My dh and I just started watching Season 1 on Netflix's Instant Watch. Please tell me that Nancy's brother in law, Andy, will get killed off soon. He is the most distasteful character written (and I've watched the Sopranos!!). I love the show (especially Elizabeth Perkins), but this guy.....ugh. Really, I hope Elizabeth Perkins takes him out with a tire iron or something. I remember watching a few seasons of 24 on DVD and wishing that Kimberly would get killed off. I finally gave up and stopped watching it all together. K

I'm not the best housekeeper either, so perhaps we are twins....? K (HAPPILY married 18 years)

but it's by Jodi Picoult. The cover features two people partially covered by a red blanket. The parents aren't divorced, but the mother has an affair. The teenage daughter is raped by her ex-boyfriend. The fall out from the accusations is the focal point of the book. hth, K

My 11 yo wants to throw the book through the window! I have ABC's and All Their Tricks and I'm going to look in it and see if I can come up with some easy rule. If not, I will have to admit defeat. Perhaps its because of our accent? I'm in VA..... K

and taking care of my kids. Typical AM in my house. My bf called to see if I had heard or seen anything about an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. I told her no, but perhaps it was a news traffic aircraft. Then on the radio, a commuter reported an airplane had crashed into the Pentagon. The commuter called in had their sunroof open and had a piece of the aircraft land on her passenger seat. Then, my I called my dh and he watched the second plane hit the tower while he was on the phone with me. Right after I hung up with him, my mom called (she worked right down from the White House in DC) and told me she was on the road and headed to my house (in Manassas). Those were the last two phone calls I could make that day - the lines were busy or down all through the area. I kept my kids from the tv (we had one down in the basement). I remember feeling so helpless. I lived in the flight plan of Dulles and the silence in the sky was so erie. I remember seeing Air Force I flying over. A year later, we dealt with the Beltway Sniper -- that was almost worse as it was a slow, prolonged stress that overcame all of us in the area. I saved the newspapers for the day and plan on sharing them with my children as we study modern times this year. K

I bought it and it was missing so many words that it's useless. We are much happier with Merriam-Webster's Children's Dictionary. hth K

it will bring down the ceiling a bit. Grab some trim pieces at home depot or lowes and hold it up. I went to a do-it-yourself class at HD a few years back. Got a lot of good ideas. Google on Crown Molding Dining room and then select Images. K

I was at public school from 7-2:15. I found plenty of time between after school and the time my parent's got home to engage in inappropriate behavior. I would think if you are homeschooled, you are better supervised, but I could be wrong. K

as ps trainwrecks?? Just curious. K

expecting a refreshing diversity of thought. This board rarely fails to deliver. Some here seem firmly entrenched, some always questioning, some always provoking, some always whining.... but somebody is always INTERESTING. Really, I get charged up and have to put all brain cells on overdrive when I visit here. I don't agree with everybody, but I don't have the expectation that I can change minds with my words either. I'm not much of a writer and posts here cannot reflect my overall sarcasim, so I press the delete button frequently. I think differently than most people I know IRL and I've accepted my position as outsider/different drummer etc. I respect and accept other opinions and thoughts, even though they are 180 degrees from my own. I guess I'm just rambling. I just wanted to say that I think there is plenty of diversity on this board and I really appreciate it. K

I didn't even go to kindergarten (wasn't available in the early 70s), so I didn't value it much. We knew one family that homeschooled and I figured I'd give it a try. I checked out TWTM and off we went.... Seven years later, we are still at it. K

:iagree::iagree:

"Yes, if you drive an hour out of Beijing, you meet the vast dirt-poor third world of China. But here’s what’s new: The rich parts of China, the modern parts of Beijing or Shanghai or Dalian, are now more state of the art than rich America. The buildings are architecturally more interesting, the wireless networks more sophisticated, the roads and trains more efficient and nicer. And, I repeat, they did not get all this by discovering oil. They got it by digging inside themselves. I'm sure you can find some rich, modern areas in the U.S.A. Are we willing to accept and turn a blind-eye our "dirt poor" to achieve more structural wonders? I realize the differences: We were attacked on 9/11; they were not. We have real enemies; theirs are small and mostly domestic. We had to respond to 9/11 at least by eliminating the Al Qaeda base in Afghanistan and investing in tighter homeland security. They could avoid foreign entanglements. Trying to build democracy in Iraq, though, which I supported, was a war of choice and is unlikely to ever produce anything equal to its huge price tag." We provide stability and security for other nations on this planet - we have troops all over the globe. If we are to pull our troops out, and focus on our national interest alone (turn our soldiers into builders), would that be acceptable? I'd really like to know who wrote this. K

I get a letter from the superintendent that states that they won't accept home school high school credits and even goes as far as stating that other school districts don't either, so you'd better do your homework. IRRC, they go on to state that your child will have to take the public school's end-of-year exams to get credit. So, there is a work-around. I always thought that's the norm. I think if you start asking the high schools to accept your credits, then they will be more apt to limiting their "approved curriculum" to school-in-a-box curricula like A Beka, Calvert or K12 or correspondence schools. IMHO, that would not be good. FWIW, not all high school accept credits from other schools. A good friend of mine went to school in Hawaii (may have been a DOD school - his dad was in the military) for a year and then came back to the mainland. My high school would not accept all his credits, so he ended up getting a GED. He's a successful computer programmer w/o his diploma. I hope you come to some resolution. It sounds as though you might have enough ammo (being a lawyer) to negotiate with your local high school. I worry about limited our options for high-school when we force a public institution to accept our children's credits. I don't want them to have a say in my educational choices. I'm afraid that the junior highs would follow suit. K

and now when I do try to watch something at a friend's house, I find I have ADD. I lose interest in a tv show that is cut up in 8 minute segments! I just can't watch them anymore! Thank goodness for Netflix!! K

I was checking into adding Good Will Hunting to my Netflix list.... From the IMDb "When Will (Matt Damon) and Sean (Robin Williams) meet for the first time in Sean's office, Will recommends that Sean read Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States". As a boy, Matt Damon was Zinn's neighbor and provided the voice for the CD recording of that book." I didn't know there was a CD recording of the book. Might be worth checking out -- especially to hear Matt Damon's voice! K

I'm not and never have been a germaphobe. I drink and eat after any and all family members. I flush public toilets with my hand - then wash my hands. I don't seek out antibacterial soaps. 10-second rule is liberally applied here! My oldest ate a discarded, dusty-bunny covered pretzel off the floor of a shopping mall when he was 2. He's the poster child for antibodies. He's only had one round of antibiotics his whole life (11+ years). If my children had some auto-immune issues, I'd be more concerned of course. K

We all have my dh's last name. My oldest ds has the same middle and last name as his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great grandfather. My youngest has my maiden name as his middle name. I think it's nice to have some links to our past in our names. K

Just a quick search on Ice Skating Lessons and I found lots of videos. hth K

I went outside once... the graphics weren't that great.

My dh wants a flat screen. We don't have cable/dish, but just watch DVDs and play Wii. One consideration is the size of the room and the angle of viewing. My dh has researched this and here are a few suggestions. To find the correct viewing size, take the screen size and divide by 4. So a 32 inch tv is best viewed from 8 feet away. We have a long and narrow family room. Much viewing will take place to the sides of the screen. Plasma seems to have the advantage for side viewing. When you go to look at screens side-by-side (Plasma and LCD), stand 45 degrees to the row of tvs and see which one you can see clearly....it will be the Plasma. So, while everyone is looking at LCDs, we are looking at a Panasonic Viera http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Viera-TH-42PZ85U-42-Inch-Plasma/dp/B00142JKRW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1219660545&sr=8-4 We are going back and forth over whether to get the higher dpi (720 vs 1080) because we read (on CNET, I think) that on smaller screens you don't notice the lower dpi. so you don't need to pay extra for the higher. CNET.com has some pretty good reviews of flatscreens. Just google the model and add CNET to find their reviews. hth K *Still watching 17 year old SONY tv.

I was a sexually active teen. Contraceptives were readily available at the drugstore (condoms) and at the local health department clinic (bc pills). I remember a few of my friends going to the clinic during lunch and getting the pill. No parent required. My bf preferred going to the drugstore and pulling a box off the shelf. My girlfriends and I had a contraceptive pact. None of us ever went without it. Have we restricted bc in some way. Honestly, I would have NEVER gone to my teacher, counselor, or school nurse looking for bc. If I was smart enough to find a time and place to do it, I was smart enough to get bc on my own. This was 25 years ago. Have we gotten dumber? I am baffled by the armies of teenage mothers with multiple toddlers I saw at the county fair. My dh works with young men who are some "Baby's daddy" and young, unmarried women, with multiple children from different boyfriends. They are not parenting their children. They party every weekend looking to hook up while grandma, neighbors or friends watch their toddlers. I can't believe they are as careful as we were. One girl is on her fourth baby - her kids have three different fathers. Daddy #2 and grandpa live together and raise her 3 toddlers. She lives with daddy of #4!! I wonder if she's ever considered getting her tubes tied. As my dh says, "it's a mindset."

What a beautiful family you have. You can see the love they have for each other in the photo. Thanks for sharing.

okay, I know she's admitted to having some nick/tuck. I loved her exposing her true self in an article titled, "True Thighs" -- she's so inspiring. I love her gray hair and glasses. She seems like someone I'd love to hang out with. http://www.more.com/more-women/celebrities/jamie-lee-curtis-true-thighs/

I still remember the first line of the Shining... "Jack Torrence was....._____________________" I've also enjoyed his "On Writing" book. I couldn't finish "It" -- too scary. I named my oldest after a character in the Stand. I really need to read some of King's later stuff. Just too busy. K