My cat licks plastic bags too. We figure she has a petroleum deficiency. That's her only weird habit...unless you count enjoying sitting on the corner edge of the bathtub when no one is there.

Given what's already being planned, I'd take a french toast casserole...which is really like bread pudding, but for breakfast! Or maybe an apple crisp. Or muffins.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: It's hard. That's all there is to it.

I would love to come help organize your office...I am so much better at that than organizing books! You could organize my books and I could organize your office. :) Seriously, though...your in-laws sound great and they will completely understand if it isn't perfect! But it's nice to have that little extra motivation, isn't it?

I have decided to try and earn a Horrible Mom Award. We have a free family pass to the art museum and this weekend is the only free one we have before it expires...I think I might make ds go with me. He would have to endure looking at Matisse paintings. There might not be a touch screen anywhere in the vicinity. Of course, to really solidify my application for the HMA I will offer to take them to the local pizza place they've been wanting to try for ages...but they'd have to walk 5 blocks from the museum, and it's been cold. Dd is dying to go. Dh is on the fence. You all are cracking me up!

My dd writes 1 two page paper per week on a topic of her choice from anything she's studied that week. She also has to write a context paper for each new novel (usually 2 pages). Also she turns in her handwritten notes from history and genre studies, as well as any notes she's taken on her fiction reading. She's supposed to be working on a 6-8 page research paper due in December. I go by SWB's motto of more papers of shorter length are better than fewer longer papers.

All I can say is I wish I had the money back that I spent on Classical Writing materials five years ago! And maybe the Lost Tools of Writing, too (twice! ack!). (Don't get me wrong, I love Circe Institute but we would have been just fine sticking with the WTM method). Oh, and the Saxon DIVE dvd. But then...without this board I never would have heard about Derek Owens which is working out well for my dd. I also liked Caesar's English (recommended here) and both my and my son's vocab improved using this.

Season 3 of Call the Midwife is streaming on Netflix now.

Our favorite is the one with Marlon Brando as Mark Antony...what can I say, I'm a fan...it's not streaming, though.

I am very sorry.

It's because that's what the shuttlecraft look like that carry them to the mother ship... :lol:

Really pretty kitty! But my first thought was...just put some tuna on top! You know you're going to eventually anyway... :lol:

That is very cool--good luck, I hope you are a finalist! I want to read the whole thing now.

Those do sound like a lot of work...maybe you could do a photo, or a collage, framed with a very wide mat that everyone has signed? Or one of those bound scrapbooks (I think they are called photo books) where you just submit photos and add some text (like on shutterfly.com). People could sign the photo book too.

Good for her!

The very best is the autumn mix...candy corn, indian corn, and waxy orange pumpkins!!!

That happened to me too! Twice...because I forgot to write a note on it the first time. Really good recipe otherwise!

We've only closed on one house purchase, never sold a home, and in that instance we were in the same room with the sellers and agents. No issues. It's good to know there's probably a choice about that if the next time something is wrong!

$20 on cat number 3!

What's weird here is that we'll get calls from local numbers and no one is ever there...ever. And when you call them back you get the number has been disconnected recording. Seriously, two or three times a day. It's a local number that says "unknown name." We finally turned off our ringer, and only hear it if it goes to the answering machine (which they hardly ever do). I feel like at this point we're paying for a home number to take these calls whereas real calls will go to our cell phones which (at least for now) do not get these stupid calls.

We purchased new phones in February with the promise from Verizon of a $100 statement credit. In March we received a paper "bill" (even though we get paperless billing) that said we had the credit. In April it had not posted, so we called, and they said it might take til July. In August it still had not posted, we called again, and were told they were going to apply it manually. We got our September bill and it still hasn't been applied. I just wonder in what universe is this kind of horrible customer service acceptable. We have called 4 times, been on hold at least 15 minutes each time, with the most recent being today...and we were transferred to a rep in India who wasn't even the right person and he sent us back to the very beginning menu. We hung up. We are trying again. And how is it okay that they can take so long to get us what they owe us (we have it in writing!) when if the situation were reversed, we would be on the hook. I would like to pay my bills 7 months late with no penalty whatsoever and make them take hours of their time trying to collect. I am tired of big corporations jerking around little guys. Verizon, you are not the only phone business. I have a very long memory and am a loyal customer until I get gypped, and I will remember this. :banghead: Thanks for listening...

duckduckgo.com supposedly doesn't track you.

El Shaddai by Amy Grant. Makes me cry every time.

True enough...my dentist actually showed me the graying decaying area around the filling (shudder). Also when I chew gum it's been sticking on that tooth. I gave up gum for now. I am considering a second opinion about the other molars but the one I'm getting done next week definitely needs it.