. I'd like to refresh and learn right along with him. :001_smile: I also have 3 children younger than he. So, I don't mind expense because I can reuse it. I'm leaning toward VideoText. Are there any other options worth looking at? Remember, *I* can't help him if he gets stuck. Well, I could with pre-alg, but beyond that, I'm going to re-learn it with him. Thanks!! Tracie

We get WIC through fostering, so I have all these 1 lb. bags of dried kidney, lima, green pea, and black beans. I've never really used dried beans, so I can't wait to see your responses. :D Tracie

What's at the end of May? The reason I ask is there is a homeschool convention here in FL at the end of May. I'm not sure if I'm going or not. :confused: Tracie

Family has been told not to call before noon/2pm. They still do I tried that too. Actually, my dh left a message on the machine about calling after 4PM because we are home schooling. My mom still called. One day I let the machine pick it up and her message was it was an emergency. I answered the phone and she was at the store and they were having a sale and she needed my daughter's shoe size. :lol: While I appreciate her buying shoes or clothes or whatever, it is NOT an emergency. LOL Tracie

We are fostering and I can tell you that when you bring in another child that is the same age or older than yours, it does change things. gardenschooler is absolutely right. I am right now, going out of my mind due to the situation we are in. Of course, we get no breaks as the kids we have are here 24/7. I can not wait to get back to where its just my kids. We are adopting the two year old baby we've had since birth. But, I think we are done fostering. I am not perfect or super woman. My 5 kids are a full time job in itself and I need to get back to focusing on them. I'm sure there are ladies on here that can handle it. I wouldn't do it, though. Tracie I wouldn't. Having another child around that much changes the dynamic. I used to keep my niece full time, when my girls were very young. I kept her after school and all day when school was out, for years. I realized one day that my oldest no longer had the place of the oldest in the family - my niece did. Not to mention behavior problems, squabbles, and tattling were greatly amplified. Any time you introduce a different kid into the mix, everything changes. The pecking order gets re-established, and that can mean that one child gets displaced (especially in a group of three girls!)

I see some of us on here just have cell phones. My dh mentioned some reason why he wanted to keep a land line. But he's working out w/our two oldest boys right now. Hmmm. :D Tracie

Oh, I think Melissa must be the one mentioned on Amy's site: Quote: BERRIES & FIGS - We have one customer who has threatened us with bodily harm if we do away with this scent. ROFL! That is so funny!! :lol: Tracie

I get a reaction from my wedding ring. :confused: On our 15th my dh surprised me with a new wedding ring set. I thought the new set wouldn't do what the old did (but it does), which is get my finger red and irritated. I wonder if its a "gold" thing? Both rings were gold, one yellow, one white. Am I having a reaction? Also, the white gold starts to turn and turns a yellowish tint after a couple of months. So, I take it to get cleaned (UV) at the jewelers and its okay for a couple more months. Would platinum do that? Not that we could afford it, just wondering. Sigh.

S T O P You sound like I did a couple of years ago. Sometimes that awful burden will rear its ugly head and its from the devil I tell ya! You know you aren't perfect. That's good. :D Now, stop worrying about what others think/say about you. (harder) :glare: I may print this out and have to read it to myself a few weeks or months down the road. But honestly, no one expects you to be perfect. There are those that put on a good show, but really, what is the big deal about admitting you aren't?! I mean, good night! I sin every day. Every single stinkin' day. My foster daughter's mom said I was the perfect mother once. I about choked what I was drinking. Uh, wrong-o. There is no such thing. One time I felt that pressure, but what a relief it is NOT to for the most part. My kids NEED to see me fail, mess up, sin. They need to see how I work through it, ask God for forgiveness, ask THEM for forgiveness, or their father. I'm so glad you shared this. I think many of us have been there or are there. It's worse than big 'ole saggy books. It's a huge weight and no one needs to bear it because it's just not possible to obtain. I hope this helps. :grouphug: Tracie

We are off of a coral reef, so I'm told, and have terribly hard water. My dh decided oh, about 7 months ago to get a filter/water softener. (it's outside and filters the entire house) We spent so much money on bottled water, it was getting ridiculous! It was mostly for the filter aspect. So, now I drink right from the faucet. The filter removes the chlorine and about 99 percent of all the bad stuff that could be/is in the water. Then it goes through the softener. I. Love. soft. water. I had no idea what I was missing until we got this. I use less shampoo and condition; we all use less. I feel soft and clean when I get out of the shower. But I have to say, I have dry skin. It helped somewhat, but I still am just a person w/dry skin. I've been using some natural oil I get at the health food store and its really good, but I'm out right now. We figured with a family of 9, the filter would pay for itself in less than a year. :001_smile: Plus I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I see a difference in my energy level. Before the filter, our water stunk like bleach. It's just not healthy to bathe in that chlorinated water. I read up on it, there are differences in opinions out there, but you had to smell it and know that your skin absorbs it; it can't be good over time. Tracie