I think after several years, 7 maybe? -someone chime in... that they can't collect on the debt unless the bill collector bullies you into paying a part of it, even a very small part -towards paying it off. If they bully you into this by scare tactic, like saying there is a warrant out for you, then they re-affirm the bill and can start harassing you again and the 7 years starts over. It's possible that a bill collecting company purchased this very old debt (they buy them in batches) and is hoping to bully you into paying it. If it's been 12 years, you can tell them to stop calling you, it's harrassment.

I purchased this one for dd16 - she is really into graphic art and just was accepted into a performing arts highschool http://www.amazon.com/PenPad-7-7-Inch-Graphic-Tablet-Black/dp/B003OBZRPU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372268797&sr=8-1&keywords=graphic+art+tablet it is not expensive and seems to do what she needs it to do.

I just signed up with smugmug, also heard about it here. I've got the $40 a year version, no video but unlimited photo at full resolution. It works nice too in putting my photos up and giving the link to others so they can download or order prints- like I took photos of dd's prom and I was able to link to it for her friends instead of having to send them all emails of the photos. I'm pretty happy with it so far. Uploading was easy and straightforward, too.

thanks, this is very interesting, my oldest just registered for classes at a community college.

Slipper, brilliant move, you've taken stress and financial burden (that you really shouldn't take on) off of your shoulders and yet managed to make your mom feel like she's being toasted - good job! We did a dessert bar for dd's graduation because we are just broke this Summer - and it turned out really lovely, the focus was on everyone visiting, which was really nice. we bought a costco cake, and then I made spice cupcakes in fancy liners, pumpkin chocolate chip expresso muffins (huge recipe so there were a ton of muffins) blossom kiss cookies, dh made a dozen very easy chocolate mousse in glass cups we have, and then my sister brought a pie. We made a huge thing of coffee, had hot tea available and water and soda. It was perfect and really low stress. I think I will be doing the same for all my kids' graduations now. good luck with the party!

we have 4 kids ages 11 to 18 and only one has a phone so far. The 16 year old has a shared house cell phone that she can take if she goes somewhere, but it is usually at a designated spot in the house- she will be using it full time next year when she attends a charter school, she will be turning 17 that year. My 18 year old has her own cell all the time, but she couldn't use it when she took outside homeschool classes two days a week, she can't use it at meal times and she cannot use it after bed time. She has limited texting, but it is pretty generous and she hasn't ever gone over, if she did, she knows she has to pay the difference.

I agree with Seasider, no matter what you do, your Mother is going to complain and find fault with you- so I would do the thing that stresses you and taxes you the least. I think you should cancel the party -her 4th...wow...if you really can't do that then no invitations, phone/email/word of mouth. Have it at 7pm and make it a dessert bar. We just had a dessert party for dd's graduation and it was very simple. Your dd's can make 3 or 4 desserts and then assign 2 desserts to each of your siblings. Make some coffee, and then let people talk and socialize, have it outside. No decorations except maybe a banner and if you have some christmas lights, string them up on the patio. your mother doesn't even deserve this much, but if you do it, even simple can be lovely. I would be tempted to not put the photos of her out, her ego is big enough already. just wow. You are a better daughter then she deserves.

wow, you just summed up why I hated Grapes of Wrath, I just never thought of it in those terms! I also felt a slow, icky scream about Of Mice and Men, from the cowboy who kept his hand in vaseline and in a glove [insert jr. high girl ewwwww here...] to having to shoot your friend, it was just ick and "why?" the only thing of value I walked away with from Steinbeck was finally "getting" all the Bugs Bunny references to Of Mice and Men, still not worth it to me. I made the executive decision to substitute all the Steinbeck books for The Great Gatsby, which I tolerated better, for my H.S. students.

ha, not my favorite book, but I preferred it over the Steinbeck books. The only book I ever threw across the room was 1984 :p

Holly, I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with wordpress premium upgrade? Is it still a wordpress.com site or will it then be changed to wordpress.org? I have a wordpress for dummies book and a visual worpress book that are really helpful...I just skipped the parts on wordpress.com though. I didn't set my wordpress.org blog up, but had someone design it for me and move it from blogger to wordpress, so I don't really understand setting it up, sorry! Hopefully someone will chime in. Both those books are really helpful.

I don't know anything really about wordpress.com- just that you can't have ads on it. I think you would be happier on blogger, and yes, you can have a domain name there, blogger has easy directions on how to do it. I purchased my domains through blogger and they did the direction changes for me, which was really nice. I have my main blog on wordpress hosted and then two smaller blogs on blogger.

if you are using wordpress.com, you do not need hosting. You will need to direct your wordpress.com to your new domain name. You can probably link your amazon assoc. links in your main posts, but from what I understand, wordpress.com does not allow 3rd party widgets on the sidebar, so you will not be able to put an amazon ad on the side with your assoc. link. if you want free hosting and to be able to have ads/ 3rd party widgets (like a bookshelf from amazon) then blogger.com is a good alternative, or you can go hosted with wordpress.org - the wordpress part is free, but you will need to pay for hosting through a company like bluehost. I started out on blogger and then moved my blog over to wordpress.org and paid for hosting. I'm sorry, but I can't address the wordpress.com questions, hopefully someone else will chime in welcome to blogging! :)

Quick, hide the Mike's Lemonade and put the kilt photos away! :lol: cool, I always suspected the boards here would one day be infameous. :coolgleamA:

in my experience, most schools won't do this, and they do not have to here in Ca. If you "know" someone, you might have luck. The only person I know who was allowed to do this, had a superstar hockey player and the school wanted him on their team..only time I've heard of a school allowing it. For those extras, we homeschoolers have to look around for homeschool teams, clubs and orchestras. there is a FB homeschool OC group, and Ca homeschool network has a yahoo group - a good place to find out about fieldtrips and classes.

I know a few people, actually almost all teens (I think their parents wanted them to not be found on fb) who don't go by their full or real names, all of the teens are listed by first and middle name, one adult has a totally made up name and a generic photo. You can't do obviously made up names or fb might boot you off, but that is one option if you want to not be found, but still be connected to family and friends on fb.

we just opened one for my dd16, it was really easy, etsy has great walk-through instructions. The most difficult parts were picking a name, figuring out what we would charge for shipping and then deciding on what kind of payments to take- but implementing it all was very easy. We decided to not take credit cards, because I didn't want to link my bank account, but we can take paypal easily. for the shipping, we looked at similiar shops and adopted their rates for now...we can adjust if we see a problem. My dd is selling original art.

I try to be careful, but I also love photography, and since starting my blog, my photography has gotten better- blogging has inpsired me to work at taking better photos. So yes, I do put photos of my kids on my blog, but, I don't have our real names on it- I use nicknames for my kids and dh. I don't ever mention what city we live in, just the general area. I blur license plates from cars on our street and street numbers. It's a good thing to think about before you start blogging, decide what level of comfort you have with being online. I also watermark my photos and I try not to put photos up that weirdos might be interested in.

I think many of us are responding to the slap-to-the-face compliment/put-down..... "you have such a pretty face, too bad you are chubby" -the false compliment. It was a nice article till the end, seems like many people are afraid to praise homeschooling too enthusiastically and must throw in the obligatory dig. my area does not offer duel enrollment for homeschoolers, the public schools in my area are pretty hostile to homeschoolers, we are not allowed to do sports or band or anything here.

I use it, but I think you need a nano or smart phone that has gps capabilities. Other than that, you just need the app. I like it, it is really easy to use.

reported smilely spam. ^^^

yes, it can be a sign of anemia, but not always. I am chronically anemic and grave ice at different periods and sometimes it is really intense. I prefer to chew on already crushed ice. I try not to do it much, make myself stop, because it can wear down and ruin your teeth, another poster mentioned cracking teeth. Try to get your child to not do it, or to not do it much and have a check-up done.

bump! Good luck, everyone!

Mrs. Mungo, thank you for the advice and the links. I'll let you know how it goes.

she's being really sweet about it, said she only mentioned it to me because I told her I had insurance on it. She says the binder is ruined, but the IG is usuable, the first few pages are ruined but I guess she can still read the week schedule and beyond. I'll try to file on my end and see what they say.

okay, I'm leaning towards refunding the buyer, it sounds like just the IG was damaged. It's the edition before the current one, so I can replace some of the pages, I'd have to get her the new edition and then there is the problem of some of the books being different. This is such a bummer, I so wish I had shipped UPS, next time I will. I packed very well, sturdy boxes, lots of packing tape and address taped to some of the items inside, just in case box was inspected and not taped back together well...I was hoping the items would still make it. does anyone think I will have trouble with the post office with the insurance since the sonlight IG is in a binder, not traditionally bound?