The eye thing is freaky but not necessarily alarming. The intensity and duration of the nosebleed, though, would concern me and be worth a call/visit to the doctor.

I watch my son suffer from the same (or worse) indecisiveness that I do, so I have been working very diligently to teach him decision-making skills AND tricks. Mostly coin flipping. :-) He has become very good at making a large number of not-important but time- and energy-wasting decisions by coin flip. Personally, I'm trying to pay careful attention to how often the weight and importance of a particular decision are completely gone once the decision is made. Like there isn't/wasn't really a right or wrong answer -- just a decision that needed to be made and it didn't matter what choice I made. Total relaxation once the choice is made, and rarely any regret, so I'm trying to spend less time in the pondering and getting quicker to the "done."

I always get a little confused and curious when people talk about their emergency savings and how long/what it would cover. I think that an emergency fund that could cover two years of expenses is pretty amazing! Do you mind me asking - does that include *all* expenses - food, shelter, etc? I would say we're pretty comfortable but I really can't imagine a world where we have two YEARS of emergency savings at hand. Even the Dave Ramsey six months advice seems like a huge amount of liquid assets to have available. We live in a high COL area so just 6 month's rent on our townhouse is a scary big number. Or do you still not feel financially comfortable because the emergency savings represents a large amount of your retirement income?

The American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery open later (11:00) but stay open til 7, so that's a great option. I love the Kogod courtyard there - kids could play in the water feature and you could have pre-dinner ice cream, or take in a picnic dinner. I *think* the spy museum (across the street) is open until 7 too.

The Kennedy Center has free concerts each evening at 6:00. A wide variety! There's a calendar on the website somewhere (I'm on my phone and can't get to it). I know they run the concerts during the school year; I think they do during the summer too.

Rent a bike and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Visit Alcatraz. Hang out in Chinatown. Go to the aquarium. Go to a baseball game. ETA: Go to Bimbo's 365

I would really like to hear your thoughts on it, especially the grades for which you'd find it appropriate. I'd really like to use a Novare product for Physics, but my ds is out of step with their sequence and I don't know how to make it work. Ds will be 10th grade this fall and he has already had biology (Apologia) and chemistry (Spectrum). Novare is physics-first, and they have two 9th grade physics courses, Introductory Physics and Accelerated Studies. Then they have Advanced Physics, which is calculus-based. Ds will be taking trig/pre-calc this year, so math-wise, he's not ready for Advanced Physics yet, and the author recommends having an initial physics course before the advanced course. The author felt either of the 9th grade courses would be sufficient and sufficiently challenging, but I'm just having a hard time making that jump to being okay with "9th grade science" in 10th. So if you've used Accelerated Studies, or Introductory Physics, or even if you've had the opportunity to physically hold and scan the textbooks... I would appreciate your opinion.

Although I think the Spy Museum is the coolest, my younger kids got bored there. I'd recommend the Washington Monument. You could work your way through the Junior Ranger program for the National Mall over the course of a couple of visits. The best part of the American Indian Museum is the kids section.The rest of the museum doesn't do a whole lot for me, but because of the kids section, I think it would be a good choice for kids the age of yours. The National Portrait Gallery has a neat program whereby you can check out a portrait discovery kit, which my youngest really enjoyed. And it's connected to the Kogod Courtyard, my favorite place in DC. The Botanic Garden, right next to the Capitol, is a huge hit every time with my kids. And they have great Junior Botanist backpacks you can check out.

Your story instantly reminded me of couples trying to make it through after a wartime deployment. You have changed. Everything has changed. Nothing is the same and there is no normal (yet). It is hard, it takes time, there is no part of it that is easy. In your case you have been through two of those "major life events" you see listed on charts about stressors: the loss of your dad, and a homicide. Your husband may be trying really hard, but even if he could say the perfect things (and obviously he's not), you may not be in a position to receive them in the perfect way, you know? If you can, give him lots of grace. If he can, he needs to give you lots of grace. And maybe at a neutral time, you two could establish some conversational ground rules on trigger topics, like using "I" phrases. It's simple and seems dorky but can really help defuse.

Honestly (as someone who is now forcing herself to actually regularly use Photoshop as the next step in her photographic path), Picasa is free and really does quite a lot. It sounds like that's less than what you need, but it's awfully convenient for down and dirty edits, so I thought I'd throw it out there.

Not so much bored, but I am so irritated at the whole thing that I put it off, and off, and off. Passive resistance at its finest -- I recognize it but still do it. My kids are all sick today and asleep and what should I be doing? Pulling the stupid things together. What am I doing? Anything but. It doesn't help that my ds is way behind in chemistry and one of his electives, and I've totally dropped the ball on music (required) with my dd so I've got to pull something out of the ether on that one...

Honestly there are so many great opportunities in the area that I don't think you can go wrong. Where you are, you're easy access to all the DC opportunities anyway and very few groups/opportunities/etc are strictly limited or defined by location. We are part of an American Girl book club/weekly field trip co-op and we have people from as far north as Reiserstown and as far south as near Quantico. Just depends on how much you're willing to travel! I only know one homeschool family who actually live in the District and their dd is small, so I'm not sure of the regulations there. I live in MD. I would prefer to live in VA or DC for homeschooling -- MD is a portfolio state, which I don't like, and has other restrictions I could do without (sports, etc.). Plus while there are LOTS of homeschoolers here, it all feels kinda disjointed, compared to the other states we've been in.

