It probably depends on the day, but when we took our trip, none of the 4 of us got sick (and my kids hadn't ever been on a boat at sea before). I bought some Dramamine just in case, but we didn't need it. It seemed fairly smooth to me, but I don't have much experience to compare it to.

There are day trips to the Channel Islands: http://islandpackers.com/ You can take a cruise around them that doesn't land, or land on one of the islands and do some hiking. There's also the aquarium in Long Beach, and the Queen Mary (which I haven't been to, but have been wanting to go). http://www.queenmary.com/

I've been having acupuncture for the past 13 or so years for my chronic allergies. That doesn't really help with the $ issue unless you have insurance that will cover it, but I went from taking sinus meds almost daily to none since I started the acupuncture...Vitamin C is a natural antihistimine, and local honey can often help build up some immunity to your local allergens.

I just got done dealing with fleas a couple months ago - and have dealt with a few infestations in different states/houses. I've found the most effective thing is an insect growth regulator for fleas (the one I just bought is called I.G. Regulator, 4 oz from Amazon). You need a pressurized garden type sprayer and dilute the IGR in water and spray it on carpets, draperies, furniture, mattresses, etc and let it dry. It stops the flea larvae from maturing and continuing the life cycle and can last 6 months. The one 4 oz bottle of IGR is enough for several applications (I plan on spraying the house I'm in now 2x a year just because fleas are more common here, and can live year round outside). To stop the adults, vacuuming and washing pet bedding frequently is crucial. I have in the past not used any drugs on my pets and bathed them daily to kill the adult fleas, but after I started doing that this time, decided it's a lot of work. So I also used a generic Capstar product (the drug is called Nitenpyram and you can buy it on Ebay or other websites). It will kill adult fleas on the cats or dogs and doesn't stay in their system (I'm not a fan of using fat soluble drugs that stay in my pets). It was my first time using it and it worked very well to kill the adults on the pets and is much much easier than bathing the cat...It can also be used as needed if they pick up fleas on a walk or something. The IGR is quite safe for people and pets and when my son was a baby and we had an infestation, I wanted something that wasn't highly toxic but also effective, and that's why I started using it.

Thank you for all the prayers. It doesn't look good, though - he doesn't think he wants to try to fix it and although we do have a counseling session scheduled for tomorrow, I think he's already out the door. I'm sick to my stomach and heartbroken and will continue to need the prayers.

A set of my parents are here, but other than that, it's all his family.

I do appreciate all the responses - I didn't get much sleep last night and don't feel much better today, but it means a lot to know people are praying.

:grouphug::grouphug:

I typically don't ever post like this, but I'm in desperate need of prayer for my marriage. I can't go into detail, but I need a miracle and would really appreciate anyone willing to pray or send good thoughts my way. Thank you. . .

Do you have the option to go to the airport and check? Our airport has a metal thingy that you can put the carry-on in, to see if it fits and qualifies. However, when we flew a year ago April, I just ordered bags from Lands' End that said they were carry-on approved by the airline standards, and I didn't have any issues.

I agree with the baking soda. Even with old eggs, I couldn't ever get them to peel well until I started adding baking soda to the water.

I agree :) I saw another one recently and had to make myself *not* buy it - lol. Another nice feature is that they often come in nice cabinets that can be used as furniture (I've got one in the spare bedroom as a bedside table).

You might watch at estate sales and such for an older machine. I am currently using my Grandma's old Singer, and also have purchased another old Singer and a White. They are very basic, but built very well and you can often find them well under $100. Another bonus is that you can often do repairs on them yourself - there is a lot of help online and tutorials walking you through stuff.

We have K9 and then have put Google on Safe Search and locked it. I haven't done a lot of testing to see how far it locks stuff down, but my kids aren't on the computer searching a lot (they're usually more busy playing games). Here's some info about it: http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=510

Cats typically are easy to litterbox train. You just want to keep the kitten(s) contained in a smaller area when you first get them so they don't have any trouble finding their litterbox (don't let them have the run of the house for a few weeks).

