parrothead, I'm 42 and I've been talking about putting a funky color on my hair for two years, but I keep chickening out- I keep thinking I'm too old, too. I am planning on putting a swatch of color in my bangs..so not a lot of color. I'm strawberry blond and I'm planning on doing a funky blue color. I did the color chalk a few times, but it was way to faded for me, the blue came out aqua in my hair. I'm actually planning on doing it myself, because my hairdresser doesn't really approve and suggested a clip on instead. If you do it, I want to see pics!!! I'll leave a link to pics if/when I do it. :)

yeah, I'm on twitter. I noticed it gets better for "news" the more people you follow, when I only followed a few dozen, I didn't really "get" its usefulness. The more people you are following, the more likely you are to pick up news as it happens. I live in Ca and when we have an earthquake, I check twitter first, someone will tweet the strength of it like 10 minutes before radio news will. I don't watch t.v. news at all anymore, waste of time.

hugs. Spend some time being good to yourself.

I go walking/running by myself, all alone. And, once a week dh takes the kids to dinner/shopping at Costco, comes home to drop off cold food and then takes them all to Barnes & Nobles. I read, putter, play on the computer in a totally quiet house, just me and the dog.

the beach can get chilly, and we are having a bit of chilly weather, low 70's during the day but it is supposed to warm up. I'd bring summer things for the day, but also bring something to wrap up in once it cools off in the evening, like pants and a sweater.

mine is up! I have a horsey friend being nosy. Wordless Wednesday -how'ya doing?

wow, I'm so sorry, Kathryn. I would brace for a CPS visit, have my house clean, maybe take the kids in for a well-child check-up. I would send a notice to not contact you again and send it return receipt so you have proof you sent it, and keep a copy of what you sent. Document everything, save any emails she sends you and any voice messages. I wouldn't explain why or try to defend yourself, you can't fix crazy and she will just escalate things. Don't have anymore physical contact or contact through a relative...such as telling personal stuff to relative who might pass info on to your mom. This way, when CPS does show up, you can truthfully say that your mom can have no valid opinion or knowledge of the state of your house/ the manner the kids are kept/ etc. because she has not been inside your house in a year or seen the kids in 6 months..... Also find out the steps needed for harassment charges or for a restraining order so you can begin to put your ducks in a row in case you need it later. I would not send her an email or letter to defend yourself, it will just become fuel that she will pass around, or take excerpts from to horrify friends or relatives about how bad/mean/crazy you are. so sorry you are going through this. I do believe, firmly in protecting your own mental/ emotional health and that of your kids. Just because someone is related to you does not give them the right to abuse you.

I've never purposely opted out, they point you to whichever machine, and sometimes only the old fashioned ones are working. Many of the newer machines only show the screeners a graphic type image of a person, with red circles in spots that need to be checked, like your pocket or under your arm. I just to through them. I have been patted down twice, the one in Germany was more thorough but they were very professional and polite. The pat down in the U.S. was very quick, not inside my clothes and the back of the screener's hand- and they used women screeners. it really is not a bad experience, the only stressful part for me ever is trying to gather all my stuff quickly and not forget anything on the belts. I just wear comfortable clothing, usually jeans and hardly any jewelry to take off. It's not bad, really and my friend who works for TSA says they are getting rid of the newer scanners, people just don't want them.

I never studied WWII or even WWI in my 13 years of PS education. We never managed to get that far in our History books. I learned about WWI by reading ahead in my History book and I learned about WWII on my own by reading, Anne Frank's diary was a big sparking of interest point for me.

yeah, I think she is is very much guilt-tripping you and trying to shame you in a pharisee sort of way, which is, in my experience a typical phase for teens to go through...a judgemental stage. I hope you don't spend too much time letting it get you down, she is being very wise in her own eyes and she will grow out of it. I would maybe approach it from the perspective of finding out how important this service opportunity is to her, and then let her sacrifice time from her extracurricular activities to "pay" for it. School time is not on the table, that is not how your family values roll (and I agree with you) so I would challenge her to then give up time at her dance or other club or another fun thing to pay for the time at this service project. She can then reach down and see how committed she is, if it is really that important for her to be there that long. It becomes a problem solving moment for her to make it work, and she needs to make it work without adding more to your plate. hugs mama, I know how it hurts when our kids measure us and seem to find us coming up short, after all we do for them. {{hugs}} and I do think it will all come out in the wash, a few years from now when she is in college, close to getting a degree and she sees the fruit of hard work, dedication and schedule/planning/priorities.

