I would encourage you to explore the WHYS of this statement. Make a list why prefer being on the main floor - is it lighting, proximity to laundry/kitchen, lack of "something". Then, ask the kids what they would envision. I have a single story home, that had the garage converted to a room. We started school in there, then my parents lived in it for awhile, then we went back to it, and are now out in the alcove off our living room (Only living space). It is more central to how we function - no one can really get far away without someone noticing. The big room is now totally office and craft space (still working on it). But I can swap a load of laundry (which is in my kitchen) and still be "right there" for the kids. I think if we had started in this house and never had the break of my parents in the room, we might still be back there. But the layout we have now is very much like what we were using before we moved to FL, and it just works better. My ex does/did not like books and stuff out, that also hindered this corner from being a better "library" than it was when he was here. I don't have that problem, and technically I am here for 9-10 more years - I can do what I want and like! :D

They jumped into my cart at Walmart.... despite the fact that I really should NOT have bought them. I didn't even care what they cost - which i think was $1.97. Which is expensive for what they are! :p BUT, they are by carolinapad.com (and not on their website), in the studio c collection, and are 100 sheets and half height and bound on the left! (oh, it says wide ruled too!) I'm thinking I will have wayyyyy less issues trying to get the kids to write something in them daily since there is less space. I think I need to go buy a couple more of them..... I wonder if they have them at Target - i have a $10 gift card there!

Love it! Try putting the grippy shelf liner between your tops and bottoms. It it working very well here, o well I'm calling it permanent!

Well, my kids are still cleaning their room (by choice).... they found my Judy Clock in there!! :p (its one of the small personal sized ones)

That map is cute! I have some wall pops white sheets I bought on clearance at Lowes YEARS ago... I just saw a new one in a box. The other I bent up taking it down because I was sick of looking at it on the door! :p I'm going to cut my own vinyl for a wall.... i think. It will depend on how cheap I find the vinyl. It might just be easier to buy it with a backing, neither option is happening for a few months at least! The kids are still mucking out their room - sooooo..... not much happened in my area today. Except I went and bought dish soap :D

WE are going to start Notgrass America the Beautiful next week if all goes as planned! It is set up for a lesson a day, but we will be doing just 2 a week right now. http://www.notgrass.com/notgrass/America-the-Beautiful-Resources/

My kids decided to clean THEIR room today. We have had some arguments (my middle child doesn't have great impulse control when she is sick - and it is showing today), but they appear to be back working. Which doesn't bode well for what *I* need to get done today.... but that really really needs to be done back there too. I also have a closet to figure out what is happening with it now that it is empty - and shelves to move and such.

I"ve used Readerware and loved it (my mobile app back then was for the Palm!). I bought Book Crawler and will use that once we get the living room taken care of - the desktop app is Mac only i think. Which reminds me of something I need to put on another list! LOL!!

Good luck!!! SInce you know you always end up there - I would probably attack it from the approach that it is more of your office/storage space, maybe with a quiet workspace. Then store stuff that you use daily in something that can easily move to another room... and then BACK to the spot! Oh but, what color are you painting??? Dang, I want to come paint with you... i love to paint!!! :D I hear that the living room is getting dealt with today. It's been a crazy week....

I buy at various times, saving up when I need to. Technically I am supposed to set aside money each month, but that hasn't been possible this year :(

Do you have a close up of your routine board??? I really really need one of those..... I haven't had a couch in awhile - you adapt!!! :D

For the Growly Notes users - I emailed the developer a question and got this response in less than an hour. I was asking him how long he was going to support 10.5 (related to shopping for used computers), and mentioned about not being able to annotate on PDFs. I think with this I'm set. I can use a combo of Growly and XL and end up with what I want!

LOL, ok, see, I haven't recorded my screen so i'm just being all picky like :p I found this in the help. I haven't sorted out that either. At this point DD won't be using it unless she gets some sort of laptop that will run it (I don't think it will run on my iBook! LOL!!). I need a portable solution - and I really wish I could create on the Mac and have an iPad that mirrored most of it.... But I haven't found anything that will do that to my level of pickiness. So basically, i'm still thinking it all thru.

