12%. "About" is an adjective modifying the subject, and "of the surface" and "of the earth" are prepositional phrases. On the 12% vs just percent: Imagine if instead the 12% was converted to a decimal or a fraction ("About 12/100 of the surface of the earth") and the rationale for keeping the 12 becomes clearer.

Ones that haven't been mentioned: My top choice for interesting/unique in June? Check the tide charts! If there's a good low tide, find a good beach and enjoy yourselves! My kids have held sea stars of all sorts including ones w/ 20 rays and others 3 feet across. And many, many kinds of crabs. And baby Giant Pacific Octopi! They've seen anemones, moon snails, sand dollars... Obviously you want to respect the beach and the wildlife but with careful looking you can find SO much on PNW beaches! (Take a good guidebook.) My second choice: the Chittendon Locks connecting Puget Sound to Lakes Union and Washington; wonderful to just hang out and watch especially if it's a nice day, and there's a small but interesting visitors center/museum, and it's FREE just seeing the Lake Union houseboats! if transportation isn't an issue, Northwest Trek is a nice nature park dedicated to PNW animals for the $$, I'd just as soon visit the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma as the Seattle Aquarium. They've been working hard at upgrading Point Defiance, it has aquariums (one dedicated to Puget Sound sealife), walruses, seals, puffins and PENGUINS. I agree w/ previous posters, there's something just FUN about a ferry ride. For a quick ride and a fun adventure, you can ride on one of the only (maybe the only) county-owned ferry systems. Pierce County runs a ferry between Steilacoom and Ketron and Anderson Islands. If you have a car, Anderson Island is a fun island to drive around; the General Store is a hoot! You see the state's island penitentary while on the ferry (but the prison has its own ferry system). If you have time, take a day (or two or three!) to visit Olympia National Park and if nothing else visit one of the rainforest areas -- temperate rainforest being pretty rare in North America! Oh, one of the old defensive forts would be interesting too: Fort Worden or Fort Casey. Fort Casey has a nice lighthouse that you can climb up. Fort Worden has converted old military housing into rental cabins. ETA: Deception Pass is gorgeous and there are some nice hiking paths and beaches. Other: Tillicum Village is a popular school field trip but I've never been so no personal report. And dh insists that I add also that Pikes Place is crowded like the mall the day after Thanksgiving every stinkin' day of the year!

I've always liked the look of Leif but I've always assumed its pronunciation as "Leaf". "Layfe" I think you'd be correcting/explaining over and over.

Dh was off so we were too. Plus I needed to organize some stuff, move some boxes, sort curriculum. So it was good to be off!

Third-ing Merlin. Pushing Daisies Eureka - at least the first season or two Crusoe We're enjoying Royal Pains and the new Hawaii Five-O.

I love, love, love our Sunshine Kids Radian. It's my last purchased carseat (other kids are older) and if I had it to do over again it's the only kind of seat I'd've bought after the infant buckets.

Yes. If my lungs are already twitchy, scented items like soap and candles and potpourri are one of the quickest ways to bring on a full-blown attack. After two years without problems, I went into a Michael's store bathroom two weeks ago, while battling a cold, and despite leaving as quickly as possible, I was coughing before I could get out of the store because of the restroom "air freshener".

Oh, wow - how'd I miss that one in all my looking? That looks really good... wish it had more reviews, though - I'd love to know more about the instruction manual.

My 12 yo ds has really enjoyed his Snap Circuits over the last year or so. He has learned a lot, done pretty much all the projects at least once (he's got the big set), and I think he's ready to move on... to what? I don't know enough about electronics to know what the next logical step is. (I'm thinking of this - whatever it is - as his craft/educational Christmas gift.) I've been looking at Elenco's How to Solder kit, and also their 130-in-1 Project kit, or one of their other sizes. Or is there something else better out there? Thanks for all help/ideas/suggestions!

I've looked at the Toobs online but can't seem to visualize the actual size of the animals based on that. Maybe I can get to Michael's soon. I wasn't familiar with Bullyland - thanks for the link. Has anyone had any experience buying used?

I've got two valid Michaels' coupons right now so this sounds like an excellent option!

My dd (7) really, really, really wants some of these plastic animal figures for Christmas. She has Playmobil safari animals and I'd prefer to add to that, but she's adamant that she wants "the other kind, that don't move." But goodness they're expensive! I think she's imagining a SET, and she'll be disappointed with the number I can buy in the price range I'm planning ($20-ish). Plus she wants "families" - a mother and father, or a mother and a baby -- a couple of a kind, but not identical, KWIM? I found a bucket set from Animal Planet online last night -- but multiple reviewers pointed out that the animals have warnings on them that they contain LEAD. Blech. And EEK since we have a mouthy toddler in the house! So where do I go to get her what she wants at a price I can afford? Thanks for any help or suggestions!

