I would work on getting some infrastructure. High Volume Water containers? Propane? Wheat grinder? Rainwater recapture system? I go to the cannery during the year as well as Costco to fill food storage. This just trickles into my normal food budget. The above items may take a nip out of our budget.

"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and another one that I love but can't sing in church because it makes me cry. "There is Sunshine in My Soul Today." There is sunshine in my soul today More glorious and bright Than any earthly sky Because Jesus in my light. There is music in my soul today A carol to my King. And Jesus listening can hear The songs I cannot sing. There's more...... but I'm already in tears... :tongue_smilie:

From my experience in Houston, another flea happy place: Vacuum at least three times a day. Empty the vacuum in the toilet, not in the garbage, even the garbage set outside......they will hunt you down........ Set off the bombs every few days then vaccum, vacuum vacuum. I would vacuum in the morning and I could see all the fleas jumping around inside my vaccum receptacle. I would vacuum again around 11am and I could see just as many fleas in the receptacle.... It took a good 5 days of constant vaccuming and bombing to get rid of them.... Oh, and the dog got bathed and vacuumed about the same frequency.

My dd is 11 and for her birthday, all she wants a a bed from the American Girl catalog.

My girlfriend from England bashed our health system for years, "ours is free" (as long as you don't talk about their tax rate) America's system was awful until her father got cancer. It was going to be over a year for him to see an oncologist, that didn't even include treatment, just the visit to the oncologist. They got him a VISA to come to America and they paid out of their pocket for his treatment. I understand they negotiated a self-pay amount. She hasn't bashed our system since. Now her father comes here yearly for follow-ups. I loved to complain about my insurance until this Public Option thing came up. Now looking back at my insurance, I'm pretty happy. As much as I've paid in premiums over the years, insurance has paid more for our treatment. They are in the negative when it comes to my family. Babies, tonsils, cancer, ACL reconstruction... And, who am I to expect all of our healthcare to be free. Should I not be expected to pay at least something to have my babies or should all of you fit the bill everytime we decide to have a child? So having babies should be free? Weeee! Heeee! I could easily have 3 or 4 more......of course, then I'll qualify for all sorts of other services that you all can pay for. Thanks!

This is the same policy Barbara Boxer was pushing the new administration to sign.....I think it has temporarily been set aside until there are less pressing issues. Scary though... our time is surely coming.:confused:

Where can I find this in the New Testament?

I taught 3 kiddos to read with Phonics Pathways. It usually took about 30-45 days to get them really reading. We never made it to the end of the book, as they were off on their own about 2/3 of the way through. We worked on our vowel sounds first (only the short of course) then did the combinations ma me mi mo mu, etc. At the beginning of every lesson we would go over the previous 3 or 4 pages. Our lessons were usually 30 minutes or so. I swear by it. Haven't taught anyone under 5 yet though.

I was taught in Confirmation class that one did have to be worthy to take the Holy Eucharist.....I can't remember details but baptism in the church was one of them..... can't remember the others.... I do remember thinking that my father nor my little brother would be able to take the Eucharist, not that they were knocking down doors to get to church. Someone might clarify those restrictions. Oh, I also remember the priest telling us that the wine did turn to the blood of Christ and the bread was the actual body. In my arrogance I insisted that the priest was wrong that he must have been meaning it symbolically and he, in return, insisted that it was not symbolic but literal.... I thought that perhaps it turned back into wine when it was my turn....

I've looked at New Millennium and I love how its set up. However, I think its too advanced for my kids. (and me) My husband will be teaching as he knows it, but I would like to be helpful. So, I think we will start will Ecce Romani and when I feel they have a foundation move to New Millennium. Thanks for everyone's help.

I just bought my Compaq at Office Depot for $369. They had one for $299 but I wanted the card reader, built in 10 key and the wide screen so I bought the next one up. They were running a special on the extra warranty.

My oldest son is also 12. On our trip this summer we listened to the Prince and the Pauper....it was difficult for the first cd to get into the old English speech, but we all loved it. Now my 12 yo quotes from it all the time and it makes us all laugh so hard. We also did a Focus on the Family version of Les Miserables which was good. Our all time fav though is BBC version of the Wind in the Willows...the acting is hilarious. Oh and most Hank the Cowdogs. Saddlehouse Robbery is our fav. (I love car travel because we all get to be captive to some great audiobooks!)

Wait Margaret in CO. South Park is actually a suburb in south Denver..... off of south University or is it South Broadway. No seriously. Something about one of the writer's having grown up there. Its full of middle class folks and their entitled kiddos..... We actually almost bought a house there..ALMOST..I worried about living around potty mouthed kids and their self absorbed parents.....oops, did I fall prey to a stereotype?

We have a Kia Sorento. Its a good car. However, it doesn't get near the gas mileage the sticker professed! Our only real disappointment.

Our BCBS was going to go up dramatically this year also. My dh did the legwork for his company and we switched companies. Our rates actually went down as did our deductible. I think our insurance this year is wonderful. I think dh went to some different brokers, people who do the searching for you then present the plans they can get you. We could be on even cheaper insurance if we opted out of maternity coverage, but until we are positive maternity can't happen, we'll keep it in. We also had one of those plans where you go to a specific clinic and can only see thier doctors. I wouldn't do that again unless I was desperate...I'm afraid that its what the "public option" would have to look like. I only went there for well baby visits and vaccinations. For sick visits we visited the doc-in-the box and paid out of pocket instead.

I use a swiffer BUT I use my own washcloths. They fit into the slots that hold the expensive pads. I mix my own cleaner (QUick Shine cleaner) in a Windex bottle. We just spray and swiffer. I use the same swiffer with a clean washcloth to apply my QUICKSHINE>

What about the option: "I don't know, however, I can get it on in the dark."

Thank you, yes... that is what I was looking for, a wide range of different writers and different uses of the language! Whew!

Okay, I've all but hit the submit button for ECCE ROMANI. But I've been reading old threads. I have 2 middle schoolers who would do well with Ecce. I have one 3rd grader......should I be looking for a used Lively Latin for him? Also, Lively Latin and Ecce Romani are considered secular....does this mean that in history lessons or discussions the early church as a presence is not mentioned? Or does that mean that they don't use prayers or biblical passages as examples? Do they both stick to examples about Rome before the church? What I don't want, to be honest, is some revisionist classical history, or some subtle denial of the early church's overwhelming presence over everything....where it becomes obvious they are going out of their way to not mention anything religious (even if its topical) so they can be used in public school. I want well rounded Latin reading children who are not afraid of the word Deus because they didn't come across it in lessons because it wasn't PC....even though it was okay twenty years ago before people got so uptight. There are some real Latin scholars out there that can help me!:bigear:

I think over time, the coating on dry erase boards gets etched away, probably from the solvent used in dry erase markers. I'll be curious as well to see any solutions.

Are you using the unabridged texts or the Children's versions of these books?

Snap Circuits My son actually reads the plans and he's eight. He loves this. Its expensive but it has hundreds of different things to make. Amazon.com

We do this as well but for some reason, I can't always find it in my Walmart. I usually just happen upon it. Where should I look consistently?

So it looks like Lively Latin and Ecce Romani are the favs out there. Okay, so if you like Ecce Romani and money was no object, what would you order? I went to amazon.com and was lost, as there were so many components, I got confused. What about Lively Latin. What would you order? What if money was tight?

We make them read the book before seeing the movie. They seem to appreciate this rule. Especially considering Harry Potter, and LOTR, Inkheart, etc.