Love the video!!! BUT, how come I always feel like i'm the only person that "autohides" the dock?? I even switch the demo units in the store to hide it. I cannot deal with looking at it!! :lol: (i understand, it is a personal problem..... :D ) I'm messing today with exporting from Growly, NoteTaker and CP Notebooks. I can't have DD easily write on PDFs in any of them - and I'm not sure how to transition to that. I'd rather have her using a tablet to write some answers instead of typing them all in. I think. I"m getting bogged down in details - but they make or break what I do and I do not want to redo what I finally type up. Heck, I do not like Evernote and I'm even trying that again! UGH. ACK.

I have more 12x18 construction paper than 9x12. Right now I have it in totes until I figure out if it is going back into the "craft closet" or is finding a new home out here. I really would prefer it out here - but I think that the craft closet will be in use again. The room it is in is being totally rearranged, so i'm hoping that will keep it less of a disaster. That is part of what is on todays schedule!

You know, I had to call Ikea customer support the other day. The kid was really really nice - I was impressed. I would at least call them to voice your displeasure at them breaking so soon after purchase. Oh the car aspect.... I need tires. Sure, no problem.... I've owned my car a few days short of 1 year and have driven 21,000 miles I think. I didn't expect that... I"m running away from my room for 2 hours to gymnastics.

Oh yes, skipping the Dutch chocolate. HMPH. I think I'm going to have another temper tantrum (well, not really) like I did a couple of weeks ago. Same un-resolved issues causing me insane stress and planning just brings it all out. The one person that could talk me down, walk me thru it, anything has been on the phone for work for hours :( Which means for some stuff - i'm going to have to wing it. :banghead:

We don't even have a YMCA here. The closest one is about a 40 minute drive in traffic.... I joined one year, did 4 weeks of swimming lessons daily and it about did me in driving. I went to water aerobics a few times and that was torture going all the way there (traffic.... 1 road, around a big lake.... with construction....). Technically, rumor has it when they build the new middle school in the area west of my house, the Y is supposed to build "next door" or something. I have visions of being able to walk to a pool. Because, we don't have a public pool in town either - we have to go to the next 2 towns and pay more because they don't really want us there. But alas, I will find a camp of some sort for next summer!

I'm sitting here.... frozen. My printer isn't hooked up today - and the paper forms I printed aren't cutting it. The spreadsheet isn't working for me. I know I can't wing it - I must get thru the books and schedules and pick what we plan to do. Things will be fine that way.... Maybe I just haven't had enough chocolate today?!?! :p

Like I said yesterday, you totally have to pick and choose what would work for your family. I can lovingly long for someones room - but know that there is now way it would work for us. Regardless of whether you have a room or not, you probably have at least 1-2 shelves of material that you need to corral, coupled with other odds and ends. My ex didn't like to SEE books. When we added bookshelves to this alcove - he thought they needed doors. I realized that all the books in his house had been covered up with cabinets. No wonder he never read (couple that with his late dyslexia diagnoses in 5th grade - yup, you covered his book loathing!). It was totally foreign to me to think that way, I grew up surrounded by books. Thankfully I'm able to do what I want now since he is the ex :D For me, a casual home that doesn't try to avoid saying, "we homeschool" is what works. I look forward to the coming year to change things up and encourage more projects. But, I totally get that that isn't for everyone. Sooooo, pick and choose and do what works best for you - AND, still share pictures because I still need to see them :D

Mine is set to be delivered today.... i preordered it in May when someone posted about it. I actually meant to cancel it because it isn't a good week for it to have hit the bank account, but alas, it is on the truck as I type.

:( I'm sorry to hear that Tress. Here is a :banghead: for you, and a :hug: (ok, I don't know that code and I can't click to insert them either!)

Raising hand.... Every time I get in a groove - someone throws something in my path I cannot avoid. Those someones do not seem to grasp all that I really need to do either. THey thing they do, but they really aren't "getting it". I had to cancel lang therapy today, so I'm hoping the biggest obstacle can get attacked after all before I have to take a child to gymnastics. I guess I could go create my spreadsheets for now!

I currently don't even make enough to have to file taxes, let alone have enough to itemize for deductions! So any donations are out of the goodness of my heart. Even if I manage to find a job before the end of the year I won't have enough deductions to go beyond the standard. It is what it is right now. Oh well.... and, I think I have 3 of the tables. The other one must be in the garage somewhere. Hmmmm........

Well, my kids are here most of the time. I hear they might go to their Dads this weekend - which means I will waste a whole day enjoying the non-bickering time! :p My kids are actively helping with the other room purge, but I agree some of what I need to do is easier done without them. I'm pondering labeling the books and shelves here - but that comes after I get rid of some stuff and get my lesson plans done!