Oh, and I just wanted to add......if someone doesnt like animals, there's pretty much nothing you can do to convince them that animals are not nasty. My husband despises animals and dislikes our dog. He tolerates him for my sake....and still complains about him sometimes.

I've had my dog for 10 years now (he was my first "baby"). DH has nothing to do with him. I do not find my dog nasty.....he sheds quite a bit, and I definitely do not like that, but I do not find him nasty (unless he's licking his bottom LOL.....well, or hunting in the front yard for cat poop to eat. Ick. Okay, he's a little nasty LOL). Now for cats.....we owned cats for 2 years and finally had to get rid of them (mainly due to my allergies, which I didn't know I had until after we got the cats....but I was also tired of dealing with them). I do think that cats are nasty. Especailly if they get on the table/counters. I mean, they step into their litter box and then step out and walk around. Who knows what they may have stepped on. And they shed so much hair that unless I vacuum daily, their hair would blow like a tumbleweek across the kitchen floor. So to me, cats are kind of nasty.

LOL!

It's a fine line to walk. While YOUR daughter my wear something tasteful, another girl may not. Therefore they must have hard and fast rules, spelled out in black and white, so that no one will walk in wearing something trampy. Another girl may wear something with spaghetti straps that is not tasteful. Then, when she gets chastised for it, she will say "Well, so-and-so is wearing spaghetti straps and she's not being chastised." Then it will turn into a back and forth about why someone is allowed to wear something while another is not. I understand your frustration though. But some girls would push the limits.

These are hilarious! Love the "pole on sandwich" one LOL.

I love to scrapbook! I've moved to all digital scrapbooking now. I love memories and I want to remember them. I want to look back when my kids are 30 years old and remember their childhoods, the funny things they said, their favorite toys, the looks on their faces as they open a gift and the story behind that gift, etc. Plus, people love looking at them. My girls take down my scrapbooks often and just flip through them. People who visit our home love to look through our scrapbooks and get a glimpse into our lives and what we do. I do a lot of journaling on our pages. Digital scrapbooking is awesome. Less clutter (actually, none), less expensive, and so much easier! I print the pages out when I'm finished and stick them in an album. It's just another hobby (and one that my family will enjoy for future generations). Some people like to cook....personally, I despise it and would rather scrub the bathroom. Different strokes for different folks.

...clean under appliances? Only when we get a new one. I cleaned under the fridge and washer/dryer last year when we got new ones. But before that and since then, never. ...wash all the walls in the house? Only if I see something dirty on them. ...wish windows, inside and out? Ummm...never. Guess I might want to try it sometime though. ...go through rooms, purging extra stuff? Often....probably every few months.

We have TOO MANY toys. Seriously, it looks like Toys R Us threw up in our house. I am seriously purging toys. We may be moving into a new home....and while the square footage is larger, the rooms are actually smaller. So the playroom space will shrink. But either way, moving or not, I'm purging toys. I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that "things" are important. It's nice to have things and enjoy things, but I believe that too many things can be bad. So what do your kids have? How many of each thing? For example, my kids LOVE stuffed animals (and I have to admit that I do too...I've always loved them and had tons). My kids literally have over 200 stuffed animals. I just went through and pulled out a bunch that are not played with much. But it still leaves us with a bunch. And my kids play with lots of stuffed animals at one time. They make dog pounds, cat families, etc. I hate giving away cute, perfectly good stuffed animals though. And my kids have like 20 wooden puzzles, and seperate rubbermaid bins (not the tiny ones) full of things like My Little Pony, Dora and Diego stuff, Barbies, dinosaurs, rubber duckies, Playmobil, doll clothing, instruments, play food, animals, teeny beanie babies, jigsaw puzzles, wooden blocks, domino rally, cars and trains, Mr Potato Head, Trio blocks, Wedgits. This is not to mention the larger items such as a Little Tikes slide, a train table, a TV stand. Then there are outside toys. They have a Power Wheels, a bicycle, a Big Wheel, a tricycle, roller skates, balls, a water/sand table, two push cars, a Step 2 rollercoaster, helmets, sand toys, bug catching stuff, a climber. Its out of control. And just so you do not think that we are overindulging parents LOL....my kids have a TON of people who love to shower them with gifts. At Christmas and birthday they get tons of gifts from family members. My parents and sisters also get them things for Easter and Valentines Day. Not to mention whenever they go out of town, my kids are brought back souvineers from my parents/sisters. I probably do tend to buy them more than I should (which I have also greatly cut back on in the last 6 months) but this is mostly from family members. I understand though....they love giving them gifts and seeing their faces light up. I'm a gift giver too. I really enjoy giving gifts. But we are overrun by toys. So what is a reasonable amount of toys? 50 Little People along with all accessories such as the town home, school bus, castle, carriage, barn, pirate ship, and train? It just seems like so much! Wow, umm, this got seriously long some how!

