@Negin I just took a closer look at your latest avatar.......it’s lovely. The columns are fascinating with the mosaics. Was it taken in Spain or closer to home? I just finished Helsinki White which turned out to be incredibly gritty with the really shocking bits nearer the end of the book. I think I will wait another year before reading the next in the series! While I love Nordic Noir I find that pretty much every book in that genre that I read has at least one truly distasteful to me scene......I turn those pages really quickly or if I am sewing do something loud with the machine.

Well, I am in! I definitely have ideas for some of the squares already.😁 One of the categories in my unfinished 10 x10 challenges is Asian Detectives........I been planning on requiring different countries but will never finish in 2019 if I do that. I filled another one from China in that I read awhile ago and finally read The Shadow Walker by Michael Walters https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1696597.The_Shadow_Walker which I have wanted to read since the start of the year. It’s a detective story set in Mongolia! How cool is that! Even better it was good😂. I loved the setting, so interesting and apparently quite accurate. My library even has more......I truly thought I would never find more than this first in the series. Currently reading Helsinki White by James Thompson which is another book I have been saving. It’s the third published in a Nordic Noir series that is an all time favorite. I need Finland and decided I have to read it sometime......the author died while writing the series and I just don’t want to make the books end too quickly. The main character has a brain tumor and so did the author which makes me wonder how much is autobiographical. Thompson was an American married to a Finn and in the books Vaara is married to an American wife. I find the expat parts to be very well done. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11890815-helsinki-white My audio and paper books are both so close to being done........Blue Lightning by Cleeve’s because I can’t “do” Scotland without one of her Shetland mysteries........although I still like Vera better. I also have a few pages left in Rise of the Magicks........hopefully I will finish it up tonight.

First, we did like our brief experience with an ALEKS course but you have a great bookshelf so would start there. I would start with one of the ACT math prep books. I am remembering these as divided into sections with before and after quizzes and teaching content in the middle. Have her go through one seriously...... skips to end chapter quiz if she gets everything right on pretest. When she gets something wrong she needs to know why. Eventually go to Barrons which traditionally over prepares. Not sure how high those 2 to 4 points are aiming at......a 34 to 36 requires a broader knowledge for a couple of almost one off questions. A 30 or 32 is more a consistent score on practices in that range I believe.

Just hugs, hope you feel better. Fwiw our fevers were all much higher with confirmed flu a couple of years ago.

I finished spelling Phryne Fisher........ P.......Polaris Rising by Jesse Mihalik H......The So Blue Marble by Dorothy Hughes R.......The Bird Tribunal by Agnes Ravatin Y........Meant to be Yours by Susan Mallery N.......Mind Games by Nancy Mehl E........Murder Cuts the Mustard by Jessica Ellicott F.........Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter I..........The Quiet Game by Greg Ises S.........To Wed a Wild Scot by Anna Bradley H........Handle with Care by Helena Hunting E.........Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza R.........Remedial Rocket Science by Susannah Nix My Alternate Worlds 10 by 10 is also done.....some are series and rereads where I read more than 1 this year. I ended up with more than 10 but I didn’t bother to remove any before posting. 1. The Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft (3 books) 2. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland 3. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott (2 books) 4. Zero Sum Game by SL Huang 5. The Others by Anne Bishop (7books) 6. Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts 7. Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews (4 books) 8. Mercy Thompson’s World by Patricia Briggs (6 books) 9. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle 10. Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews (4 books) 11. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison 12. The Last Policeman by Ben Winters

Not sure if this is true in Australia but in England it is fairly common to have an online grocery delivery done to a holiday house before you arrive. The landlord receives it and puts it away.....at least the refrigerator items.

There is a classic one where I know everything! Whoville was mentioned.......Totally off track but did you (as in anyone reading this not just Kareni) that there were more Grinch cartoons than The Grinch Who Stole Christmas? We bought a new dvd to replace the ancient VHS and watched while setting up the tree. We couldn’t figure out how the Grinch was going to be 80 minutes long.......https://www.animationmagazine.net/home-entertainment/grinch-trio-gets-ultimate-edition-release-in-october/

I am really glad you are going to be self catering as it will be so much easier........M&S usually has quite an assortment of somewhat prepared Christmas foods that are really nice if one is nearby. Don’t forget to buy Yorkshire puddings......they come frozen so easy and tasty. Per my Dh these train strikes are only going to be a few hours in duration each time but may not be announced days in advance which is the norm in England. Primarily in the West of the country but I saw warnings of possible effects on travel on one of the websites I was on for your London trip.

I think Frindle by Andrew Clement’s was a Sonlight book that my family read. Quite fun I believe. I am in love with the roadsign poster!❤️ Although I have no idea where Tatoonie is.......OK it’s from Star Wars. My ds would be so ashamed of my not getting the “easy” one. I am glad you liked it. No bad dreams I hope. It’s funny as one never quite knows and I think I am getting more sensitive as I age. I remember thinking my mom was a wimp!😉 I just read part of Fragile by Lisa Unger in the middle of the night and I had a terrible dream after.....the book had horrible things happen in it but not overly descriptive. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34766206-fragile Btw, U for A to Z author!

