I love the cookie idea!! I may have to use it!! We always have election night parties!!!!! :D

Sounds great!! I'll bring bean dip! :D

Here are my kids' favorites: fresh raw broccoli celery (with either peanut butter or cream cheese) string cheese grapes apples bananas peanut butter Envirobars (they're like organic rice crispie treats - my kids love 'em) popcorn (we pop it fresh on the stove with lots of salt)

ROTFLOL!!!! Thanks for the chuckle!! I needed it!!! :lol:

I want to replace the floor in the kitchen, laundry room, and powder bath!! We have this .. cheap vinyl that came with the house, and I've had my eye on some DuraCeramic. I'm hoping we'll find time to do it before Christmas!

That was absolutely painful to watch.

:iagree:

$1000.00 seems awfully low for an emergency fund. I take it this is just a sort of 'line item' in the family budget each month? Or is that the amount to have in the bank to take care of you in case something happens? I'll admit that I haven't read much about Dave Ramsey -- I'm a Suze Orman fan and she recommends having 8 months' worth of salary in the bank at all times, in case of an emergency.

Same here! Yahoo is also my email server, so I can check my mail whenever I sign on

It looks as though, even though they did reach a bailout deal, that McCain still won't commit to the debate. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/candidates_financial_meltdown This was as of 3:30 pm EST

I'm so glad to hear he's okay!!! How frightening!!!

Thanks for posting this!! Very informative! He has some incredibly sound ideas -- I especially like his ideas about foreign policy.

2 boys and 2 girls here! I only had morning sickness with my boys!! With my girls, I wasn't even queasy. With my boys, I barfed for months. I had high fetal heartrates with my girls (140+) and low fetal heartrates with my boys (130 or under). With my boys, I craved things like steak and potatoes. With my girls, it was odd things like macaroni and cheese and olives. And I *hate* olives!! And there's a Chinese Gender Chart on the web (where you match your age up with the month of conception or something like that) and it was right for me 4 out of 4 times!

Ooooo.... Starbucks.... :drool: Are they serving the pumpkin spice coffee yet?? It's my favorite! :D

:iagree: If he can't handle more than one thing at a time, then he sure shouldn't be President!

The only thing that I find interesting is that, less than a week ago, McCain said that the American economy was fundamentally sound. Guess this has been a real wake-up call for him! If that is the case, then I applaud him for finally realizing it. As my 14 yo would say, "Well, look who just caught up." ;)

I would definitely check out Georgetown University in Washington DC!! Being in the nation's capital, they get quite a few internships and other things for their students, and graduates, in the area. Great college for networking, etc.

I have two children on the spectrum. My oldest son (14 yrs old) has high functioning autism / Aspergers and my youngest daughter (6 yrs old) has a more moderate form of autism (although she's pretty high functioning) My 14 year old, when he was younger, was very sound sensitive. He didn't like loud noises at all. Thunderstorms would send him into the bathroom, where he'd turn on the water, and the fan, and wear a walkman with headphones to drown it out (he still doesn't like thunderstorms, but he no longer hides in the bathroom!). He's obsessed with Star Wars, videogames, and Legos. In a way, it can drive me up a wall .. but, on the other hand, when he gets together with other boys, it gives him something to talk about that they enjoy as well.... almost a connection, if you will, so that makes it tolerable! He has an amazing memory!! He loves to memorize dates, places, presidents, etc. He needs to go on Jeopardy or something. I can give him a year and he can tell me the president who was in office at the time in the blink of an eye. When he was younger, he could recite Spongebob episodes, from beginning to end, without any mistakes, from memory. He can be very talkative -- in the extreme, but he's gotten better about it! He does have the traditional Asperger's clumsiness and often drops things or walks into objects (he's also tall for his age and that makes it more challenging, too!) He's a very good worker, but he can be easily overwhelmed and is something of a perfectionist. He loves art and he can draw very well.

