I am so sorry. From personal experience, unemployment sucks.

Burpee is a ripoff. Try Baker Creek, Pinetree, Southern Exposure, Johnnys, Fedco, or Park Seed. Also, look around next year in January for a local seed swap. Ours is the last Saturday in January and is very well attended. I got some really interesting stuff there and at the one at the Heritage Harvest Festival.

Green shoots in late winter or early spring mean it is fine. Sometimes garlic does not come up before winter sets in. It develops roots first, then sends up shoots. Different garlic types sprout at different rates, and their growth can be a product of where they were grown the year before. It likes rich soil, and I make sure to amend it with lots of good organic fertilizer and manure, and usually I mulch lightly with hay or leaves. I am in zone 6B (-5 to 0 F min) in VA, but we've experienced a zone 7A winter (lowest was around +5 F so far), and only about half of my garlic came up in the fall. The other half came up just last week when we had a warm spell. What you don't want is for the garlic to come up and really grow, then get set back by hard freezes. OTOH, I remember the first time I grew garlic about 10 years ago. I bought planting stock that had been grown in California, and it did not do well at all in my Virginia garden. CA winters are very very different from VA winters! I think only about half of it came up. The next year I got stock from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in VA, and it did beautifully. I have saved and grown from my own stock ever since. Pam Dawling of Twin Oaks Farm has a nice slideshow on garlic. She lives in Louisa County, VA, zone 7A, so YMMV. https://www.slideshare.net/SustainableMarketFarming/growing-great-garlic-2016-pam-dawling-59830640 She also has a great blog that is searchable for her posts on garlic. http://www.sustainablemarketfarming.com/news/ HTH! Garden Mom

I have already started because I never stopped. :). Dh built me a low tunnel, and we've eaten salads and cooked greens from it and the cold frames all winter. I harvested the last of the tatsoi the other day, and we put that into a stir fry. The garlic and shallots are all up and should be fine even if we get another cold snap. Dh is getting manure by the loaderful from the horse farm across the road, and bed prep is in full swing. I have cool weather starts hardening off in the cold frame. Some should be ready to go out in a day or two. I hope this crazy early spring holds!

What a nice, responsible young man!

Have you looked at Patrick Henry? They use a lot of classics in their core curriculum, and classes involve a lot of discussion.

Not yet. We requested one before Christmas.

I have lived through both and agree.

Absolutely keep coins away from him. A child can die if a swallowed coin gets stuck in his windpipe, and it can be quick. Our then 4yo son swallowed a quarter. Fortunately it made it past the two possible sticking places as I was driving him to the ER, but that was scary.

Wow, the story just gets worse and worse. It really makes you wonder what is going on. We share your feelings about advising, and we have taken a much more hands-on approach after ds's problems. I am liking your post because your ds plans to try again if he doesn't get in off the WL somewhere. I have heard of students being called the week before school starts with offers of slots, so there is still hope.

Best wishes for a quick and uneventful recovery. Texting really works well sometimes.

We won't know what the confirming SAT score will be until mid-February when the Finalists are notified. I saw 1460 somewhere (and can't remember where, sorry), but that is just conjecture. Since we are dealing with the first batch of high school senior Semifinalists who are going through the process with the new (2015) PSAT, everyone is just guessing right now.

That is fantastic! Thank you for writing it and sharing it with us. The books you chose look very fun.

It would be a lot of work, but it would be fabulous if you would write one. Ds was so happy when he found out that his Multivariable Calc & Linear Algebra professor does not require students to purchase textbooks. The prof has written his own lessons and made his own problems, and made them available to his students for free. He gets what he wants for his students, and they love it. Just a thought - you have most certainly considered it already.

(((Ethel))) and hugs to everyone else, too. Marriage and children - some things I knew would be hard, and others have completely blindsided me. Good friends who show me how to be one. Bad friends who showed me what not to do. Homeschooling, which has been both confidence building and humbling. These boards, which have given me a glimpse into a range of experience and opinions I would never have been exposed to otherwise. And gardening, which encourages me to keep trying.

Our dc's scores are exactly the same as before. I thought maybe the CB decided to score those two math questions after all, but they did not. Perhaps they sent the first mailing to the schools, and the second to the students. In our case, both are the same.

Still thinking of you and your family, happypamamma.

My mom's side of the family was always a bit loose with the truth in the family stories. That combined with the friends who were called "aunt" and "uncle," I was always a bit confused. Maybe it's better that way! I agree that if you felt your grandfather was a great guy then he was. Did your grandmother seem happy?

It's Sunday. Sunday is a very respectable day to take a nap. A friend of mine takes a nap every day and is unapologetic about it. She is in her late 40's and is in great shape - plays tennis, lifts weights, has a really clean diet. She even takes a pillow in her car to use if she's running errands during her siesta time.

Thank you for your very detailed review! I am glad your flight turned out ok; an engine fire sounds scary. I am going to keep UAH in mind for ds14. He wants to go into engineering, and is likely to be NM, so the school could be a very good fit. Please keep us posted on your ds.

Thanks for the head's up about the change. I am thinking about having my four youngest study for the AP Gov exam next year. I know they need to update, but I dislike having to keep up with the changes when I have materials for the old exam on my shelf.

(((Creekland))) Having met your son, I am absolutely astounded by your post. Your Ds is a personable, intelligent young man, and ANY med school would be most fortunate to have him. Our oldest Ds received bad advising, or rather a lack of good advising, at VT, and it left us feeling betrayed. He is doing very well in his career, but it left us with a bad taste in our mouth for the school. If any of our children went there we would be more hands-on with helping them. The UR med app advising is ten times worse. I can't even imagine. I hope your son does not let go of his dream because of this roadblock. He will make an EXCELLENT doctor.

Wonderful! Thank you for the update.

Glad your niece liked it, and your dd does, too. My comment was directed toward Sebastian, who has a son there in the Corps of Cadets. My dh, ds, and I went to VT, too. :) ETA: Duh. Spelling.

Ditto. :). So happy for you! What does your VPI son think?