I hate seeing horrible car accidents. One day I was driving down the road and saw some cars pulled to the side in an obvious accident. Nothing was flipped over or anything but a few people were standing around, obviously shaken and crying. Then I saw it......feet protruding through the front windshield. That image has been burned in my mind for years. I had to pull over, my heart began racing and I felt sick to my stomach. I hate seeing stuff like that.

I would not actually call mine vertigo....but I'll get this dizzy, spacey, head fogged feeling sometimes. Not enough to where the room spins or makes me feel nausous though. I think I've narrowed it down and figured out that I experience it more in the spring and summer. Although, so far, I have not really experienced it this spring. I had one tiny bout for a few minutes last week, but other than that, not yet this year.

Ummm....I seriously just about wet my pants! I flew out of my seat, ran to the window, and was absolutely certain that I'd see some big plume of smoke where something blew up. :blushing: My mom called a few minutes later (she lives just around the corner from me) and asked me if I had heard the sonic boom. Heard it? I nearly had a heart attack because of it LOL! I tend to overreact a bit. :lol: The thing is, this morning I watched on the news that the shuttle was probably not going to be able to land today, much less in Florida. So I was definitely not expecting the sonic boom.

I love my 35mm fixed (non zooming) lens. I have a 50mm one but I literally never touch it. It is too wide unless you have the space to really back up. My 35mm is great!

Our church has anything from suits and dresses to shorts and flip flops. I usually wear jeans and a top. Not a T-shirt, but something a bit more dressy. And last week I did wear flip flops.

Honestly, I'd rather foster the relationship between siblings first. I want my children to be best friends, to be able to count on one another, to have someone to talk to, etc. I don't want them to constantly ask if so-and-so can come over, to put friends before siblings, etc. My two girls are best friends....yes, they fight and argue, but they play together all the time.

I think you guys have convinced me to go ahead and use it this year, for first grade. Should I get the book or the audio CD's? And also, is the activity book really good? I thought about getting that as well.

I'm trying think of next year. I have two DD's. One will be 6 and one will be 3. The older will be doing first grade and of course the younger will not be doing school (I may do a bit of Little Hands to Heaven, but nothing formal). Eventually I will be homeschooling the 3 year old when she gets to kindergarten. Should I wait to do the SOTW when I can do it with both kids together? Or should I do it with my first grader this next year? Or should I wait till my first grader is a bit older?Will she get the maximum benefit out of it at only six years old?

It's cute....but when I say it, it sounds like I'm saying Treasure Darts preschool. Or Treasured Arts.

I'd send them. Just remind them to wash their hands and/or cough into their elbow.

You sound like I did at the beginning of this school year! DD was starting K and I'd researched, been to conventions, thought and thought and thought....and couldnt find a curriculum I liked. So I put together my own mix. We are using God & Me devotional for Bible. We are using Explode the Code for reading (we did books A and B in preschool, then did book C and Book 1 this year....and we're going through Book 2 now). We are using Horizons K for Math. Plus we are doing a mix of science, art, history, and sign language (not all at the same time. We usually choose one of those subjects per week to work on).

LOL! Those poor soul-less people! I'm guilty of this.....it would take forever to read all of those terms of service agreements.

Get the Droid. It is pretty much the equivalent of the iPhone....and I LOVE my iPhone. Seriously, I'd give up a lot of things before I'd give up my iPhone. Before I got it, I never knew how much I'd love it.

Funny, I just posted something on my Facebook status today about how I enjoyed that my kids like the same TV shows I did as a kid. A few weeks ago DD watched some episodes of the Super Mario show. This week she's watching Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. She loves loves loves Scooby Doo. I'm thinking of looking for the following shows for her: Inspector Gadget, Gummy Bears, Tale Spin, and Duck Tales.

I read the book....I thought it was just okay.

Just bumping....please update to let us know if you are okay! I hope so!

I'm looking to do more read alouds this year. My girls love being read to. But I find us reading things like Dora books, Clifford, Scooby Doo, etc. They love those books, but I'm looking for something a little....deeper, I guess. We tried out the Little House books, but honestly, they go into so much detail about how they do certain things, that the girls lost interest. Is there a reading list anywhere of good things to read for a first grader? My 3 year old also loves to be read to, so she'll probably listen in as well....so I'd love for them to be entertaining to her as well. We've read one or two Magic Treehouse books. Is that a good series to read? Any other suggestions would be great as well!