Lego drives me crazy too but you know what I hate even more than Lego? Playmobil!!! My kids do have lego and I generally don't step on it because it has it's special home. I think of it as a necessary evil.

From what I have studied about YE there is ample evidince to support the theory. The thing about the YE viewpoint is that you do have to actually search out the material. It is not constantly on the front page of the paper like evolution tends to be and it will not simply fall into your lap. Scientists in every field have been taught evolution in all their University studies and the ones that swim upstream and research the assumptions of evolution and look at the evidence objectively are reprimanded and even loose their jobs and reputation. Yet there are still many scientists that support the young earth view despite having all the cards stacked against them. I feel that Science, especially Geology and Cosmology support a YE view. There are major flaws with radioisotpe dating. The same samples often give wildly different dates when different dating methods are used (ex. Carbon vs Radon). Likewise, some samples of rock from the same layer and location will date a wildly different dates using the same dating method. I also find that the assumptions used in evolution theory represent more of a religion than a theory. When these assumptions are challenged (by events like the 1980 eruption of Mt. Saint Helens) the theory of evolution falls apart and is not viable. The evidence is out there for YE and it is worth searching out but it is so much easier for the masses to believe what they are spoon fed. As a side not, I was not always a YEC and I certainly did not get my views from my parents. I weighed the evidence.

After reading Stone Fox with my little kids I would definately call her Searchlight after the dog in the book.

When I was tested last month my hemo was at 101 and it is supposed to be above 130. I was mentally congratulating myself for being in the 100's but my doctor had a different opinion. I tend to get that feeling of heaviness in the chest when I am laying down on my back which makes me feel like I am unable to take a deep, satisfying breath. It does go away when my hemoglobin goes up so it is not just my squashed lungs complaining.:D

When vit D was the big health craze (uh, last year) a lot of natural health practitioners were prescribing very high doses of D3 (Mercola, Mike Adams etc...) and because it was the new wondercure and everyone was deficient they threw caution to the wind. As with any health craze it is only a mater of time before ill effects are seen from the hardcore camp. Because vit D is a fat soluble vitamin your body can't get rid of it easily by peeing the excess out. This can lead to toxicity more quickly than with water soluable vitamins.. I also believe that there is a natural balance between vitamins and minerals that our body needs in order to be healthy and when a person mega doses on one thing it may block the absorption of other vital elements and nutrients and cause deficencies in other areas. I would say (just talking off the top of my head) that a super high dose of vit D would be anything more than 4x the RDA for longer than a season. But really the best measure it to check your blood vit D levels and then go from there.

I find that Floradix tastes gross.:confused: I guess that is the price you pay to have a liquid rather than a tablet. Spatone tastes a bit like rusty water but even an ounce of juice covers up the taste.

You can have a blood test to have your vit D levels checked and then go from there. I would think that it would be largely dependant on your skin tone, where you live and how much direct sunlight you get daily. The RDA is low but there is wisdom in moderation. I would say maybe 2x to 4x the RDA in the winter and summertime would depend on your sun exposure and if you wear sunscreen.

Be careful with super high doses of vit D because it can cause irreversible kidney damage. I only just found that out a month ago but I am a big believer in moderation.

We make something similar. Last year I took Rosemary Gladstar's herbalist course (not from Rosemary but from a different teacher) and we called this stuff Professor Cayenne's Tonic. I think the single most important thing is to NOT get the flu shot. After that it is important to get enough sleep, excercise, water, vit D3, vit C, avoid dairy products if you find yourself coming down with something and make sure that you have no food intolerances. If your body is being taxed by lack of sleep, intolerances, stress, poor nutrition etc... it will not have the available resources to send to your immune system. They say that vit D3 is quite important in the winter because of the lack of natural sunlight. As for us, there was a night and day shift when we took out food intolerances and allergies (in the number of illnesses and the duration of the illneses). I don't limit our exposure to the outside world and I do have thumb suckers.;)

I have always had very low bp as well. With my first I would pass out but with the rest of my pregnancies it was low but I wouldn't pass out (some of them I would get dizzy). I am 35 weeks pregnant and the biggest issue for me is low hemoglobin. From your symptoms I would guess that your hemoglobin is low also. I find that 1 hemoplex a day really helps me. You could also try 1 Spatone iron instead. Those two seem to be the best for absorption and lower likelihood of side effects.

Children are more important than things but if my child has a friend who wreaks havoc everytime they come over I may have to do a "return on investment" study and determine the benefit vs the cost of having that child over to my house and since my kids have a lot of friends the destuctive friend may be cut from the team.:D

Math Whizz is more of a conventional program, in my experience. It does not really do the conceptual math very well compared to Dreambox. For my kids I have a subscription to both Math Whizz and Dreambox- the Math Whizz is for the conventional type learning and the Dreambox I use fpr the conceptual. Dreambox uses a lot of abacus games and mental math.

I second Dreambox! It is very conceptual.

For my son it was a dairy allergy. If you eliminate all dairy for 21 days and then reintroduce it you should have your answer. His only symptom that I noticed for the dairy allergy was angry outbursts but when he went off dairy the length of his seasonal colds was reduced and his general endurance improved drastically- and no more explosive outbursts.

