You are just cracking me up tonight. "Getting me all stirred up"...so funny. :lol: Thanks, for the laugh, though! :D

I will be the first to admit that I don't understand the intricacies of the oil crisis and the politics of war. So I am hoping some of you more learned ladies can help me out. The other day I was flipping through the channels and a talk show of some sort was discussing the upcoming election, the war, etc. One gentleman made the comment that we can NOT pull out of Iraq because Iran is eagerly waiting in the wings for this to happen so they can jump in and take over and then the U.S. will be in BIG trouble when it come to oil. I admit it. It freaked me out a little. Americans are so unbelievably reliant on oil for everything. Yes, I know we should be trying to "go green" but change comes slowly, too slowly. So I am wondering what, if any, truth there is to this statement? Or is it just scarey political rhetoric?

OMG! I could have written this post and I am 38 too! I just asked my brother (a nutritionist) and he said it is totally possible. And then, of course, he assailed me with all the reasons why cow's milk is bad for humans anyway. :D

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I think they actually have a third new model out now and the one we have is the second model. We really like it and my ds plays with it a lot!

Oh sweetie, I am not offended in the least. I am just sad at how narrow-minded some people can be. I am so sorry that your situation with your mother has caused you to be so bitter and to judge others so harshly. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.... I had hoped that hearing another side of the story might possibly open your eyes and broaden your perspective just a little but I can see that is not possible. Considering the fact that you have obviously put all of your parenting eggs in the "quantity vs. quality time" basket, I truly hope everything turns out like you expect.

So we can see God's plan for mankind from the very beginning and where we fall in that big picture.

I am perfectly confident in my decisions. I just find it to be an ill-conceived albeit amusing notion that you blame all of societies ills on working mothers. :lol:

You would have to define "relaxed" before I could answer.

Wow. That's a very hard and unloving attitude. I PROUDLY work outside the home. My children are at home all day with their dad and at home all afternoon and evening with me. Could we go down to one income? Maybe. But I don't want to. I LIKE having a career and my children are growing up with a positive image of a mom who is an educated and ambitious woman but ALSO a caring mom who is SO dedicated to her children that she sacrifices seeing her husband so that they can work opposite shifts and continue homeschooling (but they also see how a loving couple can make something like this work). My children will not be pigeon-holed and will see that the sky is the limit for them if they really want something. Perhaps there are moms who honestly just don't want to be around their kids and I feel sorry for them. My dh and I have NEVER been away from our kids in over 10 years! I am sorry you "disagree with the mindset" that a woman CAN have a career she loves and a happy, healthy, godly family, but you are wrong.

We get cable, internet and phone through comcast.

Well, I gotta go with The Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore. Hello? They ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after??? Did the producers of this movie even READ the actual book? What's next? War and Peace as a comedy?

:lol::lol::lol:

:iagree:

This one may not be well-known but, "Revenge" starring Kevin Costner. I don't think I have ever cried harder in a movie. And Last of the Mohicans.

This is a pass the bean dip moment for me. First, a true friend wouldn't question me about what I do with my kids just like I would not question her. Second, I've made a habit of not explaining myself to others just because they want an explanation. I do what I think is best for MY family so PLEASE pass the bean dip. :D

I am almost done with book 2 and I think it is GREAT. Yeah, far-fetched but it IS a book about vampires after all. I actually think her writing is better in this one too. I'll be getting book 3 and 4 tonight! :D

:lol::lol::lol: ditto

And I am reading "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" along with "A History of Western Philosophy". :D I think I will take one of those dust jackets and cover book 2 with it as I am sitting at piano lessons with my ds tonight. :tongue_smilie:

I was afraid of that. :D

It isn't graphic...doesn't talk a lot about blood....lots of hinting at and euphemisms. But it leaves you breathless.;)

I was perfectly content in my twaddle-free world and turned up my nose at all the hullabaloo over this book. It is, after all, a book marketed to teens, for goodness sake, and a vampire novel to boot. Girl falls in love with handsome vampire....how original. My step quickened as I passed it by at the local Target and I even flipped my hair in disdain at the thought of reading it. Then I saw the movie trailer, on accident. Whoa. Instantly, I had to read it. Embarrassed by my own lack of will power, I refused to get it from the library because then the librarian would KNOW. I couldn't order it from Amazon because I needed it NOW. So I went back to that Target, with a hat and sunglasses, and stuffed it in my cart along with a bunch of other random things hoping the cashier wouldn't notice (or would at least think I had a teenage daughter to give it to). I stayed up half the night reading it last night. I was late to work this morning from exhaustion, and I am sneaking back to Target today to get book 2. Is there some kind of rehab I can go to so I can break the spell this book has on me? Now I am also counting down the days until the movie and it is all because I read the thread posted a few days ago about how great this book is. Now I have to take back all the smug thoughts I had and admit that I am hooked. :tongue_smilie: Question: Does anyone know if the movie just covers book 1 (and maybe there will be sequels) or will it attempt to condense all 4 books into one movie?

For those of you who do online science or math courses... do you feel your child is getting enough instruction, questions answered, interaction, etc? I am thinking about something like chemistry where there are all these labs required. How does that work? I don't have room to turn my house into a science lab.:D I have checked out a few co-ops around here and to be honest, the academics are sorely lacking...it's more like "pretend" chemistry. I can see myself using a tutor (grad student maybe?) for higher level math so ds can get one on one help but chemistry/physics poses a bigger problem. In these online courses, do they just "simulate" the labs?

Well, I taught high school for 12 years and I am now an administrator and I have a problem with some of this. I DO believe in individual presentations but I also think 20 minutes is way too long. I think 5-10 minutes max. is appropriate. This would also allow the teacher to get done sooner. The teacher sounds like he needs some guidance on lesson-planning and instructional strategies. He may be very good at his subject matter but the art of teaching it to someone else is an entirely different skill and teacher preparation programs at colleges are inadequate at best. Some teachers have this gift naturally and others have to work at it. If his principal was worth his/her salt they would be in that classroom observing this for themselves and getting this teacher the help he needs. In the meantime, I would talk to the teacher (and principal if necessary) about the length of the speech. Also, any test where the class average is below an 80% (without being curved) means the students did not master the material and he needs to reteach it in a different way. That's just common sense. You are the consumer here and you deserve to get your money's worth. Remember that.

There are FREE audio recordings of the Famous Men of...series!!!! I am SO excited!! Did you all know about this already? Am I just slow??? http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22John%20H.%20Haaren%20and%20A.%20B.%20Poland%22 Are there any other audio versions?