For Thanksgiving dinner, we will have the following people: My family of 4, another family of 4 (close friends), my parents & my sis. Our friends have met my parents briefly once...they've never met my sis. I have two things I'm trying to work out: 1. Of the 7 adults - 2 don't drink. One definitely doesn't mind if others drink (in moderation), the other says they don't mind but...I don't know. I would like to serve wine with dinner for the 5 of us who'd like it. Since the other 2 say it's OK, would you go ahead & serve it? 2. Where would you seat the 11 people? We have a dining room table that comfortably seats 6, and a kitchen table that comfortably seats 6. The rooms are not adjacent, so if we split up, there would be NO interaction between the groups. I also wouldn't know how to split them up - it would sort of defeat the purpose of having everyone for Thanksgiving dinner if we send our friends to the kitchen, KWIM? I also have a large craft table, so what I've thought is that I can put it in the dining room. I have a tablecloth that could cover it, which matches the one I'll put on the dining room table. So it won't look super-attractive, but it won't look horrible either. This way we'd be at separate tables but right next to each other. Does that sound like a better plan? (I'm asking b/c *I* think it is, but my dh thinks a folding table, even covered with a nice cloth, will look tacky. I think it would be tackier to have guests eat apart from their hosts. And these are our friends & family - we are not trying to impress them, we're trying to have a great holiday with them!) I'd appreciate your thoughts on either of these.

Yeah, based on that interview, I guess I'll have to watch the Hangover movies after all. :D

Your story reminded me of the movie Winter's Bone. {Shiver}

It used to work for us. We had neighbor who would occasionally let their dog bark. If it went on, we would yell from our upstairs window which overlooked their yard, "Nikki, QUIET!". And she would be quiet. She didn't know us as she was kept in her yard/house and we never had interactions with her other than this occasional yell.

You are sweet to think of doing this. We own a cabin and have received a few thank-you gifts that were not too expensive but we appreciated: A tea kettle (we were just boiling water in a pot on the stove!) A bird feeder An indoor/outdoor thermometer - one of those that has a sensor outside but displays the temp on a monitor inside. All of the above were for use at the cabin - another idea would be a nice throw-sized blanket; we can never have enough of those at our cabin! Do they have movies, books, or board games at their cabin? Family-friendly DVDs or a group game like "Apples to Apples" might be appreciated. For books, something like Uncle John's Bathroom Reader never grows old. Or a hiking guide for that area. I hope this helps.

Yes, terms like that definitely minimize - the one I heard was even worse. I first heard about this on the radio yesterday, and the reporter referred to it as the "child abuse" scandal. I was really puzzled and imagined something like the judge beating incident - I had no idea what it was about until I saw stories this morning.

Yes, but as many pp's have said, it changes from day to day. I am working on a photo album project, and it changes from minute to minute as I look at each picture. "Dang, that boy is cute!" "Dang, that girl is cute!" :D

It's scary that something as simple as an un-synchronized watch can blow your chances on the one-shot deal which is the PSAT! My ds tried to take it this year as a sophomore, but although he was pre-registered, they didn't have a test for him. The school admitted that he had pre-registered, but insisted that the college board hadn't sent them enough tests. (I really think they messed up, not the college board). Obviously they gave the tests to juniors first, then seniors, and there were non left for sophomores. It was unsettling and although it didn't count for anything, next year when the stakes are high, we'll be going back to the school where dd took the test. Anyway - PSAT aside - it sounds like your son has done GREAT!

How did they tell you he would be admitted to the Honors College before application? Is he NMSF?

Just don't go overboard. I used to *love* these - I ate them throughout December, and bought extra boxes to save & eat until their "best by" date in March or so. Now I am sick to death of them. I won't buy a single box this year. The thought makes me ill. :ack2:

Mom didn't really. In their 2007 divorce, they were given joint custody of a 10-year old. So she would have been completely unable to protect that child.

I just can't bring myself to pay the $5/pound for a heritage turkey. Last year I bought - if I remember correctly - an organic free-range turkey for $2/pound. Which was 3 times the price of most stores' turkeys. I was happy to do it, but I just can't go to $5/pound.

