I have IKEA's on our King and it is *awesome.* South Texas and being "of a certain age" -- I love it! It's a thin pad that we have under our regular mattress pad and it makes a noticeable difference. Washes easily in our machine and has held up very well for the two years we've had it. I can't find it on the website right now but if I do, I'll come back and edit. Found it! https://m.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/art/20329256/

Geraldine McCaughrean is a gifted storyteller, and re-teller -- one of my favorites -- but my very favorite of hers (a bit different from most of her books) is The Jesse Tree. A family Advent staple! I wish she'd do a similar Lenten book.

Sold! My lands, what a perfect solution! My very own personal shopper! Thank you so much -- just hit buy it now on the lenovo and going to bed with a problem solved!

Thank you! I hadn't investigated the fine print -- this is wonderful news!

Back-to-school and unexpected life expenses are ballooning, and today I realized that the full-time college student will need the laptop he and younger sib have been sharing. Younger sib (14) has two outside (in person) classes that require checking in and turning in assignments online. Obviously she'll need some sort of word processing too. I use OpenOffice but she's not a fan -- she'd prefer Microsoft Office/Word but I'm not sure that'll be in the cards. She's an artist and needs/wants to get back to digital art - her plan is art school (she thinks design rather than fine arts for the financial stability). She has a drawing tablet and up until now has used free or affordable drawing programs like PaintToolSAI and Krita. My dh would like her to have Photoshop (because industry standard?) but she isn't interested and doesn't think it's necessary -- she says that there are professionals using the programs she likes, too. I *could* add her (anticipated) laptop to my Photoshop subscription but obviously that's an extra expense, and Photoshop greatly increases the needed processing power and speed. Is there any way I can make a Chromebook work for her/her needs? Or is there something else workable at about a Chromebook price point? She's young and has good eyes so screen size isn't as big a deal to her as it would be to me, but monitor quality needs to be at least decent. I'm willing to consider used but don't know how to go about finding and verifying a used computer purchase. Oh, NOT Apple/Mac please!

A little late to the party, but I use these and have for years:Arrow Plastic 1-Quart Freezer Containers, 3-Pack - Set of 2 (Total 6 Containers) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RU38BYW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_DtlyBb060B6D4 They come in three sizes (1/2 pt, pt and qt) and all sizes use the same lid, which I love! They are dishwasher safe and of course freezer safe. They are harder to find than they used to be, but worth it to me even though they're a bit pricey now. They last a long time. And did I mention how much I love the fact that they all use the same lid?

Another Lego Friends/Elves convert here. My 7 year old is Lego-obsessed, and I'm not sure that would've happened without those lines. And despite any concerns I had about "pink and purple Legos," she is the most prototypically perfect "plays creatively with Legos" kid I can imagine. The sets all get reworked. We currently have what is becoming a city block of apartments and stores (well, a coffee shop) upstairs, repurposed from Lego Friends bedroom sets plus other pieces. The minidolls travel between the buildings on a monorail she built of her own imagination. There's also an elevator to connect the apartment building's two levels, built from Technic pieces included with various Friends sets. "The Technic pieces are my favorites, Mommy. You can make so many things with them." All those specialty pieces? The coffee shop has a hot chocolate (because she likes it better than coffee) automated machine/dispenser. She used sliding pieces (I don't know what they're called) to make a conveyor belt system that the mug slides on, then a faucet and clear piece to make something that looks like a coffee urn. Each of the apartments has a toilet. They're each different depending on what parts she could find. I know one of them has a life preserver seat from a City set. She loves the Elves, too. Obsessed with dragons, so the dragons get endlessly re-built (6 wings! two feet!) and then drawn on paper, etc. I've been asked to sit through multiple lectures (and required to take notes!!) on various dragons (she gives them pseudo-scientific names). She draw examples, scale drawings, etc on the white board while I sit and listen. Habitat, diet, etc. All in some way inspired from the Lego dragons. For a while, one of the mini-dolls (representing her) was a researcher high in the mountains learning about a rare dragon. I was down in the valley (also a mini-doll). There was no cell phone communication, so she used string and specialty pieces to rig a pulley system and a basket so we could send notes up and down the mountain to each other. The mini-dolls? I was pretty down on them when they first came out. But they are so much more *relatable* to her. One of them just travelled with her on her trip out of state -- Emily (the mini-doll) was very excited to be on an airplane for the first time. The mini-dolls bend and move more realistically. She makes clothing for them out of bits of fabric. She has painted some of them to give them different hair or clothes. She has baked Sculpey onto them to change their looks. (To give credit where credit is due, a LOT of her creative play ideas have been inspired by watching EllieV's YouTube videos, which are a brilliant way to get girls involved in Lego. Her enthusiasm is contagious!) In addition to the "basic" pieces that come with Elves and Friends sets, she has a (very old) basic blocks set, a City set or two and my seashore set. And sometimes she raids her big brother's Lego and Orient Expedition stash. But the bulk of her building comes from Elves and Friends, and there is no way that anything about those sets has stifled her or limited her creativity! ?

