I feel that way occasionally. But, I think it feels so good because it's a treat. It's like, one of the first warm days in spring. Oh, it's so wonderful and enjoyable. But, honestly, if you had that kind of weather every single day, it wouldn't seem so extraordinary. It might get downright boring after a while. Because sometimes you want to sit by a warm fire and enjoy winter. And it's not quite warm enough to go swimming or do summer things. But, I do understand the feeling and have it at times.

I went to mine. It was cool. I enjoyed the whole "hooding" thing. My whole family was there, but that's because the university I graduated from was 1/2 hour away. If it is a financial hardship, then definitely don't go.

Did they make a movie out of this? Women renting a house in Tuscany? I loved loved loved that movie.

This. I had an interesting conversation with a psychologist who has done a lot of work in third world countries and she said that people in those countries do a much better job grieving death, and they accept it as part of life. While Americans have tremendous hang-ups regarding the topic of death, healthy grieving, etc. I take my kids to funerals.

I don't know why this book popped into ,my head when I read your thread, but... I love this book. It is very inspirational. "Two Old Women" by Velma Wallis. It made me feel very good when I read it, and the ending is great.

I know it is a common practice, but have never been in a position to need to occupy myself in the bathroom.

I'm not making Easter baskets for the kids. Between both sides of the family and church...... Just too much. But I did get the eggs filled for dh's family lunch tomorrow. And I am so proud of myself.... No jelly beans this year. The kids are getting $ (the older ones) and whole wheat chocolate animal cookies. I am tired of the over abundance of sugar at Easter. So, I quit. My sil also said she was putting crackers in the eggs she was bringing

I'm sorry, Heather. I lived in São Paulo, Brasil for 2 years and there were some things that bugged me, too. It became a joke, finally, when people would plan an event... does it start at 7:00 American time, or 7:00 Brazilian time. If it was American time, then the event started at 7:00. If it was Brazilian time, then you just show up whenever you want to, generally about 8:00 or after. That was just the culture. Took some getting used to.

I agree with this. T I try not to have too many treats that the kids don't get, but still... there are privileges that go with responsibilities. Parents have a lot of responsibility, running the household, earning a living, protecting and providing for the family, etc. etc. and there are perks and privileges that go with that. I feel the same way about cars and teens. Sure, Dad (or mom, just to be equal) may have a nice sports car, but that doesn't mean 16 year old boy should have one. 16 year old boy hasn't worked to get to "get there" yet. If a teen needs a car and parents want to get him one, then an old, but reliable "family car" should be fine to get from here to there. There is a sense of entitlement going around where young people feel like they should be able to start out in the same position that their parents took 15-20 years to get to, whether it is a house, a car or a job position.

We have an egg hunt, but on Palm Sunday, hence my vote for "other". Our tradition on Easter is "flowering the cross"' which is a beautiful Easter tradition, IMO.

The article was ok. Although as she was extolling the virtues of homeschooling and how wonderful her life is since she started homeschooling, I was picturing in my mind the cover of every single ABeka curriculum catalogue I've ever seen, right down to the one with the beautiful girl with ringlets in her hair and a big bow on top sitting at the table smiling as she's doing her math. And then there's me and my kids. But, whatever. If her life is like that, good for her. As far as her being elitist, she probably is. But, I think her one thing she's trying to get across is that while homeschooling is not mainstream (it's not, really. It's an alternative form of education in today's modern times) it's not just a bunch of fringe weirdos doing it. I don't perceive homeschooling as being out of the ordinary, because a lot of people around me are doing it, and in my little corner of the world, it is accepted. Many people don't agree with it, but it is still considered an acceptable and normal alternative. But, perhaps in other social circles, homeschooling is a completely foreign idea.

I've been to Vegas once and I suppose unless you stay in your hotel, I would not take a child. We stayed at the Hilton and the hotel across the street had an enormous marquee advertising er....the type of female shows they had. I walked down the Strip (dh was at a trade show) and I was so uncomfortable with all the blatant stuff going on. Definitely not a family atmosphere.

To my neighborhood. It's been great. My kids go out after lunch (we're still doing school, we took break 2 weeks ago) and I don't see them again till supper. I'm assuming they're all right because they always respond when I call them in.

We could, but for various reasons we aren't. I think the biggest reason is that we don't want all (or even a good portion)of our money tied up in our house. Living in California, things are kind of unstable around here and if we tie up a good deal of cash in property here and then decide that things are going farther south than we choose to tolerate, then we want to be able to pick up and move if we need to. We have a low interest rate on a 15 year loan, we're making decent returns on investments, so it's just not something we are considering. We talk about it from time to time, but that's about it.

Oh, and another thing they "hunted" for was egg shaped sidewalk chalk. We love sidewalk chalk around here.

Oh wow..... Oh wow! Hmmm!

The things my kids got from the Easter egg hunt from church were: tattoos, stickers, bouncy balls, pencil sharpeners.

Our neighbor grew pumpkins that came into our yard, so we got the ones that grew on our side. I still have 2 of them on my front porch. The third, the biggest and best looking I buried (after chopping the top off) and hopefully I'll have a nice crop of pumpkins. They do las a long time if yu don't cut them. So, my suggestion is to bury it and see what comes up.

I'm sorry! I know what it's like to wait. We waited and waited and waited, too. I hope you get chosen soon.

Thanks for reminding me. I love making hot cross buns! I just make up my own recipe. I use my zwiebach recipe, add an egg or two to make it richer, add a little more sugar, some cinnamon and raisins and then put a frosting cross on top when they're done.

I shop at Walmart, but carefully. I used to think they had great prices on Farmer John bacon. Until I noticed that while the packaging was the same, it was 12 oz. and not 16. Now I wait till my local grocery store has sales on 16 oz. packages of Farmer John bacon and stock up. Not everything at Walmart is as good as it appears. Their Hanes products have terrible elastic (not great for a pair of sweats). I do shop at Walmart, but I'm getting more and more selective.

I have to add a success story here. They aren't all bad. We adopted 5 children from the foster care system. Our oldest is almost 10. We had three adoptions - 2 sib sets and one single. We got all the children under the age of three. Not all children in the system have horrific stories. Yes, many do, but not all. We've had our oldest boys for almost 9 years now, and haven't had any significant problems. Sure, there are issues, but more due to personality types (strong willed children with two very compliant parents) than adoption problems. I'm not trying to "talk you into" anything, but I would like to raise a voice for positive fost/adopt stories. They do happen.

I love that show, but we never watch it. We don't watch much tv. It's becoming tiresome. But, I do like that show. I used to love NCIS:LA, but then I got tired of all the lying and undercover stuff, it really started to get to me on a moral level, so I quit watching that one.

When you say behind, what exactly does that mean? Behind in washing? Or just folding and putting away? I do we'll with the washing. But the folding and putting away.... Now that's a completely different thing.

Ha! Does that answer your question? I am never caught up. Never ever ever. Laundry is the bane of my existence. And the kids are even supposed to do their own (well, the three olders do) but somehow, I just have waaaaay too much laundry.