I came to the conclusion that the skill-building outweighed the inefficiency. But if your washer lets you adjust the size of the wash load, it's not totally inefficient AND another skill is learned! Most helpful thing I did was to draw a Sharpie marker line on the cap of the liquid wash detergent so they wouldn't use too much. I also had them drop the cap into the washer and let it get rinsed out via the wash cycle, so no drippy caps drizzled over everything else. It was not a super quick practice to start up, but the benefits are lifelong.

So, would it be possible for me to "collaborate" with her by giving her a leading sentence each writing session? I don't think I will have her write for all 30 days of November... is it okay to say that she will do 15 writing sessions in November as part of her goal? I could couple that with a word count, I think she'd have fun using the word processor tools to check her progress... Okay, you gals have got me streamlining this idea... thanks, everyone!

Getting the kids to keep their own laundry in their own rooms is great, and I say you should take it a step farther. Let your plan to "wash one room each day" go down to a couple wash days a week, for you, to do your own, dh's, and smallest children's wash. Assign the other days to your older kids and have them wash it themselves while you take care of other business. A laundry basket and laundry tutorial are traditional 8th year birthday presents in our house! It saves me a load of time and helped all the kids learn to take care of their own wardrobes. Aside from that, I'd say to honor that urge to minimalize, at least as much as you feel comfortable with at this time. It is liberating!

Oh, submitting the word count! Guess if she hand wrote it I would have to transcribe it to submit it.

I have seen the NaNo forums but honestly, the official young writers' site is information overload! I would love some BTDT stories. Once I decide on a plan I will see if/how she should get registered over there. I will need to set up an incentive plan if I decide to have her do this. Nice plan for distributing the October candy.;) I have never seen the calculator on the Nano site - where can I find it? Sounds interesting! This is more what I had in mind, just a low-pressure adventure. She has been taking an IEW workshop that will finish in October (will go for another month next spring). At the last class the teacher gave each pair of students a paper bag containing three small items and had them write a paragraph including the items - I think dd and her partner got a pig, a duck and a golf ball. I could do that, start her off and introduce a new item every couple of days. Maybe I could give her a notebook and some objects and let her write/illustrate an adventure a day? That would give mama some writing time...

I know some of you have teens doing this, but I wonder if there are any elementary age kids participating? If so, what age and how did you you determine a goal for your young one? What did your NaNo writing time look like?

Up front I will say that one of these days I am going to come up with my own spice mix, but in the meantime, this suffices. This makes a good sized batch. 1# lean ground turkey 1# lean ground beef 1 medium to large onion, chopped 1 can crushed tomatoes (15 or 28 oz, depending on how much you like tomatoes)* 1 can (11 oz) yellow or shoepeg corn, drained 2 different can beans, most commonly 1 pinto and 1 black bean (you can use large or small kidney beans, any combination, just 2 15-oz cans, I do not use any preseasoned/"seasoned for chili" beans) 1 pkg mild chili seasoning 1 pkg fajita seasoning 1 can beer *For a beefy chili I skip the tomatoes and stir in a glob of beef Better-Than-Bouillon. You can also substitute a jar of salsa for the tomatoes and add chopped celery if you like it. The celery flavor tends to disappear in the chili. Toppings - shredded cheddar, sour cream, chopped green onion, fresh cilantro if I have it on hand Brown meats in skillet (salt & pepper to taste) with chopped onion and a little water to help make the meat crumbly. Transfer to crock pot. Add tomatoes and corn. Drain and rinse beans and add. Open beer and pour about half the can into the crock pot. Properly dispose of remaining beer. ;) Stir in seasoning packets and add enough water so that the level of liquid is equal to the level of solid ingredients. Cook for a while, until you are sure the flavors are melded and the beef cooked through. I will often assemble all in the crock pot early in the morning and just take it out and turn it on mid to late afternoon (on high or low temp depending on how early in the afternoon I remembered to take it out of the fridge).

At least you bother to double-check it! I have a dd with a European spelling of an easy English name. I am not surprised when folks in general get it wrong. But when close family members repeatedly misspell it, it leaves me shaking my head a bit. I know they know the right way, they just alternate between right and wrong. It is nice of you to stop and be sure! I have been married for 22 years and my mom still misspells my married surname. And she really likes my husband! She just doesn't take the time to make sure she gets it right.

