Oh gosh! How could I forget? Pinot Noir is the love potion for me. There's no smiley with a wine glass. :001_huh:

Trade. Tit for tat. Quid pro quo. The sweet man I married is willing to indulge me with a nice back massage before teAtime to work out the giant knot under my right shoulder blade that, without his magic touch, turns into an eyeball-piercing headache relieved only with an X-Acto knife or a pair of salad tongs...or a massage. :D And then I'm obliged to do something nice for him, no?

Well, I have a daughter with sensory issues (decreasing as she matures but it has had a significant effect on her eating), a son who would put away a side of beef at every meal, a husband whose workday ends when his clients' demands are fulfilled whether it's 5pm or 9:30, and I personally prefer to eat a very light/small dinner because of weight/digestive issues. I've given up on one-meal-serves-all for weeknights. We sit down together at the table, just not with the exact same things to eat, and sometimes poor Dad doesn't get his dinner until pretty late. We make family meals on weekends. That's a priority. If we know Dad will be done with his work in time for family dinner on a weeknight, I will happily make something that pleases most of us, adjust for the one with sensory issues, give the big eater the big portion and me the smaller, and enjoy the peace that comes with making everybody happy!

High today: 85. High Saturday: 58. Yep, it's fall. Our leaves are turning - maples are reddening, aspens are ... um ... goldening. The mountains are growing big splotches of gold amongst the evergreen. Love this time of year!

This site could probably help you.

Try here for blog help: http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/ :)

I"m so sorry, Tracy - Daisy was beautiful! My dc and I loved the pictures of her giving birth, and her sweet calf. Praying for you and your family. I love what you said about pouring love into IzzyBell. I know you will take such wonderful care of her. Can you give her some loving pats and scratches from her friends in Nevada, please? :)

I agree with the others - I can hear your frustration and Heaven knows we all have those people in our lives who push every.one.of.our.buttons and we'd LOVE to just give it to 'em straight. Don't do it. As Christians you will do serious damage to your witness to these people if you are that blunt. Love DustyLizard's suggestion - find several ways to re-state the same thing in a kind way - "it just isn't possible for us to travel this Christmas," "we plan on Christmas at home this year," "we simply cannot do it this year." Don't apologize for your family's home or your family's decisions, just stand your ground with love and firmness. I think the most important thing is to pray. Ask the Lord to fill you with His love, His patience, His peace. Ask Him for more love for your MIL. Purpose with your husband to pray for her daily. Ask God what He would have you learn through your relationship with her. You will be amazed at what the Holy Spirit will do in you. :001_smile:

:grouphug: Tanya. I know I hardly know you, but my heart aches for you. I lost my dad in 1989 after a battle with cancer that had been seen on an xray but left unmentioned for a year - I felt cheated, angry, helpless, bereft - no dad to walk me down the aisle when I wed, no granddaddy for my children - those emotions are real. Natural, even. What helps me to this day - nearly 20 years after his death - is to divide my emotions from the Truth in His Word. They are not the same; our emotions can deceive us and lead us astray. Truth never will. Job said "though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him." (13:15) There's the truth - despite the trials, Job is able to say "I will hope in Him" because Job knows, there's something (God) outside and beyond the circumstances and emotions that is true and faithful and righteous and just and sovereign. Job lays it all out before the Lord - tells Him exactly how he feels, and God answers him, "who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man and I will ask you, and you instruct Me! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" Don't darken counsel by words without knowledge. Don't follow your emotions down a rabbit trail of skepticism - don't indulge your doubt. Don't let emotion lure you away from truth. Gird up your loins. Remember the armor of God in Ephesians 6? What do we gird our loins with? TRUTH. Steep yourself in Scripture, godly wisdom, the company of godly friends, seek prayer cover from those who love you, huddle like a chick under the wings of the Lord even if you cannot muster up one iota of meaningful prayer or say anything more than "I want her back, Lord." Pray the Psalms - David felt exactly as you do, and his despair and simultaneous faith will be like balm. These are things that still help me, like when I see my dad's handwriting on a box of books in my garage as I did yesterday. Emotions rose up saying "if only he were here to read to his grandchildren." Yet I still trust in the Lord. He will not change, He is our shield and our strength and our strong tower and our salvation. Run there. In His love, Jill

Cystocele (prolapsed bladder) is a possible cause. See here.

What wonderful news! Blessings to you and yours, Barb, and welcome to baby Keira! :grouphug: Thanks for sharing her birth - have the second head and fangs retracted by now?

