We have the Pyle version. My teens love it; they think it is HILARIOUS. They ended up making a movie with some friends of the Allan-a-dale story. I say give it to swimmerdude and see what he thinks. It's broken down into discrete stories, so even if he hates it, the worst that will have happened is that he's read some of the stories (he wouldn't be left hanging with an extended plot).

Should you expect to hear from the college? My dd had her SAT scores and transcripts sent to 3 colleges. College #1 sends her mail/e-mail/phone calls regularly. But she's been in their system for a couple of years since she's attended events there. College #2 got her scores and transcripts and immediately started with the mail - she's gotten 3 pieces of mail in 10 days (including an offer to waive the application fee), and last night got a phone call. College #3 - Not only have they received her scores & transcripts, but they've received 2 letters of recommendation. But we've heard nothing! I am puzzled only because I assume all colleges these days would have the systems in place to follow up with students who've expressed interest like this. They have special campus visit events coming up, and we haven't received so much as a postcard. So what's normal?

I have a daughter - S. She's submitted one application, to her top choice, under their early action deadline. She's working on the app to her second choice and then we're done. :)

As my mom always used to say, "Consider the source." What would you expect a council of teachers to say? Councils of teachers also say it should be illegal to teach our children at home, and that we should leave it to the experts.

decided this was TMI :)

I know this isn't what you were asking about. But this person committed fraud. I hope you don't ever trust him/her to do the right/hard thing in any situation.

That's hilarious. :) Congrats to him on passing the test.

If you think you'll be in your house 5-10 years or less, go with ING. We refinanced with them in March. It was easy-peasy, and the rates and costs couldn't be beat. (until the rates went down this summer...oh, well!) I'm having a hard time linking directly to their rates (currently 2.99% on a 5-year fixed) but you can find it at Ingdirect.com.

Yes! Dd got the SAT score she needed to qualify for the top scholarship level at both of the colleges to which she's applying. Neither require SAT 2s.

Me, too...DD has to get a certain score for the scholarships she needs. I would hate for her to miss cut-offs by, say, 10 pts! I'll join you in holding my breath until 7AM EST. :D

Hmm. I was talking to a friend of mine who's a hs mom but still keeps her nursing license. She mentioned that it wouldn't so her a lot of good nowadays since she has heard about so many hospital layoffs in the area??

I just heard this last week in Southern California, also.

I'm not sure how some of that info can be right. Co-pilots making $100k? I know senior pilots make a lot. But I think junior-level pilots make under $30k for many years when they start their career. A friend of mine who was married to a pilot told me that about 10 years ago - I think it's still true because of the news reports that came out not long ago when that plane flew too far b/c the pilot and co-pilot were asleep - I think I heard they were very low-paid low-level pilots. Anyway...it just makes me wonder where they got their data.

My best idea is: Don't get a cat. :lol: (no offense intended...I should be starting a thread titled: Best way to keep my dog from jumping on my friends)

I *loved* Richard Armitage as Mr. Thornton. Guy of Gisbourne was a dirtier, meaner version of Thornton, so, still pretty good. And he was wonderful in Vicar of Dibley. But this just seems wrong: Richard Armitage - Dwarf king How can he possibly pull off Thorin in The Hobbit - short, stocky, bearded, etc. I am just having the hardest time even imagining it! It's raining here; I think I'll go watch North & South for the remainder of the day...

I was very surprised to see in the thread about when to accept an offer, that many of your students have offers already. My dd will probably be applying to only 2 colleges - we don't have her SAT scores yet for the October test date, but expect her to be in the top quartile for both schools. Her first choice (if she gets into the honors program) has an early deadline of 11/1. Transcripts, SAT scores, and recommendations are already on their way, and she plans to get the application in today or tomorrow. Then they will let her know by mid-December, including any scholarship offer, but, she won't find out about the honors program until the spring. She's going on an overnight visit to her 2nd choice in November. They have rolling admissions. So even though transcripts, SAT scores, and recommendations are on their way, I wasn't going to waste the app fee $$ on the final application until she'd done her visit. So, we thought she'd submit her app by Thanksgiving and be notified within a few weeks. Now I'm wondering if we should have applied already to both (the schools would just be waiting on the SAT scores coming out this week). Is it normal to apply in September and be notified in October? Are the colleges who notify in October competitive schools? (I realize I'm too late with this dd...but we have another student in high school, and I'm already keeping a list of all the things we did wrong with dd in high school!)

I read some of the replies and then broached the subject at dinner. Dh felt as I did - that we don't want to forgo the memories/tradition entirely. But we didn't come to a decision about go or no go. I appreciate all the replies - although I admit that when I read the suggestions to let the kids decide - I thought, "I only want replies that agree with my wants!"

Ha ha. My son's name is Will. My husband insists I named him after Will Riker. I DID NOT! ;)

For 14 years, we have lived out of state from our families, so we've always done our own thing. We've developed our own traditions over the years, and for the last 6 years we've celebrated Christmas by traveling to the mountains. And we all love it. Snow, sledding, hot chocolate, fire burning brightly in the fireplace, etc. My kids came to me a couple of weeks ago with a plan to stay home. :huh: I sort of brushed them off, thinking to myself, "No way!" But I know they'll bring it up again. They are 14 and 17. They said they still love our Christmas tradition, but just want to try something different - stay home, maybe have some friends over, actually get to play the new Wii games, etc. I can't imagine anything worse than having internet access on Christmas day. So what would you do?

Oh, that surprises me. I have a friend whose husband has met Kirk Cameron, and he said he was SO personable.

A friend recently signed up her daughter with Eureka.org. She had to pay $30 but says it's well worth it. I am still considering whether to sign up my kids.

I'm glad Riker & Data were both nice. I like them better than Worf anyway. Is Jonathan Frakes still chubby? I saw a clip of him from a while back, and he had really put the pounds on.

I wonder if the criticism is regional. Lots of "older" or "middle-aged" women in SoCal have long hair. And yes, I think many of them are trying to hang on to their youth - the plastic surgeries go along with that! But I also think it looks wonderful, and have never heard any criticism about older women keeping their hair. Mine will be long until the day I die. But I imagine when I am *much* older - 60s or 70s - I will probably wear it pulled up, or something that feels more age-appropriate. I don't know - I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I just rinse, and if it's something that won't get clean with a rinse, I throw it away so I don't have dirty stuff in my recycling bin in the pantry. When we lived in another city, we were basically required to recycle b/c our trash bin was so tiny that we couldn't afford not to (a 2nd trash bin was cost prohibitive). And they had such detailed requirements for the recycling - we had to wash all cans & bottles, then use the can opener to remove the bottom lid from each can, then flatten the can. I hated it. Who wants to handle their trash that much? And I agree with the poster that said if you are thoroughly washing them, you're using resources that cancel out the benefits of the recycling.

I just got season 2, disc 1 from Netflix last night. I finished season 1 a couple of months ago, but we took a Netflix break. I'm so happy to start up again. :) BTW - I agree with those who just can't stand the Dawn French character. And I usually like Dawn French - anybody who can get Richard Armitage to marry her is OK in my book!