What's a help yourself party, you ask? Well I sorted through my thousands of books and decided which ones I had to keep and which ones were not worth taking space up in my small house. I probably had about 200 selections to discard. Instead of taking them to thrift store I invited a pile of friends over for an evening of visiting and browsing through the book selection. By the end of the night I managed to reassign about 3/4ths of that pile of my beloved books to my friends. We had a lot of fun chatting, enjoying simple appetizers and wine and at the same time I lightened the load in my house by at least 300 pounds. I might do it again with other stuff.

:grouphug:

Good to hear you're okay. That must have been scary. Just before Christmas we felt an earthquake at our house . . . we were about 250 miles from the epicenter of a 6.5 quake. That was scary enough. I can't imagine being closer.

I just bought Microsoft Office for students for $69 at Staples. It includes Onenote.

I read this this morning and was encouraged because we are going through tough times . .. definitely not the death of a family member but the death of a dream or plan of our life because of my dh's impending unemployment. It is shaking him quite badly and times are stressful in our home as we adjust to this new reality. I know we have a good life and I know that our faith will give us the strength to see through this blip in our lives but in the moment, it's tough.

God bless you richly as you welcome this new little girl into your family.

I've got two on the go. The Coronation of Glory, The Story of Lady Jane Grey by Deborah Meroff and The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy.

The Ascent Of Money - Niall Ferguson The Golden Mean - Annabel Lyon Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Unclutter Your Life in One Week - David Allen New York, Rutherford The Lacuna, Kingsolver I haven't read the above titles so I can't vouch for them.

I have read one other of Picoult's novels and found this one at a library book sale. I'll have to compile a list so that I have some concrete goals

Thanks for these suggestions. I will look into both of them.

Recently my dh found out he will loose his job in February after 21 years with the company (they are closing the mill in our town). I have always worked a casual (meaning I get called in to fill in vacation or sick time or extra work loads) at the job I left 10 yrs ago to be a SAHM. I am free to say yes or no depending on how it works for me at home. Now, of course, I am feeling obligated to say yes to all the work that comes my way. This is a blessing and I enjoy it and my kids are old enough to work school around this BUT I can't figure out how to fit in Latin because I usually work ahead and teach the lesson (we started Henle in the fall). Now I"m feeling stressed because we never get around to Latin in the weeks I accept extra work. So, is there a program that's more independent than Henle (my kids did finish LCII) or do I ditch it. I really don't want to ditch especially now when we're finally understanding it. Any advice?

:lurk5:

http://orgjunkie.com/

That's a good idea.

:iagree: And I put yak traks on my runners when it's icy or snowy. I'm not terribly sure footed but they have worked for me for several years now . . . even for running.

You're welcome. You know you'll never be able to let go of this tradition now. My kids remind me for weeks leading up to the event. It's kind of cute that such a relatively simple and inexpensive tradition is so well loved by my kiddies. Enjoy! This is the recipe I used: http://www.divinerecipes.com/recipe.cfm/recipeid/3427

I will make one batch tonight and one tomorrow. It's a tradition carried over from my childhood. Of course my kids love it!

I have eaten wild goat (my nephew hunted from local mountains). I cooked it as a curry. It was a bit chewy but otherwise I would agree with the slightly sweet taste. I probably wouldn't rush out and hunt a goat myself (okay neither i or my dh are hunters) but my nephew, who is a hunter, lived with us at the time.

Do you follow the diet too?

Yes swimming would be a good idea but it's not going to happen. We did start today with a stretching, strengthening routine I use from my abs workout book. It's a start. Thanks for your ideas.

How long have you done this? (I'm interested for myself as well as dh.)

I'll go to my library and check out their dvd selection. Thanks for the suggestions.

His back has been bugging him lately and I think he's realizing that his daily walks, which are usually 5 -7 km's in length, aren't contributing to strong core strength or flexibility. Any book/dvd suggestions for a man wanting to improve core strength and flexibility?

I used the following recipe with great success. It sounds quite similar. I'd agree it's an easy but messy and time consuming process. Mine set very quickly. I was able to cut them a couple of hours after pouring them into a pan. In only used the whisk attachment on my mixer. I had this on my list to make before Christmas. I guess I'll try and get them made before New Years. Everyone loved them and I've had requests to make them again. http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/

"I can't believe it. I never thought this day would happen." were the words from my dd after they unwrapped a wii bought by a friend of mine and two family members. We have no other game system and are fairly limiting on computer time and always said it would be a long, long time before we consider a gaming system. Well we broke down. And so far it's getting good grades from me (who beat my ds in golf :001_smile:). It was so much fun because they really, never expected it to happen (and truthfully I didn't think it would ever happen either).