Yes, there were a couple of times when someone asked questions because they were concerned about their own child or a family member's child and they saw something in our son that reminded then of their own. I was happy to speak with them about their concerns.

A while back, we received a letter from our HOA expressing displeasure with our front lawn' s lack of lushness and requesting that we resod. I politely informed them that if I went through the trouble of tearing up the grass, the only thing getting planted would be edibles. We never heard back.

We always accommodated questions from children, but we got to the point of gritting our teeth over the idle curiosity of adults. I always wondered, "why is she asking? Is knowing going to make a difference in her life? Is she going to chat about the poor kid she saw later on to her husband or friends?" I'd say let it be. If the parent brings it up, feel free to ask questions. If not, talk about other things.

Probably not!

Every person in the world could have 1000 sf of their own in Texas. The world is big. If only the resources were evenly distributed.

I guess I'm another reverse-SAD person. "I'm Only Happy When it Rains" was my theme song.

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat... There are some pretty good deals on K'NEX and so forth today. I picked up the K'NEX classics 50 model building set to tuck away for Christmas. Camelcamelcamel.com verified that it actually is a good discount.

A couple more ideas, if your room has a coffee maker and a clothes iron. You can make soft or hard boiled eggs in the carafe of the coffee pot and, in a pinch, you could also have grilled cheese sandwiches a la Mr. Mom. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=49VQTvFeV4E#t=80

Thanks!

I think there are a few threads missing. I was just looking for the one someone posted in search of microwave meal ideas because she was going to be in a hotel for awhile and I can't find it at all, even though I posted in it. And here I wanted to share my coffeepot hard-boiled eggs and clothesiron grilled cheese sandwich ideas...

Would you mind elaborating on how your special needs kids are doing with the program? Our four year-old has autism and is nonverbal and I've been following a forum thread on the development of a special needs curriculum package over on the MP site with interest. I have already read Cheryl Swope's Simply Classical and got some great ideas from it, but I'd love to hear more from you.

I just received this in my email and thought it would be interesting to see what you all think: http://christopherperrin.com/articles/what-is-classical-education/

Many times, I think pediatricians answer our questions based on the effect on our own children and not from an infectious disease standpoint. So if you're asking when you should keep your child at home and your doctor says, "a little runny nose and a mild cough is no problem if he's feeling okay," well, that might be the answer for your specific question only. If you're asking, "is it okay to take my child out in public around other people who may be at risk, " I don't know. Maybe you'd get a different answer. When my kids are sick and going out in public is unavoidable, we follow droplet precautions. Since it's a complete pain to try to convince an 18 month old to wear a facemask, it's much easier for us to just stay home. And just FYI, when someone is on droplet precautions in a hospital setting, staff are required to wear a facemask if coming within 3 feet of the patient. I know I'm being pedantic, but we paid the highest price for our son's repeated respiratory infections. It is a small sacrifice on my part to keep my children home when they are sick and help prevent other people from going through the same.

I understand what you're saying, but this is how we wound up only leaving the house to go to doctor's appointments and therapy. It's why I eventually had to hang a sign on our son's carrier asking people to stay back and don't touch. It's why quite a few times I had to physically remove him areas where I'd hoped people wouldn't bring sick children, such as the well-visit room at our pediatrician's office. I understand that staying home for a runny nose and small cough is limiting, but it is literally life and death for some people. Most churches are close quarters. You're sitting right next to other people in the pews, either next to you or or in front of you or behind you. You're touching the backs of the pews, the hymnals, the missals, etc. I just don't see the point of putting other people at risk.

Just a heads up: If you follow Family Fun on Pinterest, they pretty much post all of the crafts from the magazine on there.

Our set is more along those lines. And looking those up reminds me that I wanted to get the 12 Days of Christmas set this year...

For us, each week represents Hope, Faith, Joy, and Peace. It's easy for me to remember because our kids are the Advent wreath (two boys, one girl, one boy). Their first initials even match except for our second whose name begins with O instead of F. Should have named him Frank. :D

You're welcome. USCCB.org has a lot of great information about all of the holy days and liturgical seasons. When it comes to the domestic Church, I love The Catholic Home by Meredith Gould. It's a great resource when you've grown up in a house that didn't pass a lot of traditions down. I'm a cradle Catholic, but my mother was not, so I rely on Gould's book quite heavily.

Advent is the period of solemn preparation for the feast of the Nativity in the same way that Lent is the time of preparation for Easter. The Jesse Tree is a nice tradition that explores the genealogy of Christ from the root of Jesse, the father of King David. Most Jesse Tree sets actually start with Adam and Eve, though.

I really like this one. Maybe next year!

I'm not looking for twice the needed capacity. Just the needed capacity would have been nice.

No, I avoid Apple. But, this isn't a glitch. This is the system. The system is not working. It's not a down for maintenance situation. The information is inaccurate. The estimates vary wildly. The customer service lines are nonoperational. The Navigator addresses lead to empty warehouses.

Yes, I know. My husband is military. I shake my head at the hoops they jump through.

My then five year-old requested a red t-shirt with an octopus on the back and the word "Firepower" on the front for his sixth birthday. Yeah, that didn't happen. I'm not even sure where he came up with it. I asked if he'd seen it somewhere (nigh impossible considering we don't even have cable), but he said he'd thought it up on his own. Maybe I'll surprise him with a homemade one sometime this year.

It's a hot mess. I'm not trying to debate ACA itself. I'm just talking about the rollout. If this were a private entity, they'd be going out of business. I really don't want to hear about volume. How many people log on to Amazon each day? Ebay? If they wanted to set up something that actually worked, I guess they should have hired Jeff Bezos.