This must be a cultural difference. Maybe I'm a hyper-American, "I'm an island" type, but I think it's rude to bother me by knocking on my door when I'm not expecting someone, unless the knocker has a very good reason. :lol: I have been known to ignore solicitors even when my kids are in the window, waving at them. I might even yell down from an upstairs window, "I don't answer the door to strangers! Don't bother waiting, not gonna happen!"

Last summer my dh bought a diy freon kit for my car. It was cheap, simple to use, and the ac worked great. SaveSave

I'm sorry. 90s with no AC sounds yucky. We don't have AC, but we also generally don't have days in the 90s. If you rig up a bunch of diy swamp coolers with wet towels and fans, will your dh look around the house and get the hint?

Not really new, and I have no idea if it's popular, but we love the Simple Seasons curriculum from Wee Folk Art. I'll be using it with my dd4 this year, and the boys will follow along nostalgically. :D The Homegrown Preschooler is worth reading. I didn't find that it bad a ton of ideas that were new to me, having already had two go through that stage, but it brought together the ideas into one place, which is convenient.

I must have been really out of the loop. :laugh: I didn't know any teens who watched soaps. My friends and I did watch E.R. though. Does that count as a soap? It was pretty full of drama.

I would have picked up my child. Stomach sickness in a camp situation is no fun.

Huh. I wouldn't have guessed that soaps were so popular among WTMers. Or were you watching ironically? :D

This isn't really a book about elevators, but in the book Eloise she takes the elevator all around the hotel, and there is a full-page diagram of her travels.

A few recent episodes featured buyers who chose stick built houses on actual foundations. Okay, so one of them was a burned-out shell of a house, but there was a foundation. :lol: I actually loved that episode--they got a pretty good deal on land in southern California.

The Hive is our favorite 2-person game. Others we like with two are Splendor and Downfall of Pompeii.

I like medium rare to medium. Unless I'm at my parents' house and my mom has "tenderized" the steak with her little gadget made of needles that seems designed to distribute surface bacteria throught every cubic centimeter of meat. Then I eat it well done. :D

I love watching hgtv with my dh. It makes me look so easygoing and low maintenance. :D

We will start after Labor Day. Homeschool.

I think "not-so-big" must be in the eye of the beholder. Susanka's plans include one 1600 sq. ft. house, which I would consider legitimately not-so-big, a bunch of 2500-3000 sq. ft. houses, which I would consider big, and a few 5000-7000 sq. ft. plans, which I would consider ginormous.

I like this. I might steal it. :D

DP.

Are there still Esperanto speakers kicking around? The only time I hear about it now is as the punchline to a linguistics joke.

Brassicas--kale, brussels sprouts, arugula, etc. olives of all kinds Avocados Black licorice Canned potatoes--they have a nice texture.

Oh, I can't stand Dr. Pepper. Or RC Cola, or Pepsi. Once in a while I like a glass of Coke with lots of ice. I prefer iced coffee or tea, if I'm going to drink something cold and flavored. But not sweet tea.

Marshmallow sandwich. :)

Barbecue sauce, meat on the bone, most meats off the bone, watermelon, most shellfish. Creamed corn. Ammonia-scented cheeses.

I haven't had a call from them since I spent a few minutes messing with them. I acted panicked that I had a computer problem, then acted like the most computer illiterate person ever. I read off every key on the keyboard to them...okay, this button says F1....the next one says F2....the third one says F4....no, wait, wait, that was wrong...the next one was F3.... They hung up on me and apparently took me off their list.

I read another forum for a while, but I realized, after joining the equivalent of one of the social groups here, that the mean girls of the forum were picking apart posts from the main forum, making fun of people and judging them as too....whatever they didn't like. That really turned me off and I stopped reading. Maybe the same thing goes on here, I don't know, but I don't know about it so I'm happy here. :laugh:

FYI there is a heat advisory this weekend for the Pacific Northwest/Puget Sound Area. Temps in the high 80s to mid 90s. :coolgleamA: I know, I know, but that's hot when nobody has air conditioning!

Anna Karenina was worth sticking it out. The Fountainhead was not, and I wish I had those hours of my life back. I finished Ender's Game, but I'd say it's not worth sticking it out if you don't like it. Now I abandon books all the time. I keep track of what I'm reading on Goodreads, and I am constantly culling titles from my current list as I abandon them.