He definitely needs to get new images of his neck taken. A disk may have ruptured, there could be bone spurs, etc. Dh had spinal fusion done a few years ago of three vertebrae in his neck. It did relieve some of the numbness in his hands, but did not relieve the pain. However, he, like Jann above, had a bone spur poking into his spinal cord which is a very dangerous situation to be in. So, although the pain is still there, the risk of paralysis or worse is not. Dh also has fibromyalgia and other problems that we can't seem to nail down, so we are unsure if all of his pain is from degenerating disks. Some things that do help him are taking Celebrex regularly and taking muscle relaxers regularly during a flare up. (he will take them at night, every night, during the bad weeks). He actually has a neuro appointment on the 2nd because he is getting worse, so we don't have answers either. :(

My oldest and the younger two are 3.5 years apart. The twins are 19 minutes apart :) Most days I think it is a perfect gap. Due to how birthdays fall, and other factors, they are only 2 grades apart and my oldest is a little less mature than her sisters. She has also delayed doing a lot of typical teen milestone things like getting her license and such by about a year and a half. This makes the gap seem much smaller and it really seems like they are about 18 mos. apart. They are about as close as they can be with their huge personality differences. One of my half-brothers and I are 6 years apart. We were kind of close as kids, especially since I was responsible for him much of the time. We are not close now because he has, and continues to make very bad choices. My other brother and I are 20 years apart, and he feels like a cousin or a nephew. All that said...plans are fine, but they rarely pan out. We planned on having our first a year after we got married. It ended up being nearly 4 years. We planned on having one more 2 years after our first. We had two more 3.5 years afterwards. Fertility and miscarriage issues took a lot of our planning out of our hands. Debt free is a good goal, but I wouldn't let that decide your family plans.

Look into Knoxville as well. There is a large homeschooling community here, and we go to a large academic co-op, that while Christian run, is very inclusive and friendly. There are a lot of teens that attend. We have crafts, farmer's markets, etc. and are very close to NC. Homeschool social groups are a little tricky to find, but the social life for teens at our co-op is growing quite nicely. We also have a McKay's books, which is a wonderful used book store. We also have a couple of homeschool curriculum stores here. As for the southeast in general, I recommend moving to the larger city areas. It can be hard to fit in in the smaller rural areas if you weren't born and raised there. And, I think the materialism thing...it is rampant where ever you go.

We use the NKJV for the most part. Easier to read than the KJV.

Sorry it took so long to reply. It is Valspar La Fonda Mirage

Yes, I would. When we moved to Fort Worth, we knew for a fact that we wouldn't send the kids to public school there, ever. I also would really, really prefer not to send my kids to public school where we currently live either.

No privacy doesn't mean a boundary issue. At least in my home it doesn't. My kids actually lead pretty normal lives without me poking my nose in. They have doors that shut, and I generally knock before entering. I don't prowl through their things, and I don't read every email/text they have. What no privacy means to ME, is that they are aware that if I believe something is going on that I need to know about, I will look/read/prowl through anything in my house to find out what it is. They know upfront that I wouldn't hesitate to do it if they are up to no good, so I don't believe I would be shattering any expectations of privacy. We do have a very open relationship with our kids. We can, and do, talk about everything. Relationships, stress, fears, sex, drugs, abuse, hopes, dreams, zombies, whatever, we have talked and continue to talk about it all.

My kids know that they have no real privacy until they move out of my home. That said, they also know that I don't snoop without good cause. I haven't read diaries, but I wouldn't hesitate to if I thought they were in danger. I don't snoop much on their online activities, but I do hold passwords, and will pop into their rooms randomly. They have been told 5 million and one times not to do things on the internet they don't want to be public FOREVER. ETA: My mother read my diary once as a kid. Instead of putting a stop to some things she should have, she got mad about it and yelled at me. Nothing came of it, and it should have. I still have the no privacy policy for my own kids.

Completely serious, non-snarky question....what kind of toaster do you have? (I think mine breeds crumbs when I'm not looking)

pshaw....we actually USE my kitchen! For one, I don't have the cabinet space to tuck every thing away. For another, we use things like the coffee pot, toaster, breadbox, spices, cast iron pans, etc. multiple times a day. That is a lot of hauling things out of cabinets! Not to mention the fruit and such that can't fit any where else. My MIL does clear everything off over her counters except the coffee pot. But, she doesn't have anyone at home except FIL, and they eat out a lot. I do keep my kitchen aid on a cart that lives in the dining room. My knives are on a metal strip, not in a block. My cast iron lives on my stove top or on the counter beside it. And, does everyone that moves their toaster in and out of a cabinet have toasters that don't leave a trail of crumbs every time you move it? I dump that thing out regularly, but it is forever stringing about crumbs.

I don't know...we are in TN. For us it mostly stems from having at least one dish that all the kids like.

Yes. My easy going child has been a roller coaster of emotions the past year or so. It is the fear and excitement of nearing adulthood, I think. I have a hard time relating sometimes though. I was married and moved into a home of my own at her age!

ALL the things. The Thanksgiving meal is like the culmination of all the carby comfort foods I really shouldn't eat, wrapped up into one glorious day. (well, weekend if we are honest) There has to be a turkey that will feed an army, and I have to cook it. (no dry, flavorless turkeys here!) Stuffing. Sometimes a ham also, depending on how many people we are expecting. Gravy. Mashed potatoes, from scratch. Macaroni and Cheese (Velveeta boxed, although I prefer homemade. DD always wants the boxed) Rolls, glistening with real butter. Broccoli and rice casserole. Deviled eggs (the kind with no weird stuff in them) Cranberry sauce (I like the chunky kind, but I always open a can of the jelly kind for my daughter that has a fondness for the ridges) Then there must be an assortment of desserts. I don't care much for pumpkin pie, but there usually is one. Cheesecake, or apple pie.

For me, not very long. My hair grows very quickly, and I am fickle. The cycle usually goes like this: Let it grow for 6 months (usually reaches mid-back or longer at this point). Get hot during the summer, or have some sort of hormonal outburst, and chop it all off in the bathroom. Rinse and repeat. I cut my own hair, so it is usually a variation on some sort of layering. My dh....wore a mullet for 17 years. Seventeen, long, long years. Happy to report that he finally cut that thing off about 7 years ago. Unless you are rocking a mullet, I would say do whatever hairstyle you feel comfortable in.

This was while we were still building, so all the trim isn't up yet. The purple room in the girls' bathroom, the other two rooms are bedrooms. This was after all my junk got moved in: And this is the same yellow downstairs, looking into the green dining room. I don't have the dining room curtains up yet in this pic, but they are yellow with burnt orange and green floral patterns.

This is why I write on every can what room it goes to! We have a lot of colors going on in our house, but I do try to make the rooms that are visible from one another coordinate. Our dining and kitchen are shades of green, and the living room and stairwell are sunny yellow. I have curtains with yellow, burnt orange and green in the dining room and green curtains in the living room. Upstairs, the main area is a pale teal that coordinates with the yellow stairwell, but would clash horribly with the greens downstairs. I have red accents and curtains upstairs. Upstairs (where I spend the majority of my waking hours) is bright, cheerful and almost beachy. Downstairs is calmer, more vintage country. (It is where dh spends most of his time, and he prefers darker, calmer areas) Anyway, I did what I wanted without worrying much about what other people thought. I have to live here, not them. Honestly, when we were building and painting, I had more than one person make faces when they heard my color choices. But every one of them have changed their tune once they were actually in the house once it was painted.

I have three daughters. The first one loved boys from birth. It is just part of who she is. Her first crush (that she still remembers and talks about at age 17, btw) was at age 4. There have been many in the years in between. She's almost grown and doesn't date, so her fondness for the male population hasn't led to crazy serial boyfriends or anything..lol. My other two are 14 and still haven't had a crush. They just haven't really been interested.

Our co-op is quite large and run much like a private school that operates one day a week. They have classes from 8AM until 4:30PM for preschoolers all the way through high school. They have bells and class changes. The classes you take are entirely optional, and you do not have to attend all day. It is a drop off co-op, but parents are required to put in 16 hours of volunteer time per semester (or you can "buy" your way out by paying a fee) The teachers are usually professionals that have taught in their area of expertise previously and are paid. (for example, the girls' Biology teacher last year was actually a professor of Biology) It is a mix of academic and extra curricular classes, but the academic classes are taken seriously and students are expected to do their work. They often use Engrade to keep grade records. The academic classes are of a sufficient level that I feel confident in using them for high school credit. They have several blocks for lunch breaks. You can also buy lunch tickets to purchase a hot lunch. This is what our schedule looks like for this spring. All of these classes are continuations of the fall semester.

Here? It wouldn't even phase me. It would be a 95% chance of someone shooting at coyotes or some other critter. The other 5% would be some bubba up too late, drinking too much and deciding to have a little target practice...lol. When we lived in Fort Worth? I would lay there listening for the sirens.

I just wanted to pass along this information I received last night about the dual enrollment funding changes for the upcoming 2015/2016 school year. I have sent an email to the DE coordinator for our CC for clarification. Looks like my upcoming juniors may need to squeeze in a class this summer to lock in the current grant distribution :(

Holiday gifts are usually online, especially now that my kids are all older. It is much cheaper, usually, for me to shop online and find a good price.

Illegal activity or violence...would be the only reasons for a swift kick out. Adult kids that aren't making an effort in some form or another to become independent adults will be encouraged to step it up or leave. I haven't crossed that bridge, so I don't know what that would look like for us.

Not the best photo, but a pic of my gray.

I'm graying naturally too. I fall in the too lazy to maintain a color camp. I have found that it looks more up kept when I have it cut shorter, as I have curly hair that gets pretty frizzy when long. I use a natural shampoo bar with no coloring in it, and my gray is gray/white, not yellow. My dad has very yellow gray hair, but he was also a smoker. I'm reaching the tipping point with my gray now, where it is becoming very noticeable. I have a cool stripe going too :)