Well, when my kids cut the mouse off of the sticky trap, they had to do it by leaving some of the fur on the tray! So they basically gave it a shave to set it free. :rolleyes:

We live in a rural area, too!! The field mice drive me crazy every fall!! We've only had them in the basement once, and our cat took care of them pretty quick! But we get them in the garage all the time. My hubby bought these sticky traps and caught some of them .. but my children felt sorry for them!! I caught my 17yo and my 8yo cutting them off the traps and setting them free!!! One day, my hubby commented, "There's a mouse out here, missing all the fur on one side. Isn't that strange?" My kids are whistling innocently! ;) What I can't STAND are the huge black snakes!! Ugh! They come into the garage to eat the mice, which is terrific, but they're gigantic!!! Yuck!

In Virginia, it's in pockets, depending on where you live. I live near Fredericksburg (an hour south of Washington DC and an hour north of Richmond) and there are many houses foreclosed upon because folks took on more mortgage than they could handle. The builders went crazy and folks were snatching up these $500,000 and $600,000 homes with $0 down and a low ARM rate. Now, 2 to 3 years later, their interest rates are at 7% to 9% and they can't make their payments. A lot of local builders have gone out of business. The unemployment rate is somewhere around 4% to 6%, but that doesn't seem to really be an issue, unless you're working in the construction industry, or unless you're a realtor -- I know several real estate agents who're really hurting and are now working a 2nd job to stay afloat. Gas is around $3.59 to $3.70 a gallon, depending on where you are in the area. Food prices are out of this world!!! Our grocery bill has doubled in the last 6 months. That's where it's affecting us the most.

I would say that she doesn't understand special needs children or 3 year olds! (My oldest talked constantly when she was that age!) I have two children on the autism spectrum and they're unique little blessings! My 6yo has many, many quirks -- she spins, she hums, she sings, she flaps her hands, she talks to herself, etc., and she's rather loud. I've gotten many stares, evil looks, and rude comments. I've started to tell people, "She's autistic", because I want to help people to understand what autism is. And with autism numbers escalating as they have been, they're bound to meet more and more children on the spectrum and maybe they'll be less rude in the future!

My dd started by going to the website at collegeboard. They have a 'college matchmaker' button and she listed what was important to her. We knew we wanted something that was either in-state or not too terribly expensive for out-of-state students. Then we made road trips, starting when she was a sophmore. My dd ended up visiting around 15 colleges in our state (Virginia), as well as schools in Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina. She then narrowed her field down to in-state during the fall of her junior year, and she visited a couple of private schools before narrowing her field down even further to in-state public colleges (she really started to look at finances at this point). The spring of her junior year, she had narrowed the field down to 4 in-state public colleges. One she discounted as being too large for her tastes (we visited twice and she didn't care for it either time), and one she discounted because it's 20 minutes from our house (she decided that it wouldn't be any different than going to the community college, which is half the price). So that left her with two colleges. She has applied to one early action / early decision and, if she isn't accepted, or if she's deferred, she'll also apply to the second one, because their deadline isn't until the spring. But she's really, really hoping to get into her first choice! But I would highly recommend going to visit the colleges your son is considering! It was hard for my dd to make a decision, simply based on catalogs and website information. She really had to 'get a feel' for them.

Yep!! The Biggest Loser starts here in 10 minutes and then the Law & Order SVU season opener!! :thumbup:

Buying an SUV!!!! Our minivan died and, because I hate driving in snow with a passion, we bought a 4 wheel drive SUV (we needed something that would seat 6, because that's how many members of our family there are -- and it also includes room for the pets, because we have 3 dogs and a cat). But...that was before gas prices went through the roof!! :( My SUV gets barely 15 mpg and it drives me crazy!!! And it won't be paid off for another 3 years!! And, they're offering next to nothing on it as a trade-in (we've already tried!), so we're stuck! And, wouldn't you know...we haven't had a decent snowfall since we bought it! :glare: