Great, thanks everyone! That was my instinct, so I'll list them all. Appreciate the quick responses, as always!

My dd is finishing up her Freshman year, and has decided to go to school full-time next year. I have to provide the school with her Freshman transcript, and I think my question is simple: do I only put the grades from MY homeschool on there (along with her online classes), and do not make mention of the classes she took at the high school? I'm assuming she will have a transcript from them with those three classes on it (she took band, chorus, and PE). OR, do I list them on her transcript with an asterisk and explain that these courses were taken at the high school and will appear on their transcript for her classes? For example, under courses: Math Grade 1.0 Credit English Grade 1.0 Credit Band Grade 1.0 Credit ** **taken at Local Public School Or not list band, chorus, or PE at all (she gets 1 credit each).

Starting all over with friends has always been the hardest for me. Our two "big" moves (out of state) were easy on the physical aspect - dh's company hired packers and movers so we basically just packed our suitcases, the animals, and left. The movers packed *everything*....even took paintings off walls and unscrewed the play equipment, etc. They put everything back together at the new location. They put our cars into the moving truck, too; we had friends at the old locations take us to a hotel (also paid for) and then the company flew us to our new location, where the moving truck driver met us at the airport and off-loaded one of our cars! I'll never have it so easy again. :tongue_smilie: Our first big move was exhausting in another way, because I had a brand-new baby (first one), animals, a new house, new state, and new job. Lots of newness there! I missed my friends dreadfully. On the bright side, I worked so I immediately had a routine and met new people, which was great. By our last move I was a homeschooling mom, and although the move was once again done for us, it was hard to plug in because I didn't work and homeschool groups don't really do it for me (although I tried quite a few). It took years to find good friends, and these are women who have careers, some have kids and some don't, none homeschool, but we all have things in common (mostly food, drink, travel, sailing). The best advice I have is to prepare, prepare, prepare for your move. Organize all your stuff. Label boxes clearly. At the new location, plug in as soon as you can. Find groups that share your interest and get on out there and start meeting people. Good luck!

Oh my, happy dance all night long!!!! :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :party: That's awesomely good news!!

Thank you! I think I can handle that. ;)

Love TJ's coconut milk, especially now that they're carrying full-fat. Before, I had to buy it at Whole Foods, because TJ only carried low-fat.

We're having temps in the 70s but it's been so crazily windy that it looks like it's sleeting yellow palo verde blossoms - they are literally blowing sideways and quite thickly. Although, excitedly, it DID snow here this winter - it even stuck on the freeway. The whole city was beside itself. :laugh:

Definitely dress in layers. It'll be chilly in the morning, the sun will warm things up nicely in the afternoon, and then chilly again at night. If I'm wearing shorts/top I always keep jeans and a sweater in the car. Of course, being from Chicago, you might not find it as chilly as I do. ;-)

My mouth is watering! I make a similar mash for when I make faux shepherd's pie. With lots of butter and some cream (and s & p), I don't even miss potatoes.

Can someone tell me what temp you cook bacon in the oven and for approximately how long? I don't do much of our cooking (obviously :tongue_smilie:) and when my dh is out of town or too busy to cook, I'd like to try this.

We have iPads, iPods, Macs, Apple TV, Shuffles......but I still prefer the Galaxy phone (I have the Note 2). It's a better phone right now. Doesn't mean Apple won't come out with a superior phone, and then so will Samsung, and then back to Apple...... ;-) FWIW, my dh spends quite a bit of time at Apple Corporate in CA, and the high-level execs love his Galaxy and always want to see it and play with it. The resolution is far superior, but that may not be important to you. If you are not "into" all the things a smartphone can do, I'd stick with Apple, since you'll already be familiar with it through your iPad.