Awesome! You must feel so...so...represented!! :001_smile:

It didn't affect our vote and I agree - nothing new, nothing exciting, but revealed some interesting issues I guess I'd call "style." I saw both candidates trying to correct each other ("I never said..." or "that's not correct..." etc) and, just like when my kids come to me with two completely different versions of what happened, I singsong "somebody's lyyyyy-innnnnnnnnnggg." It nauseates me about all candidates. Politics has degenerated into how the truth can best be distorted to make one look better than the other for the sound bite. Yes, let's continue to teach our children that truth is situational and relative and fluid and full of shades of gray, certainly not black-and-white, because then nobody is wrong (ow! my self esteem!) and nobody is right (high-falutin' arrogance!) and so what if we can't reach a conclusion of certainty...just pick the side that makes you feel better. That was a tangent. My apologies. Style. Yes, Sen. McCain appeared stiff. It's because he is, literally. His numerous broken bones from his plane crash into Vietnamese territory and the torture at the hands of his captors left him so. I saw Sen. McCain deliberately pausing, silently, to contemplate his response before speaking. It was a very dramatic contrast to Sen. Obama's "I-I-I-uh..." or "well, uh, I, uh" each time he started speaking, or as he interrupted/talked over Sen. McCain. To me, this was evidence of a seasoned, confident man who wanted to compose his thoughts before speaking and give a reasoned response. I commented to dh about the contrast between McCain, who refused to even look at Obama, and Obama, who tried to jollify the proceedings by calling McCain "John" as if they were pals. JMHO - McCain at times came across as disdainful to that young whippersnapper sharing the stage, while at other times I thought he was simply trying to address the audience and Mr Lehrer; Obama appeared to be trying to put himself on the same level with McCain ("look! I'm on a first-name basis even though he is 25 years older than me with decades more experience.") I guess I am old-fashioned, but truth matters deeply to me (real truth; black and white did-he-or-didn't-he truth) and both candidates stank on that. Manners matter to me (edge to McCain), confidence matters to me (edge to McCain), experience and service matter to me (huge edge to McCain), so the debate just cemented my already-made decision. :001_smile:

My pizza crust "recipe" involves cracking open one of those exploding cans, but with that kind of dough, yes, you can do so! We cut rectangles of dough, layer with pizza goodness, roll up on the bias, top with a very light brush of olive oil and a hefty sprinkle of Parmesan, and bake. I'm not sure what that would be called. Stuffed rolled up canned dough pizza ... thingies.

:iagree: This is some super advice.

Levoxyl. :) Had your thyroid checked lately?

This is our second year so I am tentatively going outside the box more frequently, and finding how much fun it is! I guess our biggest leap has been with math. Still love Math-U-See, but we are also doing Evan-Moor Skill Sharpeners. It's a workbook that is much more visually exciting than MUS, and it's been good for the kids to see math that looks different than MUS. We also do math games (Snap It Up and Math Dash are favorites), make up games with basic fact flash cards, and use a big bowl of coins to "buy" meals. That PB&J will cost ya 87 cents, girlfriend. I also took a long strip of brown wrapping paper and put numbers 1 - 12 along it (big) and we play math hopscotch. My kids pretend to be wolves...very smart wolves...and they have to use the big number line to point out the answers to my math problems with their paws. :blink: Um....whatever works??

Ideally, punishment should be neither vengeful nor furious - and certainly problems arise when it is either. Maybe semantics are getting in the way. Dictionary.com says punishment is a penalty inflicted for an offense or fault, and that is how I prefer to use the term. I think some here would say that's what negative consequences are, right? Not trying to pick an argument or criticize you, Carol. Just directing this to the hive in general. I am not perfect, and do battle with the retributive side of punishment in my own heart. Am I doing this to be instructive and teach, or am I doing this to get even? It's a difficult line to walk. Punishment often carries the imagery of the wooden spoon mama on a rampage, but that is just bad temper spinning out of control. Example: Discipline is teaching little Johnny to sit still and listen respectfully when Mom is teaching. That includes verbal instruction, modeling, appropriate expectations, building up to longer amounts of time, allowing Johnny to get up and have plenty of opportunity to move and run and be a kid, etc. Now, to me, natural consequences would be: if Johnny doesn't sit still and listen respectfully, he won't hear or learn the lesson, and he might fall off his chair. Punishment (penalty for disobedience) would be: if Johnny doesn't sit still and listen respectfully (after reasonable discipline and 1 reminder), in addition to the natural consequences, he must copy a Proverb about self-control or about respecting parents/teachers, and the time he spends doing so will be deducted from his after-school computer play time. Uncontrolled anger (payback with fury) would be: if Johnny doesn't sit still and listen respectfully (after reasonable discipline and 1 reminder), Mom comes unglued and yells at him, takes away his computer for a week and storms to her room, muttering about stupid kids who can't do what they're told. Maybe I'm not using terms correctly. ?

Aren't the Sprouts something to see over there? Sorry. :smilielol5:

Discipline is teaching and training; it is expecting and holding children (and self!) to a set of rules of behavior. To me it is closely tied to the discipline of daily life - same basic outline to our day, same expectations, consistency. Punishment is imposing a penalty for disobedience. I believe in both, according to those definitions. Discipline isn't always soft and pretty. It might be assertively correctional in nature. Punishment isn't always hard and painful. Then again it might be decidedly uncomfortable, such as losing computer playtime after school or losing the privilege of speaking for a length of time. I try to keep the end in mind and make careful, prayerful decisions about discipline and punishment. And there are indeed times when I blow a gasket, do more harm than good, and end up being the one doing the apologizing.

Here are the books on our list (combo of TOG and VP recommendations): We loved The Tomten. Adventures of the Vikings (Bailey) is informative in a very entertaining way, with kids time-traveling back to the era a la Magic Tree House. The Vikings Jane Shuter The Vikings Richard Platt Life in a Viking Town Jane Shuter Life on a Viking Ship Jane Shuter The Tomten Astrid Lindgren East 'o the Sun and West o' the Moon George Dasent Magic Tree Hs Viking Ships at Sunrise Mary Pope Osborne Yo, Vikings! Judith Byron Schachner Adventures with the Vikings Linda Bailey The Race of the Birkebeiners Lise Lunge-Larson Who Were The Vikings Jane Chisholm Viking Raiders (Time Traveler Book) Anne Civardy Leif the Lucky D'Aulaire Sword Song Rosemary Sutcliff

During the week we read King Arthur, my 7 year old took great delight in bellowing, "you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!" every time we talked about the Lady of the Lake. I love that I can't say "swallow" during this week's study of birds without the kids saying "AFRICAN OR EUROPEAN?" And last week when ds7 took a biff off his bike and was bawling most heartily, all it took was "it's just a flesh wound" and I at least got a grin out of him. Who knew MP and the Holy Grail was so applicable to home schooling?!

While I know most (myself included) are cynical about a political candidate who changes his mind, I also would like to remind myself that if my husband had been a political candidate 10 years ago, he would have assured you that first-trimester abortion was a-ok in his book. If he was running today, he would be adamantly pro-life from conception forward. People's convictions can change.

We're in our second year of using SOTW as our spine. The two jive together beautifully. We use SOTW Activity Guide as well, which sounds like overkill, but I pick and choose between the two (SOTWAG activities and TOG-recommended activities) and am very pleased with what we've done. I see your dc is reading well ahead of her age, so you could use both LG and UG sources. Some UG recommended books are too textbooky even for my dd10; others have been well-suited for ds7; some weeks we only read LG stuff. Depends on what's available at the library. :001_smile: That fear of missing out on something important bugs me too (must!check!every!box!on!the!list!) but it will fade as you do TOG longer and see how MUCH your kids are learning. Any program will necessarily leave out something else that might be amazing. Stop thinking that way. :D Seriously - I have always been enormously pleased with the book recommendations. Some are secular, some Christian. I can't really think of a dud. Recommended, most of the time. I prefer to use library books (rather than purchase) so I look at Veritas Press and SOTWAG for additional reading suggestions if our library doesn't have TOG's recommendation. There is way more than enough between those three sources to locate applicable books. I am keeping tomorrow's worries out there in the future - while I understand the concern - the rulings I heard were specifically at Univ of Calif schools who declined Christian school science curricula. Sounds good to me - we are in year 2 and I have said many times to dh that I can see taking two real-time years to cover TOG Year 2 at a higher level. It's loaded. I see it as both - a chronological unit study. Definitely chronological, and it applies the week's core theme to all the subjects included in the curric. So far (we're in week 8 of Year 2) yes - but we are of a similar strain of Christian belief as the authors. We have learned objectively about China, Middle East, Egypt, Greece, Rome - their daily life, contributions, etc - through the lens of a worldview that holds Jesus Christ as the only way to God. Great stuff about world cultures, with deep concern for eternity. You might consider, as I mentioned above, using SOTW as your spine because it does include even more world culture study than TOG. I know a previous poster mentioned that TOG's strengths include how well it works for families with kids on multiple levels - absolutely - but I don't know that I wouldn't recommend it for families with just one or two kids. It has many other strengths as well, and for our family its focus on God's plan through history has been particularly valuable. And if you're a Planning Queen - you'll love it. :)

They don't call us physical terrorists for nuttin'! :D Glad it went well!