I have to edit essays for my kids and when I catch them using apostrophes to pluralize, I draw a kitty in shock and write that saying. I hope/think their teachers get a kick out of it. (my highschoolers take outside comp/literature classes)

I didn't know that they were called nanny dogs. Growing up, we had one and he took care of us, like a nanny, I guess. I never thought of it that way. He was a great dog, used to sleep with us and we used to put roller skates on him and dress him up. I do remember that people were afraid of him, though. One time, we were coming back from a vet visit with him in the car, my mom was pulled over by a policeman for going too fast (it was a speed-trap street) when he came to the window, she rolled it down like 1 1/2 inches because our pit bull was going crazy, and he managed to get as much as he could of his snout/teeth through that tiny crack and was going nuts. the police officer let her go. he was a great dog, but I would never have one now, because of the general prejudice and fear of losing our home insurance. He was a red dog, red nose and named Wooky.

crossing my fingers you don't have to get the shots.

I just saw this article posted http://bloggingwithamy.com/15-basic-blogging-dos-and-donts/ she has some good tips. Jump on in, the water's fine!! Both blogger (blogspot) and wordpress.com are easy to use. One big difference is that wordpress.com does not allow 3rd party widgets (like changeable boxes with data- visitor's photos, nat. novel writing month progress chart etc.) this also applies to ads if you want them, so if you think you might like something like that, go with blogger. Blogger also makes it real easy to buy a domain name and will transfer it for you.

once I tuned in to Oprah - and I don't watch daytime t.v.- just way too busy for any of that, but I heard a blurb or saw something online that a beautiful mom of something like 8 kids was going to talk about how she manages to stay very fit- so I was curious and I watched. She was beautiful, nice...but listening to the segment and picking up clues, I realized she had at least one nanny and they had a very professional full gym in the basement of their large, beautiful home. -It didn't make me mad, but it was kind of an aha moment, that yeah, she could work out everyday because she had a nanny to feed and get the kids ready for school while she simply walked downstairs to her gym. It didn't make me hate her or anything, it just made me realize that it was kind of unrealistic to feel bad that I didn't look like her or have that sort of time, because her life was just set up very different. I do wish though, that the segment or Oprah would have been upfront about the reality, I do think it set up a straw-women that we had to feel inadequate next to. anyways, I've never read the blog that is being brought up, but I would guess she probably has help if she can pull off all that entertaining and craftiness, fitness etc.

no, I have no problem with a blogger getting comments from readers on her blog, but I kind of wince at the thought picture of a mommy blogger clicking over, wondering why all the traffic from a homeschooling board and possibly feeling dog-piled on with sharp comments a person wouldn't make to her face. Sometimes people are way more blunt on a message board then they would be on someone's blog or to her face.

maybe someone could go back, the posters? and break the links to the blogs that are being discussed. I know that as a blogger, I have site meters and know where traffic is coming from, if they see a lot of clicks, they will probably check the source and might really have their feelings hurt.

not really, though there are two blogs of moms who both live in the East in old farmhouses, lots of kids, homeschool and yes, I found myself pining a bit after that sort of life...but I got over it, and I know their lives aren't perfect, and the East is Cold!!! I take it all with a grain of salt, we only see the nice things posted, it's not their whole lives. I try to take what I like from the blog, like one mom does a lot of nature crafts with her kids and I try to maybe do a bit more of that, but no, I'm not jealous. I have a friend in Singapore, and I visited her there, and yes, it is very common and not so expensive to have live-in help there. And yes, the city is very clean, but that is also the culture there.

I fry or scramble eggs in it. I use it as butter on toast. I use it to "oil" my pans for baking or cooking. I rinse/swish my mouth out most mornings with it (antibacterial properties) I use is as a lotion. I'm trying to drink coffee (so far I have coffee in a protein shake) once I graduate to straight coffee, I am going to try putting a tablespoon of coconut oil in it.

yes, same thing. :)

I second the vote for blogger, it is very easy to use and free. I have my main blog on a paid-hosted wordpress platform now, but blogger is really the easiest in my opinion. My dog's blog is still on blogger :D

so sorry. Take care of yourself, get some sleep and pamper yourself tomorrow. I know it's hard to have to be strong in front of the kids. :(

could someone let me know if they can comment or use the rafflecopter thing? You can start it and then back out if you don't want to enter...it's just that I am seeing a lot of traffic to the giveaway but no entries so I am wondering if there is something wrong. Thanks :)

Hey homeschool moms, I am doing a giveaway at my blog for two horsey-books, one is a book used in Sonlight C (?) --core 2 White Stallion of Lipizza and also a fictional King Arthur series- Guinevere's Gift, which has a lot of horse in it. all you have to do is leave a comment on the blog and then check the box on the rafflecopter that you did. :) it's contiguous U.S. only, because of the shipping costs, sorry. http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com/2013/04/medieval-horse-inspired-giveaway/ giveaway ends Wed. April 10th at midnight.

my dd has about 200 large blue fly pupae in our fridge, I dared her to put them in someone's car to hatch out, but she just can't bring herself to do it, I can't either, but it would be a great prank. They are large and dumb and fly slow, so no real harm.