Yikes! Thanks for looking that up. Okay, the rest of my Coke is going in the trash today. :(

:iagree: I quit totally about a month ago (I drink regular Coke) and yesterday I was stressed and bought a 1 ltr to bring home. :( I had a little bit last night and it tasted fine to me. Like PPs, I used tea (which I used to hate) to replace Coke. I've quit cold turkey before, and the headaches and tiredness were hard to deal with. I don't think I drank a ton...a 2 ltr every 3 days. If you want that "fizz," try seltzer. DH and I trained ourselves to drink it (it's horrible at first if you're used to drinking pop). Now, it's really refreshing. And SO much cheaper than pop.

:D So cool!!!

Welcome! I actually checked out The Well-Trained Mind several times before I bought it. It's one of those books I go back and re-read several times. (But when you do read it, don't get intimidated by the schedules...I actually don't know anyone that follows the schedules exactly. :001_smile:)

:lol::lol: I was just going to post that! :lol: OP, I don't think you were rude at all.

That's amazing! You must be so proud. :) :party:

I guess I assumed that they would *want* to do their schoolwork. And that they'd spend their playtime acting out scenes from history (yeah, that never happened ). They never really got into projects, which may be my fault because although I'm an artsy person, I'm definitely not crafty. My girls at least love to spend their outdoor time looking for critters (butterflies, frogs, salamanders) and making habitats for them. DS has no interest in this. For him, when schoolwork is done, it's done....no incorporating it into playtime. I guess that's the most disappointing thing to me. I thought learning would be more of a "natural" way of life for them. I thought they would read non-fiction books for pleasure without my suggestion (DD14 does do this periodically, but lately she's been reading mostly fiction). I have to remind DS to do his literature reading, and then ask him what he enjoyed about it...and he always seems to enjoy it, but when is he *voluntarily* going to say, "Hey Mom, did that Stephen Crane guy write any more books? Can I check one out?" This kind of stuff seems to happen in families I read about in homeschooling manuals, but it doesn't happen here. It seems like we are somewhere in between the public school and homeschooling family stereotypes....my kids would play computer games all day long if I let them (I know, because we've tried that before). But they also read for pleasure (sure, sometimes it's Calvin and Hobbes). And they actually play together well. Of course they fight, but the majority of the time they get along. The things that make me feel like homeschooling is worth it usually have nothing to do with academics: when DS11 not only compliments DD6 on the picture she drew for him, he hangs it up on his bedroom wall. When DD6 receives a piece of candy from the bank teller and always asks if she can have two more to bring home to her brother and sister. Or when DD14 allows DD6 to tag along with her when she plays outside (or that DD14 still plays!).

I think it depends. Do you have cable or satellite service? DS 14 and DS 11 have small TVs in their rooms, but since we don't have any cable or satellite, they can't watch regular programming on them. This really limits their TV time. DD has a DVD player, and can watch movies we own or check some out from the library. DS has a game system hooked up to his, but rarely uses it. We do have Netflix (streaming only) but the kids can't access it from their rooms.

I kept falling asleep during the *movie.* :lol: I doubt I'll ever get around to reading the book. The movie was very....TV movieish, if that makes sense. Almost like a soap opera.

I do! All of my kindergarten papers and a lot of 1st and 2nd grade had that lavender ink on them :)

We ripped out our carpet about 5 years ago and put in laminate flooring...we love it! I find it SO much easier to keep clean than carpet. Just sweeping and a little Swiffering here and there. We have a wood colored laminate, and stains just do not show up.

Central Oregon...the summers are hot but very dry and pleasant. Not totally sure about the major medical centers, but the city of Bend might have that, I believe it is the largest city in Central Oregon (but it has a great small town feel to it).

I went through this a few months back. I finally decided that we had so many books that my kids just didn't have the time to look at them all. I found that when I purged a lot of the "unwanted" books, that they started to see ones they hadn't read before, or hadn't read in a while. It was just getting impossible for them to find what they wanted to find. Also, I find that when they check out books from the library they are more likely to get read because there is a time limit for returning them. Of course, we still have way too many books. My mom's neighbor, who used to be a teacher, gave me two whole boxes full. It was difficult, but I forced myself to keep only the ones that I knew would get read. I still have a hard time letting go. :tongue_smilie:

Voted 3x....hope you win!! :)

Could be true, I guess. It's just hard to imagine people in my small town feeling like they need to carry one. People own guns for hunting, but our area seems very safe. For instance, I feel safe enough to walk anywhere around here at night. I'm curious to know what type of areas people who carry guns live. Do they live in larger cities with a lot of crime? Or do people in small towns also carry?

My first was at 38 weeks, my second was 40 weeks, and my third was at 37 weeks. I'm wondering when my fourth will get here. :)

Not my experience...the ones I knew both loved to show off their guns (this was a few years ago, both were men in their 20s). One guy was extremely antagonistic, and the other was paranoid about crime. Neither one was the type I would trust with any type of weapon. So this is the type of person I picture with a concealed handgun. That's why the whole idea makes me nervous.

But it seems like people would want to report attempted crimes, too, wouldn't they? To help protect the next potential victim? Yes, but people can't hide swimming pools in their purses. I'm likely to know when my kids are going to be around a swimming pool.

I have no idea why someone would feel the need to carry a gun around. The two people that I know of that do this seem to do it as some sort of status symbol. From the news reports I've seen, there are far more kids killed by playing with their parents' guns than there are people shooting criminals. Just a few months ago in my area there was a 3 yr old who got a gun out of his mom's purse and shot his 2 yr old brother in the head. :( IMO, there's more of a chance that the wrong person will get a hold of your gun than there is of you successfully shooting the "right" person.

I wouldn't say anyone is lying. My opinion is that people *believe* they have seen something supernatural. I personally don't believe that what they have seen or heard is supernatural. In my experience, it is usually people who already believe in the supernatural that actually experience it, if that makes any sense.

When I was about 10 or 11, I was riding in the backseat of a car at night. I saw the image of a demon in the front windshield. I sat there, freaked out, staring at the thing for about 10 minutes before I realized that it was just a reflection of the ashes in the dashboard ashtray! :lol: I always remember that "incident" whenever I see something odd that I think can't be explained. There's always been a logical explanation.

:iagree: Even if you believe in ghosts, etc, could there not be a different explanation? I don't see why people are automatically jumping to something supernatural.

:grouphug: Right there with you...shopping just isn't fun when you're worrying about bills. As for saving money...I am trying not to buy wrapping paper. I have one big roll left over from last year, and I think it might last us (one good thing about not having a lot of presents to wrap, lol). BUT, I usually just fold a scrap of wrapping paper into a tag and write on the blank side of it...and this roll has these annoying cutting guidelines all over them so they aren't blank! I had to cut along the squares and make teeny tiny tags. :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: I don't think I've ever seen a bunny costume that wasn't creepy...why is that?

:lol: :lol: :lol: