My only thought here is that there comes a time when we must make smart decisions, not based on what we WANT, but based on what is logical and sensible. I do not fault this woman for wanting children and not being married. I could care less! My mom raised me as a single mom and did a darn good job. She worked full time, was never home with me, and my grandmother became like a mom to me, but we won't even count all of that. The mom in this story has made some really poor decisions and has let her desire and want for more and more children cloud the reality that it is just near impossible to care for that many kids alone. I do realize, and believe, that she had no idea she would have this many kids. It was a risk, but one that she took 4 other times before and never had more than 2 children at a time. I understand that. All the same, if you are not working, struggling to care for 6 other kids, why do you purposefully TRY to have one or two more. I mean, this is not an oopsie between a husband and wife. This is an actual decision to TRY for more kids when you can't afford the ones you have. :( I just do not understand that. And IVF is not anywhere near FREE!??! I feel sorry for the CHILDREN. There is no way that one mother can give the attention to those kids that they need. Caring for 2 babies at one time is a full time job. Can you imagine caring for 8 at one time? And then, oh wait, you have SIX other kids that are all under the age of 7 that need you too? I just can't wrap my head around it. It was irresponsible of her to make this choice. However, I also agree with Chucki...the kids are here now. We can speculate and judge all we want, but now there are 14 kids, who did not get to choose their parents and who did not ASK to be born. Those kids deserve the best and we should definitely pray for the family - if not for the mom, then definitely for those poor kids!

Hugs and prayers for you. I am so sorry!

Unfortunately, our monthly bills come to around $6650/month and it is still not "comfortable" with what dh makes. For me, comfortable is all that has been stated, but also being able to afford the occasional luxury...not having to save for months on end for a flat screen TV, not having to save up to buy homeschool materials for next year. However, I am probably a bit weird in my opinions. My dh and I have "fun money" we take out twice a month. My amount is $300 a month just for me, dh's amount is $620 a month, just for him. This money includes gas for our cars as well, so dh's is much higher considering the drive he makes to work. I guess it is nutty to say that I want to be able to go out and just buy a nice TV when I want it, but I get enough in cash every two months to buy a couple of them. Oh well...I am not talking about spending *my* money...I mean just having it laying around to spend when I wish. I base my thought on my ex FIL who, when asked to borrow some money once, came up with 4K without batting an eyelash. My ex husband and I both looked at each other and said, "now THAT is how I want to live!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I agree with the poster above me. Comfort is not a matter of keeping our bellies full, a roof over our heads, etc. That is necessity. Comfort is being able to afford the extras without harm to the budget or having to make sacrifices of one thing to pay for another. That is comfort in MY opinion.

Most of the ones I was thinking of have been named, but here are some of my favorites (sorry for any repeats): When I see you smile - Bad English I remember you - Skid Row Without you - Motley Crew I'll Never Let You Go - Steelheart Bed of Roses - Bon Jovi Never Say Goodbye - Bon Jovi I'll Be There for You - Bon Jovi Coming Home - Cinderella November Rain - Guns N Roses Total Eclipse of the Heart - Nikki French Fly to the Angels - Slaughter Tell me what it takes (to let you go) - Aerosmith Close my Eyes Forever - Ozzy and Rita Ford Love Song - Tesla Angel - Aerosmith Crazy - Aerosmith Cryin' - Aerosmith (this may have been early 90's) Show me the way - Styx

This sounds a LOT like my 9 year old. He is definitely not without heartache in his life...his dad and I divorced when he was 3 and he doesn't see his dad much. However, his attitude problems are SEVERE and really are only getting worse as time goes by. We are at a loss as to what to do next. :(

When my younger was 3-4, he had school time too. Now, my younger is 5.5 but he still does not have nearly the work load that my older son has. During the time that my older son is working and my younger is not, he knows not to bother brother in the school room. He will play quietly with his toys, read himself a book, or watch a movie. Usually he also wants a snack and that helps to keep him calm and quiet so his brother can get more work done.

When naps stopped around here, I instituted "quiet time." At that time, both kids went to their rooms and played quietly alone. If they fell asleep, great. If not, they could play QUIETLY with toys and my oldest could read or play quietly...just not with nintendo games. It worked well. Now my older son is 9.5 and my younger is 5.5. While I do not make them do quiet time anymore on a daily basis, I do often keep that in my arsenal should things get out of hand. I often separate them when they are fighting too much or screaming too much. I think THEY need that time apart as much as I need for them to have it. :)

I do not read the abridged versions and I do not let my kids read them either. Mostly, I think it just ruins the story. If the author had meant for it to be shorter, she/he would have written it that way. As for language, the author used what he/she used for a reason. As a writer myself, I write what I write, the way I write it, for a reason. Changing it would lose all purpose, IMO. If the child is not ready for it or has no interest in it, why not wait until later? There is no law saying it must be read now. KWIM? I feel like abridged is just one step above Cliffs Notes.