The worst is a five-way tie. Interestingly enough they are/were all home schooling families, but they were not acquainted with one another. First there was the clutter,stacks and stacks of stuff everywhere, books, papers, mail, furniture cushions, clothes and toys all over the floor. Add kitchens that warranted citation by the Health Department, grimy bathrooms, and hair everywhere - human hair, pet hair, very likely wild animal hair off whatever the kids and cats dragged in. I knew full well whose dish to avoid at a pot-luck supper. Turns my stomach to think of it. Funny thing, these were all very kind people, and seemingly very engaged with their kids' education. I would never have predicted the mess I walked into the first time I visited each of those homes. I think I felt worse about it knowing they were home schoolers, because they lived in the sort of condition that would probably have CPS at least temporarily relocate their children and end up on the 10 o'clock news. The cleanest house is one owned by a lovely friend who is also a music teacher. Her kids are all grown, so I'm sure that makes it much easier, but she is also somewhat of a minimalist. No clutter anywhere, only a few keepsake/decor items and framed photos. She's not a stark minimalist, though; everything is very calm and creamy but also feels warm and cozy. I have told her many times that I can feel my blood pressure dropping just after a few minutes of being in her home. Heavenly.

No. And if I did before, I couldn't now, after hearing it referred to as a belly button. Blech! :lol:

:grouphug: You've got a lot on your plate! SKL beat me to the suggestion to send the kids to bed in street clothes.:D It would probably be a good idea to pack away much of the little one's clothing to give her fewer choices (seriously, like choose between top A and top B, bottom A and bottom B). Good behavior could perhaps help her earn back favorite clothing items? :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Pass lots of these around in the non-conflict times. Good medicine for both you and your kids.

My dd7 also does this at times. I let her go unless it becomes constant, kwim? Then I gently remind her that she is no longer a baby. It was worse last year when she went out for school. She and a classmate got into the habit of speaking to each other in baby talk and for whatever reason the teacher did nothing to discourage it. It was maddening! I know a few grown women who have little girl, almost sing-song voices. It grates on my ears - I guess because it seems sort of deliberate that they talk that way. I dunno, I just think the Snow White voice should stay in the movie and not drift out of the mouths of 40+ year old women.

Sigh. That's why dh and I have a home school friendly guardian and a really big life insurance policy all set up. Hope you can manage to be a good influence during the time you're with them, justamouse.

And we have no Fiesta here, so I'm sorry I cannot compare. But I have to say, I just read through all the replies and I have *never* seen a dollar store that sells produce. Sounds like you really scored there! I wish we had a good dollar store like that. I miss my south Florida produce market. I could buy a boatload of stuff for a dollar - 20 oranges, 5 cucumbers, 4+ pounds of bananas, masses of greens - every time I buy produce in my current location I mourn for that market.

I believe the carpets, upholstered furniture, wall board and ceilings (basically anything porous) absorb smoke, I guess it would depend on how much the house was smoked in, kwim? I've known couples in which the dh was a smoker and the wife never let him smoke inside. In that case the smell would be only on the clothes, but may linger in the closet after that owner moves out. A friend of mine inherited the house of her heavy-smoker grandparents. They had to wash down the walls and ceilings, seal with primer and repaint. They tore up all the carpet and padding. The ceiling was stained in the areas above the gp's favorite smoking/tv watching chairs. Everything was dingy and smelled from years of smoke. It was a huge job to deodorize that place.

Oh yeah, that's an easy one. Even if the home owners don't smoke inside, a quick check of the coat & clothes closets will give it away.

I've been in a couple of dollar stores that carried food, but....nah. Just didn't like the look of the stuff. Didn't strike me as fresh or first-rate. I have found that gift wrap and seasonal decorations are usually bargains, and I've found some cute reading glasses there. But I generally don't feel like the time I spend culling through junk is worth it for the rare great finds. I haven't been inside one in probably 2 years, and I dread taking my dd in; at 7yo, she'd think it a wonderland. But for food? I think you'd be better off at your local Aldi (or similar no-frills grocer).

