:iagree: everything can be converted to digital. The cassette converters are cheap, iTunes and Windows Media Player are free. You can import all of your CDs to either of those. The LP converter would be more expensive, but I'm sure there are places that ret them or will convert them for you.

I think that, when they're at your house, there are toys appropriate to play with along with toddlers and preschoolers. In a house with kids 7 and up, those toys don't really exist. The 16 yo had a project. The 7 and 12 yos were doing what they do at home. Because they were at home. No big deal, but probably something to remember: the age gap only works well on the younger kids' turf. Eta: my youngest are 7 and, while they don't play video games, we don't have much to do that would entertain a 4 yo. My house probably wouldn't even be safe for a toddler; we're just not in that stage anymore.

Not if I get there first! :auto: :ack2: (in all seriousness... Has anyone ever had a toilet brush stop working? I don't even know what that means. :confused:) Yeah, I'm really feeling much better about dejunking directly to Goodwill, random friends, and the landfill, and avoiding the swarms of crackpots. Or worse, being completely dissed by the swarms of crackpots because my junk isn't good enough for them.

I would continue to do things the way you've always done them, which seems to be direct coordination with the in-laws. I didn't have a super relationship with my exFIL when I was married to his son, but if he wanted to take his granddaughter to dinner or have her over, he'd just call me and see what worked for both calendars. No biggie. You can't force your ex to be interested, involved, or even present, so why add that to your frustration? Just pretend he doesn't exist until he decides he does. Know what I mean?

Huh. I don't know. I guess the "usual" engagement period would just be the time interval between the decision to marry and the opportunity to do so. Some venues book years in advance, some don't. I honestly can't remember how long it was, but we lived together for 2 years before marrying, and also had a civil ceremony, so there wasn't a wait based on planning details.

The Homeschool Buyers Co-op has the Magic Schoolbus science subscriptions on group buy this month. I know there was another craft subscription I looked at years ago... Trying to remember what it was.

My husband just bought the Critical Decisions / Transformative Leadership bundle. He was trying to get his TO to buy it, but TO said they couldn't use it for multiple people (aspiring officers). So he called and TTC customer service said yes he can, as long as they're not charging for it, and suggested he burn it to disc for department use. That's AWESOME! So, then, I order the early US history. That one only comes on disk, so we dont have to fight over download space. :D Oh! My whole point in posting: when I clicked on the individual courses in his bundle (which I know are also on sale), they came up with their full price page. So I think it just depends on how you access the titles, e.g. directly through the sale page, or other link on the site.

Woooooooooooooow. Go, Katie!

This. Some friends asked yesterday if I was signing the kids up for PE in September and I felt a wave of panic wash over me. No. No, I don't have extras in the fall. We need a solid routine under our belts before we get into the Mid-Winter Blahs. That is when I add extras. Before that, I have enough work convincing my children that the routine is not something new every day. :lol:

I was complaining to my CFS/FM doc about having a two week cycle and he said he'd run some tests but "at your age, everything's sort of a moving target." :glare: He's lucky I like him an awful lot. So, yeah, it seems like he's right. There isn't anything else going on, so I am just tracking (yeah, I actually got an app. Don't judge me) my 14 - 40 day cycle and feeling like a 12 year old who never knows when it will start. Sigh. If there has been checking and everyone is aware of the oddness... I wouldn't make a special appointment to talk about it more.

My alone time. Like melissel, I'm a huge introvert, so the constant "being on" affects my mental state. There are disturbingly few sacrifices that have been made since I left a professional consulting job to be a SAHM almost 8 years ago. It makes me sort of nauseous to think that, at 50% income, we live in the same place, have sent my husband to grad school and paid off all debt except the mortgage because, honestly, I can't account for nearly half a million dollars from the working years when we were racking up debt hand over fist! Where did it all go?? :confused:

My eldest daughter went to public school. Normally, I dropped her off at daycare and they took her to school. One morning, I was temping for my step-dad, while waiting to start a new position. We woke up a bit late and, since he didn't care what time I came in and the office was local, I just dropped her at school on my way in. An hour later, I'm in the closet, purging files, and the receptionist tells me I have a call. It's my best friend, whom the school had called. There was no school that day. :001_huh: Fifteen years later, I still feel like "that mother". I now have several layers of calendar reminders to keep me from forgetting important things.

The boys (who will be 8 in September) have SafeGuard Go 5-pt boosters. The law here is 4 AND 40lb (not or) and their 5-pt goes to 65. Then, it converts to a belt-adjusting booster. No pink flowers, though.

Aha! Acrid burning smell means it's working! As a point of clarity, I meant shop vac the ashes after the self-clean cycle, not the food. It's noon somewhere. Even if that somewhere is in the middle of the Atlantic righ now. ;)

Uh oh.

I agree. Even if it's self-cleaning, you want to scrape as much out as possible, or you end up with a lovely fire blazing on the other side of a locked oven door. Eta: since it's self cleaning, scrape out the big stuff, self-clean, then shop vac.

I would vote laptop, too. Portability is a big deal for school. Operating system is really personal preference, and I don't think there's all that much difference in terms of software available anymore. (Some specialized software, yes, but not like only a few years ago when most things were only available for Windows.) I would suggest hitting the various purveyors of personal technology and have her play with various systems.

I'm not sure what your budget is, but don't discount antique and vintage jewelry. Both my engagement ring and wedding band came from antique shops. My engagement ring is a classic 1930s platinum set solitaire with side diamonds and lots of engraving. The wedding band is hair-thin, with engraving and teeny diamonds, Victorian era. Together, they cost less than $500.

8. I feel overwhelmed, I hate it with every fiber of my being, and with the help of my husband and children, my house IS a pit. :glare: I may just be feeling snippy because I'm on the third day of dejunking my dining room and have more to go. And I know there is laundry backing up while I dejunk. And other chores to be done. Sigh.

Well, yeah, that's how I eat/serve a grapefruit. And it's the way I envisioned the OP's daughter trying it and putting it back on the table... I just don't understand how that would be a "serving problem". I feel like I'm missing something... not an infrequent situation here, to be sure. :D

I prefer to have "triers". (and my kids do happily eat a wide variety of foods and cuisines) I'm a little :confused: how one would give a couple bites of a grapefruit to try. (I would just eat the rest because I like grapefruit, but it's not the sort of thing you can just give a bite of... It's either served or not)

I really have no idea. I use Method dishwasher tablets in my dishwasher, and buy a box of regular, plain Cascade about once a year (when it goes on sale) for the soak. I secretly wonder if I could substitute something like Biokleen for the enzymes. The soak and bleach wash are concessions I make while using environmentally friendly cleaners everywhere else.

I have taken to soaking whites in a knock-off of Amy Dacyczyn's stain solution: 1/2 c Cascade 1/2 c color safe bleach 1 scoop Oxyclean I mix it all in hot, hot water in a plastic trash pail that used to be our diaper pail (maybe an 8-gal? Larger than 5, smaller than 13, anyway), then add all the whites that are dingy, have spots, are dirty enough to know they won't come out well after just washing (the boys' socks :ack2:). I soak them at least overnight, sometimes for more than a day. When I'm ready to launder, I put the whites load on rinse-only to get rid of the soak solution residue, then wash on regular cycle with bleach. The whites come out beautiful, including the socks that come out of the boys' shoes looking like there's a combination of mud and newsprint in there.

Yes. I think it's normal to be bothered by comments that belittle one's commitment and effort, particularly in a volunteer setting.