We would LOVE to rent your place, but I don't think Dh would move to CA anytime soon! My first thought in reading this was, "Gosh I hope she finds some incredibly trustworthy tenants." I would hate for someone to be enchanted by the idea and then neglect your horse. Finding the right family is essential, but I'm sure you've already thought of this. :) Maybe having the neighbor deliver the hay would be one way of determining your horse will get what he needs.

I'm currently taking Celexa, although I was originally put on Lexapro. My insurance "prefers" Celexa and it's far less than what they would charge us for Lexapro, so I'm taking it. It's been about 2 years now, and I found that I needed to up my dose this fall/winter because I lost all coping skills. Going up 20 mg has helped tremendously. The plan is to come back down in March when the weather improves here. I'm a bit nervous to fall backwards further than I was before the increase. I've also had extreme reactions to mixing it with BCP, so if you are on them, please let your dr. know immediately if you are exceptionally moody, weepy, angry, depressed, etc. I've learned I cannot take BCP while on an antidepressant/anti-anxiety medicine.

Praying!!!!

Finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks this morning! LOVED IT! It was bittersweet, fascinating, frustrating, overwhelming, enlightening, ethically challenging, and wonderful all at the same time. I highly recommend it! Off to begin The Art of Racing in the Rain. Here's hoping I can complete it for tomorrow to end the week almost caught up to where I should be. :)

Oh my gosh! That is SPECTACULAR news!!!! How wonderful for her, you, and the rest of the family! God is unbelievably good!!!!!!!

My first thought would be Boulder, Colorado... so beautiful there!

Definitely praying! :grouphug:

That is AWESOME!!!!! Way to go!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!

AMEN, SISTER! I just bought some real books at B&N today. The lady told me she was putting info about the Nook in my bag. I told her that it wasn't necessary as I love real books way too much to turn to technology. :tongue_smilie: This was her response: :glare: (which I thought was surprising since she works at the bookstore). PS- I have a friend who absolutely ADORES her Kindle!

My niece, who is in her first year of college, recently showed me her portfolio for her English 101 class. In it, she was to compile her 5 best papers and show the progression of them from rough to final. I was amazed (and saddened) to see all the grammatical mistakes in her FINAL drafts: run-on sentences, lack of punctuation, the letter "I" not capitalized, etc. I did not tell her about my disappointment because she was so proud that she received an A on it; however, in my head I was thinking, Seriously, did her teacher really think this was A-quality work??? I know things have been dumbed down, but at the college level at a great university??? I guess it has truly become *that bad*! Ugh... OP, I'm grateful for you that you have a partner who appears able to write properly! Have an excellent semester!

If I had a daughter, ABSOLUTLEY NOT!!! NO WAY, NO HOW! The picture of her in her "Madonna outfit" made my stomach turn.

Praying for you, Jean!!!

I read it in school in the 6th grade... a long time ago! :lol:

I loved the triology and read all of them within a week. I passed it onto my sister who also devoured them. There are parts as others have mentioned that are very disturbing, but they target who we are as humans and the lengths we may go to in order to protect ourselves/survive. The morality between the characters and within the society are relevant to humans today, and you will find yourself thinking about the various situations and the characters often. It has been weeks since I read them, and I will still periodically think about the characters. I recently recommended them to a friend of mine who has similar reading preferences to you, and she is enjoying them. The story is profound and gripping, imo.

From my own experiences, it sounds as if her symptoms are perfectly normal. I did not stay sore the entire time, only in the very beginning and near the very end. :grouphug:

Faith, I love your life!!! Dh and I have been talking about moving toward this type of lifestyle recently; however, we are pretty much stuck until the housing market improves (even a tiny improvement could prove helpful for us). We currently live in a suburban neighborhood, a choice it took us a while to make because we really prefer more privacy and land, but we did it because we *thought* it would be right to raise our kids in a neighborhood where they would go to school with their peers. Funny how we were led to homeschooling, and now we're in suburbia which we despise! Oh well, I'm grateful that we even have a home, so we will survive. Your post is inspiring though, and for now, I'm going to live vicariously through you. :D

:) I have the side-sweep bangs too after not having them for YEARS. I love them as well. Dh does too!

Oh, I LOVE A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! The Hunger Games were great reads too!

This sounds fascinating... I'd love to hear what you think of it!

I started Crazy Love last week, but then I received notice that one of my holds came into the library. So, instead I'm nearly done The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks which was recommended on here. I am loving it; it's utterly fascinating! I'm already falling behind though.:001_unsure:

My son is in 2nd too, and you are doing a great job! Like others, I would just add in some science which could be as simple as videos, non-fiction books, and visits to local museums or nature walks. I'd also add in a quiet, independent reading time. Ds does 30 minutes in the afternoon during his quiet time. He has one of those bookmarks that times his reading. I check on him periodically to make sure he's actually reading and not playing legos, doing puzzles, or something else. He's really loving The Boxcar Children series so I very rarely find him veering off his reading. You could have this reading time coincide with your daily journal where they write 1-2 sentences and draw a picture if you want to feel like you are fully covering the bases. I noticed you said most of your friends lean toward unschooling... a lot in my area are the same, so I find my "people" here! This is a great place! :)

I was recently cleaning out the closet in the guest bedroom, and at the VERY top I hid a magnetic dart board that Santa was to leave for both of them. Well, that didn't happen. I gave it them yesterday when I found it. They played with it all day long! :D This was the first year I have ever forgotten a present! I hope this won't become my trend.

Praying! It sounds as if your mom is in good health, so I'm hoping her recovery is speedy! Be careful heading to NJ! :grouphug:

I only iron when necessary, which isn't very often thanks to Downy Wrinkle Release spray! :):) Dh irons his dress shirts on Sunday afternoons or when he needs something (ie. for church on Sunday). When we redid our budget, I had to cut somethings out. He, in turn, cut out his weekly professional laundering and pressing of his dress shirts for work.

Congratulations!!!