I'm loving the look of Beautiful Feet's new Around the World with Picture Books guide. I think it has quite a bit of poetry and art, but I've only seen samples online. It definitely has the geography, but I think the target age is younger Elementary. Although the picture books look beautiful enough for older kids too.

That level of interference with everyday functioning is pretty alarming. I'd definitely be pushing hard to get answers, and I'd encourage you to look at the situation very globally -- not just hormone or vitamin levels. How old is your dh? Did the doctor do some cognitive tests? CAT scan? Is there anything particularly stressful going on that could be at the root? Could he be depressed?

I know you've closed the poll and made a decision, but I just wanted to add my pro-towel story. ? My dh got a personalized bath sheet for his high school graduation over twenty years ago. "Bath sheet" is key here! He took it with him to summer Army Reserve drills. He took it with him skiing. He used it as a towel, he used it as a blanket, he used it for whatever life presented that needed a big piece of absorbent cloth. Twenty years after he got it, it went with him to Iraq for 15 months. It was big enough to use as a lap blanket on airplanes or car trips or skiing... So many events, so many memories! It finally fell apart and he still misses it! For him, it was probably the most memorable and useful graduation gift he received. I'm not sure he knows *who* gave it to him, but he can tell you hours of stories of times he had that towel with him.

I offered to buy a study book. I suggested Khan Academy. I recommended taking a practice exam. He kept saying he'd get around to it. The night before the test, I reminded him about it and he was annoyed. Stayed up late, got up grumpy but he came home from the test feeling good about it. ("Yeah, right," said the mom voice in my head - even though I know him and his ability to pull stuff out of the ether. "You didn't prepare at all. You haven't really done school work most of the year...") Aaannnd... today the scores are in and he got what he needed. I didn't know whether to hug him or strangle him! There's the moral high ground/teaching a lesson part of me that was hoping the (expected by me) lower score would make him realize he needed to study. And yet pride that he could do what he did. And relief for the financial ease it brings...

Crowding in here with another CO question ? We're headed to the Springs to visit family, and on my ds's bucket list is visiting a ghost town. I know there's lots of abandoned silver mines/towns in central CO -- does anyone have a favorite to recommend?

The Alps. Breathtakingly beautiful. I've always wanted to go hut to hut hiking in the Alps. Great skiing in the winter, if you'd rather. There's great cable (attached, harnessed) climbing in the Dolomites that makes otherwise really dangerous technical climbs doable by the average person.

My dad sounds very similar to yours and he really enjoyed (and encouraged us to read) "Beneath a Scarlet Sky." https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Scarlet-Sky-Mark-Sullivan-ebook/dp/B01L1CEZ6K/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1528216795&sr=8-1

Oh yes, they were a children's church staple back in the day - activity and snack rolled up in one! I went on a trip down nostalgia lane a few years ago and found the recipe. I made it a couple of times -- I liked it but didn't remember it being sooo sweet. My kids weren't as enthralled. Anyway, Peanut Butter Balls Mix together 1C peanut butter, 1C honey and 2 C powdered milk. Roll into balls and then roll into crushed cornflakes. The other one that I remember involved orange juice (concentrate?) and vanilla wafers... I haven't found that one yet.

It doesn't have to be dragons. She does love dragons, but right now I'm looking more for well-read audio books that hit that right bedtime tone. So, I guess -- nice voice, lovely language, nothing that will keep her from falling asleep... That's about all my requirements. ? I have an Echo dot beside her bed, and a lot of nights she listens to a guided sleep story/meditation ("Sleep Well for Kids/Sleep Well for Kids Under the Sea") but she has really been enjoying "The Reluctant Dragon." So I thought maybe we'd branch out into some other audio books. Oh, except I can't figure an easy way to get library (Overdrive) audio books to play on the Dot, so I'm kinda stuck with Audible purchases (i.e. cheap!).

We've done My Father's Dragon as a read-aloud (me reading, I mean) but not as an audiobook. And we've never done the sequel. So those would be good to look for. I'll look at Dragon Rider, too. Thanks!

as an Audible read-aloud at bedtime, what else would she love? She loves the Dragon Master series (as others have said, it's what turned the corner for her in reading chapter(ish) books for pleasure) but she's read them all. I especially would like something she could listen to, so it could have more sophisticated language than Dragon Master books, but since it'll be a bedtime listen, it shouldn't be too intense or scary. ? 7 years old, btw. ETA: She is quite the dragon lover, but I should add it doesn't *have* to be a dragon book.

