I get this too. It feels like my intestines/organs (what ever is in that area) flipped over. It literally takes my breath away for a second. I sit up, don't move and it goes away.

I watched it too. It brought back so many memories of our adoption trip to China. My daughter was very much like Zoey when we rec'd her.

CLE math for my workbook-only girl Teaching Textbooks for my anything-but-a-workbook girl Starline Press History and Science My younger daughter absolutely loves ACE Creative Writing and Literature.

This would be a no for me too. I'm 600 miles from my parents and two of my adult children, my 18 yr old that lives at home has school and other things of her own. Most homeschoolers by me (very rural area) have 4+ kids of all ages. Our old co-op used to have a nursery, which I worked in while my older kids were in their own classes. We are a one-income family and there is no room to pay for sitters.

My older daughter used TT all through high school. While it may seem slower, after four years of it your child will have all the bases covered. My daughter did just fine on all her exams.

One Second After by William R. Forstchen.

I like old fashioned names but I have to say I don't like Miriam or Margot. I had a SIL that was named Margaret, and although I really do love the name, it reminds me of her. I love Mabel, Evelyn, Millicent, Madaline (Mad-a-line like clothesline) and Violet.

I'd have to say no to this question too. We lived in one of the top school districts in NJ and the nation too. Even so, my daughter had major gaps in her education due to due to neglect in her home during her early years. We are on our 5th yr of homeschooling. We have since moved to the South and our state ranks 46-48th place nationally. I know I can do better. If we weren't homeschooling before we most certainly would be now. My youngest daughter went to PS last year for 2nd grade because I had to go to work. She came home with straight 100's on her report card. Some may look at that and say that's great, I looked at it and said it's not challenging enough. I don't think she learned a thing the entire year. I quit my job and she is back to homeschooling.

These are all shows that have my husband obsessed. I watch real crime shows like First 48. I have to leave the room when DH is watching the fake crime shows because I sit and watch, and they do things that don't make sense. When I pointed out that real detectives or a real medical examiner would never scrape the fingernails for evidence on a dead suspect while still laying on the sidewalk, he just about threw me out of the room lol.

When my older daughter was 13 I realized she could not tell time on an analog clock. That is when I noticed that every clock in our house was digital. I went out and bought a few $5 clocks at Walmart and she finally did learn how to tell time. Not my child, but my HUSBAND: My younger daughter is sick so today was a Netflix/lounge on the couch day for us. She was watching Walking with Dinosaurs when my (very intelligent) DH came home from work. He sat down and watched about 10 mins of it with her and then said to me.... "Is this actual footage?" LOL My 8 year old looked at him like WTF??

I have a friend that did fundraising and also received a large chunk of cash from an anonymous donor. When they received their tax refund they donated every penny of it to a charity that helped the orphanage acquire a water filtration system for the entire orphanage. I thought that was a wonderful thing to do.

I have two adopted children. I can understand holding raffles, yard sales and other fundraising but not asking for cash. Adoption is expensive and there are some people that can afford to raise a child, but cannot afford the huge out lay of cash for the actual adoption process. My older daughter was step parent adoption so the costs were minimal. We paid for our 2nd adoption (China) without fundraising mainly because I was too lazy to hold a yard sale or do any other type of fundraising. We were able to get $10,000 back in approved expenses from my DH's work, and then we were eligible for a one time tax credit refund of over $17,000. In the end our adoption cost us about $2,000 out of pocket after the reimbursements. A lot of people do not have that kind of cash to lay out upfront. We were lucky that we had just sold our house and made a pretty good amount of cash on it or else we never could have afforded it without some sort of fundraising.

If you buy them from the store they are already weeks old. Fresh eggs right out of the chicken are nearly impossible to peel.

I keep eggs for about a month before I can peel them. I even went out and bought Eggies for times when I don't have older eggs. I have tried every trick in the book and yet I still wind up with nasty looking eggs. The only thing that works for me is using older eggs.

Mine are on pedestal drawers. I like the look of the ones with the counter top, but for me that would be way too low. I hated having to bend down into my top loaders, that is why I bought front loaders. My daughter has scoliosis and the raised front loaders are much better for her back too. If I had room, I'd put a counter top with the raised W/D on one end so it doesn't look so broken up. Edited for clarification: I wouldn't put the counter top over the W/D, I'd put the W/D on one end, then at normal height have a counter top run down the rest of the wall.

