You know, I think about SWB and how on her blog she has pictures of her entire family, and certainly you know the address of their home business from the website... she doesn't seem to be too awful worried about this or she wouldn't post the information... I think the key is if you are polite and don't go around offending people or being contentious or stirring up a lot of trouble, you won't draw attention from the wackos (although I do remember one particular wacko on the boards who tried to cyber-intimidate SWB once, to no avail). When you have a business, I think the need to be out there on the web is really important. I'd set up contact info for the business that is separate from your personal email, and let your husband be the one to read the emails if you start to have a problem. Above all else, don't respond to anyone who contacts you for any reason other than a business inquiry. I think it's part of the package, and that your risk of being stalked is not that great, so I wouldn't worry about it if you take all the precautions... but that's just me. You can't let a few deranged people who have nothing better to do with their time than go around stirring up trouble on the internet prevent you from promoting and building your business. So, I say go for it and good luck! Robin

WE have a very active support group at both the city and state level that is for minorities and it is a wonderful, growing group. Actually, that's kind of a funny label in a city like Houston, where whites are technically in the minority! LOL Anyhow, I grew up in Houston and I love the diversity. That's what's normal to me, and I never quite fit in when we lived in the country. But as far as homeschooling goes, minorities make up a large chunk of homeschoolers around here, and I think that trend is growing. That means that homeschooling is maturing and becoming main stream, and is not caught in the grip of some fringe group. Hope you had a wonderful anniversary, Anj!

LOL!!

Yes, it was one of his adopted daughters that was killed. I am so sad for the entire familiy. My heart aches for them.

You might want to keep your eye on this... most the kids know how to hide their chat activity (for example, my dd told me about this... when a friend who wasn't allowed to chat was online, she would type some quick signal to let everyone know that her parents had entered the room, and everyone would be silent until given the all clear signal so that her parents would think she wasn't chatting - something like that - I might not have all the details right, but I do know that kids who weren't allowed to chat figured out a way to do it without their parents being able to tell). Not that your kids are doing this, of course... just that it's pretty common knowledge on runescape and they'll probably encounter the idea at some point.

We do family field trips, not group. We do group play dates and social things. We do some things with friends when the educational element is not all that important :). But if I want dd paying attention and taking it all in, distractions of friends and playmates are not a good idea.

His teenage son accidently ran over his 5 year old daughter at their home. The brother just didn't see her. She didn't survive. Ugh. How awful. I can't imagine living with that. How do you ever get over the guilt?

Two shoppers, one a member of the grocery game and the other a self proclaimed "savvy shopper" who shops sales and regular coupons, went head to head at a local Kroger to see who could get their groceries for the better price (similar items on each list). The results were (subtotal before coupons/total after coupons): Grocery Game: 126.95/43.12 Savvy shopper: 152.51/97.19 Wow. Pretty impressive! I really want to see a side by side comparison of what they bought, though, to make sure it really is the same stuff.

Whatcha wanna bet Simon said what he said because he knew David C had won, and he didn't want to look like an idiot? That was painfully obvious.

Here's an alternate view... I prefer to look at geography as it impacts society and history. I think that the child will remember better the history of an area if they understand that a particular mountain range made attack from the north difficult, or if another feature made them more vulnerable, or if they understood better why certain crops were better suited for that climate, etc. You have to start with knowing the names of the major geographic features, but from there, you study why they are important to the region. Reminds me of the Holling C. Holling books... study the mississippi river, etc. HTH Robin

That was an excellent performance (and yeah... he was cute! He could tour with them. Serious! ) Of course, I'm partial to ZZ Top... hometown boys and all :).

Dangle, Laney. Dangle.

Hilarious... I missed the David A one!

If David A was in the commercial, then I think they must have filmed two different commercials.. because I distinctly saw David C! Weird!! David A doesn't even play the guitar or sing rock!

Unbelievable!! YOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

...just to see ZZ Top and George Michael!! And did you catch that new Guitar Hero commercial with David C? Loved it!! Winner announcement coming up next...

No, not on your pc. On your blog or whatever photoalbum you have uploaded to. My bil has several private photoalbums on his site... that's where he has pictures of his family members. His photos of the landscape, etc., are public.

