I'm posting pictures of the object of my "kitchen-envy" (SIL's kitchen, designed it herself!!) and "my reality....." See if you can spot my Kitchen Aid Mixer.....(Where's Waldo of WTM Kitchens). K http://s339.photobucket.com/albums/n468/mkdebey/

Pacifiers (if used) can be "sanitized" by sticking them in your mouth before replacing them in your baby's mouth. No need for boiling those silly things. I've let familiar dogs lick my babies. I have video of a very affectionate lab trying to slurp up Nick. Germs can be your friend (see next story...). You toddler will live after ingesting a discarded piece of pretzel covered in dust bunnies from a dirty food court in the mall. In fact, your toddler may grow to eleven years old having suffered through only one cycle of antibiotics. Said eleven year old refers to the pretzel as his "super-antibody pill."

and I love them. They are about the size of a paper bag and have a black plastic bottom reinforcement. The handles are sturdy. I find they hold a lot more than the plastic (about 2x) and are much easier to carry. Mine our blue. I tend to bag my own stuff. I'm like to keep the cold stuff together and the boxed stuff together etc. Easier to unpack and put away stuff. Worth the extra time on the front end. Funny how many of you have the little zip up Target bag. I keep that in my car for small purchases. So cute! I've gotten greener over the years thanks to many people on this board (recycle, cloth napkins). Now, anyone with some good composting advice for those of us in subdivisions? K

worst movie E V E R!! Unfortunately, it was the first movie I ever took my kids to.

that was cheap and it was JUNK. My poor son was so frustrated and disappointed with it. We couldn't see a blasted thing through it! Perhaps someone would lend you one?

Scarlett, thank you for your original post. I have fallen into a depressed state over my oldest ds (11) and his smart-mouth and disrespectful attitude. I sat down last night after another exhausting day with him and was on the verge of tears when I opened your thread. Like you, I have a hard time controlling my own anger and sarcasm is my middle name:confused:. We seem to be arguing all the time. I feel war-torn and miss my loving little boy (What a great toddler he was!) terribly. I feel like a terrible mother for wanting him to go to ps just to get him out of my sight. I feel badly for his younger brother who takes the brunt of his sibling's anger. The wise Hive has given such great advice in response to your thread. I feel like I could form a plan of action based on all them. Today I will be praying for you Scarlett. I wanted to let you know that I am in the trenches with you. I will get control of myself and my own behaviors that feed the misery (sarcasm, over-talking, seething). I will reconnect and assure my child that I love him. I will write up a contract of behavior (regarding both my own and my children's) with my children's input. I will lay out consequences for disrespectful attitude. I know I must do these things to turn this situation around, thank you HIVE for the push. Again, thank you Scarlett for the op. Hugs to you. K

Do yourselves a favor and copy your CDs onto your harddrive. I am now missing SOTW3 Disc 9 and REALLY wish I had it on my laptop. I've looked in every CD player in the house and cars. I am also missing my ds' Singapore Math 5A workbook. I was missing my Megawords teacher's manual until this morning...... I'm sure that I am missing other things....... ugh. Thanks for letting me vent. K K

we dated for almost 5 years. We will be celebrating out 18th year together soon. We've had ups and downs, but overall, we've been happy. K

We installed Pergo w/ glue 10 years ago and the Harmonics click stuff from Costco was a breeze compared to that! My dh and a friend did our dining room/living room in one day. A couple bits of advice: Run your planks perpedicular to your windows. Seams show up if your run them parallel to the windows. Have your contractor/teacher click some planks together and lay them both ways and you will see the difference. Make sure your contractor doesn't whack the edges of the planks too hard. The person who was helping my dh whacked the planks like he was installing hardwood and chipped a few. I think a school teacher could handle the installation. For the $400 you save, you can buy some nice area rugs from Overstock!:);)

I fumbled around with grammar programs for a whole year after we finished FLL . I could have saved my child and myself a lot of time (and me a lot of $$$) if I'd just gone with Rod & Staff. After using FLL for K & 1, we finally settled with R&S and it was a very easy transition (child already knew parts of speech, prepositions, helping and the "be" verbs!). For vocabulary we just listened to vocabulary-rich books on tape/read-alouds. I added Rummy Roots and Megawords later. K

If not, then urine has gotten under your toilet. Once it's under there, you can't reach it. When we replaced our powder room toilet, I had my dh caulk all around the base, and we don't have the problem with urine getting under it and stinking up the place. We need to do this in the boy's bathroom - but haven't gotten to that yet. They even clean it themselves, and don't mind wiping down the area enough to aim better:confused:. hth K

When my reader was at this level, I used a pencil to lightly divide multisyllabic words. One of the explode the code books we did went over syllabication rules. I'm sure if you googled on "syllabication rules" you'd find some online help. For example, here's a list from the riggs website: SYLLABICATION RULES: 1. A one-syllable word is never divided. [boat, good, knelt] 2. A compound word is divided between the words that make the compound word. [shot gun, sun set, air plane] 3. Divide between two consonants [hap py, per haps] unless the consonants form a digraph and are sounded together. [ma chine, e le phant] 4. When a word has an affix, it is divided between the root and the affix. [re run, soft ness, cry ing] 5. When a single consonant comes between two vowels, it is usually divided after the consonant if the first vowel is short. [clev er, lem on, rob in] 6. When a single consonant comes between two vowels or vowel sounds, it is usually divided before the consonant if the first vowel is long. [mu sic, po lite, pa per] 7. Divide between two vowels when they are sounded separately. [di et, cru el] 43. Vowels that are sounded alone form their own syllable. [dis o bey, a live, u ni form] 8. When a word ends in l-e preceded by a consonant, divide before the consonant. [tur tle, ca ble, this tle] Megawords goes over these in depth. But Megawords is for 4th grade and up. I suggest just introducing your child to them one at a time. hth K

