I feel your pain. Or rather used to feel your pain. We have a Maine Coon Cat. He is large and eats huge amounts of food. And poops--well, you get the picture. We bought an omega box for about 30-40 dollars and it has been the BEST pet item we've ever bought. My husband laughs about how enthused I can get talking about it. But then-- he never changed the litter box.:tongue_smilie: I've linked below to Petsmart--check out the reviews http://reviews.petsmart.com/4830/2754459/reviews.htm

Which coconut oil do you recommend? It looks like they are all virgin and cold pressed , which has been my criteria for buying. How do you choose between their coconut oil?

"Reforming the food system is not inherently a right-or-left issue: for every Whole Foods shopper with roots in the counterculture you can find a family of evangelicals intent on taking control of its family dinner and diet back from the fast-food industry — the culinary equivalent of home schooling." A very interesting essay--esp. in light of some of the food threads I've read recently-- about the need to get back to real foods vs processed foods. I've included link to entire article below. nandell http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

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Most of the clothing is not anything I'd let my kids wear. Think *very* sexually suggestive You can somewhat control the lyrics by song choice but you have no control about the character's appearance. Having said that, my kids love it. It's fun.

I think keeping the mice as pets could cause problems, not least of which is wild (undomesticated) animals carry diseases. What if your children --or you and dh--were bitten by them? Call the exterminator Then if you want mice (and those little pink ones are cute!) go buy some domesticated (as in raised in a controlled disease free environment) mice at a pet store. Your kids could even pick out the ones to come live at your house---as in live in a cage , of course. Nandell

this is what I was expecting--wish there were an easier way but it's good to hear from others that have BTDT nandell

My dd is 15 and has known her "best friend" for at least 4 years. They have not been bfs all those years. Over the last year or two they have become closer friends. For a more reasons than I want to go into, her father and I have decided after much deliberation and heartache that this relationship is going downhill in an unhealthy way fast. Her family (6 kids)has a history of really out of control teenagers, and friend as youngest child is sadly following this pattern. My dd is going to be very upset with this decision. She feels responsible in some ways for friends emotional health which is a heavy burden. She (dd) is so enmeshed in this relationship that she can't see the burden and how it affects her. Friend is almost always emotionally crisis-ed(is that a word?) and tends to drag others with her. Friend has both threatened to run away and to cut at various times. Her parents are aware of her moods & threats(it's ALL over her myspace); they call her 'sensitive' and imply that people just don't 'get' her creative spirit and, of course she would never really do those things. Most contact between the girls is thru email, MySpace, and many times daily cell phone calls/text. They see each other at a dance class, and have outings every few weeks. How would you cut contact? All constructive opinions welcomed. NanDell

I haven't signed up---we get basic thru school system. I sent an email to coop but still am unclear. Is this the plus or basic version? Anyone??

Holly Check out the link I've enclosed. It's not for college but a contest sponsored yearly By Samsung. They have teens act, direct, create films every year , then their peers vote on the winners. I know teens that have done this. They never actually won the big prize but --oh my gosh--the experiences they have had. At the site, you can see some of the past winners plus read other teen's experiences. http://fresh-films.com/

I would appreciate help from any and all My husband is retired from Verizon. We pay our insurance and life insurance via automatic bank drafts. The bank drafts were messed up(long story) and ins called us. We sent them the required money. They applied it to the END of the note, without telling us. Then canceled the policy. After much negotiation. the health insurance was resumed but they refused to restart the life insurance. This is a very BIG deal for me. My dh is 13 years older than I am and is not a candidate for life insurance because of cardiac problems. My dh says let it go; we can't do anything. What sayest the hive?

My two nephews are Ayden and his brother Elijah! Congratulations!