I know this isn't what you asked about. But did you know that Greg Mortenson has been exposed as having spent more money on his travel expenses and advertising for his books than on schools in Asia? His detractors claim he's a liar and a thief. If you do an internet search you'll find reputable news sites (CBS, etc.) with info. Most of it is from when the story broke in April - I just searched to see if there had been any updates and can't really find anything. Mortenson has been lying low - according to his blog, last updated in April, he has health problems.

I hate when I'm in a really quiet place (church, theater) and realize I didn't turn my phone off...and I can't turn it off without pulling it out of my purse and then if I don't have it on silent it makes a noise! So I comfort myself with the fact that nobody ever calls me anyway but I still hold my breath until the end.

Funny that this is on your list of what's going well, since it is on our list of what's not going well. :) Another reason why homeschooling is great!

My ds is 10th grade. So far this year... Going well: OK State German. He likes the lessons and the tutoring and seems to be learning a LOT. Lial's Algebra 2. I love the Lial series; so easy to understand. Not going well: Apologia Chemistry. I am not a fan of the Apologia textbooks. I know ps textbooks are criticized for being too colorful and busy. But Apologia goes too far the other direction. It's hard to do any meaningful pre-reading or post-reading review because the text is so densely packed, and key ideas or changes in topic aren't highlighted in any way. Give me something bigger than 12pt underlined text to indicate a heading! Ds finds it tedious and I don't blame him.

Thanks for the input. I guess the larger question is the one several of you brought up - what if he doesn't care about the A? It's disappointing because we know he could earn them if he applied himself. Cs and Ds are not ok - ds will definitely lose computer privileges over that, and he knows it. But I have a hard time enforcing consequences for Bs. I've got to figure out a positive motivator to get him to an A in a couple of his classes. :confused:

Do you have a gym near you? We got a really reasonably-priced membership through Costco, and our ds has gone 2-3x/week for the last couple of years. That's only 2-3 hours a week, but I figured between the dog walking, family hikes, paintball, etc., he was active enough for a full credit.

I graduated my oldest last year with a 4.0. That wasn't just mommy grades - she really is an excellent student, organized, bright, etc. She got an A in every class she took outside our home, in both a co-op and CC setting. OK - enough bragging and on to student #2. He is equally as bright as his sister, but lacking in organization skills and motivation. He has had a few disastrous assignments this year. We are working on it! I'm doing a modified tomato-staking with his assignments until he can figure out how to stay on top of it on his own. I want to give him the grade he deserves on his transcript. At the same time, I don't want to let those few disasters ruin his academic record. Do these grading practices seem fair? 1. If he gets an A in 2nd quarter, give him an A for the semester, even if the averaged grade only comes to B. I remember my physics teacher in a public high school did this so I'm not without precedent. 2. Allow him to re-do assignments which he did really poorly on. Actually, we are REQUIRING him to re-do those assignments, so my question is: Should I count the new grades? And if so, should I use them as a replacement, or average with the first grade? For example, if he got a 60% on an assignment and does it again with a 90% - do I give him a 60%, 75%, or 90% when I calculate the class grade? I'd appreciate thoughts on this.

I have the Motorola Triumph on a prepaid Virgin Mobile plan. I *mostly* like it - I came from iPhone. Love the monthly $25 cost. :)

There's a link in that article to this. They've hired Joran van der Sloot's lawyer. I know it's faulty reasoning (guilt by association) but in my view, that's the most d*mning evidence against them.

That's so cool. I loved reading about it on your blog and his. :)

We have UHC. They paid everything according to contract during my cancer treatment earlier this year. There were a total of 3 claims/billing snafus - one that got re-processed before I even appealed (provider might have questioned it?), another that got fixed with a phone call, and another that got fixed with a faxed appeal form. So, really few problems with them considering they processed dozens of claims totaling about $70-80k. There are plenty of network providers in my area for UHC. That would probably be my deciding factor, if I were you.

That looks great! My ds needs a costume for next Tuesday...I will show to him and see if I can put this together quickly. :)

I don't know how old your kids are. But if you *need* to bring in income - and it sounds like you do - this sounds like a great opportunity. If your husband is looking for work, he'll obviously be busy pounding the pavement, making phone calls, etc. But he might be able to pick up a little of the slack in the homeschool/childcare area also.