I *personally* didn't like it. I found it frustrating to teach and many days, I felt like I just wasn't doing much at all (possibly because I wasn't doing it correctly). We dropped it after a few weeks and went back to Spelling Power for my struggling speller. My natural speller is using Spelling Workout and we love it.

I took it to mean that they were charging interest as if the cash advance/transfer had gone through. Since it did NOT go through, it is their error for charging her and they should and most likely WILL remove all extra interest to date. It was their error...if I am following correctly.

I am reading Eragon right now, but I definitely want to read the other two. I also put my name on the list at the library for The Shack. I have heard it is an awesome read. I can't read two books at a time either. I get all kinds of confused. LOL

I own the revised version and will not be buying the new version.

If you never got the cash advance, then they should not be charging you as if you did. They need to remove that, along with any interest you have paid on it. As soon as they do that, it will even out what you have paid otherwise. They owe that to you and there is no way they can dispute it if the cash advance did not ever go through. I am assuming the "cash advance" you are talking about is the denied balance transfer. Definitely call them.

I am reading the book and already seeing the differences. For instance, Brom is an old man with white hair and a long white beard. In the movie, he is in his 40's with black hair. LOL Eragon's uncle doesn't die immediately (as in the movie, he finds him dead in the stable area. In the book, he finds him badly burned and buried under rubble but frees him and gets him to town to the healer where he dies later) and Brom does not set the fire and they do not ride off on horses. I mean, just 100 pages in I see a ton of differences. :(

$20/year.

Wow! That is absolutely fascinating!!! I always wanted to be a writer growing up and, at 15, I was pretty decent, but I could have NEVER written something like Eragon. WOW.

My son is doing GWG 4 with WT II this year and will move on to either Harvey's Grammar or GWG5 next year with Homer A.

I think he was 19 when he published the first book (or when it reached the NY Times best seller list) in 2003. The cover flap on the book said he graduated highschool when he was 15...so I assume he probably was homeschooled. Either way, I am really diggin' it. LOL I also like Sci-fi fantasy type books. I have never been one for murder mysteries and the like. I like to totally escape this world when I read. :)

I think it is also dependens on what "comfortable" means to you. For us, if all debt was paid, I would want enough money to just go out and buy, say, a flat screen TV on a whim. In order to have that kind of money, there is no way my dh could make less than what he currently makes with our family of 4. If comfortable to you is having what you want but not wanting the "extras," then it just all depends on what you mean by "comfortable." And what about savings/emergency fund/retirement? We put a lot into that because we want to continue to be comfortable. If dh made less than 100K, then taking out those things would take his bring home pay way down as well.

It was 60 here today and not a cloud in the sky. Gorgeous. But I am afraid it will be short-lived. Have I mentioned how much I truly hate winter?

All depends on where you live and what you want. When my ex husband and I were married, we were a family of 3 with two cars that were paid off, a 3 bedroom house (only one child, so we could have had a bedroom each), no credit card debt, both college graduates, and we lived WELL on 38K a year in a rural town in TN. By living well, I mean we ate out about 4 times a week, spent $300 on clothes whenever we wanted, and so on. Those were the days. However, now, I can't imagine living on that. I am remarried with a family of 4, we have more debt, a much bigger and more expensive house, and we live in a different area. For all we have now, and that is with doing without cable on purpose...suffice it to say that if dh only made 100K with no extras and such, we wouldn't survive very long! Now, if the debt and expensive cars/house were gone, then we could probably make it 100K easily.

No. I go at my kids level - advanced in some areas, behind in some areas, right on the mark in most places. But I do not purposefully delay academics.

Oh my...I am reading the book now and I am totally into it. LOL I was so surprised at how much I do actually like it. I feel like a kid again - flying off into the world of dragons and such. Just wanting to get a sanity check...has anyone else here really enjoyed Eragon?

Yes, the movie is just absurd! I agree, it is for a "book person." I do a lot of reading, but books are not my life. Perhaps that made a differnce. I was also reading just on the heels of the Twilight series and, well, let's just say it didn't "suck me in" quite the same way. Perhaps this is a book that is much more for children than for adults.

I finally finished the book last night. The last 200 pages or so were worth reading. However, I admit that I was bored stiff through the first 350. :( The action was just not all that interesting to me and it really seemed to drag on and on and on when it didn't have to. The movie...OMG...could anything BE more different than a book? I mean, where in the world did the Wizard of Oz and the tornado thing come from? I don't think the book even so much as mentions the Wizard of Oz...much less bases the ending on it. How weird. That is one of the most ridiculous uses of literary license I have ever seen!