My family is a multi-racial family. Dh and I are of German descent, 4 of my children are all Hispanic and one is bi-racial, Hispanic and black. Our town is about 80% Hispanic, so dh and I are a minority. The only one of our kids who has experienced racism is our bi-racial child. Once in the doctor's office another child (a stranger) referred to him as a "black-ican", which is a term I had never heard. He has very very dark chocolaty brown skin, and a lot of people have asked if he is Middle eastern. He's a good looking boy, but his features are kind of hard to determine his heritage. He was victim of racist remarks last year at church camp, believe it or not. Fortunately that boy was at another camp this year.

Morning, Gals! ** coffee and devotions - in process ** pick up marine artifacts to decorate church for VBS ** to to church this morning to decorate dor VBS ** dd has a birthday party ths afternoon and since I don't know the family, I am going, too. From what I've heard, they are nice people, just don't speak much English. Hmmm! ** stop by pharmacy Have a good day, everyone!

I did, too! You're not old! Because if you were, then I'd be old, too. And I'm not old.

Otto. Vernon.

My High School BFF is still my BFF - 30 years later. I have a few I keep in touch with, but not many.

That crossed my mind, but I have nothing for toppings and I don't have a car. My car would choose the hottest week of the year to decided to flake on Air conditioning. Needless to say, it's at the shop. So, I guess we'll be having tacos. Which is what we usually have on Fridays. And I'm tired of it. But, we have good fruit. Love this time of year.

Oh, I would do SOTW Ancients. It's a great age for it. No, it's not American History, but Ancient History is so much more interesting anyhow!

I'm excited about science. I have been so..... just horrible about science over the years. This is our 7th year and my kids science education has been sketchy at best. Last year was filled with Bill Nye the Science Guy videos and Moody Science Videos. And that was science. (Let's not get into the theology of that combination, please! ;) ) Anyhow, this year, with my three older kiddos we're going to all do Apologia Astronomy together.

I meant composers. Yes. Composers. Showing my ignorance here!

Are there any good book series out there about musicians like Raboff's "Art for Children" series? I just discovered Raboff's series and have been ordering them used on Amazon and love them. But now... I need some musician's books.

I'm not sure it's so much gender defined, as it is that a person talks about what is going on in their life right now, what interests them, etc. etc. In my homeschooling group, we are all stay at home moms who homeschool children who are younger than high school (most of us). The topics up for conversation are limited to our experiences and interests. It would be very hard to include a group of hard-core career women in our group. Not that we have any problems with hard-core career women, but it would be awfully difficult to know what to talk about. I find it difficult to have more than a superficial conversation with an old friend of mine who is in her 40's, never been married, no kids and has a career. We've drifted apart, mostly because.... we have nothing to talk about. But, then, you also have relationships with a lot of history... my bff and I have been friends for 30 years. We IM each other everyday and if you looked at that..... well, there's an anthropological study for you.... husbands, kids, cute goalies, weight gain, dream vacations in Tuscany, rants, car troubles, daydreams, pictures of hot actors.... it's kind of fun to go back and look at everything we've "talked" about.

Good morning! ** take car in to get AC fixed.... Done! Now I'm stranded for the day! ** practice piano 30 minutes..... done! ** clean up kitchen.... In process! ** work on VBS stuff! I will be so glad when VBS is over. I hate doing stuff like this. I am a worker bee. I hate planning and being in charge! Ds1 will be coming home from camp in an hour or so. I'm trying to prepare myself and have a good attitude. This has been a great week with him gone. He contributes to 50% of the energy and 90% of the conflict in this household. I do love him very much, but he is difficult, to say the least.

I'm trying to think about what we talk about when my homeschool group gets together. When I think about "girl talk" I usually think about whatever topics men would be bored with. There's probably some mild health issues brought up, nothing TMI. We talk about weight, meal planning, politics and religion at times, mild gossip - like who's pregnant, etc. . Honestly, I don't know, it runs the gamut, but I do know that I usually leave those events feeling good. We have a group of nice women and it feels good to just sit a chat for a while.

