Drop ins don't bother me. If you drop by my house without calling first you will be happily invited in with a pleasant warning "Please pardon the mess, but we live here." True friends don't care what you or your house looks like. That said, none of my friends like pop-ins so I always call first.

I see I need to clarify past presidents. I am not refering to George Washington. I am referiing to the presidents of my childhood. Ford, Carter, etc.

I listened to the song. This is no different then any of the myriad of songs I was taught in elementary school about past Presidents. People just want to get their knickers in a twist. Just like I could find nothing positive about the past President the group that is unhappy this time will criticize/find fault/adjective of your choice about this President. Be thankful you live in a country where you can voice your displeasure.

30-60 minutes depending on how well he gets the lesson and how distracted he is feeling that day. If he is truly struggling I stop him at 30 minutes and we continue the next day.

Yes, we have a land line. Everyone and their mother does not need my cellphone number.

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strips Peanuts The Pig Scrolls by Paul Shipton Roald Dahl books The Phantom Tollbooth The Last of the Whangdoodles From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Too far back to remember. I do remember sneaking my mother's copy of Sidney Sheldon's The Other Side of Midnight.

I think it would have been better if the note was along the lines of "x is saving for y". I give gift cards to all my kids friends and they love getting them in return. They are usually saving for something. As for the registry at TRU. When my kids were little I used to set up a registry for them. They did not know about it. That way when family or friends wanted to know what to get them I would just direct them to the registry. I don't like when it comes in the invite.

Howard Academy sounded better then Howard School. The school is named after my father because education was very important to him. I feel Academy sets the tone for our expectations.

We use Growing With Grammar with Writing Strands.

It is unfortunate but sometimes you just don't find that friend until college or later. I have found the friendship thing very challenging for my 11 year old ds. Homeschooling really seems to shrink the friend pool. He is still good friends with a couple of boys he went to school with but the opportunities that form friendships in the middle school years are not easy to replicate. One of the things that these friendships are built on are the similar experiences they are having while being together 6 hours a day. The same classes-lunchtime-after school clubs. I try to give my son as many opportunities as I can to be in groups. Youth group, sports, our town has a rec program on Friday nights for the kids. You can't force friendship but you can provide opportunity and be someone who listens when he is feeling frustrated/depressed by the situation.

We are trying out http://www.spellingcity.com this year. The kids like it. I have an 11 year old and a 9 year old.

I do use a single rise recipe. It makes two loaves of a nice dense bread. I usually give it a second rise though because my dh prefers a softer bread. Even though everyone else in the house likes the dense bread. What we do for love.

I've been to a couple. One a cookie exchange-samples of all those yummy cookies. The other was a Holiday recipe exchange. I preferred the Holiday recipe exchange because there was an assortment of appetizers, main dishes, and desserts. When you responded the hostess asked what you wanted to bring. If she already had too many in the category you wanted you had to choose something else. It was a lot of fun.

I always bake our bread in the morning. This way we have bread at lunchtime. I start the process while the kids are eating breakfast. For me, if I don't get to the baking first thing in the morning it just doesn't happen. Unless I am making hamburger buns. Those are usually a spur of the moment idea for me.

I am laughing over the pampered chef cookie press. I always eye it and envision all the wonderful cookies I will bake. However, I always stop myself because I know I will never use it.

I freeze pancakes all the time. I don't like pancakes so I never eat them but my kids never complain about the frozen ones. I make the pancakes and cool them on wire racks. Once cool I place on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze them. Then I switch them to a freezer bag.

I have that ice cream make ball http://icecreamrevolution.com/. We used it once. I can't get rid of it because it was a birthday present for our daughter. I've always wanted a tortilla press but have always suspected it would not get used.

I think I wouldn't care what some newspaper article said. He is marrying her after I am dead. I'm dead. Why should I care what he does after I am gone. My relationship with my husband and the decisions I make are my business alone.

Me, too. Love my stoneware loaf pans, I need to consider using my roaster to make a large loaf.

I am sorry your library is like that. I <3 my library and the librarians. The last time I went to pick up a book I requested the librarian spent a few minutes looking on the shelf, on the slot, on another shelf. Finally she comes over and says "I'm so sorry but I can only find this one book. I can't find the rest." I burst out laughing and said "No, I'm sorry. There is only one book today."

I am definitely left of center. Too many of my friends I am way out there in left field but I always tell them I consider myself a Conservative. I believe in conserving the constitution, the environment, etc....

Could be the change in location and it could be peri-menopause. It could be a combination of both.

We are co-sleepers. Well not so much anymore-the kids take after me and like their own sleep space. When they were infants we shared the bed. As toddlers they started in the night in their own rooms but if they woke up they were welcome to come into our bed. Now they rarely come into our room in the middle of the night but if they do they are still welcome. One of their favorite things to do is have a camp out in our room. The bed is a bit crowded if all 4 of us are in it so they bring in their sleeping bags and bunker down.

Right now we are on Book 7 of The Sisters Grimm-The Ever After War.