We do fondue for Christmas Eve each year, and this is our must-have recipe. It's from Rachel Ray but please don't let that fact knock it out of contention! We've had very expensive fondue in the Alps that honestly wasn't as good. Smoked Gouda Fondue with Bacon and Almonds – Rachel Ray, Food Network 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets 1 pound asparagus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, plus some for drizzling 2 shallots, thinly sliced 1 pound white mushrooms* Salt and black pepper 2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, eyeball it 1 1/2 pounds kielbasa 1 cup drained cornichons or baby Gherkin pickles 2 red pears 4 teaspoons lemon juice, divided 1 baguette, sliced 6 slices thick cut bacon 8 ounces Gruyere, shredded 1/3 pound, about 6 ounces, smoked Gouda, shredded 1 rounded tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 large clove garlic, smashed away from skin 3/4 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup smoked almonds, coarsely chopped * If you like, score the tops of a few of the larger mushrooms with a paring knife. It will dress up the serving platter when mushrooms are cooked. Heat 2 or 3 inches water in a medium frying pan until it boils then salt it and add the cauliflower. Cook 3 minutes, then remove from water with tongs or spider to a colander. Cool under cold running water. Trim asparagus of tough ends and add to salted water, cook 3 minutes, remove and cool in the same manner as the cauliflower. In a second skillet, while cauliflower and asparagus work, saute shallots and mushrooms together in 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil over medium high heat until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add red wine vinegar to the pan and cook it out, 1 minute. Remove from heat. Preheat broiler to high and a grill pan or large nonstick skillet to medium high. Drizzle sausage casing with extra-virgin olive oil and prick skin in a few places with the tines of a fork. Grill kielbasa on hot grill pan or in large nonstick skillet 6 to 8 minutes until casing is crisp. Remove sausage and cut in 2-inch chunks on a bias. While sausage cooks, pile veggies on a platter and add cornichons and chopped pears coated with 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Broil bacon on slotted pan until crisp. Drain, cool and chop. Make the fondue: combine cheeses in a bowl with flour. Rub the inside of a small pot with smashed garlic then discard. Add wine and remaining 2 teaspoons lemon juice and bring up to a bubble over medium heat. Reduce the heat to simmer and add cheese in handfuls. Stir constantly, melting the cheese in batches. Stir in a figure-eight pattern with wooden spoon. Transfer the fondue to fondue pot and top with chopped bacon and smoked nuts.

We're getting ds Mindstorm for Christmas also and I bought Mayan Adventure to go with it. I looked at the book when it arrived. It looked good. Pics are b&w. Alas, I know nothing more about it - or the other titles - than that!

Well, not in communion with TEC, that's true;) -- but as a province-in-formation, ACNA is part of the global Anglican Communion, with dioceses under the jurisdiction of Anglican Provinces and bishops and archbishops of approved apostolic succession.

Look at the Anglican Church in North America. Actually.... From the 39 Articles (which express "the fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief"): Article VI – Of the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. HOLY Scriptures containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of Holy Scripture, we do understand those Canonical books of the Old and New testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church. And also from the 39 Articles: Article XI Of the Justification of Man: We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort; as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

So glad you ruled out diabetes - or another serious physical issue! Of course that leaves you w/ the conundrum of what IS going on, and what to do... Maybe just downplaying the issue for a while? If it's a stress response to something, the more attention you give it the more stress is creates. Can you think of something that might be causing him stress? Or try a reward system? So many dry days = new book, or bag of M&Ms or...

Please have his blood glucose checked. Sudden, frequent urination is one of the top symptoms of Type 1 (also known as juvenile or insulin-dependent) diabetes. It's easy to check, life-threatening if not treated and great peace of mind to be able to rule out...

I love subscribe and save. I use it for: -diapers -wipes -coffee -dried cranberries -razors and I'm always on the lookout for other good buys on stuff I don't want to run out of.

My dd is 7 and we have been struggling with this for years too. Actually she has made great improvement - when she first started writing she wrote EVERYthing backwards AND mirrored... but I digress... Anyway, I think it's still normal and I think if she's self-correcting then she is on the right path. You didn't ask for advice and you've probably heard and tried all my tricks -- but just in case any of these are new to you, we've had very good progress in the last couple of months doing the following: -starting the day, very first thing, with writing the alphabet two times, thinking carefully about the way the letters are facing -even before that, drawing a left to right arrow at the top of the page and remembering out loud that our letters go (basically) from left to right. (we use HWT's Magic C idea, and then our own "stick and launch" idea for letters like b and p - you make a stick and then launch off to the right to make the rest of the letter) -using our two fists with thumbs upraised to make a bed to help us see b and d -using our mouths to say "buh" and "duh", "puh" and "qu" to see that b and p start with (our mouths in) a line and d and q start with (our mouths in) a circle

Thank you all! Nearly all of these suggestions are new to me - so I've got some research to do (yea!). My (schooling) kiddos are 7 and 12. I have tried a variety of things for devotional time and also for more "Bible class" time. One we tried was Training Hearts Teaching Minds based on the Westminster Catechism. I probably could've edited enough to make it work theologically but I guess I just wasn't motivated enough. :iagree:, especially with the bolded. Lately I have really been making an effort to try to do (part of) the Daily Office with the kids, but it is so hard to get it down to a manageable bit, both content- and time-wise. And to try to keep a flow going without losing the 7 yo's interest completely. Plus if we miss a day of school - or on weekends - we lose the flow of the readings, which is pretty vital in the narratives. So then we're either doubling up, or I'm trying to do an on-the-fly summarization, or we just skip ahead and lose context. Another thing I would love is something that gave kids more info about the why's of worship. I've been considering just working through the catechism along with Questions on the Way for my son this year.

Hi! I'm Deb and I'm new here.:seeya: I was excited to see the Anglican thread because it was a perfect lead-in to my first thread/question here: What do you use for Bible/Religious Ed? Is there some secret source of super Anglican resources I don't know about? Cuz if so, I'd love to get in on the secret!:) I'd love to know what you use AND what age/grade you use it with... and what non-Anglican things you also use or add to it. Also, we're pretty much on our own for Sunday School so if your parish uses a curriculum you like for that, I'd also love to know about it. I'd love for other liturgical types to weigh in too -- I've been looking at Concordia and some other Lutheran publishing houses too. Thanks!