Looks great! My tabletop is 13 by 41 I think......so maybe three of the blocks and no borders.

I have been reading the Agatha Christie’s in publication order and have been enjoying it even though I have read most of them before at least once. Like you I always have doubts regarding who did it.....am I remembering right? Many of them I have been able to check out as audio and nest say many of the books that I was meh about are so much better when read by Hugh Frasier! I think the George Gently I read was on my Kindle. Pretty good. Some were made into a tv show too......ITV I believe.

First, Make sure you have food sorted for both days. Book seating because you will not be seated without reservations. Buy some extra treats. Tradition for many people is a long walk at a beautiful location on Boxing Day so I imagine you will see people out enjoying themselves. We haven’t been in England for those holidays for a couple of years but things are more open then they were in terms of shopping and attractions. I just did some googling and both Kew Gardens and Hampton Court are open Boxing Day, both will be closed On the 25th. Our local shopping mall is open 8 to 8 on Boxing Day. Honestly your biggest problem may be pre announced train strikes. I just saw intermittent strikes being announced for the entire holiday season so pay attention.

They can actually do a whole lot of programming on a Fire.......my ds proved it. He did have internet. He basically removed the kindle system and I believe it now runs with Linux. He still plays his games occasionally on it ......games he programmed btw. We let Ds back online after a year or so totally off at maybe 12 or 13. My mom gave him the fire. For months it was Fire only and if I said drop it he had to right then. I had no clue what I was looking at most of the time but I knew I wasn’t looking at my fears. He entered programming contests etc on the fire. He used to read me hilarious emails from the professional running the contest about his need to be upgraded off the fire!😂. Working really hard to learn was so good for him although I felt huge mom guilt at the time. Eventually we allowed him to do hard physical labor to earn enough money for a basic desktop, so we could walk by his room and see. He taught himself so much programming wise. Now has cyber security degrees.

We found LoF after my kids were well beyond the fractions and decimals level. I did go back and buy them and my kids enjoyed them. They did both books one week when I was out of town. For much of high school math I think LoF can stand alone but I always supplemented except for Trig. My Dd felt the Calculus course skipped around and used terms without defining them so she bought a Calculus for Dummies book as a reference and felt the combo was pretty good. Still not enough for the AP but after she phrased herself as a confident learner and quickly breezed through some Calc mooc’s.

Dd’s shoes just arrived a day early. I think Dh ordered something same day about an hour ago.

@Annie G I have the directions for that quilt along saved because I thought they would make a good table runner! Looking forward to seeing yours.

Everything I am reading seems to have a purpose in terms of challenges. I finished my Outer Space 10x10........everything needed to take place in outer space except I did allow aliens from outer space to count as it was a classic (Roadside Picnic). All different series......so I actually read more in the genre. Outer Space 1. Murderbot Series by Martha Wells (4 books) 2. The Expanse by James SA Corey (7 books) 3. The Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White 4. Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport 5. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers 6. Roadside Picnic by Arcady Strugatsky 7. Linesman by SK Dunstall (3books) 8. Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Bellieza (2 books) 9. Polaris Rising by Jesse Mihalik 10. Stars Uncharted SK Dunstall

When I looked at shoes for Dd Amazon said Monday but after checkout delivery is Friday.......

My dc’s both enjoyed the Thinkfun game and the bonus is they can play on their own!

I am working on a quilt with some Newfoundland dog blocks for my bf’s Christmas Present. Here’s a block......5 Newf’s and 4 star blocks in red and white.

How did it go? I just saw this and it has been a year since I read it but it does not stand out it my memory as being particularly brutal but if I am reading a book I skip scenes without them even registering fully that make me uncomfortable. All those read aloud with the dc’s......😉

My kids and Dh just watched all the Terminator’s and The Sarah Jane Chronicles......I read.😉 Not sure if they have watched all the Aliens .... Shhhh I have never even watched the first one. It looks scary!

NASA used to have some great stuff on their website under an education tab so have him go in there and explore for a start. There used to be some math based problem in space unit studies which might be fun for him. My Ds taught himself to code using multiple languages at that age using just online resources. Many nice people who knew the answers to his questions helped him.

Saying this as a person who hates moving! Put cheap throw rugs where things get dropped and combine it with less breakable dishes. Bonus if you can wash the rugs. Restrict eating to one place. My kids have always been restricted and are now grown up.......they still self restrict out of habit. Popcorn and Telly is pretty much it away from the table! I put a sheet under the toddler to collect crumbs and shook it outside daily with wood floors.. I see you have a couple of older children, everyday after breakfast my daughter takes our handheld vacuum around the house picking up dust bunnies, crumbs, hair.......whatever for the 7ish minutes she has charge. She plugs it in and that chore is done. Best kid job ever. She still does it. It is so helpful! If you don’t want roomba’s send the kids out with handheld vacuums.... maybe a dust mop crew while one vacuums.

Welcome!