I have painted several pieces, and as long as you sand WELL, and use a dark color (black etc.) you don't have to prime (at least I never do). I only prime when I am covering peeling paint or going from a very dark finish to a lighter color and not distressing it. The key is to use good quality paint or stain, a medium grade sand paper or quality sander (I use my DH if I can:lol:) and run tack cloth over the piece after you sand it. You will get a better finish if you do not use a gloss paint. If you are going for black, Minwax makes a black stain with built in poly that you paint on, I find it much more forgiving than black paint followed by poly and much quicker too. It is my new favorite, and comes in other colors too.

I enter all my plans in the summer so have fooled around with different ways to enter large amounts of data. Here what I do now and it works well. It can be a little confusing the first time, but if you mess up it is easy to start over or fix: Enter lesson 1 Part 1 using sequence 1 - Then select this item and using the copy function, check automatically increment page/lesson/chapter. Change your Leading text field to Lesson, your start to 2, your ending lesson to 34 and in your trailing text field, check Custom, and type " Part 1" in the box. Put the leading space in if you are picky like me about how it prints - otherwise it is all squished together. After you hit OK you will see the Sequence Number section in the middle of your box. Start on sequence number 7 (if you will have 1,1.5,2,2.5,3,3.5 for each lesson) or 8 if you will add a test day. Then each of your Part 1 lesson plan items will be 7 or 8 sequence numbers apart. Hit OK and you will now have all of your Part 1 items in your plan. Now enter Lesson 1 Part 1.5. Repeat the whole copy process above but start your sequence number with 2+6 or 7 whichever increment you used last time. Do this for each of your 6 lesson parts and voila, a year's worth of lessons. Feel free to PM me or post if you are confused by my answer or need help. I have fought through HST+ and am now a real fan. I am getting to use lessons for my 3rd child that I created for my first. It is a great tool, but not always intuitive :glare:. Happy planning!

You might like First Favorites from Veritas Press. It has gentle activities related to some great stories. I used it with my DS http://www.veritaspress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=000705 There are a couple of other volumes as well.

My DS had his adenoids only removed when he was 6. After years of chronic sinus issues, colds that deteriorated to breathing troubles, nebulizer use etc. we have never looked back. We have not needed the neb once since his surgery. This after winters of trips to the ped and ER due to breathing trouble. The surgery was short, the recovery was quick. By the next morning he was outside playing. The only issue he had from the surgery was that the anethesia made him a little nauseous. He was eating that evening. I could not have been more pleased that we made the choice to have this procedure, although I was quite nervous going in. I hope your DS does well.

I was planning to start today, but when I finally got around yesterday to looking at Homeschool Tracker to see what I needed to do to be ready, I was DELIGHTED to find that I had not scheduled us to start until tomorrow. I had a moment of maturity when I thought "we could start tomorrow", then I lapsed back into :party:mode. My kids now think I am fabulous because they have an extra day off. In the end it has been the right choice, public schools are off here today so friends are around and school would have been difficult. Tomorrow I know my 13yo DD will not want to get up. She has quickly fallen into teenage sleep late mode over the holiday.

We have cherry floors and our area rugs had the opposite effect - lighter underneath. Once we removed them the floor normalized in a few weeks. Like you, I love hardwood floors and would never go back to carpet by choice. We have hardwood on our stairs and dust mop them daily (actually the easiest way to do it is with a swiffer duster, not a floor swiffer), it is quick and easy. The stairs can be slippery, but we wear slippers or are careful (barefoot instead of socks). I have come to view the nicks and scratches as signs of a lively, lovely home with activity, loving animals and occasional ruckus. It took me a year or two after installing the floors not to freak out over every nick, but I gave in to the joy of watching my two little boys have races with their match box cars, watching my two Yorkies wrestle with each other, and learning that dropped utensils is part of raising an 8yo boy who aspires to be a chef. When I came to view the on the floors like smile lines that show a life well lived, I became at peace with them.

I am right there with you. How my DD went from 3 to 13 in what seems like a year and a half is beyond me. High school is looming and frankly it gives me a stomach ache. So many choices, so many decisions, so many opportunities to mess up!!

Caution to the wind - Hermes! It is a relative of the Birkin!!!!! I would especially choose it if you already have Vuitton bags - new year, new brand. Enjoy, whichever you choose.

We love chicken barley soup. In fact, my kids now prefer it to chicken noodle.

LOL! I was trying to explain film strips to my kids last night. They just didn't get it. I loved making dittos. If you were fast with your math facts you "won" the right to be the ditto maker for the day. It was a huge motivator for me, I loved turning the handle and carefully counting the dittos.

:grouphug: and prayers.

:grouphug: So sorry this is happening to your son, these reactions are so scary. I would be suspicious of the lentils, we have been told to keep them away from my peanut allergic guy. As for the hospital, I think it really is hit or miss the attention you get in any ER, depending on the knowledge of the doctor you see. Some are great with allergic reactions, some are clueless. I hope your allergist is responsive and gives you some guidance.

I would choose option 1. I often make seafood chowder and cream of crab soup the day before I need it, place it in the frig and then reheat. It is more tasty the second day.

