I would paint a room because 1) I enjoy doing it, 2) it requires lots of moving around and 3) it's wonderful to do it with no other distractions. If I didn't have a room that needed painting, I would organize a closet or cabinets or homeschool materials. I wouldn't do the garage because ours is dark and cold and spooky at night and there's too much for me to do alone. That's something I would need dh for.

I'm going to thank my lucky stars that ours don't fit, so I have an excuse to continue my slothful ways. :smilielol5: Okay, so I might not be very diligent about my laundry, but apparently I am diligent about laundry STATISTICS, because I'm making a chart of all the responses in the thread. And I've spent more time in the last 24 hours thinking about laundry than actually doing any.

I hear you! It would be nice to find a friend who does the same and make an outing out of it. I never see people at the laundromat doing bedspreads, though. They're always just doing regular laundry. I used to do ALL my laundry at the laundromat, and I rarely saw people bring in big loads of bedding even then. I don't know how so many people are able to wash theirs at home. I don't think my washer is particularly small, but it would only hold the smallest and thinnest of my ds' bedding (3/4 bed size) and certainly can't hold any of our queen size bedding.

Re: shower curtain liners. Many are plastic, but mine is made out of nylon or something like that and is washable in the machine. Then I have a cotton shower curtain that goes outside of the nylon one. I guess it's so the inside one keeps the water in and the outside one looks pretty. Anyway, our inside one gets dirtier much faster than the outside one.

Yes, why did I start a thread whose only potential was to make me feel even WORSE as a housekeeper? Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb dumb. :lol: I wish someone would start a thread asking how often we clean our hand soap dispensers, because I really rock at that. I EXCEL at it.

Oh, goody. Have I hit on a controversy? :hurray: We actually don't have a bath mat. I just put a folded towel on the floor outside the shower and change it every few days. When I was writing my list, I think I was thinking of the mats I have in front of the kitchen sink and the back door. They are washable, rubber-backed mats the same size as a bath mat. But what are they called? Kitchen mats? Kitchen rugs? Welcome mats? My brain froze and I wrote bath mat.

Some of you have mentioned washing bed blankets, bedspreads, quilts, and/or comforters on a weekly or semi-weekly basis. Goodness, that tires me just thinking about it. Are we all talking about the same things, I wonder? My bed is a queen mattress and I make it up with a fitted sheet and then a flat sheet, then several blankets and/or quilts. The top layer is our prettiest quilt or whatever I feel like displaying. I think right now we have one wool blanket and two quilts. My ds's bed is made similarly, but with more layers (he likes it that way). In the summer we use fewer layers -- usually just one quilt over the sheet. Our bodies go between the sheets, which are washed weekly. The quilts and blankets, though, only get washed a couple of times a year. Most of them are too big to wash in my washing machine, so I make a special trip to the laundromat. If I were able to wash them at home that would be at least 6 loads just for bedding. (And that's for a small family with just one child!) Is that what some folks are doing every week?

I do that sort of thing with my ds. We have done memory work for many years that includes foreign language vocabulary, and we have always done it together. When he was younger, I prepared all the materials myself (flash cards, etc.) and drove the routine. This year, in 7th, he is making some of the materials himself (in particular, he is making his own vocabulary cards) and is starting to make his own decisions about how best to study. For example, he decides when a word needs additional review and how to set up his cards. But I do still spend 15 minutes a day helping him study/review.

To answer my own question -- curtains -- I think these have only been washed twice in five years, though I do shake them well when I vacuum. shower curtain and shower curtain liner -- These are two I don't really have a system for. I always forget about it until the liner is very dirty. Then I wash them both. Maybe 3 months or so? mattress pad and pillow cover -- I do these monthly and at that time I rotate the mattresses and vacuum them and all around the bed frames pillows, blanket on bed, bedspread/quilt/comforter -- I have to do these large items at the laundromat. I aim to go twice a year, but it's been more like once a year lately. I fill up my car with all the pillows, blankets, quilts, and sleeping bags in the house. It takes a few hours but I do like having everything clean and fresh. I do have two wool blankets that cannot be laundered, and I admit they have not been cleaned in years, though I do shake them out very well and hang them in the sun. throw blanket on sofa/chair -- I probably do these once a month during the fall and winter when they are being used. I meant also to include other mats besides a bathmat. I have one in my kitchen and one in my laundry room that are both washable. I never think to wash them until they seem quite grubby.

Here's hoping for a small, intimate gathering that brings you joy. I have occasionally been one of a small number at a poorly attended party. Once we had a lovely time with wonderful, long discussions. Another time, the host spent the whole time apologizing and fretting over the small turnout. We felt so awkward, as if we weren't "good enough" guests. I am sure you would never do that!