I hope other people's experiences will vary, but based on mine, I'd skip it. Unfortunately it was towards the very bottom of the barrel in terms of our Ranger and Visitor Center experiences (and we've been to lots of Nat'l Parks/Monuments). Enough to just sort of ruin the whole experience. In addition, when we were there in July, it was cold and wet and foggy in an un-fun kind of way (and at the time we were living near Seattle, so it's not like our expectations were out of whack or we were unfamiliar with or even negative toward PNW weather). On top of that, it's a LOOONG way from Seattle. With kids and depending on traffic it's probably 4 hours. So an extremely long day trip. The kids would have a lot more fun taking a ferry (anywhere!), tidepooling, or even visiting Mt Rainier. ETA: it *was* ten years ago so take maybe things have changed...

For "frame and put on the wall and have them there a good while," my go-to is mpix. For canvases, I use Canvas on Demand. For temporary displays, snapshots, etc. I'm a lot less picky. In fact, I've recently found that my local Wal-mart is pretty decent.

Background: Oldest about to graduate. I'm burnt out. He is a smart, unmotivated student and I've had to drag him through. I'm tired. More background: Middle student is 7th/8th-ish this year. (The plan is five more years to graduation, so 8th next year, or two 9ths or whatever...) Academics don't come naturally to her, but she's a hard worker. She would like to go to college (or art school) but won't be looking at exclusive schools or academic scholarships. She and I work hard on our relationship but butt heads a lot. She works far better for her outside teachers than for me, and likes firm deadlines. She wants to keep homeschooling because of involvement in homeschool theater, art, volleyball and because she needs quiet downtime. (Youngest is still at the cuddle on the couch, go on field trips, make toilet paper roll castles stage.) So, I *never* dreamed I'd consider this, but I'm wondering about something like OM (OH MY GOSH! THE PRICE! never mind that...) or American School. Maybe it's just the burn-out talking, but I'd love to have someone else do the grading, at least for a lot of the subjects. (I wouldn't mind doing a few classes together at home.) I'd like to be encourager/coach, not grader/task-master. And I think she'd do well with it. We have "class day" schools here -- she attends one now for foreign language -- but to do a full load would get expensive compared to (EDIT) American School. Plus the teachers tend to give weekly assignments, and she would really do better with a format where she had more frequent check-ins. What can you tell me about these programs? Or similar ones? Have you had good or bad experiences? Are there other options I'm missing/forgetting/I don't know about? (One of the appeals of American School is the low number of credits required. It would free time for her to devote to art and theater, and wouldn't be as overwhelming to a non-academic student, and would give us flexibility to add courses we wanted to. I think? I dream?) I'll eventually delete/edit for her privacy.

I buy it for.... chicken salad sandwiches. SOOO good! Other than that, I'm somewhat 'ennh' about raisin bread, although I don't mind it as French toast or even toasted with apple butter. But that's just if there's leftovers from chicken salad.

With super tired and leaking, I'd encourage you to have her blood glucose levels checked. I know that doesn't take into account some of the other concerns on your radar, but those two are red flags for me, and may be a piece of the puzzle or at least another clue.

Shrove Tuesday pancakes here. One of my favorite traditions! Weird tomorrow with the Ash Wednesday/Valentine's Day confluence. Youngest has older been to a Valentine's party and dh brought home flowers for me tonight so I guess we'll probably call that good and focus on Lent.

The first time, they got back to me in a day or two that my first choice site wasn't an option so they were going to the second choice. That site got back to me within a week and everything was straightforward. The second time we just went with that site, and the lady there was willing to do it, but due to renovations at the school she couldn't give me a definite date. He ended up testing in August on about the last possible date for that test administration where lots of testers were disrupted and I think all of them finally tested before ds did! So it got a little stressful -- has she forgotten us? -- but in the end it was all find. I think that's one reality to keep in mind -- your dd will probably test by herself, so someone is committing their day to it, and since it's just for one person, the tester may be slower to book, assuming more flexibility. But I'm also realizing how blessed we were by having a testing site/person who was willing, and quick to agree. Can you talk in person to the testers at the sites you're suggesting? Make sure they're willing and able up front? Best wishes. It is frustrating. (And I just realized that in my first reply I was melding you (looking for a testing site) with another poster (getting started on accommodations) -- sorry about that! I was trying to rush out the door. :-) )