I need to firm up my ds's schedule. Does anyone have a schedule for Latin Prep 1 they could share with me? How long/how many days a week, etc. How independently can it be done? Can I get a link to Ray's (US reseller?) website? Isn't he the one who has discounted Latin Prep sales? TIA! K

We memorized the poems too, but the memorization of the parts of speech and the helping verbs was very valuable. R&S 3 was a breeze thanks to the FLL lessons. I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Like some have suggested, just add the Harp & Laurel Wreath book. K

Dr. Mirkin recommends a veggie/whole grain/seafood diet. In his earlier book, Fat-Free, Flavor Full, he says you can eat a regular (dinner out) meal once a week. My dh and I followed this for 18 months and lost a lot of weight - my dh actually got too skinny. We ate large quanties of food (grains, beans, veggie) and were never hungry. I would recommend that you buy lots of BEANO in the beginning until your body adjusts!! I would have stayed on it if I could have incorporated more seafood into it, but since I'm allergic to most of it, I was limited to grains/beans/veggies :-( Since his books have come out, there has been a lot of promoting of "healthy fats", so I don't know how these healthy fats can be incorporated into the 20/30 formula. Hth, K

MilitarybyOwner.com? My neighbors (Marine Pilot) were able to rent their home out to an army family for the next three years. Their home is similar to yours, but our neighborhood doesn't have the amenities that yours has. hth K

I live in a cookie-cutter neighborhood on 1/3 acre lots. Most houses were built in the mid-90's. My boring house backs to a wildlife reserve area/creek that insulates us from the neighboring quarry and Marine Corps training fields (BOOM! and artillery fire!). We are sandwiched between young families with toddlers in daycare and unruly teenagers. We had some kids in my kid's age group that moved in for a few years, but honestly, they were so racist, I could not let them play with my children unsupervised. It was sad for me to hear children with these kind of attitudes as I grew up in a very integrated neighborhood and had friends from many different cultures. When they moved, I was very relieved. Suprisingly, since they moved, I haven't had the doorbell ring and run prank or any more destruction to my property... My next door neighbors have added some family members to their household. I think they are combining households because of the downturn in the construction trade. However, they have taken to fixing up wrecked cars (which are stored in their backyard). Currently, they have a make-shift paint shop erected under their deck. The HOA has written them up, but so far nothing has come of it.:001_huh: They have kids that stay inside all day. I'm not sure how many there are.... We have friends from park day, karate and long-time family friends. Unfortunately, it requires me getting into a car to meet up with them. Bums me out that my neighborhood hasn't been a good fit for our family. I'm so envious of those of you with the "front-porch" neighborhoods. K

and you can still see my veins in my arms, legs and forehead. I was on the thin side and fair-skinned. It certain light you could see veins just under my skin. I was really embarrassed about it when i was a child. I've never had any medical diagnosis of it. My skinny kid is the same way. I haven't brought it to his attention because I don't want him to be self-conscious. I would just note it at your next dr appt. I doubt it anything (I'm 40 and in very good health). K

and although I love DELL computers (have 5 of 'em), I bought my power cord for my laptop from another source for MUCH less...($30) and I bought a new battery too ($80). You can search on the part number at the website. Both work great. http://www.LaptopPartsWorld.com hth, K

TOMATO JUICE!! Yum. Low cal and so darn go for ya.... :001_smile:

This summer is going to make or break my homeschooling my oldest (11). He sounds so much like your child. Add a unhealthy dose of sibling rivalry (younger brother is curious and cooperative) in there and you've got a glimpse and the misery. Wish we had the funds for K12 - I'd jump on it in a minute. Math, logic and computers are all that interest him. He reads what I force him to read. If it involves history or science, he balks. Like IEW because I let him type everything but the key word outlines. It's always trying to get him to do work - will argue rather than work (oh yeh, we use R&S and he rolls his eyes quite a bit). Wears me out. Will make an excellent attorney someday. Can't wait to see some advice from the Hive. Hugs, K PS. Does your boy play Runescape or BattleOn? Oldest is always looking for like-minded friends to hang out w/ in cyberspace. PM me if you would like.

and have a fresh cup of coffee (aaahhhh) and time to myself. When I don't get this "me time" - it's not pretty. K

My dear grandmother was born on Whidbey Island. My grandparent's lived in Ferndale on the beach (called Cherry Point, near a closed refinery) in their later years. Your pictures of Bellingham, Mt. Baker and Lumi Island brought back some great memories. My brother lives in Snohomish and my sister lives in Renton. I'm the only easterner. My other grandma was born and still lives in Sedro-Woolley. If I ever get out there again, I'd love to tour your place. Thanks for sharing the photos!! K

Is there a specific edition of Conceptual Physics that goes with this dvd? TIA! K