My question is about those items that need occasional washing. Not clothing, sheets, towels, and kitchen linens, which of course are washed quite frequently, but the other fabric items in the home. How often do you wash the following items, if you have them and they are able to be laundered? If you have other fabric items that I've left out, feel free to add them in. curtains throw rug bath mat shower curtain shower curtain liner mattress pad pillow cover* (not a pillowcase, see below for explanation) pillows blanket on bed throw blanket on sofa/chair bedspread/quilt/comforter * A pillow cover is like a mattress pad for your pillow. It is a zippered case that goes on under a regular pillowcase. Do you have a system for washing these occasional items? Do you do them as part of a spring cleaning, for example, or spread through the year? Or do you simply wash them as needed?

You can grill when it's cold out. We grill year-round in New England. It's harder when it's raining or snowing, but just being cold shouldn't stop you.

Can you sell some? Raspberries are so expensive here that whenever we have a big crop I'm tempted to set up a table in the driveway. I know what you mean about being overwhelmed by them!

We make homemade sushi and play games. I'm not really sure why sushi, but now it's "tradition" so we keep doing it. I don't like being out on winter nights, but especially not when people are out partying.

Oh, sorry. I thought you were asking for more general advice. I have a slow worker too, so your thread caught my eye. I don't know anything about those programs. Good luck, though!

I would probe the reading issue further. How much time is she spending on reading? How many pages does she read in that time? (I mean probe these questions with her, not that you need to share that information here.) The Hobbit is about 300 pages, and a semester is 90 days (?). That's an average of 3 pages a day. Even for a slow reader, something seems off. I agree with regentrude that the reading speed is likely to be a big obstacle in future studies.

Roast beef hash. We had our Christmas dinner yesterday (long story) of roast beef, so it will be hash tonight. And a salad.

You can tell your ds that some kids have 19 chores. Ds kept forgetting to do this thing or that, so I made him type it all up on a list and put it in a page protector. He checks it off each morning with a dry erase marker, and there are 19 items on it to do before school time! Of course many of them are very simple things, like "open the window blinds" and "check calendar", and yes "eat breakfast", but there are 19 things. It's a wonder he can live with such burdens on his time. :glare: As for the original question, we do get dressed. Very occasionally we'll stay in pjs if ill, but in that case we probably aren't going to do school. I'm the type of person who could easily slip into never getting dressed or leaving the house, so I just don't give myself the option.

Are Currclick course interactive? I'm also looking for online courses. What I really want is a classroom environment that is live and interactive for the students. Not something where they just watch a lecture or communicate through forums. I know the Potter School classes have a live classroom. Any others that folks can recommend?

That's an interesting plan and one I haven't heard before. Thanks for sharing.

Did anyone mention corn chowder? I often make that for large groups. Easy and popular with almost everyone.

This is one possibility or, could it possibly be a cross-contamination issue? Either of these would point to ignorance rather than, well, whatever you term you can think of for someone deliberately introducing an allergen.

So I take it we are allowed to use resources outside of our own memories? SECTION 10. Where: Faithr: (I'm wondering if the theme in Section 10 is fictional places?) 1 is there always snow? Faithr: Narnia maybe? 2 did the hirsute hunter board the train? 3 is rail traffic enabled by a vertical descent of 41 m? 4 could you have chowder for breakfast, dinner and supper? Faithr: Maybe The Spouter Inn in Moby Dick 5 do Alvares and Rivera interchange with Abraham and Jacob? Newport 6 did the finding of wild grapes prompt the explorer to name the island after his daughter? PrairieSong: Martha's Vineyard 7 does a 20th-century Stump also include features of St Giles? 8 did an ocular phenomenon exploit low temperatures? 9 were the cogs first motivated by Hero? Alexandria 10 did two Starks idle down? With #6 being Martha's Vineyard and #9 being Alexandria, I wondered if the theme is place names that are also a person's name (or a girl's name)? But #5 Newport does not fit that theme. I don't think it is fictional locations, though.

I agree. From 2-4 is optional social time. But you'd better be there by 4.

Ds woke up with a stomach virus at 3am Christmas morning. I spent the wee hours cleaning up vomit from his carpet and then sitting with him for several hours of . . . unpleasantness. Poor kid was miserable. :( Luckily it seemed to pass quickly and by mid-morning he was able to enjoy stockings and presents. He was able to keep down fluids but no food so we put off our Christmas dinner for a couple of days. He was quite chipper by yesterday afternoon, but I was exhausted. :tongue_smilie: