Poor guy :(

Thank you, that was my thought too, but when I search Saxon algebra placement test that's what comes up, it's really weird that there would be 3 different placements tests for that one program. I'll try calling, I know if that's the correct test then he needs to stay in pre-a another year.

Before I was sahm I was active duty Air Force, now I SAH and homeschool. I also do online classes full time and am applying for grad school next year. I volunteer at my local homeless resource center.

I could not cook, my ex was a pretty good cook though so he taught me a lot. I watched food network and used recipes. I'm a good cook now but still a recipe user for 80% of our dinners.

Mortgage, then food.

In the next year: New York-Niagara Falls Orlando-Disney/Universal Caribbean cruise We are likely doing Europe for 3-4 weeks in May, but I don't have it mapped out yet, it will certainly include Spain, Feance, and Germany, and hopefully Austria and Hungary. We will likely go up northeast and go to Boston, Vermont, and/or Maine at some point this year Bucket list: I pretty much want to go everywhere. I lived in Panama as a child and want to go back there Argentina Brazil Chile South Africa Egypt Morocco India Dubai Iraq (hopefully at some point in my life) Iceland UK Vietnam I really want to go back to Cambodia for an extended stay Burma China Japan Australia New Zealand I wouldn't turn down any trip haha

Bumping for the day crowd, anyone?

I have lived in CA, DC, MT, OR, MS, SC, HI, and MD. I have visited NV, UT, WA, ID, WY, CO, SD, TX, MN, MO, LA, AL, MI, TN, KY, IL, OH, PA, VA, WV, NC, GA, FL, AL, ME, & WI. Almost all of those were for at least one night and some sight seeing. The exceptions are TN, KY, WI, OH. We will be adding NY this week for 4 days at Niagara Falls. :D

I second fitness blender and you can filter them by time, intensity, type, etc.

I used to have one of these, it's not vacuumed sealed so it does sweat and doesn't keep water cold, but it definitely helps with counting. They may make vacuum sealed ones though. https://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Intak-Ounce-Hydration-Bottle/dp/B002VJX4C4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467024248&sr=8-1&keywords=thermos+24+oz+water+bottle

Just looking for some advice here. I have signed ds up for the Saxon Algebra 1 class through WTMA, he is going into 8th this year. He's neither good nor bad at math, he can be careless sometimes but he's pretty average overall. We are currently working our way through Math Mammoth Pre-algebra. He should finish it or be very close by the time the class starts. However, I'm debating on sending him through pre-a one more time. He took his readiness test (from WTMA site): http://www.hmhco.com/~/media/sites/home/education/global/pdf/placement/mathematics/k-12/saxon-math-homeschool/shs_upper_placement.pdf?la=en And he got 100%. BUT there seem to be two other readiness tests, one of which he got about 50% on and the other he hasn't taken. I'm completely stumped, I do not want to force him ahead of he isn't ready but I do not want to hold him back if he is. This is the other readiness test that he did not take. He does not know most of that, it's completely different than the test on the WTMA site. http://www.sonlight.com/uploads/saxon_a1_placement.pdf Advice? What would you do? Thanks!

I also have and love the Fitbit Charge HR.

I would not. I will marinate on the counter sometimes, but I do not ever refreeze. It is unlikely that it could've thawed that quickly too.

Mine are still little but they've been to about half of the states, including living in Hawaii for 3 years. They've lived in 5 states. They've also been to Thailand, Cambodia, and Korea. Next week they will go to Canada, in December we are going on a Caribbean cruise, and I think in May we will be traveling Europe for a 3-4 weeks (I'm not 100% on Europe yet because of some potential job changes for dh).

That is horrifying. I have two separate outcomes of this type of parenting. My mother was raised this way, her mother was an absolute dictator. My mom ended up being such an extreme people pleaser that she wouldn't seek child support from my father despite bringing us to the brink of homelessness. You can guilt that woman into doing absolutely anything, she was a doormat in every sense of the word. Only now in her late 50s- early 60s has she started standing up for herself, and only minimally. The other story is about me. When I was pregnant with ds I read a ton of Sears and knew that's how I would parent. I belonged to a church that was big into Growing Kids Gods Way/Babywise. About the time ds was 18 months I finally went to one of their so-called parenting classes. I became convinced I was doing it all wrong and the very next day tried that outlasting technique. I've blocked it out, I have no idea how long it lasted, I hope not too long for that poor child's sake. That was enough for me. I started looking into Ezzo and found Gentle Christian Mothers and returned happily to Dr. Sears. Ultimately, it lead me away from Christianity completely and I am so thankful that my experience parenting in that manner lasted less than one day. I absolutely cry for children being raised in these households. Dd was notoriously difficult from about 2-8, I was definitely not a perfect parent, but I cannot imagine where our relationship would be had I continued that route, we have such a great relationship now.

