Crocodiles.......I just got home from wandering through some stores while waiting for the kids who were hanging out with friends. Dh and I went in to a new to our area grocery store where pretty much everything is frozen that can be. Anyway I glanced into a case and there sat crocodile burgers. Could not believe it, £2.50 for two. Crocodiles and Alligators seem to be everywhere this week. They also had camel. I didn't buy either.....

Robin, Hope your kitty feels better soon. Kareni, I put the Invisible Library on hold also. I have had some fluffy finishes on my kindle this week. Simon Brett's Mrs.Pargeter's Pound of Flesh was a fast easy read. They are always entertaining. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17208692-mrs-pargeter-s-pound-of-flesh I read a recent book in the Amanda Pepper cozy series. One of he series I have read sporadically for years. It was a bit disappointing. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/275592.Helen_Hath_No_Fury Then I read the third book in Hazel Holt's Mrs. Mallory series. I loved the ending! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13511333-the-shortest-journey I spotted this Christian Romance by an author who sounded familiar. Totally enjoyable. Series of three but my library doesn't have the second. Number three is on hold. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4546330-nothing-but-trouble

My goal is normally to get down to a list about this size. It doesn't come naturally to me. A couple of days before the final pack I start piles for each family member of what I think we need. I go back and pull an item or two out of each pile a couple of times a day. I make everyone look at their pile, if they don't like a tshirt very well now is the time to swap. Or make the decision that it might not be coming home. We never go through everything if I am able to hand wash often and no one dumps food all over themselves. Dh and I frequently intentionally take clothing we don't like and plan to leave it behind and have space for some purchases on the return trip. We all take our oldest underwear etc. We try to wear the bulky items like jeans on the plane. We wear the sweatshirts (zip type) and carry remove them on the plane. Regarding the mil, if she won't let you take care of your family's laundry wear the wrinkles one day and tell her you don't iron on holiday when doing the laundry properly would prevent wrinkles. I am the survivor of many wrinkle wars with a really determined mil. I only iron for quilting and for a really special item.

A friend does not use tabs ever. She also only uses the fast half hour wash. She does pre rinse in sink without soap. She considers them clean and sterle. I will be honest and say they don't feel right. She has mainly plastics because stll has small children. They don't feel like my plastic tumblers right out of the washer, I have unloaded for her several times. The glass and utensils seem fine. Her dishwasher also has an odd smell which I find worrying. I think a longer wash would make it fine. My problem is that takes it to close to 2 hours for my dishwasher. I suspect the tabs are a similar cost to water and electric for the extra wash time. I still use tabs and the short wash and skip the pre rinse. ;)

I went on an airboat ride as a teen in the Everglades (along Alligator Alley no less) and loved it. It really was fun and really interesting. Shukriyya, Glad to see you and hear what you are doing!

My dc's both really enjoyed Thinkfun games like River Crossing. http://www.thinkfun.com/products/river-crossing/ I would also look through the Timberdoodle catalogue. They always have great extras. http://www.timberdoodle.com

So I am reading mainly cozy mysteries these days and seem to be in the mood for rereading ones I read 20 years ago.... I just spent an hour hunting down some series that I remembered very vaguely and stumbled accross this Goodreads list. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3810.Best_Cozy_Mystery_Series Unlike many Goodreads list this one doesn't rank all 20 books in a popular series so it is actually somewhat useful. First book in a series only. I did notice some repeats but overall it was done properly. There are some great somewhat unusual series on the list. I ended up with a Savannah Reid mystery https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/601040.Sour_Grapes, a Lucy Stone https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/575010.Mistletoe_Murder, and a Sarah Booth Delaney https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/905887.Them_Bones?ac=1&from_search=true.

My kids are graduating high school at this point but we used the whole Singapore program and loved it. When we started we had to use the Singapore edition which was distracting. I spent a lot of time looking for pictures of unusual fruits so the kids cound see what they were adding. lol. For that reason the US addition was a huge relief! I loved these guides http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=004384&subject=Mathematics/10&category=Primary+Math+U.S.+Edition+%28Gr.+1-6%29/2131 from Rainbow Resource. Extremely helpful.

Angela, Great news!!! I finished listening to A Fountain Filled with Blood last night. It's the second in the Reverend Claire Ferguson series by Julia Spencer Fleming. I wasn't a huge fan of the first because it was a bit repetitive but really enjoyed this one. The same narrator but not nearly as irritating. ;) I may actually chose to listen to these! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10209465-a-fountain-filled-with-blood I started listening to Shades of Milk and Honey https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8697507-shades-of-milk-and-honey?ac=1&from_search=true which Jenn is also reading. So far I really like it. As some of you can tell by all the audio books I am busy sewing. I'm on my final push to finish my quilt. I need to have it ready for a quilt display at the beginning of September. I haven't completed a big quilt in years so have had to look up binding how to directions, decided to completely make it by hand.

Dyson pet version for us too. We don't even have pets. ;)

Robin, That was one of my favourite songs way back when. I remember NOT going to a Styx concert as a teen. ;( I reorganized my whole life, came home early from a camping trip, and they cancelled the concert. I can't remember why. I finished the third Ann Ross book in the Miss Julia series. Really enjoying them. I started a cozy in a new to me author this afternoon. Rumble on the Bayou by Jana DeLeon. Too bad I started it before Robin announced her new challenge! It's not bad, too bad it isn't a series. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/653311.Rumble_on_the_Bayou?ac=1&from_search=true I also have an Inspector Singh in progress.

:lol:

I used to read for hours when the kids were little and we were doing SL which I supplemented. Generally 2 to 4 hours a day.

