Oops, I "liked" this when I meant to quote it. :) You should do the Rock 'n' Roll in June! You're in the Seattle area, right? It was my first half marathon two years ago and was so so so much fun. I did two others (Yakima Half--AWFUL...100F day and the water stops were way too spread out, and the Labor Day Half) but the RnR was by far my favorite. So much support, fun people cheering along the way, lots of music to help break it up, it was great. We had our fourth baby last May and I haven't started running regularly again yet (I'm having trouble gaining momentum since I can only run on the weekends until it's light in the evenings again) but I signed up for the RnR in June and hope I can manage to beat my last time...either way, I'm sure it'll be fun. You should go for it! I think they raise prices next on the 1st of January and they keep going up gradually until the race.

You guys are amazing! Very inspiring. Maybe I will try to join you in 2013.

I've read that bananas help... Also, our naturopath told us once to chop an onion and steam it in a bit of water. Blend it and add honey. It is surprisingly soothing. Garlic tea with honey is said to help too.

Oh, I see! I'd taken them to be different stories rather than different books. Aha! Thanks for clearing that up for me!

No way! The language is so beautiful! Our oldest (6) read both of them within about three days and is so eager for more. You mentioned just the odd numbers available--I'd thought there were only two (according to Wikipedia it looks like the first and last of the series)! Do you know how to find the others? I don't see them on amazon... I'm wondering if they weren't released in the States...

The two Tumtum and Nutmeg books are excellent!!!

:) I didn't see this before posting.....you are way more concise than I am! :)

We refinanced and the bank covered our closing costs. It all turned out to be pretty annoying, though. When we bought our house five years ago (at what feels like was the top of the market), we put quite a bit down (>30%). But the value has fallen so much that when it was appraised, our loan is >80% of the appraised value, so now we're having to pay PMI. Ugh. Thankfully we're still saving money each month, but not as much as we'd figured we would. In hindsight I wish we had argued the appraisal. I don't think it was accurate and kind of wonder if there was anything in it for the bank to get us on PMI. I really have no idea if there's any benefit between the bank getting paid PMI vs more interest; maybe I am just cynical. :) So, if you're not paying PMI and think the appraisal might affect your loan to value ratio negatively, you'd want to factor that in. Although 3% for 15 yrs seems wise either way. I'm annoyed by our experience because we were plugging along paying our mortgage on time month after month...then THEY contacted US about refinancing...and somehow now, with our house being valued at less than it was when we bought it, we're a risk to them?!? :glare:

Yes! There was an excellent speaker at the Classical Conversations practicum in July; I'll look up her information and send it to you.

I know of three: Legacy Heritage Labyrinth Legacy and Heritage are Christian; Labyrinth is not. I've heard positive comments about all three, but we just have experience with Legacy (and it's only our second week so far). Legacy is pretty large and it feels a little chaotic. There are a lot of class offerings, though, which is nice.

Ooh, what are those?

Or a perplexus! Our children love this!

:iagree: when I saw the title of this thread, I was hoping you'd say that! It was wonderful--I want to see it again!!

Will do--thank you!! Does that mean separate?

I am making tikka masala tonight and I doubled the sauce recipe so that I could freeze half. The last step is to add cream. Is it going to turn out okay to freeze it with the cream or should I freeze it before adding the cream and then add the cream after thawing it? :confused: Thank you for any help. :)

I just finished Thousand Splendid Suns (I know, behind the times :) ) and loved it. I find Hosseini's writing so beautiful. I just started reading White Oleander, given to me by a friend. Janet Fitch's writing is so different (from Hosseini) but I'm hoping I can get into it.

Oh no! We're joining a local co-op this fall, for just our second child...I hadn't thought to wonder if it'd be friendly! Nice to meet you :) I'm in the Seattle area too (east of Lake Washington) and will be homeschooling our second child this fall. Are there many Seattle area people on this board?

Papaya enzymes and licorice glycerite help too (sold at health food stores or online).

Another one I read a while back was Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. It was excellent!! She also wrote Seabiscuit, which I've been wanting to read.

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal I loved this book!

Praying for little Desmond!!! :grouphug:

I just took a quick peek (would love to follow) and noticed 1) your girls are beautiful and 2) their artwork is amazing!!!

My 6-yr old loved the According to Humphrey books, as well as the Beverly Cleary books...not a series, but the Ramona/Beezus/Henry characters become familiar... He also really enjoyed the Wayside School books and Mrs Piggle-Wiggle...

Some of my favorites: The Brothers K by David James Duncan... Peace Like a River by Leif Enger Little Princes by Conor Grennan (non-fiction, but an amazing story and hard to put down) The Glass Castle (a memoir by Jeannette Walls...very interesting and quirky) Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (again...non-fiction...but so good!!) The Princess Bride by William Goldman The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

We LOVE the chicken salad sandwiches at Al's on State Street (a block up from Faneuil Hall). So so so good and ridiculously inexpensive.