Sort of. Back to school time is when there are a lot of great sales. If they need clothes it is a good time to buy them.

Ok, that never even occurred to me. Now I must go see if a mason jar will work.

Just about every June we get a housefly invasion. I have never been able to find the source, although I suspect somewhere in the garage.. Sometimes we use the icky fly paper. Mostly I swat with rolled up magazine and I trained the dog to go after them. He is a pretty good fly catcher. Then I wash the windows at the end of the day because they are full of dog slobber from him gobbling up flies. It usually lasts a couple of days and then it is over.

I would have wanted to respond by pretending to talk to the voices in my head. I probably would have done what you did.

We are in a swim lull right now. Summer swim team ended and the club team does not start up until September 16th. My kids won't admit it but I think they are itching to get back into routine. I am looking forward to the routine since this year they both practice at the same time. Yay, me! My oldest swims for the club team and the high school. It makes things a bit crazier between November and February. I am hoping my dd will make the high school team when she gets to 9th grade. It should be easier for her since I forced the homeschoolers on the team issue with ds. Both of mine are always working on speed and on improving their butterfly (weakest for both of them). I order the grab bag suits from swim outlet. Rarely have an issue, although I am looking at one suit that I need to pack up to return because it didn't fit.

Is sending cards part of your family culture? I do not come from a card sending family and my kids rarely received cards from my side whereas my dh's family loves to send cards. When my kids questioned it I simply explained how sending cards was not part of my family culture and that even though they may not get cards it does not mean they do not love them or don't think about them.

Yes, I still have mine. I often think about donating it, but as a pp stated, what kind of hard hearted woman gets rid of her wedding dress. Plus, I don't think my dh would ever forgive me for donating the dress. He is still upset I dyed my wedding shoes purple to match a bridesmaid dress. He thought that was just awful and I thought I was being so practical.

Can I just say thank you to putting this out here for discussion. My oldest completed 9th grade this year and I felt like a total failure because he was failing. I did not realize he was drowning until well into the school year. As a pp mentioned-he didn't know how to ask for help and viewed asking as weakness. Dealing with my husband's health issues sapped me of all energy and I expected too much of him in terms of independent work. By the time I realized it and had the energy to deal with it the school year was pretty much over. The work he did complete he did well but overall I think the year was a failure (and even worse-the failure is largely my fault). This year I am outsourcing a writing class to bring in some outside accountability. He and I sat down and discussed his future and what needs to happen to continue homeschooling. He knows he is repeating algebra this year. He is not happy about it but it needs to be done. He also did not do well with OSU Spanish because he does not want to take spanish. I told him he has to take a foreign language and he didn't have any suggestions last year so I picked spanish for him. He has now decided he wants to learn Russian (large Russian community where we live) so I am investigating classes for him.

I like to believe I will hold my tongue unless my adult child asks for my opinion. If I thought my child was in an abusive relationship I would have to find a way to voice my opinion without alienating my child. And lets face it-that is a nearly impossible task. Having my MIL give herself free reign to comment on every choice we make and years of boundry training I am hopeful that I have learned that I need to keep my opinions to myself.

We redid our bathroom a couple of years ago and I just tell myself that I chose grey grout not white grout for the floor. I did not realize how much dirt the dog brought with him. One of these days I will be motivated to pick up grout sealer and steam shoot out the dirt.

Overall, my town in pretty sedate. The only things I know about are: 1. When we moved in one of our neighbors kept homing pigeons. My dh was happy when they moved. 2. Drug dealer lives around the corner 3. A couple of Peyton Place type affairs (Oy, did I just seriously date myself or what) I think my neighbors are weird and I am pretty sure they think we are weird but I suppose that is not surprising but typical.

In terms of personal use, it was shortly after I got married. Dh has always been a computer geek and he bought a pc and had us on the internet in 1992. At the time I had no use for it and did not start going online until 5 years later when pregnant with our first and I started researching. I started using my computer at work in 1992 for email. I first heard of the concept of computers talking to one another from the movie Wargames n 1983.

I guess it really depends on the establishment. Still doesn't bother me, though. There is all kinds of gross stuff floating around that I can't get worked up over dog butts and feet.

Wouldn't bother me. I am assuming the staff cleans the tables and a dishwasher handles the dishes. I am, however, sorry your meal was ruined.

Even though I wouldn't do it I get it. You are emotionally drained and now have to make a bunch of phone calls. When my father passed away there were many times I thought how much easier it would be to just write one email and send it to everyone. I had one of my friends notify all of my other friends. I can almost guarantee someone was probably offended that I did not call personally. Be thankful you were informed and try to be understanding that this is a difficult time for the grieving family and they are probably just trying to get the information out there efficiently.

My 15 year old went through some insomnia bouts through the past couple of years. I would give him a quarter of a melatonin for a couple of nights and that was usually enough to break the cycle for him. I don't know that I would do it as a long term solution because I do not know enough about it.

I recently had the night to myself and my treat to myself was to make a box of chocolate pudding and eat the whole thing by myself in the bowl I mixed it in while I watched cheesy tv from my youth.

The first thing that comes to mind is the movie Twins. I think of artist communities in the desert. And Silver Jewelry, I think about native american silver jewelry.

When my dh was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of years ago my friend told me her relatives from PA always referred to it as "the sugar" as in "Aunt Mary has got the sugar". Dh and I found this delightful and started telling people that he has the sugar or he can't eat that because he's got the sugar. It is starting to catch on with our circle of friends. We've got another friend referring to his diabetes as "the sugar". As for the abrupt phone call ending, guilty as charged. What is left to say after goodbye. I may occasionally wait for a response but in my mind I have moved on to the next thing. Everyone I know is the same so it never seemed strange until now.

We love this asian cucumber salad: http://forecast.diabetes.org/recipes/asian-cucumber-salad

The Judy Blume Books were great when I was growing up. The 2 that really stayed with me: Are you there God? It's me Margaret and Deenie. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! By M.E. Kerr was also one that made an impact.

I am dragging this year. We don't start until after Labor Day but this is when I am normally planning and organizing. I am just emotionally drained dealing with dh's health issues and I am trying to drum up the enthusiasm I need for the new year.

To be fair, I know a few homeschool students who can't read cursive either. I have been telling my kids for years that the future is not about how many facts you can memorize it is about having the skill set to know how to find that information-whether electronic or in a book. I don't know if memorization teaches you how to think but it certainly does exercise your brain which everyone needs. Memorizing multiplication facts just makes math easier so I don't see why you would not want to do that. That said, I taught mine cursive because all of our historical documents are in cursive and one should be able to read them. At the very least you need to know how to sign your name on a check.

Bland foods. Plenty of water. Usually they do not want to eat but if they do, chicken broth, white toast, egg noodles.

I grew up on That Girl. Plus, I loved Free to Be You and Me. Had the record and the book.