First of all no freaking out! I know people say Yorkies are hard to train, but we have trained 3 and if you are consistent it really isn't bad. We got the two we have now, and the one we used to have between 8 and 12 weeks. They were tiny. Charlie was not much bigger than a Campbell's soup can. We had a crate that had an adjustable back so you could make the crate bigger as they grew. Any time we were not right with them they went in the crate. When we got the second one we did use a playpen for a little while as it helped the two dogs adjust to one another. We began by tying a jingle bell on the door closest to where we are the majority of the time. For us, this was the sliding glass door out to our deck. It is in the great room where we do school and is connected to the kitchen. We began the day we got each of them home taking the dog out every hour on the hour. We set the kitchen timer to remind us. Each time we took him out we took him over to the door, took his little paw and rang the bell and said "go outside". Then we took him outside via a different door said "go outside" and let him walk around a bit. If he went we said "good boy" and praised him. If he didn't we took him out again in 15 mins. Repeat all day. Within two weeks he associated the bell with going out and began ringing the bell to go out. We still took him out every hour for another couple weeks until we were comfortable we weren't going to have accidents. We have a chart on our frig that has each hour and a color for a family member. It keeps the arguing down when the novelty of taking the dog out wears off. We look at the time when the bell rings, look at the chart, and know who will take them out. We still crate them when we aren't home. They have a soft piece of fleece in their crates. Both of mine sleep in DD's room but they didn't do that until they were trained. We transitioned them by first letting her taking them to bed and then moving them to the crate when we went to bed. Now she says "come on boys, go to bed" and they go up with her. When she sleeps late, they sleep late. They are such good pets. Enjoy the puppy fun!

Men's Wearhouse has good prices (especially when they are running a sale), good quality, and can get alterations done quickly when needed. My DH is tall and has good luck finding suits there.

He is so cute. We have two and they have such funny personalities.

I have ordered from Uline.com in the past. Their prices are good and they ship very fast.

My DS9 just came down after being in bed for more than an hour. He couldn't sleep and just wanted to sit on my lap for awhile. He's not so little anymore, but it sure did make me happy.

SpyCar and TejasMamacita (and son), You have helped me so much this morning. My boys are off in the neighborhood with their beys, as all the PS kids are home today. They were all meeting at a neighbor,s trampoline for some battles. I sat down to do some online Christmas shopping, their request was "some cool beys that we don't already have". What is a mom to do with that?! Your thread helped me so much, many thanks. The boys around here are crazy into beyblades. We have some friends coming over for dinner Friday and their boys are bringing their tops to "battle" our boys. I find the beyblades take the place of the nerf battles when the weather is bad. It gives the boys a way of dominating one another while staying inside on a rainy day. On nice days they gather in someone's driveway or on our deck for battles. Two quarters of football, then an hour of beyblades - it is becoming a standard neighborhood gathering at 4pm. I watch them playing Beyblades and it reminds me of the marbles games you see kids playing on old black and white TV shows. Each admiring another's best piece, fairly civilized, but with a strong sense of wanting to dominate. Football, beyblades...... as a Mom of 2 boys who grew up in an all girl house I am learning how important competition is to these boys.

This year I am serving: Starters Brie en croute with apples Bleu cheese ball with crackers Tequila grilled shimp Dinner Roasted turkey with pan gravy Cranberry apple dressing Oyster cornbread dressing Tomato zucchini tart Creamed spinach Pomegranate arugula salad Broccoflower with dijon sauce Mashed potatos Whipped sweet potatos Cranberry relish Pumpkin muffins and hot rolls Dessert Apple pie Pumpkin pie Coconut cake Wine Grown Up Eggnog (with rum and whiskey) Sparkling cider The shopping is finished, the prep work begins tomorrow.

So sorry you are walking this road - it is bumpy and sad, and you are right cancer does suck. What I learned is that each person handles it differently. What was right for my Dad in that situation was not right when my Mom was dying. I learned to trust my instincts, not what people around me said. If you feel led to do or not do something, trust that. Be there when you feel led to, take a break when you need to. You will never regret setting aside things to have spent time with them. I have learned that the path is unpredictable and that no matter what a doctor says you never really know. My Dad was given a year to live and lived two weeks, my Mom was given a month and lived four months. When it became clear my Dad was dying quickly, my Mom couldn't cope. She needed nudging to spend time with him as her anger got the best of her. She needed a lot of support and had trouble recognizing that we were losing him too. He needed to know we would be there for her. Let each of your children handle it their own way. You know your kids best and you know what is right for them. My DD was 5 when my Dad died and spent time at his bedside singing songs and reading to him. She needed to be there and she needed to see him after he died. People tried to tell me to keep her away, she was too little, but it was right for her. The biggest lesson I learned is that each day is different, don't try to plan too much beyond tomorrow. I learned to cope a day or sometimes hour at a time. Treasure the moments, have grace for the people who handle things differently than you and pray every day for the strength and grace you need to walk through what that day holds. :grouphug::grouphug: and prayers for you and your family.

All the recipes I have used cubed bread or cut up bagels. They sit overnight and absorb some of the egg mixture and cook to firm in about 45 mins.

She is too.much!! I can see why you were stunned. I love kid art. In fact I have pictures my neighbors colored and brought over to me on my fridge right now.

Praying for you tonight. May the night pass quickly by and may you and baby go home tomorrow where you can cuddle and nurse however you see fit. :grouphug:

What a blessing!