I wouldn't declaw. Cats *can* be trained and I've never had an issue with any of our cats tearing up the furniture. As kittens, they might try to or act like they were going to, but redirection works with kittens. As long as you have a nice tall scratching post made with something good to scratch on, if you take them from the furniture and put them on the post and praise them and pretend to scratch it yourself, they can be taught pretty quickly. They're not praise driven like dogs, but they do respond to praise and like it. Catnip on the things they're allowed on also helps. I've found it's much easier to make a good scratching post rather than buy one - most of the affordable ones are way too short (a cat should be able to extend its front legs all the way up the post). You can use a cardboard tube newsprint comes or dimensional lumber (a 4x4 or secure a couple of 2x4s together) and then just wrap in carpet. You can often find carpet stores will give you throw away scraps that are big enough. My cats have always liked berber :) If you provide enough toys/scratching areas/sleeping areas specifically for the cat(s) you can also train them to stay off the furniture completely.

They don't clump. But I've found much less odor with the wood than I ever had with any type of clumping clay. You can also use alfalfa or rabbit pellets - I tried that for awhile and it worked well. But one of my cats liked to eat them and I really didn't want her grazing in the litter box. . .

I've had the opposite experience from the previous posters on male/female cats. Both male cats I had had issues with marking and not using their litterboxes (2 completely separate time periods/houses/etc.). Both my female cats have been great. Our current cat (female) is 16 and she has always loved my dc (she's not cuddly, but has always been very interested in them and spends a lot of time with them). Although she's not a lap cat, she's very people oriented.

I use wood pellets as litter. There are brands that are marketed as cat litter, but it's much less expensive to get wood pellets marketed for pellet stoves or animal bedding. It's much less messy (as far as tracking and dust) than the clay litters and controls the odor very well. Our cat(s) have always been indoor (unless supervised on the patio or something).

I know my dh doesn't know the passwords to the online banking, or any of the sites I pay bills/credit cards online. It's one of those things he's glad I do and that he doesn't have to keep track of.

I agree with Ellie - I want them to be prepared for college, but don't know if that's what they will choose to do. And as far as finances - I don't know. I seriously doubt we will be taking out loans for them, or if we do, not large amounts and they will be mainly responsible for paying them back. We just don't have the resources to fund it. We have very little saved up for retirement, although our only debt is the house. So I don't plan on paying for their college, but I also don't see homeschooling as "making major sacrifices." I am sacrificing a career of my own, but that money was never in the equation, so it's not something we ever had (so don't feel the loss of it). We stay on a budget and plan and homeschool fairly inexpensively. Dh and I both had to work and go to college (and we both did it in 4 years) and I fully expect if my dc go to college, they will be holding down a job, too.

I don't know how to vote because we made a spare bedroom into a library and built shelving into the closet (floor to ceiling) and along one whole wall. In addition, there are 3 other regular bookcases in that room.

I bought some from Lands' End last year. I got different bags for dh and me and they both worked really well and seem to be well made. They do have a couple models with wheels and they're made specifically to conform to the carryon sizes.

I've always had excellent customer service from them too on the couple of occasions I'd had problems. I think they're a great company!

There is a lot of information out there about the benefits - here's one page: http://coconut-info.com/ I use it the same way I'd use any other oil - however, for deep frying, it does bubble up *a lot* and I've had my fryer overflow because I put too much in it, so that's something to be aware of. It goes from solid to liquid based on temperature - in the summer, it's usually liquid or almost liquid in my pantry - in winter, solid. I buy mine from Tropical Traditions (their brand), The Green Polka Dot Box, or Amazon (Nutiva from both of those places). The one that tastes like coconut is the virgin oil - the unflavored is more refined. The least refined of the unflavored would be expeller pressed. I use the virgin in baking and recipes that the flavor isn't an issue, and the expeller pressed in sauteeing and cooking where I don't want a coconut flavor.