Thanks for sharing your visit. My dc's have both done some online classes at Liberty but we have never been able to visit in person.

I don't buy out of season either generally. Ours come from the farm down the road or my local farmer's market. That being said I do buy other fruit and veg out of season and it comes from all over. I remember buying lovely grapes from Chile lastt winter. I think generally Spain, Morocco, and other African countries provide most of the out of season produce.

This is another fresh fruit option that is easier imo. Also by Mary Berry. http://goodfood.uktv.co.uk/recipe/raspberry-scones/ Basic British scones really don't contain buttermilk. Years ago I managed to completely crack up a group of elderly ladies who were great cooks by asking where they bought their buttermilk because it was not sold in the village store for these wonderful scones (while polishing of several ;) ). They couldn't believe Americans put buttermilk in their scones! You do need self rising flour..... http://goodfood.uktv.co.uk/recipe/raspberry-scones/

I now know what misandrist means too! I enjoyed the 9 awards. Since I am now living with dc's who have immersed themselves in marketing classes lately I hear all sorts of funny comments and teens with wise voices telling me not to believe the hype. For years when faced with a shelf full of the unfamiliar I have tended to cheer (and buy) if one of the products has the little royal warrant seal. They make fun of me but at least I figure that product meets someone's approval! :lol: Jenn totally agree with Kareni, hope you and your ds manage to boldly go to the front of what I am sure will be one of the longest lines ever seen at comic con!

We took a drive to a quiet beach this afternoon and enjoyed a lovely walk. We were standing on the beach looking out across the water talking about how we had had seal friends the last time we had been there when heads started poking out of the water. Five seals definitely enjoyed people watching for the remainder of our visit. Ds found some nice fossils also. I finished up the first book in a really fun cozy series by Donna Andrews. I read Murder with Peacocks many years ago and remembered it fondly. It didn't disappoint the second time through. The series has grown to 19 books apparently and I have read a couple more along the way and enjoyed them. This is/was one of my series that I had picked to read this year but I appear to have messed up in my planning. I really think the whole series was on my overdrive when I requested this one a couple of months ago. When I went in to get the second one I discovered there are no more after the second. I can't believe I messed up that badly. I can get scattered books from different libraries so may try to complete the goal the painful way with holds all over the place. I haven't looked at the order beyond checking for number three. I am a bit frustrated! I started the third Miss Julie book. :)

I think the decision rests on why the Biology or Chemistry was chosen. If they are part of a planned major at a competitive school I would retake simply because a retake is pretty easy for most to do. If they were taken to show the pre law major to be can do science, box totally checked imo.

My mom started me reading Mary Stewart and Phyllis Whitney when I was ready to move to the adult section of the library. I did the same with Dd. I added Christie to the mix who my mom enjoyed also. Thats all I can think of right now.

Eventually I will get around to trying the Last Policeman. It's been on my list for awhile but without a library source. I know I saw it in new books somewhere recently. When I give up my fluff I will try it. Rose, No books for me about Bedbugs, ever. I couldn't even read your review without cringing. It would take me months, possibly years, to recover. By way I did read Jar City. Liked it. No more for me at the moment but will go back to it. I was oddly struck by the isolation of the gene pool in Iceland which had never occurred to me. Since I was reading Jenn's Amish mysteries at the same time the similarities seemed rather glaring. All I can say is I have checked out the first in all those series recently and let them all go back unopened. I love Jonathan Strange.

Angela, So glad to hear that Abby is doing well after her surgery. :grouphug:

More B than A ;) Dh and I settled on being Presbyterian (his family) when we got married. I wanted to get married in the church we would attend for the rest of our lives and I didn't care for the local Methodist (my family). Since you are looking at the deciding factors it was partly to do with church members that I already knew and partly because the church secretary was a pain. We wanted to join and plan to have our wedding in their church. I was told a more established (longer) member could bump my wedding off the church schedule anytime even after we were officially members. I had gone to a Methodist college and was transferring me. Should be easy. We were more than a year before the big day. Easy choice, nicer human beings in general across that street. Welcomed us and our wedding with open arms. Big congregation but always treated us as individuals. The living in one town forever didn't work but we tried to stay Presbyterian after our big move which wasn't easy. After driving 100 miles each way for a few years we became open to change, exhaustion set in and local sounded fabulous. Will be honest and say I loved that congregation. Many are still good friends. I was back to the Metodist or something else question. More kids at the C of E which put it ahead for our family. We looked at doctrine and how it was applied in our specific local church. Was it close enough? We also cared about how our children would be treated. My kids wanted to listen to the sermon not be sent off to Sunday School. They came from a 45 minute for all culture so considered C of E to be really short and they like sermons. Would people and the kids they already knew respect their wishes? Btw, everyone has been great. They were invited discreetly for awhile which was nice. Dh and I didn't care either way. So nice that they sere welcome. Would we be welcome at different somewhat closed activities, things like arranging flowers that the same people had been part of for decades. It's worked out fine. Dd actually is a full member of the flower team and does an arrangement most weeks. The people on the team have had a great time sorking with her and she is really good at what she does thanks to their experience. I was fortunate that one of the Readers was a long time friend who I could voice my concerns to. She started including little things we asked about in the services like page numbers. The Book of Common Prayer is hard to follow if you weren't raised with it. She helped smooth our way more than we will probably ever know. We did an every other week thing for months trying to decide. It's worked well. Happy with my change to local. Naturally a Presbyterian church has opened in a nearby big town. We attend occasionally. I love the local community feel now.

We had an older version but that is the book.

Real ACT and Barron's