I never made a chicken breast for each person in my family, for example, using up 5 at a time. Instead, I might chop up two and use them in a soup, or at most three in a hearty casserole that will last for two meals. I agree! Don't forget potatoes, oatmeal and rice. Filling, healthy and inexpensive~

We have spent this for the last year, when hubby was laid off from his job. The new job pays half of what the old one did, so we have changed our spending habits completely! It IS possible to spend $80-100 weekly and still eat healthy. We tried cutting costs by buying ramen noodles, etc and EVERYONE in our family was sick a month later. I don't recommend sacrificing health to save money, EVER! Your crock pot is your new best friend. Use it to make pots of beans, the cheapest and yummiest food on the planet. We have a pot of pintos or black beans or white beans going most days. It's filling, which is KEY to spending less. If everyone's still hungry when the meal is over, it was a waste of money! We eat like this daily and we are not overweight, so carbs are not all bad. ;) You can make tortillas with oil, flour, salt and water. Add some cheese and you have burritos, quesadillas, soft tacos, etc. Pizza Soups Pasta Eggs - salad, scrambled, hard boiled, etc. Stock your pantry with baking supplies and you'll never be without a quick addition to any meal. I get Biokleen laundry detergent from vitacost.com for $17 + $4.99sh and it lasts me for 3 months, doing laundry every day. I have sensitive skin, so this is a necessity for me~ I also can recommend inexpensive skin care, if you're interested~

The Screwtape Letters ~ C.S. Lewis The Drama of the Lost Disciples ~ George Jowett The Shakespeare Stealer series ~ Gary Blackwood

Yogi Tea makes a Mayan Cocoa Spice that is great. I also love their Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut and Chai Roobios. Stash Tea has several great Chai blends. I have a warm mug in my hands almost all day long~ My biggest advice for a sweet tooth, is DON"T BUY ANY CANDY! If it's in the house, I'll want to eat it. It will take a few days to adjust, but you can do it!

I understand your feelings, but I also understand that it is very hard to make everyone happy. She just had a baby. She's excited and wants to show off her new bundle! And it seems that she is trying to keep some order in her schedule by keeping previous traditions going. That's hard to do when adding a baby to your life! ;) Go and be supportive of her, and get to know those inlaws better. It makes holidays MUCH easier for us kids when our parents can celebrate life together!!!! Our parents live 40 minutes away from each other, yet we have to do Thanksgiving and Christmas twice to make everyone happy. It's a nightmare and we'd rather stay home and avoid it altogether~ They are happy, but we are exhausted and annoyed every year that we have to jump through hoops to please everyone else. That's not fun..........

:lol::lol::lol: Can you tutor my kids in Creative Writing?

It's actually a great time to be buying. Interest rates are less than 5% and values are good. We signed papers today, too! Our HUD offer was accepted yesterday and we bought a great house for $42 a sf! UnREAL! Hope it goes well for you, but if for some reason it falls through, that just means that there is another great house out there for you! ;)

Since they have no real issues to ponder :glare:, of COURSE they should be spending time making up foolish bills like this one. If they are truly this bored, can I suggest they look at ways to make the current tax code more user friendly?! Just what we need, more pages to add to the never-ending tax rules already on the books...............

That's awesome~

I guess this voids my last post. Best of luck to you, anyway~

:confused: http://www.theflucase.com/ This should keep you busy for awhile~ Best of luck with your decision.

We are too, my son is almost finished with it after 6 months. He did Saxon through 76 and is breezing through pre-alg, which is nice for him and builds his confidence before he starts high school math.

We actually quit yesterday by NOT going to the meeting where our son would have received his tiger cub badge. His entire group was OUT. OF. CONTROL. It was like going to the zoo, except there were no bars. :D And the other parents just sat there and talked while their sons threw crayons, stuck things up their noses, screamed like banshees, hit and kicked the kid next to them, ate paper, etc........ :confused: My poor little guy just sat there staring at me the entire meeting. My son didn't want to go back and I wouldn't want ANY of those kids/parents at my house, so really, what would be the point in getting to know them anyway? :001_huh: We also quit boy scouts for our older two, bc the meetings were boring, the assignments were insane (we have a VERY challenging school day and are not interested in busywork), and they never actually got to speak to another kid. It was not what we expected, so we're moving on~ Besides, we bike, camp, and kayak together as a family, so we don't need someone else to plan these activities for us. ;)

I used virgin for a while. http://www.virginmoblileusa.com I liked it a lot. You can buy a card at Target, etc to add minutes or use paypal over your phone. They had the best rates where I live. Make sure you check the coverage for your area on the specific company websites. It doesn't matter much who is less expensive if you won't be able to use those minutes because of bad coverage! :D

Just roasted our own~ They need to steam after roasting. Then the peel just falls off. You don't have to peel them now, either. We freeze them after steaming and then peel them when we thaw them out~

:lol: I completely agree. I've only once gotten sucked into a pointless discussion on these forums and it won't happen again~ I'm too big of a girl to argue with an imaginary person! ;)

It's easier to clean than a raised burner top. But the smooth top seems to always be dirty, so I think you spend the same time cleaning. I'm paranoid about burning things on it and getting pits in the surface, so I think it's an extra headache in our house. I actually burned my first smooth top the first week that we had it. Don't ever leave anything cooking on it while you are gone, until you get the temps figured out. I have a pan of beans boil dry on low (in less than an hour!!!) and it ruined one of the burners. With my old stove, I could have left it for hours and it would have just simmered slowly. If it's more for a smooth top, I'd advise you to save the extra and do something fun with it~ Just my two cents. ;) Dawanna

My 6yo son is reading these books right now. Also, check the recommendations in Veritas Press catalog. They always have good, clean books~

son: 'I think I ripped my achilles nintendo!' me: 'WHAT?' son: 'You know, my achilles nintendo! It hurts like crazy!' me: 'You don't have an achilles nintendo. Do you mean your achilles TENDON?' son: 'That's what I said!' :lol::lol::lol: Just had to share this bit of nonsense from my house to yours........;)

I agree! My sons does ETC, math and his copywork as independently as possible. If it's a new concept, I'm right there teaching it while he does it. My mother feels at liberty to tell me how to do everything better. :D I've finally stopped rolling my eyes visibly and just roll them 'on the inside'. :lol:

Horizons is fairly simple. My just turned 6yo son is almost through bk 1/2 for first grade. We had the same thoughts, but decided to let him go where he is able, when he is able. He just 'gets' math already! :001_smile: We used Saxon for years and I don't see why there would be any issue switching over. It's more colorful and the pages are less time consuming, so you may actually move through faster~

I second the motion~ :iagree:

I am David. LOVE this one~ So do my kids.

Defiance The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Life is Beautiful I am David

Watched the Boy in the Striped Pajamas this week. My sons are going to watch it with us tonight. (ages 12,10 and 6) It's unbelievably precious. I weeped for an hour after watching it, thinking about how we keep repeating the same ugliness over and over and over. I don't want our grandkids to read about history and see us in the same light. And it IS possible! They actually believed that they were making the world a safer place by what they were doing then!!!! :confused: I don't think kids are too young to understand that. The plot of the movie speaks to the innocence of kids, until adults 'teach' them to be otherwise...... The two boys in the movie are 8 years old. Another favorite is Life is Beautiful. If you haven't seen this, it is so silly and sweet, and I just love the characters in it. We watched Valkyrie recently. There was not anything objectionable in it, until they are executed at the end. Hope this helps.