Just for the sake of this conversation, I just hunted our poster down. I'm not sure why it took you 12 minutes, because it only took me about 1 to see his whole name and the state he lives in. Stick that into google and voila! Full address and phone number. If how to blog safely was your intended topic (not a veiled intimidation of the poster), I don't understand why you didn't mention that in your op. Regardless - my suggestion, if you are worried about this sort of thing, is don't put your full name on your blog. Don't mention where you live. Keep an unlisted phone number. Put personal pictures in a password protected album.

No, it wasn't an accusation... it was more a dig. Because I really do think it is mean spiritied to say, "Hey, buddy... I know who you are and where you live and I know what your kids' names are. You better watch out what you say." The times I saw butch do it, it was never because the person was stalking her, it was because she was either ticked or just didn't like the person. It always came across as an ugly mean streak to me. This feels exactly like that same ugly mean streak... that's all. And it's just my opinion...

Perhaps trouble is the wrong word. I don't think I've ever been interested in anyone on these boards enough to track to track them down irl, just to dig up personal information on them :). Anyhow, there wasn't anything to "get" about the butch comment, except that the only other poster on these boards who has done that sort of thing (track down a poster they didn't like, post publicly that they know who they are, what their address is, how old their kids are, etc.) was butch and I thought it was creepy then, and I think it's creepy now. Draw whatever conclusions *you* want, but *I* wasn't implying anything... just drawing a parallel.

I would discourage it, based on our personal experience. PM me if you want details why. Robin

You actually went to all this trouble? Sounds like something butch would do. Interesting.

LOL!!! You tell R that if he dares try to run off with anyone, we'll hunt him down! Actually, Mrs. Mungo lives in Hawaii and I wouldn't mind hunting him down there :).

Stay away from bait because it attracts sharks. For the same reason, don't swim where small bait fish might be feeding/schooling. That would primarily be near piers and at trash lines (floating lines of seaweed, etc., that has snagged some debris... little bait fish are usually near/under that sort of thing... when dh had an offshore boat for fishing, we always kept an eye open for trash lines because we could always catch something near them - fish tend to check out shadows in the water). Sometimes fishermen thread their catch (through the mouths or gills) at the end of a long line that they tie off at their waist with a quick release gadget, and then float the catch far away from them. Threading the fish will cause the fish to bleed, and the blood attracts sharks, and the fish at the end of the line can not swim away... what a convenient meal! That's why the long line and the quick release gadget -- so if a shark comes and nabs your catch, he can swim away without you at the end of the line :). Don't let all this scare you - this is all basic precautionary stuff much like what you do when you're camping to avoid attracting bears. Just know to stay away from the piers, trash lines, and fisherman. And if you're in the water and a school of small fish swarm around you, you might want to move in a little closer. If you see a bunch of fish sorta leaping out of the water, all swimming in one direction, chances are they're being chased by something (not necessarily a shark, though). Your risks are reduced the closer you are to shore (shallow water), by not wearing *anything* that is shiny or reflective (most fish have bright silver on them) and by staying out of breaking waves if the ocean is particularly rough (bigger fish go after smaller fish in the turbulence because the smaller fish don't have the same swimming power). The point is... there *are* sharks in the waters (just like there *are* bears in the woods), and you are trying to 1) stay away from their food source, and 2) do everything you can to not be mistaken for their food (by not dressing in the same colors, and by staying out of situations where the shark might not be able to see you clearly). Sharks don't naturally prey upon humans. Attacks happen when they think they're getting a fish and a human is in the way. I think just about every attack in the Destin area has been when the person was swimming VERY far out, or when they were swimming near fishermen/piers. Ditto about the seagulls! I forgot about that! One time, we bought hot dogs at a stand, and seagulls swooped down and stole the weiners right out of our buns - with us holding the hot dogs IN our hands! LOL!! I felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie! REally, don't let me scare you about the sharks... you seemed to be asking for the basic precautions, so there they are. Just be mindful of them and you will be safe and have a great time! What a beautiful place the Destin beaches are! Robin

Oh wow... congratulations!!! Way to go!!