I can't believe I left out his grade. He will be a 9th grader this year. I'm sure from what I've been told she doesn't have the money for Calvert. It would be a good option though if she could afford it. Unfortunately, in Texas the virtual K-12 school only goes up to 8th grade at this time or it ,too, would be a good choice Any other ideas? I need to call her this evening

Jet The schedule I'm talking about is the 36 week recommended schedule they have listed under--I think--course description. I'm not sure if that came across clearly in my post. nandell

Hi I've written this out once before but must have lost it in the posting cause I can't find it on the boards . So here goes 2nd try.(crossing fingers) My homeschool group contacted me about helping a 74 yo g'ma that is started to homeschool (her words) 'spirited' grandson. Curriculum needs to be very low cost. I don't know if she's looking for secular or religious so am open to any and all suggestions. We use Keystone which is not low cost, and therefore out of the picture. I've thought of SOS and Lifepacs. Our library has textbooks that you can check out but she'd have to come up with her own lesson plans. I though lesson plans might be a little intimidating/overwhelming at first. Since the school year has already starting for some, I've been told that she's in a somewhat panicked mode about curriculum. I'd really like to have some solid info/suggestions for her when I do call her. Any input, please? nandell

How do you keep them motivated? I am having a hard time keeping dd driven to do the work. It seems if she doesnt have deadlines shoved down her throat, she does other things. Jet , I'll answer you here but I'll also tell you that you prob would get more answers about this on the High School board This is our 2nd year of Keystone. Some things we like very well; some things we don't. My dd also did alg last year--she hated the web quests. Our method is very simplistic, and you may have already done this. If so, just take this as an empathetic response from another keystone parent. We use the listed 36 week course schedule . Last year I showed her how there were 6 lessons ,and we schedule 6 wks each with a goal of completing each lesson in 4-5 weeks. We add in the extra weeks to give us leeway because some lessons are longer than others. We then mark in the dates on the calendar in red and these are our deadlines. And I try very hard to make her stick with them. Another thing--did you know there is a keystone parent yahoo group. The info I've received from the other parents has been very helpful and you might get additional insight there. Nandell http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KNHS-homeschool/?yguid=162045765

Thanks for the corrected link, I didn't realize it wasn't working.

I thought i saw on the website that membership was open to all but when I looked again I saw that most field trips are open to all. I'd email them but first, I noticed you're from Texas. We live in Texas also, and have US acess thru our school district. It might be worth checking out.

Yep. Probiotics (acidophyllis plus), digestive enzymes, Nexium, fiber. And exercise makes a difference for me too.

United Streaming for $49 This is even a better deal than Homeschool Buyers Coop. If you join southwest home education for 49 dollars. United Streaming is free with the membership. As far as I can tell, this is a secular group without requirements. (other than the membership fee) And--just for the record--I want to go on their Tall Ships expedition!! http://http://www.southwest-home-education.com/join.html nandell

I know the organizations legit , and has been around for several years. You can always call them as well. The information I gave isn't spam; I am a regular --if infrequent--poster. (not trying to be defensive, i just want you to know) It looks like they have structured their organization as an non- proift educational forum. so they get discounts like public schools do. I don't have this membership; we don't live in those states and we get US thru our school district. They do not limit members to residents of those states.

This is even a better deal than Homeschool Buyers Coop. If you join southwest home education for 49 dollars. United Streaming is free with the membership. As far as I can tell, this is a secular group without requirements. (other than the membership fee) And--just for the record--I want to go on their Tall Ships expedition!! http://www.southwest-home-education.com/join.html nandell

what bugged me was most was last night with swimming. I don't remember the names but the commenter was talking about about how one of the US swimmers(male) had broken up with one of the US girls swimmers right before the Olympics started. Now, did we REALLY need to know that? And would he really want that broadcast worldwide if it were his daughter that had been broken up with? (Granted, it might not have bothered the female swimmer at all. Maybe she was even glad for the relationship to end. I'll bet no one asked for her input before broadcasting though)

and of course didn't save it. Someone was talking about (in the last week or two)not having taught Latin , or maybe dropping Latin and an abbreviated book of most commonly used Latin terms used was suggested. Anyone else remember this? I can't find it by searching.

He knew it'd be a long, frustrating, boring day that would pay off with two weeks of fun at camp Sounds like he's a seasoned (as well as mature) traveler. Another benefit to the village, or did he already have that experience? I'm not sure my dd would have handled those experiences as well as your son did. We tried to go out of our way to make it as simple as possible because my dd is not a seasoned traveler. This was only her 2nd time to fly so she didn't really have much to compare with, in terms of experience. How cool that you got to talk with him again before he entered camp. We spoke to our daughter yesterday morning briefly before they left for camp. Then she turned her phone off. Like-minded friends, Japanese activities and language--I'm sure that she won't be missing home much if at all, lol. It was good to hear you speak of your dd's independence and continued motivation during the year after she first attended CV. I'm hoping for that for my dd as well.