But many of us are descendants of people who did come to America under duress and in dire straits, and still managed to do so legally. My grandmother's family came from Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. They saw the writing on the wall, and were able to escape. They are of the Mennonite persuasion and while they were able to get out before "it" hit the fan with the Bolshiveks, a lot of their families and friends did not and had to literally run for their lives. There are stories, books, movies made of the harrowing escapes these people made, over icy rivers into China and then they made their way into Canada and the US. Legally. And when they came to the US they didn't expect government help. They worked. They were poor, but they worked.

I always preferred to keep mine in the crib as long as possible. But when they started climbing in and out, that was the cue to make the change. I think it was around 2 to 2 1/2.

** peaches canned (only 2 quarts, they were quick and easy) ** batch #1 of bread in the oven, # 2 is rising

Hi Jean! And all you other productive ladies! ** Walmart trip -- done ** first batch of bread -- rising ** 4 pint bags of peaches cut and in the freezer To do: ** start second batch of bread ** can peaches ** work on VBS stuff ** go to in-laws for dinner, DH's aunt is in town from Oklahoma Have a great day, everyone!

My oldest DS is going into 6th and he's quite bright, I don't see a LD, but he is seriously lacking in motivation and he is not where I'd like him to be academically at all. His handwriting, too, is atrocious. I am switching him from a mastery to a spiral math program next year. Singapore seemed to work for him in the past, but this year, for some reason his math skills have deteriorated, so we're going with A Beka. My other kids are much more self-motivated. My dd will go into her room with her pile of school work and emerge a hour later with it all neatly done. DS1 needs me to be drop-kicking him down the road all day long. So, I'm switching some curriculum with him, and trying to step up the accountability. I too, wouldn't recommend holding him back. One of the beauties of homeschooling is that you can switch your curriculum around to accommodate your kid's learning style.

Morning Girlies! It has been so quiet around here since ds1 has been at camp. I feel bad saying it's been wonderful, but..... it has been wonderful! ** hit VBS stuff hard, get a lot done! ** make zucchini bread to take to VBS for volunteers ** little girls have swimming lessons ** Dollar Store trip Have a great day gals! Have fun, Jen! Amy, congratulations.

I agree with what Duckens said above. Here's two quick scenarios.... Friend #1 - divorced after 15 year marriage, 3 teenage kids, jumped into a relationship (she's one who can't be without a man), married quickly, divorced in a year, now in another relationship.....isn't pretty. She lost the respect of a lot of people, too, with the way she's handled her life. Friend #2 - divorced after 5 years of marriage, no kids. She spent time healing. She got involved in volunteer work, does triathalons, bought a different house, changed her name back, spent time with friends. She recently got married again after being single for 6 years. She seems much more stable. Seems like this one is going to work. I have tremendous respect for her and the way she handled herself through this divorce. It seems like the women I've known who have gone through a divorce and are able to create a life for themselves without a man for a while are better able to make a marriage work when they find someone again.

I've had a "thing" for some of the goalies, too. Mexico's and Brazil's are pretty cute!

My gf and I were texting during the game and she made the comment, "Germany wasn't even trying to stomp them! It was just happening." And it was true. Germany is a good team to be sure but this was just embarrassing for Brasil!

** tomatoes (4pts) and peaches(2 qts) canned ** still folding laundry ** made hummingbird syrup, cleaned feeder, now I just need to refill and put it outside.

I'm for Brasil.:( Julio Cesar is definitely off his game. And he's been doing so well. I don't think they're going to be able to recover.

It was fun to buy. We went to a reputable dealer and bought a modestly priced pre-owned Baldwin, but while the salesman was writing it up, I sat down and played scales on a $117,000 Bosendorfer piano. And to my peasant ears, it didn't sound a whole lot different. But we did ask the guy why....why is this piano so expensive? Well, it is built from Austrian spruce that is grown on the north side of the mountain and harvested within a narrow window of time when the sap is doing something, blah, blah, blah. I was impressed!