I don't have picky eaters but the drudgery of planning and cooking gets to me. I enjoy cooking, just not every night. Fortunately dh acts as my sous chef and chops everything for me, and he or the kids do clean up, it makes it much more bearable. We tried home chef for the first time last night and that was really fun because it was something completely new.

Dh and I do it yearly, just as a refresher in January. I've done it 3 times but the last time I think I only made it to day 24, no idea why it was so much harder. It definitely helps to find food sensitivities.

Places I've lived: California, DC, Panama, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina, Mississippi, Hawaii, Maryland I've traveled to about 35 states, throughout Italy, Thailand, Cambodia, and South Korea. We are headed to the Caribbean in December and Europe in May.

Good tips! I particularly love clothes shopping, so that's definitely one area where I can implement a lot of those. I'm really motivated to do better right now, so I want to put a plan into place. :)

Space A means, space available, so it's finicky but free. We have done it before, and it's great, but only if you live in the right place for it. Yes, we can definitely use our card for travel rewards, I tend to use them a lot but I really should save them for the bigger purchases. As far as our fun money, it's mostly just stuff, no one would miss it or notice really, other than possibly eating out a little less. Sometimes it's household maintenance which isn't really "fun" but maintaining our pool and whatnot.

I think it's fine too, and super awesome that she was able to do it!

I was using Good Budget, but just started YNAB, it seems to be working ok so far, but I'm still in the free trial part, not sure if I'll want to pay for it. :) I'm okay at it, I'm fairly cheap about a lot of things, so I'll hunt for used things or just wait, but I just end up spending that money on other "stuff". I guess it's about priorities. But I think in general, I can usually wait for things. I read one tip about making a 30 day list for things you want to buy and waiting a full 30 days to do it. I may try that. I would have to cut at least half of my fun money budget, which is currently set at $1400 but we tend to spend more. I homeschool, but I have a small bit of military disability and I attend college full time, which I use my GI Bill for, so that gives us some money also, when classes are in session. Because we are military, we can fly space-a, so I'm looking into taking advantage of that more, because we live in an excellent location for that. We use a credit card with travel rewards for ALL purchases, and pay it in full every month. We don't have any other travel hacks. We do camp some, but I don't know if I would on an international trip. Yeah, traveling is such a rewarding experience, and I cannot get enough of it. Dh just put in for some special duties that would take us abroad for 3-5 years, my fingers are crossed for that. I love planning our vacations and thinking about them, and budgeting for them, just need to learn to stick to it!

Great ideas! I'm sitting down looking over our budget right now, and trying to make some goals, I feel like making some more concrete goals will help too. I'll definitely check out those books too. I definitely don't want complete austerity, but if I could cut down my spending we could feasibly take 1-2 international vacations a year, and that's really what I want. :)

This is kind of an advice or suggestion post. Dh and I love traveling, it is our main priority in life. We make ok money, squarely middle class, our debt to income ratio is very low and we are saving a bit for college and retirement, we even have a decent emergency fun. BUT I want to save more so we can travel more. Dh was raised middle class and is very frugal and a great saver. I am not, I was on the edge of povert and homelessness through my late childhood and teens. I like to shop and buy things but I want an epiphany or something to help me get into the mindset that saving and going without occasionally means more trips abroad. I know all the general money saving tips, I do some of them, but it really is more about my own mindset, if that makes sense. Books? A podcast? Have you ever really read anything that just sunk in and stuck with you?

Our ER experiences have been among the ones that were less awesome, but we've always lived in places that either had a military hospital or had no issue finding providers that accepted Tricare. I can definitely see where that would be irritating. I've had both civilian and military coverage and have had to fight way more with the civilian companies for coverage, and of course had to pay much more out of pocket.