I can do a lot of substitutions. Follow Your Heart has a new parmesan cheese: http://followyourheart.com/products/parmesan/ I bet it'd taste great in your recipe!

Here are some bands I've seen lately, that I love LOVE. :) Maybe everyone knows them already?? Godspeed You! Black Emperor: The Selecter Zounds

The big change started when a girlfriend came over to the house and laid into them. She caught them in their room (which was awful) and read them the riot act. She wasn't mean or scary. Hi if your reading this :seeya: !! Thank you J. :) After that, I worked hard on decluttering and making a place for everything. I pointed out how relaxing a clean room was a lot. I'd say things like "Isn't it the best to get into a crisp cozy bed at the end of the day?" as I tucked them in at night. I had to train them to value it. I worked on making their room a wonderful place to be. The bedding is yummy, the decorating and furniture is eye pleasing. They matured and started to prefer how good it feels to live in a beautiful, clean environment.

Having listened to the audiobook as well many times :) I would say, yeah, maybe it could be an immigrant thing. Most of my girlfriends (or their parents) are from other countries and I've found that there's lots of Americana type stuff that isn't nostalgic for them. They find lots of it lame or puzzling. ETA I love the movie!

Oh my goodness. I must learn to make chicken and dumpling soup!

So many great ideas!

I have Thai Basil too! I should try that. My lemon grass might work as well.

Well... It's vegan. :) I haven't had true chicken noodle soup in 28 years, so who knows if it even remotely tastes like the real thing?!? :tongue_smilie: If it doesn't, I don't want to know. Haha! I use a vegan powdered chicken broth and a wheat gluten chicken.

I make a very basic, very yummy chicken noodle soup. What simple things can I do or add to change it up a bit?

By the Onion Sea (Russian lit) is a big hit this year. Looking forward to checking out all these this weekend!

Because my kid is still up watching Bugsy Malone. Anyone remember that one? Scott Baio and Jodie Foster. Jodie's singing "My name is Tallulah..." :001_wub: I can't bring myself to turn it off.

Here are some different recipes: http://search.kingarthurflour.com/search?p=Q&lbc=kingarthurflour&uid=862724756&ts=custom&w=springerle%20cookie%20recipe&isort=score&method=and&af=type%3arecipes&sli_from_jump=yes If this is what you're talking about, I've always wanted to buy the stamps from King Arthur. They're so pretty!

My daughter bakes German Apple Cake once or twice a year. It's fantastic! I love how the apple is sliced thin and beautifully layered. I do an apple butter every fall in the crock pot. I have a platter of Granny Smiths on the table... Tomorrow I'm making apple heads. :) I do a collection, put them on long sticks, and "plant" them by the entryway. By Halloween they're gnarled shrunken heads. http://www.marthastewart.com/268080/shrunken-apple-heads

Traveling and hosting people who are traveling through. They've met, and interacted with so many fascinating people and places. They've had to rely on their homeschool knowledge base to engage and keep up with the grown ups, which I know they really want to do. This summer we took a few trips, and I think they used every skill taught in the classroom. And then some. :) For example, this summer we were at a country house in England that's an "intentional community". There we met a Roma poet who's an old friend of our hosts. He was like someone out of another time and place, he was interesting in every way. He spoke to the girls about poetry in his life, he made references to works the kids knew, he smoked a cigarette, cleared his throat, and recited a beautiful poem. In a short time they thought about poetry, politics, human rights, history, and geography. Even if they didn't quite realize it, they connected all these small bits of things learned on paper and screen then finally engaged in real life. When I was a kid, my mom would always say to me "Are you experienced?" Yeah, Jimi Hendrix was talking about dropping acid, I'm sure... Haha! But, that's my burning question in life I think. I'm a pretty cynical person, I think we all are here in my house. Experience, movement, and engaging keeps us slightly less so. It keeps us humbled and appreciative to be part of it all. For us, having older kids, this is what's most important. They have a solid foundation, I'm a pretty old fashioned style teacher. We have a classroom, we have a planner, we have set class times... But beyond that, I never wanted the kids to wait for young adulthood to jump into the world.

