Wow Joanne, thanks for this. It really makes sense. That happened in my own life!

So basically, DUDE can mean whatever you want... :lol:

I think it's great that you want to help them. But I'm confused as to what kind of help they need?:confused: My, you must live in a TINY city. I sitting here in my suburb of Detroit, trying to imagine a neighbor even two streets over having any care about if my kids were going 'without' or not. Did I mention how great I think it is that you want to help? :) I just don't know what to suggest without more info on what kind of help they need.

Ok, THAT'S HILARIOUS! My ds3 and ds6 say the word 'dude' all.the.time. Obviously, dh and I do, too. Ah, the leftovers from our childhood of the 80's... I took my 14yo stepdaughter shopping recently, and she picked out an outfit that looks identical to what would have been the height of fashion in my 6th grade class. Apparently, 80's style clothing is 'cool' in her highschool. Who knew. :) I have asked dh not to call me dude. It just seems, well, weird. :lol:

I actaully had someone suggest that I put them on my ignore list. This was after she and I had some 'debate' in a thread, and I sent her a pm explaining that I felt the way she was 'speaking' to me was hurtful/rude/unnecessary. I wasn't whining that she didn't agree with me, just addressing the rude way she was communicating. And I did it humbly and politely (at least, I believe I did. :)) Her answer was to tell me to put her on my ignore list if I didn't like it. And there you have the reason why I rarely post on the general board now.

You could always make them yourself. :001_smile: That would be fun.

Stacy, can you post a link to the 'I See Sam' readers? I found the website, but it doesn't say anything about 'ARI' for a level anywhere. They look really interesting, but I can't figure out the levels you are refering to. :)

Stacy, are you still looking for cursive penmanship books? Would you need just one student text, or two? And would you need a teacher's manual?

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I did an hour of 'free step' on the Wii this morning; three twenty minute sessions. I did a total of 7000 steps! Woo HOO! Over Easter weekend, I just aimed to maintain my weight, and not worry about losing. I'm back on the 'band wagon' this morning. :) So far, I've lost 28 pounds this year. I'm shooting for 45 total by the end of our school year, which is June 19. That will be all my baby weight. Which, now that I really think about it, means that I need to lose 17 pounds in the next two months. Lofty goal, I guess, but that's about 2 pounds a week. And hopefully the added exercise will give me the boost I need. Dh says he'll take me out for a steak dinner when I reach my goal. That's seems ironic to me... :glare: Then I will start working on the 'weight I gained in the ten months between getting married and getting pregnant'. LOL. I tell ya, I think I gained 10 lbs just while on our honeymoon! All that good food in Las Vegas, combined with having practically starved myself to look good in that wedding dress... But, I digress. My plan is to do 60 minutes of 'free step' at least 4 times a week. I really dislike exercise. But, I figure I dislike being fat even more. :)

First of all, I want to thank you ladies for the encouragement. :) As far as what I eat... I eat five times a day. 8am, 10:15am, 12:30pm, 2:45pm, and 5pm. Breakfast is about 500 cal. morning snack is 150 cal. lunch is 300 cal. afternoon snack is 150 cal. Dinner is not as easily calorie-counted. I find it easy to count calories for everything except dinner. Dinner is the one meal that we all eat together as a family. I mean, me and the boys eat breakfast and lunch together, but we don't all eat the same thing. I fix whatever we each want, which I find makes it easier for me to control exactly what I eat, if that makes sense. I pack breakfast and lunch for dh to take to work. For dinner, I eat whatever we're all having. For example, pot roast with potatoes and carrots. But, the big difference is that I will quit eating when I am still a little hungry. Before, I would eat until I felt nice and full. Plus, I would have a snack at around 8:30 once the kids were in bed. I don't eat anything after dinner now. I also quit drinking pop, which I used to drink every day. That was HARD. So, I figure that if I get 1100 calories before dinner, then I'm probably getting around 15-1600 calories total for my day. Which is plenty. But, it's also (sadly) about half of the calories that I must have been eating before, based on what I would need to eat to maintain my starting weight. To be honest, I am hungry a lot. But, I'm ok with that. I didn't expect losing weight to be easy. It's certainly not as easy as gaining it. :) Basically, It's hard work, but the Lord told me that it was time. And, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. :)

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I deleted my post. Apparently, my having an opinion different than others is offensive. I do apologize. That was never my intent.

:001_huh: You wake up at 4:45!? Oh my, now I feel slothful. :D I don't get up until 7, and that's just 'cause dh gets up to get ready for work then, and I need to pack his lunch, warm up his car if it's cold out, etc. Otherwise, I dunno, I think I'd sleep until Moose and Zee were climbing on my head. :) I've really thought about getting up earlier to get quite time to read my Bible, pray, etc. It's just, um, I like to sleep. Man, that does sound slothful...

I've never had one, but that sure sounds awful. I'm so glad you went to the doc! Here's praying you feel well soon! :grouphug:

Oh no. I wish I had a better story to tell... We had 'someone' flush a bathtub toy (the kind that's hollow and made of semi-hard plastic) down our toilet. And they didn't fess up. (Still haven't. :glare:) Anyway, we did the dish detergent and hot water thing, we bought and used one of those metal snake thingys. We even used some special drano stuff that's safe for septic tanks. NOTHING worked. (Keep in mind, we didn't know for SURE what was down there while we were doing these things). Well, we couldn't get the 'clog' out, so we had a plumber friend come pull the toilet. He couldn't get it out, either. We ended up having to replace the toilet. Yup. My husband took the clogged toilet outside, and whacked the 'S' bend with a hammer. When we saw that toy lodged in there, man... Now, the plumber friend was working 'off the clock', and didn't have all his tools. My husband says there's some special tool that he could've used that may have been able to shred up the plastic toy. But I have no idea what it's called. I really, really, really dislike clogged toilets.

We are very conservative Christians. We don't celebrate Easter or Christmas. We don't do the Easter bunny, chocolate crosses, Santa Claus, 'Jesus' Birthday', etc. We don't believe it is necessary to have a 'special' day to celebrate the birth or death/resurrection of Christ. We are to be aware of Christ's death/resurrection for our sins every day, and we are (in our family). I do teach the children that other kids believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny, and that some people celebrate Good Friday/Easter as the day Jesus died/resurrected and Christmas as the day Jesus was born. We also discuss why we don't celebrate these things. To be quite honest, I really, REALLY dislike the Easter and Christmas 'seasons'. Mainly because I'm tired of people asking my boys 'So what are you asking Santa for?' or 'I bet you hope the Easter bunny brings you lots of candy!'. :001_huh: Why do so many people assume? I mean, I don't get offended, but it does get irritating. Especially the 'looks' I get when I say, 'We don't *do the Easter Bunny'. :glare: Hey, I don't give you a hassle because you DO do the Easter Bunny, do I? :D

:iagree: Kinda. :tongue_smilie: I mean, we don't attend a 'church building', we house church. But, if we *did* attend at a building, I would want what you described. And, I think at a certain age, children should be with their parents anyway. In fact, I don't know for sure if, even if there were a 'childrens church' like Hillary described, that we would send our children to it instead of keeping them with us. It would depend on other things; the individual child, how well we knew/trusted the leadership and teachers of the children's program, etc.