"Dolly and me" or similar brands sell matching clothing for girl and doll. That's always a hit! Matching jammies or matching dresses, maybe?

That was not my experience, but my experience is obviously dated. Labs were intense and time-consuming, and write-ups were long, detailed and had to conform to rigid standards -- but there were NOT additional quizzes, tests and papers *specific* to the lab separate and on top of those required in the lecture portion of the class. Good gracious! When would a student find time to do work for other courses? "Baby" biology and chemistry were the courses I took that did actually take about 3 hours outside of class for each hour in. That plus the lab (3 hours) and the time to write it up (maybe 2?) already had that one class pegged at 17-ish hours a week. Adding additional papers to write and presentations to prepare and tests to study for on top of that seems untenable.

I got my parents a Galileo thermometer a few years ago. It has the advantage of being really attractive so it functions as a nice decorative piece too. Something like this

My dh and kids went to Wal-mart yesterday for a BF deal and had a very different, and good, experience. (We needed to replace our rear-projection TV that had a growing yellow spot overtaking the whole screen. Everyone looks like Bart Simpson on it.) Customers formed lines for high-demand items, and associates made sure folks didn't cut in line. At 6:00, the line began moving as associates handed out barcodes for those items (and they only allowed as many customers in the line as they had product, so you weren't waiting in vain.) Then you took your barcode to check-out, paid, and drove to the back for pick-up. Dh said from being handed the barcode to driving away was only about 10 minutes. He was nervous when he first got there and saw the number of people but said it was surprisingly calm and very organized.

My son loved LLfLOTR. He'd already read the book but didn't mind the re-read. He loved the author's insights and connections. He read a lot of the supporting literature she discusses. I didn't make him do all of the workbook exercises. It was a great year for him. ETA: my daughter is doing LL7 this year. I like it too but it's apples to oranges vs LLfLOTR. She would balk at even reading LOTR, much less spending a year on it. For my son, though, getting to "soak" in LOTR for a year was great.

I'm back with another oddly specific question. The Apply Texas application requests income, taxed and untaxed. Do I include military BAH (which does NOT show up on a W2)? (It is my understanding that it is NOT reported on the FAFSA, fwiw. "Income and benefits NOT to be included: âž” The value of on-base housing or the basic allowance for housing (BAH) for students or parents who are in the military. However, the basic allowance for subsistence (BAS) still counts as untaxed income.")

Amazon has a lot of options. I've purchased bath mats from Pinzon and Utopia and been pleased with both. (I'm not sure "fluffy" would describe any of the ones I've had but they are soft, absorb well and wash well.)

I've been to both (although a couple of years ago) as my dh used to host retreats there. Several times to Concord, once to W'burg. I personally had much better experiences at Concord. Perhaps it was a one-off, but W'burg was not nearly as clean. And not just one particular place but throughout -- rooms, banquet halls, water facilities... Concord definitely had a nicer feel to me.

I've always had the impression that Rice was pretty cut-throat/competitive? And pretty heavily focused on engineering/hard sciences?

I'm sorry about your daughter's illness. It's so hard when life turns upside down. So hard. And especially when it's our kids. Does UIW have a good theater program? Ds is heavily involved in theater this year. I think it'd be neat to stay involved in college but I'm not sure how interested he is.

I remember it being on my radar in a positive way for a brief period of time last year but for the life of me I can't remember why. I'll look again. Thanks.

Honestly we hadn't even looked at St. Mary's. We've been to a couple of volleyball games there and that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge of it. I guess we should take a closer look. In fact, in reality we've been avoiding schools in big cities and particularly in SA. I guess if (a) he wants to be close to home, and if (b) financially and medically it's best for him to be close to home or even living AT home, we should probably start looking in our own back yard. We'd also not even looked at Corpus Christi or Galveston. In general his life goal is to not be in south Texas, and moving *further* south is in direct opposition to that, but again given parameters (a) and (b) above, maybe we should. I think another thing at work is *my* perhaps erroneous assumption that Catholic schools in SA would be a difficult social fit for a non-Catholic kid.

Another one I hadn't known of. I don't know if he'd even consider a school in Houston, but there'd be some comfort for me there because we have a couple of churches that have partnered with my kids (our small church doesn't have a youth group) for youth trips, retreats, etc. so he'd have some people who care for him nearby. As nearby as one can be in the Rhode-Island size city of Houston, lol!

I hadn't really even considered Trinity. Mostly because all I knew was that it was expensive! But it's worth looking. Southwestern is another new to me option, and Georgetown is nice! We'll look at it for sure.

Never even heard of it! I knew it was worthwhile to ask here. :-) Off to Google.

I'm trying to help my senior narrow some college choices. We just moved to south Texas a little over a year ago, so I don't have a good feel for the nuances of different colleges, and fear there are some we're missing altogether. Ds is a very smart kid but not highly motivated. He wants to have the benefits and lifestyle that going to college would offer him, (and frankly his skill set is definitely toward the academic and not the hands-on) but doesn't have definite career goals or passions yet. He has a chronic medical condition which demands constant attentiveness and care. Between these things, he will need a pretty supportive environment, both academically and residentially (to coin a word). He'd prefer a small liberal arts school and we need very generous aid. His test scores should put him in full-tuition scholarship range at at least some schools (I've checked my alma mater for a comp) but he doesn't have a really impressive list of ECs or leadership. Ideally he'd like to be within a two-hour drive of San Antonio but is willing to go out to 8 (a one-day's drive, basically). Dh is a Baylor grad but I think it's too big and too expensive. Ds has visited UIW and was pretty "enh" about it. We considered Texas State but I think it's also too big. We're currently discussing a visit to TLU but I don't know much about it. Oh, Hazlewood Act is an option (and that certainly helps a lot with $$) but I don't know that any state schools are small enough. Dh is still active duty, so I don't think this is an option after all. I'd really appreciate any wisdom, suggestions or first-hand knowledge of schools that might be a fit.

Substitute thinly sliced potatoes for the kale. Substitute peanut oil for the olive oil. Substitute deep frying for baking. Keep the salt, and add more Just kidding! I love kale chips, actually -- just in the mood to have fun.

edited for privacy

Both my girls have worn short stacked bobs with bangs at that age and for that reason. A *well-cut* stacked bob will lay nicely air-dried (or at least mostly so) and in my experience really is easier in terms of tangling and general maintenance. We usually went several months between cuts. (Adding a picture: younger, though -- about 4, but this one wore for years.)

We've had a couple of winners that were "as seen on TV" although we've purchased both at brick and mortar stores. The temporary, velcro-up, magnet-close screen "door" was a lifesaver for us in a couple of rentals without storm/screen. And we've really appreciated the flexibility and small storage footprint of the pocket hose. My brother recently raved about the microfiber interior car window wiper my dad had, which was also an "as seen on tv" product. ETA: Oh, and my youngest has both a pillow pet and a SnuggieTail. She HAD to have the SnuggieTail last year. The pillow pet has had years of love, but the SnuggieTail, as expected, was short-lived joy. (We live in a climate where we use summer bedding year round, and wear shorts and flip-flops year round, and she runs hot anyway. But her 6-year old self was convinced she'd spend many happy hours snuggled up in a closed-bottom fitted polyester blanket. :-) )

This is the one I've used for years. I think I originally found it on AllRecipes. It seems pretty similar to one posted above. I've had good, consistent results with it and like it because (this sounds weird!) it is bland. It's really not too terribly sweet ( I might be a bit skimpy on the brown sugar, but not too much) so it's good not only as a breakfast muffin but also as a bread, with a salad lunch or a something like that. Moist Oatmeal Muffins · 1 C oats · 1 C buttermilk · 2 eggs · 1/2 C brown sugar, packed · 1/4 C canola oil · 1 C all purpose flour · 1 tsp baking powder · 1/2 tsp baking soda · 1/2 tsp salt Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pour the buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Add the oats and stir to be sure all the oats are moistened. Allow the oats to soak in the buttermilk for 20 minutes. After the oats have soaked add the eggs, sugar and oil. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the dry mixture to the oats and stir just until moistened. Grease a muffin tin with a non stick cooking spray. Fill the cups 2/3 full of batter. Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

If you're traveling as far as Tulsa anyway, go to Woolaroc!! (Mostly for the bison, but there's a lot of NA textiles.) And I love(d) Gilcrease (back in the day) so I'll second that but my memory is more western art. Lots of art so if that's not up your kids' alley you might not want to plan a really long visit.

Discover Texas is an online curriculum available for purchase with a lot of imbedded video links (but the primary instruction is Power Point).

Not here! I've had a set listed for the past 6 weeks, at a fair price (based on what I paid, at least) and -- nada!

I think it's dangerous to automatically assume that any moral objection by anyone must be because the person is a bigoted white young earth Christian. Maybe the owner of the store had a relative caned for chewing gum or breaking another of Singapore's arcane and harsh laws, and doesn't want to support that regime by purchasing a government funded curriculum.