I'm also waiting for some results and waiting for a follow up cat scan. Lots of Drs and tests. It's ridiculous. I watch funny/silly tv shows like Miranda. I clean out drawers. I'm currently lining small drawers with scrapbooking paper. :/ I'm making myself laugh. I saw a band on Saturday and at first I was like "I'm tired, I'm depressed... Why am I here??" And then by the second song I was like "Screw this!!" I went nuts! We were far from home and I knew I'd never see those people again. By the end of the night I waved bye-bye to my family and literally flung myself into a crazy part of the crowd. Haha!! I was singing, dancing and laughing with everyone. Seriously The best I've felt in a long time, even though I thought I was going to pass out or puke many times. :) I feel so vulnerable right now. Like bad news could easily come up and slap me across the face. Or not. I just don't know. I'm trying to be happy and light right now. Epsom salt baths... I wash all my bedding and make my room all clean and cozy. Good sleep is a miracle worker! :grouphug: Hugs to you.

Pots at garage sales or an old cooking pot or galvanized bucket/tub battery operated twinkle lights Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Wentop-Submersible-Battery-Powered-Decoration/dp/B010STUU84/ref=sr_1_8?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1475037597&sr=1-8&keywords=twinkle+lights+battery+operated&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin%3A7802630011 Moss, Baby Tears, and other plants propagated from yard and neighborhood Rocks found on nature walks For all the little doo dads, we found that garage sales were best. Thimbles become cups, a metal coaster becomes a table top... you know, like that. Here's a fun book that most libraries seem to have: https://www.amazon.com/Wentop-Submersible-Battery-Powered-Decoration/dp/B010STUU84/ref=sr_1_8?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1475037597&sr=1-8&keywords=twinkle+lights+battery+operated&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin%3A7802630011 Fancy pieces were given as holiday gifts: https://www.myfairygardens.com/product-category/furniture/ https://www.etsy.com/search?q=fairy%20garden hth!

We make a vegan mulligatawny soup. I don't do it with fruit, like some of the recipes I see. It translates very well to veg. I tear up pieces of a crusty baguette and drop them in the broth as I eat it. YUM! Sometimes I add bits of a wheat gluten chicken.

Is it a class that's for fun, like photography? If not, can you give up something else that's not as important to free up time and head space for the online class? Thats what I decided to do for a class that's shorter. Once she felt like she had time to figure out how to manage, the stress let up. My daughter had to quickly figure out time management, how to communicate well with the teacher, and how to do some new stuff on the computer. It was a lot for her, but she seems to be figuring it out now. FWIW both of my daughters panicked about online classes at the beginning of the school year. I did let my oldest drop 2 classes. One was a language class that she was out of her league in. She had already completed 3 years of French, so it was no biggie. Maybe a minor blow to her ego ;) The other class was a lit class that was way too easy for her. Hope you get some good advice. Many of us are hitting bumps in the road already. Hang in there!

Liz Earle Hot Polish Cleanser Clinique Black Honey eyeliner Sage Machado Onyx oil (the sexiest scent ever)

Rose Isobel Rose Aemilia Rose Cordelia Rose Imogen Rose Isabella Rose Alannah Rose Josephine Rose Evelyn Rose Lisette Have you considered using a longer name for Rose? Rosamunde Rosaline Rosemary Rosabelle Rosalyn Rose is such a pretty name!

Look into Onions by the Sea. Maybe Julia Denne can work around the time difference.

We saw The Damned last year. :thumbup1: Ah... the goth scene was fun!

Hitchhiking and dirt bikes.

Julia Denne at By the Onion Sea https://bytheonionsea.com/russian-language-2/

How about Ken Burns documentaries? My history lover watched and loved many of them. There's quite a few there to build a spine. Great Courses History of the United States 2nd Edition can be used as a spine. There's over 80 lectures and it'd be easy to figure out where you want to jump in. Hth