Me, too! Me, too! Ok, on hte knitting... are we talking about (American) gauge (British/Aussie/Canadian "tension"), as in your 4 x 4 square does not have the appropriate number of stitches per inch? Or are we talking about the stitches themselves being of varying sizes? I'm so confused.

I've never had any notable menstrual cramping, but I have experienced mittelschmerz. That has caused me to roll up in a fetal position, sweating. Not cool. :glare:

We used to (with one "student") start off with grammar and handwriting, then piano. All three are things she can do without me, so I did circle time with the boys. This year (with three "students") my 8 y.o. will start off with a "warm up" brain teaser puzzle while I do math with the boys. Then they'll do letter practice and a find the hidden picture puzzle while I do math with her. At least, that's the plan...

Ok, my point was that, except in industrial situations, there is no need for a gallon of essential oil. I have a 4 oz bottle of lavender that I bought 5 years ago and I use it in salves, sprays, laundry rinse... a little EO goes a very, very long way. You would need about 2 drops in a carrier mixture of about 8 oz. for bug repellent. I gallon would eat through a plastic container before you ever saw a discernable drop in the volume, using it frequently, and I'm not even sure it's wise (or legal) to keep in such volumes as the flash point of essential oils is generally below 140 degrees F. It is, with very few exceptions, NOT safe for use directly on skin. The Native Americans - as well as herbalists, myself included - made infused oil. For that, I can provide a ratio. I'm pretty sure it's 1:2 bark (grams) to oil (ml) for barks, but I'll look it up. You can use whatever oil you have handy but, generally, olive oil is the standard. So, you measure out the bark (and possibly leaves, I have to dig up my Herbal Medicine Makers Handbook) in grams, put it in a jar, and add twice as many ml as the gram weight. Cover it and shake it daily for about 6 weeks (could be longer). I'll dig up the books I have and see what they say about exact(ish) amounts.

Oil of clove (Herbs for Kids makes Gum-o-mile), applied directly to the tooth/gums works very well. Like Orajel, but better. You can also make yourself a cup of tea, then chomp down on the teabag for a while. The tannins in tea ease dental pain. Hope it feels better soon!

We order our toner (not ink, we have a laser) from Super Media Store. Our toner cartridges retail for about $80, there we pay $32 and get two at a time so, free shipping.

You women are a bunch of vicious enablers. Yes, I DID just order the stinking, gorgeous, perfect planner! (because my husband got sick of me waxing on and on and on and on...) I can't wait to see the online one in November! My husband (who is not an enabler at all, lol) thinks they should have a BlackBerry app, too...:svengo:Be still my heart.

Ok, well, keep this in mind: we just dumped Comcast. We had high-speed with them for about 6 years, and added cable and phone a little over 2 years ago. We were locked in with a rate of $113 monthly. A year after that, it went up to $130, then a few months later $140. In May, I got a bill for over $200 because our charge had gone up, again, to $180-something and I had underpaid April. In June, we got a bill for $216. It was our new regular bill. For the past year, too, our service had been degrading steadily. Comcast rolls out new HD channels regularly, which take up much more bandwidth, but they have not incresead their bandwidth. We could not view videos online because our service would drop. We went with Verizon DSL (faster, dedicated, $27), dial tone only on the home phone ($11) and antenna (we're rural and get 47 channels from DC, Baltimore, Salisbury, Dover, and Philadelphia, $0). All that to say the service is not that great (my phone went out a few times, as opposed to never in 9 years with Verison), and they don't particularly value keeping customers. *Wiring: if you're saying your home is wired for ethernet, then the cable modem will, I believe, plug into that. Otherwise, one is coax and one is copper and they are two very different animals. And, yes, the guy will need access to the house.

You're awesome! I was just talking to a friend from co-op who is unschooling and develops a complex every time she goes to another mutual friend's house. Lapbook envy. I have the same problem. I see them and feel like such a loser. I feel like I should be doing lapbooks... and then reality strikes. Hmmm. That is actually what knocked Waldorf off my list of possibilities when I was first researching homeschooling, come to think of it.

Yes, and also, it's August. As in summer. Absolutely no need to worry about a day without lessons. (We school year round, though, so I get where you're coming from.) I have had those days. Many of them. They pass. Really. (and now I am going to go scream at the children who have been told, loudly, multiple times, as recently as 1 minute ago, that IT.IS.QUIET.TIME!!!) See?

Not that I'm aware of. The only thing that comes close is the Family Time Mine planner, but it's not for homeschoolers specifically. I was just telling my husband that I'm not even put off by the scripture references. (That may be because they don't generally bother me, unless peppered through my curricula, and I find many verses both beautiful and thought provoking, even as a non-Christian. As they say, YMMV) Well, that was one of the features I was telling my husband about; I laughed hysterically at the craft one in the sample pages (because I am SO RIGHT THERE!). Darn! I thought I was free of this obsession. :001_huh: Who am I kidding? If it came with a box of fasteners (paper clips, binder clips, staples... BRASS BRADS!!!), I'd already be in the car on my way to TN.

