When we were in Germany, we visited the Varusschlacht, the site of the defeat and destruction of three Roman legions by German tribesmen. They had a display with an entire legion represented in Playmobil. It had been put together by the Playmobil folks when they brought out the Roman sets. Very cool. I always wanted to put together a recreation of the battle with the German tribesmen on the other side. Really just a way to justify getting more Vikings.

There is a website that the military put together to help give information on opportunities in today's military. I got out a little over 10 years ago. While much of military life is constant, there is also a lot of change. For example, before dh and I were married, there was no email or cell phone capability. When he deployed, we talked about once a month and wrote letters. Now, the deployed military person can check email frequently and call much more often. This can be good and bad. So it would be good for your son to read historic books about the military as well as current pieces. The rule Your Mileage May Vary always applies. Time, location, branch, professional specialty and family issues color someones military experience. There is a well done book called Making The Corps by Thomas Hicks. This is about Marine Corps boot camp. Keeping Faith by Thomas Shaeffer and John Shaeffer is another one.

This would only work if he wanted to go to college. The stresses and time commitments of ROTC on top of a regular college load are not going to be easy for someone who isn't interested in college. And a service academy application has as one of its priorities, weeding out the students who are applying because their parents think it is a great idea. It is a great thing that students realize that they can go to college, paid for by the military and come out as officers. But it is not the right path for every student. USNA grad, former naval officer, navy wife.

You might save a cup/saucer for each child. They might appreciated this when they are older. Now if you had Noritake High Sails, I'd just be sending you a check.

I've read the book and thought it was well done. I probably wouldn't hand it to my boys, but not over concerns with the title. Many of the examples are related to tv culture. We seldom watch so the examples would require as much explaining as the original concept. But I do like the book as a secret book for the homeschooling mom. It is a good math refresher or clarifier of concepts you never really understood. She also uses many of the methods for solving problems that are taught in schools these days (for example the birthday cake method of prime factorization or grid methods of multiplying). I find some of them more complicated than just learning the older algarithms, but since they are much in vogue in schools, there is some value to knowing the terms and techniques. Is the title crass? Yeah. Is the math inside well thought out. Yeah. My library had it and it was worth my checking it out.

I'm a fan of the Children's Illustrated Bible by Selina Hastings. We actually have editions that split Old Testament and New Testament. It is detailed, has DK style glosses at the bottom of the page that elaborate on the story at hand. And it doesn't shy away from stories that show people's failures. So Balaam is here and so are David and Bathsheba.

Some things that might factor in: If the older person can't be left alone (needs to have someone who can help at any time or is prone to wander) and there is no stay at home adult If there is a need for ongoing medical care I don't know that medicaid will pay family members for caring for an older family member. So it isn't always an even choice. If there is a history of tension in the family. Setting aside topics like physical or substance abuse. If the older person has a history of being controlling, the children's families may feel stuck in a position of putting the older adult in a nursing home in order to maintain some emotional distance. If I had to choose between the various grandparents and my marriage it would be a painful choice, but it would probably not end with one of the grandparents living with us. Three of four possibly. But the fourth is a loving person who creates a lot of tension. FWIW, the situations that I've watched at a bit of a distance had the older person use up all their resources, then be considered eligible for medicaid.

I have a Delta Sky Miles card. It is now almost impossible to redeem the miles earned. I was able to get tickets for a trip this summer right before they raised the levels for getting tickets. At this point, I wouldn't go out and get a frequent flyer affinity card. I would consider it a lost opportunity to get cash back. There are several big name writers on the airline industry who are making similar recommendations.

Are you by chance running Rosetta Stone version 3 with the USB headphones? I've found that I have to go to the control panel after using RS in order to change the default speakers back to the the main speakers.

Except if the beneficiary dies, the funds go to their heir(s) according to how their will is laid out. So money intended to take care of your children could end up split between your siblings or their kids or your mom's favorite charity. You can trust her with the money as a trustee of the trust you set up without risking that money being mixed into her general finances.

My MIL called me so I could listen to the results being announced . . . Joshua

Could you use a casserole in late Aug/ early Sept? I make a mean burrito bake?

Laurie had some wise advice here, IMO. One problem with emails is that they may be read in a tone that the writer didn't intend. There is no way to clarify points or have a discussion on them. It sounds like you have a real passion for this topic. And like you have cool ideas on how to work your faith into the other topics that the youth in your church are learning. I would suggest that you sit down with the youth pastor/children's minister or members of the Christian education committee and express your desire to help equip the church. But you should do this knowing that the response may well be to put you in charge of any classes or seminars that are held.

I learned that there is no good reason to delay filling out a claim for damage done to stuff during a military move, and that it won't actually get any easier to pull together if I put it off. I also learned that my older sons can completely clean the van by themselves. Yeah sons.

I think it would be well worth your peace of mind to have a property manager. Maybe your realtor is trying to help you save money, knowing that having it empty for months hasn't been great for you. But there are all kinds of things that could go wrong and you would be too far away to deal with them. You really want to be nursing that newborn and have renters calling you over a backed up toilet? And forgetting the time difference? And what would you do then anyway? Does your realtor's company have a property management office? At least that way it would keep things in house rather than her having to deal with a different company to show to potential buyers. Or will your realtor sign a property management contract (I'm not sure if this is even ok, I can't remember if my manager had a different type of license.)

You might check out the 15 and 30 day USA Rail passes at Amtrak. You might even be able to use them to get to Phily/Boston and then home from Atlanta. If you could use the pass not only to get around on the East Coast but to get there and back, it makes the passes seem quite economical. I think you would need to rent a car for the Williamsburg part (and you might want to take a look at how far Montecello is from the coast, lovely drive, but it might be farther off track than you think). I might also suggest that you get from Williamsburg to S. C. along the NC coast. That was always one of our favorite area to visit. Kitty Hawk and Nag's Head (plus the site of the lost Roanoke colony).

I repped you just for dd's comment. It's nice to think that there might actually be a few nice girls left when my boys get to the age to start families. I hate to think that they're going to have to pick life partners and mothers of their children from the selfish, materialistic, fragile little queen bees that seem to dominate.

I have been quite content to use our tv as a video/dvd view screen. In fact, my kids will ask me to pause tv when they are somewhere else. They have now idea that you can't do that to broadcast tv. (OK, DVR, I know, but that's not going to happen on our rabbit ears powered 16 yo tv). I try to make the kids very aware of how they are being targeted as consumers. Why the toys in the happy meal are from the latest movie or tv show. How the advertisers' interests stop at selling something, not at really looking out for their (the kids') best interests.

My family has a lot of experience with emergency services. I've heard them get choked up when they mention deaths that they responded to, especially when it involved kids or seems somehow senseless. You eventually move past the open sore, but I don't the the emotion of these calls ever totally leaves you.

I agree. I also find something perverse in EW putting out a reading list at all, but that is probably my snobbish nature. A couple things struck me. One was that while there were several books I would consider edgy or avant garde, there were fewer that I consider very good reads but that aren't so edgy. There were several books that were marketed towards youth (and I'm not sure that they were really that great of books). Very few science fiction books, despite how important that genre is. Maybe the very fact that it is a popular genre argues against the inclusion of these books. But then, I have always thought that these lists were mostly populated by books that people thought they should have enjoyed. I can't believe that the people who keep putting Joyce's Ullyses on great books lists have ever read it without the use of heavy medication. Since I'm working on packing up my books, I may have to make my own list as a side project

I totally agree with this mom. It's not as if we have children sneaking around behind their families' backs to hook up. Or interracial couples who struggle to trust one another in the face of malicious talk from friends or neighbors. Or blended families where the step father is selfish and out to do ill to the wife's son. Or refugees from political unrest. Or some political leaders who are courageous to the point of self sacrifice and others who are selfish to the point of destroying their country. People nowadays don't love, lust, trust, deceive, murder or sacrifice themselves. They don't act noble or foolish or selfish or graciously. In short we are totally beyond the sort of human condition that made Shakespeare relevant. :glare: Only because I couldn't find a smily for what planet is this woman on.

I've started having talks with my boys about how some girls calculate their value based on a boy liking them. We had a long what if chat one day over pizza about the hypothetical girls Jezebel and Nice Nancy. This came up after my 10 yo asked me if he was allowed to date girls because he'd been blindsided by a set up situation by a couple girls in the neighborhood. So I think it would be entirely proper for you to start discussing this type of behavior in the abstract with the goal of then sorting the swim team behavior into the scenarios you've already discussed.

For us, I will try to deplete the food stocks starting about two months before we move. I tend to have a really well stocked pantry, so I need this long. The movers will start coming about two weeks before we leave the house, so by three weeks out, I need to have the extra freezer empty and ready to move. I might make several batches of cookies (or dough) and keep them in the inside freezer or fridge, but I'd pack up the mixer. The crock pot might stay out longer as I worked through the food in the freezer. In fact, I'd consider putting the crock pot into an express shipment as an easy way of doing comfort food.

I read articles and book reviews in The Economist and National Review and get a lot of those from the library. I found Thomas Sowell this way and have been enjoying his books like Basic Economics, The Vision of the Annointed and Inside Education. I also found Last Child in the Woods by Louv and The Wonder of Boys by Michael Gurian this way. I will often go right from reading an article or book review to either reserving the book or putting it into a wish list on my library account.

I have sometimes had the same thing happen to me of forgetting to respond until the date had passed. Sometimes we don't attend because it would be an imposition. Other times I call and ask if we can still attend. But I do still think that an RSVP is appropriate anytime that the hostess is going to be putting time, effort and money into a meal. If we are hosting pupus (Hawaiian style potluck) for our neighborhood, I don't care about an RSVP except to know that I have enough plates and drinks (both items that can be saved for later use). But if we are having a party that we are providing all the food for, I need a head count so I can provide enough as a hostess. It wouldn't have to be black tie for an under or overcount to have a bad impact.