My list for quality of life is: 1) Health 2) Good family relations 3) Enough money to not be stressed out 4) Urban area with lots of museums, restaurants, etc 5) Connecting in a spiritual environment 6) Feeling needed 7) Hobbies that take us away from our "every day" life For me, here's how it's played out so far: 1) Health is good so far. Praying and hoping and trying to live a lifestyle to keep it that way, but I know things are not in my complete control 2) Several family members have retired and moved to my (warm and sunny) location, & it's great. I've always had a great relationship with my family, and I love having them live nearby. 3) We are fortunate to not have money stresses, which is a mental relief (I've been on the other side when I was young and single) 4) I live in the 5th largest city in the country, so we have plenty of cultural things, and although I live close to downtown, I'm still in suburbia, which I don't like. I want to downsize and move downtown when the kids are gone. 5) Finally got this one figured out, after 22 years!! 6) Working on this. Very sad that my homeschooling days are about over (5 more weeks), and am volunteering but it's not the same as having my career before I stayed home to school the kids. I hate not homeschooling, but my time is done. 7) We race sailboats, travel a lot, ride a motorcycle, kayak, bike ride, hike, and do lots of outdoor things that are completely removed from our daily lives. For my dh (in offices or planes mostly), this has been really important to his mental health.

I can't answer any of questions, but as a former Buckeye I can say that Columbus is a great city. I've read several articles over the past years saying how C-bus has avoided the Rust Belt depression and is still alive and has had growth when other cities are dying. And the science center is fabulous! I took the kids there when we were visiting relatives and it was wonderful. So was the zoo (or aquatic center maybe, I can't remember). My impressions of Columbus were a clean, modern, growing city. But my relatives are well-off and live in a nice part of town, so my view may be colored. Perhaps some more Columbusites (?) will chime in!

Both my kids took Cotillion. They loved it, and learned dances and etiquette. They already knew table settings and napkin folding and that aspect, but they enjoyed it anyway. They had 3 dances, if I remember correctly, and a dinner. We would have done the 2nd year, but it was quite pricey for the limited amount of times they met. We opted to put the money elsewhere, but they still remember the dances and etiquette lessons and look back on the class fondly.

I've always let the kids have their birthday off from school. After all, that's an advantage of homeschooling! They've had no problem with transitioning into school and realizing they can't have their birthday off anymore. And actually, my dd doesn't want to, because she wants to celebrate at school with her friends.

I've had that same "Mama Bear" reaction, where I've reached in and grabbed my little dog (who was being attacked by a larger dog). My dh wasn't happy and rightly told me I shouldn't have done it, but one reacts without thinking sometimes! Sorry you got bit...I was luckier. I hope things went okay at the doctor's office - keep us updated!

I've thought of it, but had never sat down and figured it out. If the economy holds steady (or please, improves), we'll be fine for retirement in 15 years, with only a mild change of lifestyle. But that's a big "IF".

This is on Netflix, yeah? Versus Hulu. And happily, the new season of AD starts in May on Netflix - yay!

I guess I'll be the lone voice of "I didn't really teach much cursive"! I used the McGuffey Readers to help them learn to read cursive, but they only wrote it briefly. On the bright side, they've had years of music lessons (trombone and piano for one kid, violin, piano, flute and tuba for the other). Plus art, Latin, French (kid 1) and Spanish (kid 2). And gobs of sports, ranging from sailing and lacrosse to tennis and rugby. Can only hope it'll all even out in the end!

Yes, he's a bit raw on HK. You might like Kitchen Nightmares - he tries to save restaurants that are close to going under. There is he US version and the better, and gentler, UK shows.

We were so bummed at the end of Kingdom! I hate when a show gets yanked off the air in the middle of a story plot. We are really enjoying Doc Martin - starting the last season so we don't know how it ends. I hope it's all wrapped up!

On Hulu we watch Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares (we like Gordon Ramsey), Modern Family, Amazing Race and something else I can't remember right now. On Netflix we watch older seasons of most of the above, plus Star Trek (all derivatives), Once Upon a Time, Doc Martin, and other British shows.

Probably not what you're looking for, but an occasional Prozac takes the edge off.

I'm elite, and I'm in!

I don't know the name of it, but it's a demi-kind, whatever that means. All I know is that it was ridiculously expensive. But wow....what a difference. :D