For those of you who say you had no trouble selling with cats, any remember how many showings it took to get your buyer? Perhaps you benefited from an active market. I can almost always tell when there is/has been a cat in the house. Even in a very clean house where the cat items have been stashed away, there is most often a detectable smell, but there are other little tell-tale signs. Broken off or crinkled window blind edges are a giveaway. Often there's hair on furniture in not-so-obvious places or even on a wall or table, or on a sweater hanging in the coat closet. We have cat allergies, so we look closely. At first sign of cat, we exit; we really don't have a choice. The hair will be in the duct work and every time the climate control system kicks on, some of it moves into a room. There have been times when there was no sign of a cat, but after being in the home 10-15 minutes, dh's eyes would start to get itchy and his chest a bit tight; a call to the listing agent would verify that the sellers owned a cat. For our more recent home purchases we had our agent call ahead to make sure there were no cats in the home. If the answer was yes, we scratched it off the list. If we walked up to the door and a cat peered out through a window or door, we didn't even open the lock box. I think one gets desensitized to the fragrance of her own house, as long as it is consistent. But to a stranger walking in for the first time, perhaps things such as cat aromas are easier to smell. Didn't mean to discourage you, OP, sounds like your new realtor is on the ball. Just wanted to chime in since so many have said pets were not problematic to home resales. Dave Ramsay is known for saying that a house cat is a $10,000 pet, because that's the average amount by which the selling price is lower in homes with cats in residence. (Gotta admit that though I did hear him say it, and heard him say it was statistically provable, I have not seen the actual statistics myself.)

Oh, wonderful! I honestly feared it would be different, given the extensive surgery procedure you underwent. DH was stage 2/grades 8-9 on his first biopsy with no symptoms. Grade 1, stage 1? That is a great blessing and I am thanking the Lord on your behalf. He has made a complete recovery and I wish the same for you. And be sure you behave while healing - it's tempting to do too much too early, especially when there are kids to chase after. Take yur time and let them wait on you!

If you happen to have one of these lying about that no one at your place would miss, or if your kid owns one that s/he'd be willing to sell, let's talk price! DD7 is disconsolate... it broke and it was one of her besties... Thanks for even looking at this sparrow-sized request.:)

:bigear: :lurk5:

:iagree:onehundredfold

I am essentially replying to your original post, just wanted to add that this post resonates with me. :grouphug::grouphug: It is challenging to sort feelings from logical behavior under these circumstances. I have lived (am living?) a sort-of-similar scenario. Our inheritance is complex, entangled with ancestral property holdings & mineral rights. Translate: extremely complicated, even before factoring in my mother's remarriage. The "old family friend" in our scenario was around long before my father's death. Marriage was not in the vocabulary until the first round of oil & gas exploration following my father's death required an extended family round-up for signatures on documents. Suddenly old friend is pressing her to marry him. So she called me to ask what I would think about her getting married again. Gut punch. Lots of emotions. Lots of words in my head that I knew couldn't come out of my mouth, because they reflected my hurt and resentment moreso than my wishes for her provision and happiness. I had to respond verrryyyy slowly. I told her I wanted her to be happy, and that I'd think about it. This is what it all came down to - I was able to truly say that I didn't care if I never saw a dime from the estate (my dad would differ if he could speak from the other side, but I digress...). But I did decide to speak plainly about something that deeply troubled me. The Old Friend/Now New Husband has adult children that are just nuts. I am not exaggerating when I say that between them they represent a plethora of personality disorders. I felt it was fair to ask that whatever she did, to please make sure that there would never be any reason for me (my siblings, our spouses, our children) to have any legal dealings with these people in settling her estate. So when I called her to tell her what I thought of it all, I said something like this: "Mom, I am happy that you are happy, and I do not want you to feel any obligation to me. It's your life, live it as you see fit! But I ask you one thing - I wish to have no reason to have any legal dealings with his kids - you know what they are like [she was compelled to agree]. What you do with your money and property is not my business unless you make it my business. Please see to it that it never becomes both my business and their business." She really understood, for which I am thankful. She saw a lawyer and had papers drawn up that prevent any such mess from happening. I don't count on ever seeing a penny from my father's estate. But at least I sleep well knowing I will never be tied up in court with a bunch of loons. Have another :grouphug:. This is really about a lot more than money. But making the conscious decision to forgo any claim to that money is really very liberating.

:lol::lol::lol: And if you read it in the WINTER, double gain! It's just too much comfort food! But ya know what? No high fructose corn syrup...

I have a 7yodd who loves to read, and reads fast, so I am hoping to use this to increase the variety & content of her reading rather than the quantity of it. Anyone else taking this approach? I'd love to hear how you are choosing to keep track of things - minutes, pages, titles, something else?