I think I just had chest pain. :svengo: I would always go for pencil, unless I was putting in assignments and whatnot each night before. You know, in case life come up.

Yeah, I was clicking that link when I got the error... I wonder if they just weren't inundated with people checking their email and finding it. :D And, yes, I get really excited by the colors and checkboxes, too. There may have to be an intervention. I forced myself away from the planner table at Barnes and Noble the other day (because I have a BlackBerry and HST+) but this is really tugging at me... oh my!

No advice, per se, but I will say, based upon an "incident" in town here a couple summers ago, if you're demanding the landlord come in and deal with the AC, you probably want to take the goats out of the living room. :D

Has anyone else gotten this email this morning? http://www.wellplannedday.com/Default.aspx They seem to have some server issues. I keep getting a "Service Unavailable" message but I was able to view the planner page and the sample pdf earlier. Thought I'd ask/pass it along, 'cause you know how we are about planning and tools for such. :D

You can use the baking soda and add a drop or two of honey for conditioning (too much can really weigh it down). I generally do straight baking soda paste on my scalp, but slather honey on the ends; any honey in the paste makes my hair heavy and dirty feeling, and mine tends to be dry! Ditto, if you are using apple cider vinegar, you really need to rinse it out thoroughly, or it will weigh down your hair. Also, you can still smell the vinegar until your hair dries. Then, it goes away. There is a definite adjustment period for most people, especially those who shampoo frequently with products for "oily" hair, while their scalp adjusts. I rinse my hair (after the vinegar) with a cooled "tea" of chamomile, mint, sometimes rosemary. It makes my hair super shiny and is calming to the scalp. For your face, you may want to try OCM (oil cleansing method). Without going into a novel here, the basics are that you massage oil into your skin, then wipe it (and the "dirt") away with a steaming hot wash cloth. Again, there is some trial and error involved, as you sort of need to work out what combination of oil works for you. Castor is very astringent and will make my skin feel very dry/tight right after washing (like using a bar of soap) but then it will get oily later as my face tries to replenish the natural oils. I generally found that about 2:1 olive oil to castor worked well. It is also imperative that you get all the oil off (read: do not do this in the shower and feel like the rinse in the water stream is adequate). Otherwise, you will have breakouts.

I haven't noticed anything untoward, either. But, then, I'm normally pretty specific in what I'm searing... Were the people commenting about this phenomenon in China, perchance? :001_huh:

Nah. I mean, it's bread dough with fully developed gluten and all that, but pizza dough recipes are usually smaller than a standard 2 loaf bread recipe, so even if you double it, it's not an extraordinary amount of dough in the bowl. Plus, it's a little softer than a loaf dough, more like pita. Stiff (in my mind anyway) would be a big, dense whole grain batch, or challah or pannetone (though I think that's just more a sticky issue - a whole other set of issues with the dough hook there).

I have a pro 600. It's white. My Artisan was white, too. I make a lot of breads and wanted more volume in the bowl. Here's the thing: If you want to mix really stiff doughs, you want one with the tilt head and screw-base bowl. I find it annoying when I'm kneading and the bowl - suspended on the lift arms, with a little clip in the back - starts to rock. Not enough to replace it, mind you, but irritating nonetheless. Cookie dough, even huge batches, isn't a problem. However, Whirlpool now owns KitchenAid and their customer service is abysmal. My next mixer will be a Hobart.

That. Is. Great!! I am so happy for your household. :001_smile:

No, you can't distill essential oils at home. Also, essential oils are normally sold by the half ounce, so it's not as pricey as it sounds. (A relatively inexpensve, $5.99 bottle of lavender essential oil would cost over $1500 for the gallon, at the same rate.)

They had bleach, dried things in the sun, used bluing to keep them from looking dingy... they also had a much different menu, no red sauce or barbecue. Our "everyday" napkins are either dark, nifty quilting fabrics (made by me) or white "hotel" napkins that are sturdy and come clean pretty readily. My vintage napkins are for special occasions but, when I put them out, I fully intend that they will be used. I am certainly no Letitia Baldridge (I own a 1970's version of her Amy Vanderbilt book, though) but I'm pretty certain that it would be considered bad etiquette to place items on a dining table that were not intended for use by the diners. :001_huh: (We will overlook the part where your napkin was still in the ring when you had a need for its use. ;))

I use a well seasoned cast iron frying pan. I have also used a Calphalon One (not nonstick) frying pan. I don't oil either one, but you need to get the pan hot (mediumish heat) before you toss the first one in. (When I make pita, I throw them on a hot, plain old cookie sheet and don't grease that, either.) I would think either of your griddles would work fine without oil. There's really enough fat in the dough.

No, sorry. I don't think most people computer based education appropriate for early elementary.

Do you live in an area plagued by random dog bodies strewn across lawns? :001_huh: :lol: