That was a much-appreciated, wise reminder, Rosie. Thank you. I'm a little unclear on why you'd say "unless brattiness is usually allowed," and hope I haven't given that sort of impression.

No, we can't. I appreciate that you chimed in agreeing with my gut reaction, though! :D

Another good suggestion. We'll do it!

Good suggestion! We'll do that. Kay, I'll be honest and say that I'm one of those parents who think badly of parents who run from one thing to the other constantly late. :leaving: I'm sorry - I don't mean to pick on you specifically! Busy is fine. Late for a good reason is understandable. Constantly late to overlapping commitments is inexcusably poor planning. The sense I get from the mom I'm talking about is that she is always frazzled. Constantly under-rested, over-worked, late, busy, etc. Yes, it is a choice she has made. Yes, it is hard to juggle everything. But I cannot wrap my head around the concept that she is "doing the best she can." Doing her best, IMHO, would imply that she arranged a schedule without constant conflicts (we all have conflicts that come up and that is different) and free from the need to blaze at light-speed with her hair on fire to get where she needs to be, and not inconvenience others with a late arrival or a need to leave early to get to the next thing. That's what has consistently driven me bonkers. I'm bordering on gossip about this woman, so please forgive me and I'll shut up now.

Oh, Kathleen. I hope you know how short I fall, often. Thank you for what you said.

Frankly, having known her for 4 years now, I doubt this mom has even considered it; but you're right, I should give her the benefit of the doubt. :) SOrry, I should have been clearer. This is the same child, who is on the soccer team AND in the scout troop. She is needing to choose which event is more important. I do appreciate what you've said, Joanne - I'm obviously more invested in "my" event but shouldn't take this personally. :)

Thank you, Cooler Heads. :) I don't want to take this away from the girl, but in all fairness the rest of the girls and their families are giving up whatever else they might do Thursday evening to attend the ceremony. We cannot start later to accommodate her because we have to be out of the facility by a certain time, and starting later would rush things way too much. Christina, I agree with you - why short-change this girl's participation in both events? I don't get it. And Kathleen, you're right, this is an important game for their team so I can understand wanting to do both. I am frustrated with this girl's family, because this is a trend that has been constant for the 3 years she has been in my troop. I just see this all.the.time. from these particular folks, and it sounds like I'm bitter, and I probably am, so I need to take that before the Lord. I asked this mom to please remain in the hallway outside the room where we are holding the ceremony until she sees an opportune moment to enter without disrupting. I hope that's fair enough all around.

We are flying our Brownie troop up to Juniors on Thursday evening. A troop member's mom just informed us she was "conflicted" because her daughter is playing in a soccer tournament Thursday evening. So she is taking her daughter to play in the tournament, then planning to dash out of soccer, change clothes in the car, and skate into our Fly Up ceremony 20-30 minutes late. I am really wanting to tell this mom, please don't bother. Please don't interrupt our carefully planned ceremony, which the entire troop is attending and participating in, by rushing in the door all sweaty and harried. Just stay at your soccer tournament and don't do this to the rest of us who consider this ceremony pretty special. Advise. Talk me off the ledge. Please. :glare:

Depends on how long it is taking them, and how well they understand the concept. When dd was weeping over subtraction with regrouping to the ten thousands place, I required one row of problems, done accurately, per day. When ds was zooming through single digit addition, he often did 2-3 pages per day. Lately, though, it's been 0! We have been doing Evan-Moor's Skill Sharpeners, oral and written drills, flash cards, games like Snap It Up, hopscotch adding and subtracting, etc. I still consider MUS our main curriculum, but last year we did 1-2 pages of MUS every day and we got ... well ... sick of it. I'd really recommend throwing in some variety. It's been good for my kids to see math problems that look different than MUS pages, to see concepts worded slightly differently, etc.

Start here: http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/101/2007/04/how_do_i_start_.html and browse around the site. She has done an enormous amount of the comparison work for you. :)

Hubs (the IT guru) says call Linksys and they will walk you through the steps.

You're not alone..... :leaving:

Our Tooth Fairy leaves notes in my scrolliest, swirliest, curlicueiest writing.

Ours is a Kenmore. The wash cycle varies from the express wash (35-40 mins) to the Sanitary cycle (nearly 2 hours), and I can customize by adding extra soak, rinse, or spin. Most often I use the normal wash cycle which runs 45 mins.

Go here for help with doing it yourself, or there are blog designers who will custom-create for a fee. Scroll down a bit on this page for links to a few.

I took the AG to Kinko's and had them (1) remove the binding from the whole book, (2) spiral-bind the teacher pages including the front cover, and (3) 3-hole punch the student pages, which I then placed in a binder. Basically turned the AG into two separate books.

Way to go! And :lol: at your dd's comment. We just took a half-van-full to Goodwill after purging the playroom and rearranging dd's bedroom. It feels good. And my daughter also refers to it as "crap". Which I suppose is better than some other words, but still makes me cringe as I realize I taught her to say that!!

Love the Izzy posts! Please don't back off! :)

There are two different subjects there, though. Debate rules/procedures are one thing, and it is possible that McCain was adhering to standard debate protocol to address the moderator. McCain and Biden are the most experienced legislative debaters up there. Obama has had a couple years to prepare. But Palin's folksiness is not a "tactic" - she really has only been at this for 5 weeks. Why would anyone jump on her for stating the fact? Why would Joe Biden try a tactic like I'm new at this and talk like it when it would indeed be a masquerade, a tactic, and get him raked over the coals? Palin is a newbie. She doesn't get inside-the-Beltway shenanigans. She is appealing to everyday Americans (some, not all), and that's no tactic, that's who she is.

Not sure about conspiracies, but I will say this: the region where the plane was found is some of the most rugged, remote, inaccessible terrain I have ever seen. It is not far from here (we could be in Mammoth Lakes in just over 3 hours) and it would be impossible to scour every corner of that area in a search. Not trying to defend anyone, just pointing out the very very wild-ness of the area.

I have a Kenmore front loader. We use Tide HE powder - the liquid brought about the sour-smelling towels. I use about half the recommended amount, even less on a small load, and am still very pleased with the results.

I do hope you are feeling better! :001_smile:

Artichoke dinner Zephyr breezes stirred the sheets On the throne at dawn.

I don't have a D level, but for my LG/UG notebooks I put dividers into a 3-ring notebook. For each week I include: assignment page (make our own), maps + printout of geography objectives, literature worksheets, and copies of any SOTW Activity Guide pages we're using.

Our whiteboard tray has a paper taped to the edge with a B b D d on it because dd(now10) got her b's and d's mixed up until, oh, yesterday or so. :) Just keep giving her visual cues, expect her to correct it without losing your/her cool, and she'll get it. I wouldn't worry.