My oldest went to CC and then to University. His father and I helped with what scholarships and grants didn't cover. My second son so far has had his college covered by scholarships and grants. He is in his 3rd year of college and just this year had a little over what they covered due. His father is helping him with those expenses. Both lived at home rent free. My older daughter just rec'd a large sum of cash from her mothers insurance (I adopted her). She is paying for a trip to Europe this summer and will start college in the fall. She will pay her own way. My youngest is only 8, so who knows what college costs will be by the time she is ready. As far as financial equality, I don't play favorites but I also don't go dollar for dollar with each kid. I remember when we moved into our house and was going to buy a nice outdoor playhouse for my younger daughter, my older DD said something along the lines of "Then I should get something of comparable value". I said ok, next time I go on a cruise, I will take her and not you. It costs twice as much to take her because she is considered an adult. I'd have to take the younger DD twice to make it fair and "comparable". That pretty much convinced her to rethink her POV. lol..

My son taught middle (high) school in China. He absolutely loved it. He became interested in China and Chinese culture after we adopted our youngest daughter from there. He is an extrovert and made tons of friends. He also had many marriage proposals from girls that want to come to America.

My planner is not from M-F. I number the days from 1-180 because I am required to track 180 days of school. One benefit of doing it this way is that I can buy last years planner at a fraction of the price. I came across The Well Planned Day homeschool planner on ChristianBook.com for .99 cents. They also have student planners for .25 cents. I bought five planners and two student planners and with shipping my order came to less than $10. If anyone is interested, here are the links: http://www.christianbook.com/the-well-planned-day-homeschool-planner/rebecca-keliher/9780983511403/pd/511403 http://www.christianbook.com/th1nk-student-planner-2011-2012/9781615216192/pd/216191

When we bought our house 3 yrs ago our one dog Bella came with the house. She was about 1 yr old and had puppies under our deck. I found homes for the puppies, kept her and had her fixed. She is far from a needy/clingy type of dog. We have a dog pen that has a large wooden dog house in it. I have never been able to get her to go into the dog house. ever. Yesterday at 3pm I was leaving to take my daughter to karate and went to bring both dogs in the house from the pen (they are not outside dogs, they do their business, lounge in the sun and come back inside when they are done). Bella was IN the dog house, and would not come out. I tried to drag her and she bucked back like a donkey. I left her out in the pen while I ran to karate. My daughter was able to drag her out of the dog house and into our house about an hour later. We were still at karate when the earthquake hit so no one was at home. When I got home, Bella was pushed up against the back door and almost fell out when I opened it. She has not left my side since. Even last night, she slept on the floor next to my bed when she usually sleeps on her doggy bed in the living room. She has been up my butt all day. She keeps nudging my arm, wanting me to pet her. She has never ever ever been like this before. Like I said earlier, she was a stray for the first year of her life and never a snugly, cuddly dog. Now I'm wondering if she sensed the earthquake and that is why she wouldn't come out of the dog house, and why she won't leave my side. Anyone else have a dog that is acting strange?

We are in SC (Midlands) but we didn't feel it. We were at my daughters karate party with loud music and running around. Everyone started getting texts from friends and family members in the area saying they felt an earthquake. None of us at the party felt it. I feel kind of cheated lol.

I have a calendar on the wall and I put a check mark on it for attendance. Easy and done in 3 seconds! :)

My daughter is 3rd grade and it's taken me this long to come to grip with the fact that she is a workbook kinda girl. Soooo not me. I spent a fortune on a wonderful, hands-on full curriculum at the beginning of this year and all it produced was tears. I finally accepted that she wants workbooks for ALL subjects, and now we have very happy, tear-free school days. She is my last child and I feel a bit cheated, but it's working, she is learning tons and that is my end goal of homeschooling. So I'm dealing with it.

After going through a water main break and no water for two days I started to keep a 5 gallon Aqua-tainer for each bathroom filled. I put them in the bathtub and use them for washing up after using the bathroom. They have a water spout on them. I also keep a case (12 pk) of baby wipes on hand. My house is all electric, we lose power we lose water. You don't realize how much water you go through just in washing your hands each day. A baby wipe and hand sanitizer go a long way.

Parked facing out and at the end of the driveway. The shorter the distance to the road the better :)

I definitely would not use the fireplace. I'm all for heating with a fireplace, it's actually a prerequisite to any house we live in, but not one that is not safe. You can make a "tent" out of blankets for sleeping. The smaller the space and the more people in that small space the warmer it will be. You could close off one room with blankets. Cover windows with a shower curtain (Save blankets for people) Dress in layers, wear a hat If you have a dog he can help keep you warm, sleep with him :)