I finally treated myself to school-style pull-down roller maps. I love them! I think it's a love/hate thing -- some people come to our house and think it's the coolest thing ever, some (MIL?) think "what on earth were you thinking?" Mine are around 6' wide -- on the one roller, there's a world and a US map. Since I couldn't afford such a thing new, mine are older maps which, you know, makes them kind of retro. And combines history with geography -- "back when I was a kid, there was no South Sudan..." I hang more school-ishy things (my MIL might argue that it'd be hard to get more school-ish than school-style pull-down roller maps, but I digress) like a white board and our list of prepositions and people we're praying for behind the maps.

I have to say, I love "Teen Beach Movie." In fact, I'm watching it right now. :-) It's really cute and lots of fun. And I spent a lot of time over summer breaks when I was in jr high or so watching Gidget and "classic" teen beach movies, so the spoof/homage factor is most fun.

I'm kinda scared to post this, but... Notgrass' America the Beautiful For everything I do like about it (independence, color pictures, mapping and timeline work that actually gets done), there's plenty I don't (skim-through history, awkward turns to force a Biblical message at the end of each lesson). However, all year long, history has gotten done here. With an activity book to practice workbook/reading comp/info retention skills, and for paperwork to stuff into the state-required portfolio. And did I mention that timeline and mapping GET DONE? :-) When we've had time, we've had some great bunny trails. When we haven't, at least it GOT DONE!

I'd say the value of the aquarium would depend entirely whether or not you can easily visit any other aquarium, and what other aquariums you've visited. It is very expensive, IMO, and I'd only rank it as "OK". But I'm a bit of an aquarium snob, having had - previous to living near the National Aquarium - an annual membership at the Georgia Aquarium, which is easily the best aquarium in the US and often ranks 1st on world lists too... Depending on the time of year, the National Aquarium can be VERY crowded, and the design of the it doesn't really help with that. Also the "watch the dolphins swim in circles while listening to Enya-esqe music" exhibit is disappointing. There's the Historic Ships. Pricing is by the # of ships you want to visit. Sometimes you can get Groupons or similar.

I'm using it for (earth) science. I'm in a portfolio state and the reviewer was fine with it -- I included the TOC. It's really more science-y than social studies, IMO. ETA: And easy to rabbit trail/add to.

Good info from Danestress and Chris -- just wanted to add that should you visit (and you should! -- Lenten services are so meaningful) in some way, the entire service will be written out for you to follow. It'll either be in a customary (a small booklet with the regular service printed in it), or a special bulletin, or there'll be BCPs available -- and page numbers should be given. It is perfectly acceptable AND expected that you'll follow/read along! I say this because my first few services, I felt sure that everyone else had it all memorized and that no one else would be looking at their books/customaries and that I'd stick out like a blatant newbie because I didn't. Well, I might've stuck out as a newbie, but not because I was reading along. (And everyone was incredibly gracious.) The fact of the matter is that lots of folks may have the liturgy memorized, but they'll STILL follow along in the book. There's no "looking cool" by *not* needing the book!

I think I was out of school for four weeks? It can take a while! I remember my doc didn't want me up and around until my spleen was no longer enlarged, but the tiredness was a big part of it too.

I think the spa party sounds like the "fun" gift -- especially if it's packaged up right, with the nail stuff. Maybe add a hair wrap or a robe or something, so it seems/feels big? But if you are looking for another item, have you considered a drawing tablet? The manga set is what made me think of it. My dd loves to draw, on paper and on the computer. Last Christmas we got her a low-end ($50-ish?) tablet -- Huion instead of Wacom -- and it has gotten hundreds of hours of use.

What about a vintage (or faux vintage) map? Might up the cool factor enough for your dh, and then, you know, your kids would be the clever homeschool kids who could talk about "back when Myanmar was Siam"... :-) Or, is he/are you "into" something? Sailing, rock climbing, etc. That would open up all kinds of possibilities -- a piece of fabric cut to fit with nautical flags, or knots, or....

I see a poll like this at least annually on each of the forums I follow, and I always find it a bit frustrating. Mostly because people usually respond with what temperature they set their *thermostats* at. Depending on the house, its constructions, age it was built, and the climate it was built for, not to mention the age and position of the thermostat in the house, this can be a basically pointless number. There is currently probably more than a 10 degree difference between the upper and lower floors of our house. What does it matter what I set the thermostat at? It is cold on the bottom floor (even with robes, blankets and slippers on), miserably cold on the middle floor (which thermodynamically makes no sense, but whatever), and a little too warm for sleeping on the upstairs (sleeping) floor. Once upon a time when my husband and I lived in student housing, our apartment would have frost along the INTERIOR living room baseboard throughout the winter. Obviously it was colder in there than the 68 degrees we set the thermostat at. Then there's the other issue - it does actually matter a GREAT deal what temperatures you're used to in determining what temperatures you'll be comfortable with. When this topic comes up, my dh reminds me that when he was in Iraq and went from outside temps in the 120s into an air-conditioned building in the 90s, he felt cold! He even had a soldier who wore her fleece jacket indoors because the difference in temp was so dramatically colder to her.

There's real beauty in this, and a lot to ponder. Thank you!

Yes, thank you! I was starting to wonder about my sanity... :-) I'm glad to know it's not just me! I'd never thought to do a Google search. Thank you!

I started a new thread a couple of days ago. I know it existed because I went back in and bumped it, hoping for a reply or two. Now it's gone. No matter how I search for it, even under My Content, it's gone. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it just me? Is it maybe because no one else responded to it, so it got --- for lack of a better word -- pruned? If it had been removed by a moderator for violating rules (I was asking about stores in a particular city so I don't think it would've been objectionable), would I have been notified?