Sometimes it is hard to speak up. I do sometimes give in to the pressure of just wanting a peaceful playdate without conflict and I choose to deal with the aftermath later. In one of my better, more assertive moments (I must have been pregnant or something) my friend's kids were over for lunch and one of her boys was balancing his glass water cup on his head when I wasn't looking. Well, the obvious happened and the cup shatterd all over the floor. After cleaning up the mess I gave him a plastic cup which made him cry profusely because he wanted a glass cup like everyone else. But I told him that he broke his galss cup and so he has to have plastic. The End. He still cried the rest of the way through lunch and I'm sure that if my friend was there she would have broken down and given him another glass cup but she wasn't there and it was probably better for her son that he had to have a plastic cup. Kids are destructive (some more than others) and they need guidelines because they are not born smart. The bigger problem that I have is knowing what to do when my kids break their own toys or their sibling's toys.:confused:

Another Canadian here! My kids are 15, 8, 6, 2 and I am due to have baby Sept 31. My complaint is how much some companies charge to ship to Canada. Also, if it is being sent Fed Ex ground I will not buy because the duty is enough to choke a horse.

Thank-you for the information! Jaan, do you find that the chalkdust courses are comprehensive in the teaching given by the teacher. I have watched a couple of the videos on the website and to me (who is not a math genius) he seems to make it simple.

I was exploring the Chalkdust website and I noticed different programs for Algebra. I gathered that Pre-Algebra comes first then Algebra 1 followed by Algebra 2 but what is College Algebra?

I have been doing a bit of Math with my grade 10 daughter to counteract the summer brain drain and get her up to speed for the school year, and all I can say is WOW! What am I going to do! We were already behind by about 1/2 year or maybe a full year from what I was witnessing yesterday. She is not mathy by any means and she has so much anxiety over math that somehow she can't grasp simple concepts and when she does grasp them she soon forgets again. The problem is at least 75% psycological because she has a memory like a steal trap and can memorize history, poetry, grammar and any other thing without a second thought. It is just math that paralyzes her. Can anything be done about this? Is there a curriculum that is especially engaging? I have been looking at yourteacher.com and videotext but there are so many programs that look engaging. I think we need a program that goes. very. slowly. Something that is clear and concise and maybe not too conceptual? It would also be nice if it didn't make her cry every lesson but I know that is asking for a lot.:confused: We have been using Teaching Textbooks and she enjoyed that for a time but now she is not understaning it any more. Something visual and online would probably be best. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

We didn't use the DVD's either but I will say that the program is parent intensive. We have had excellent results though!

Oh man! I have to do this whole giving birth thing in September and I am trying to push it out of my mind (no pun intended). With the first I had a shot of Demerol and that just made me stoned and completely useless. 2nd was au natural. I distinctly remeber the ring of fire but it was way better than the previous birth 3rd was a c-section and that was the worst of all. Throwing up like crazy after having your abs cut apart is not a fun experience. 4th was also au natural- VBAC I would like to do this one drug-free as well but you just never know what will happen. If I have wicked back labour or any other strange complications all bets are off. I will say that with the 2 drug-free births the baby was crying like crazy when only the head was born. The first time I had no idea where that crying baby noise was coming from. I thought that it was in the next room and the walls were really thin or else that someone was rude enough to bring a baby in the birthing room while I was trying to give birth.:lol: The second time it happened I was wise to the location of the noise but the baby's shoulders were stuck so I was screaming as much as the baby.:tongue_smilie:

It is really important to have enough esential fatty acids in your diet and in my opinion Cod Liver Oil is the best thing you can take. It regualtes hormones and keeps everything more balanced. It may also be beneficial to see a Naturopath to see if there is any imbalances that make it difficult to loose weight. Another thing that may help if it is a hormonal imbalance would be dandelion root tincture but it woud be best to get some blood tests before begining any regimen to be sure of what you are dealing with. One thing that I enjoy in the morning for breakfast is 3 Tbsp of Hemp hearts with 1 Tbsp of Chia seed, some sunflower seeds and a bit of cereal (usually some health food store gluten free cereal with choclolate) which I top off with coconut milk. The Hemp hearts really do keep you full for a long time and they are great for you.

What worked for my husband quite quickly was using a neti pot type product that looks like a giant syringe and sprays the neti solution into the sinus. To the saline solution in the neti syringe I added one dropperful of colidal silver. So that went in with the solution 2Xday. You would not believe the stuff that was forced out! 30 drops of Goldenseal tincture 3Xday. The Goldenseal works excellent for sinus infections. Also, the dental issue is quite prominent in sinus infections. If you have ever had a root canal you need to google root canal and infection. I hope you are feeling better soon.

Asbestos is nasty. Where I live you need a building permit to do anything to your house and it is the law to have a company come to check for asbestos before any work begins. A lady that I talked to had to have her entire house remediated for asbestos because they found 1% asbestos in the drywall tape (that is just the 2" wide tape that is used between the drywall seams!). Her entire house was encapsulated in a bubble and they had the hazmat suits and the shower and everything! The dump out here no longer accepts drywall becuause of asbestos concerns. So, yes, do not sand it. There is a product that people usually use on cement floors to seal them. Is is an epoxy type product that is clear. At my husbands work they painted the company logo on the floor and then sealed it with this industrial epoxy floor stuff so maybe look into that. Oh, and that window is crying for a cozy little window seat. What a great place to curl up and read a book!

A week ago I started reading the Count on an e-reader. I read and read and read and then I had to put it down and the e-reader said I was 1% done. I thought the thing was broken! I persued reading all the way to a whole 2% done and ended up dropping it and reading something else. I found the writing style quite reminicent of a Shakespere play in plot (as much as I had read) and tone. I wasn't enthralled or anything.