I thought PQR was responding to this comment. May not have been what you were meaning, but when I read it your post, this is what struck me. Back to incomes, thoughts on the news that the recession ended months and months ago? Are you seeing the recovery in your community? Around here, we still have lots and lots of empty commercial real estate, lots of homes lingering on the market and not a lot of new jobs popping up.

Favorite thing to do with apples? Juggle? Throw them at people who annoy me? Come on, tell me I wasn't the only one who thought that reading the subject line? :) I've enjoyed reading the good recipes. Thought I'd pass on a quick easy breakfast recipe that my kids like to make. Core and dice apple, sprinkle a packet of instant oatmeal on top. Top with a small pat of butter and bake in toaster or oven at 350 til golden brown.

Possibly for the same reason that my kids only want to delve deeply and have a fascinating, in depth conversation right when I have to bolt out the door for work. By the time I get back, meh, not so interested anymore.

Thanks for posting. I'm having much fun checking it out.

You can do it, it just takes planning as many pps have pointed out. I just wanted to share one other idea that has helped me out tremendously. Take a day and completely plan and set up a quarter. I get everything organized for a 9 week block of our school for each kid. I put it all in a binder along with assignment sheets. Everything goes in that one binder - math sheets, experiment sheets, writing assignments, maps, etc. I tab it out by week and my kids know that everything on the assignment sheet has to be done that week or it's homework. One other accoutability trick that helps me is marking a date on my calendar by which the kids should be done with that quarter (taking into account vacations, etc.) I leave 2 days after that date clear and call them catch up days. This has been a huge help in keeping us on schedule for the year. Good luck!!

I've tried to read all the posts, but admit that I may have missed this if someone else posted it. The US was in an artificial economic bubble based on poor economic practices. So why would we expect incomes and home values to return to that artificial high? Yes eventually the dollar amounts may rise to that high again, but inflation will make those dollars worth less so the underlying values will still be lower. But just because they are lower doesn't necessarily mean they are wrong. For example, should my home double in value in 5 years? No. That is not a reasonable expectation, even though it did happen. I think we need to change our expectations.

There's a hot button issue. I only lived in England for a couple of years, but during that short period, I saw that people were ticked because they paid the fee for BBC yet watched Sky and other channels. The main problem with it is that people are forced to pay a fee to a company that then deems what is "good." Could be, and often was, complete junk. I wish we could unbundle everything and just pay simply for what we want to watch. There are lots of documentaries I'd pay to watch. I just dont' care to pay for cable so that I can have access to 150+ channels of drivel and 2 decent documentaries. I'm with you. I buy or rent the dvd.

Aren't you a better homeschooler than I? Ugh. I kill those pesky hornworms. Never watched the timely demise of a hornworm (only the untimely ones that I cause.) Could be cool. Guess I might put the jar outside in the shade, just in case.

I freeze mine, too. Little tip from my Italian MIL - pour a thin layer of olive oil on top of the basil before you put the lid on and freeze it. Keeps the basil from blackening and prevents freezer burn.

Dipping sauce: soy sauce, a splash of sesame oil and a whole mess of snipped green onions. Most amazing dip for chicken, shrimp, veggies or even bread. Fried bread: thaw frozen bread dough. Roll it out (or smash down with hands. No points for neatness.) Drizzle with a tsp. of sesame oil, a ton of snipped green onions and kosher or sea salt to taste. Fold over and seal edges. Fry in med. hot pan with about a tsp. of olive oil til browned on each side. Serve with the dipping sauce. Saute green onions with crumbled bacon and fresh spinach. Yum. Add 'em to salads, soups, rice.

1. Start coffee and throw a coffee cake or some sort of nibble in oven. 2. Have kids to a 5 minute pick up drill in all the main rooms. 3. Wipe counters, appliances, quick vacuum. 4. Quick shower, dress and hair up in ponytail. 5. Throw kids outside to play. 6. Shut doors to bedrooms. Tightly. 7. Answer door with a big smile - Welcome. I try to keep my house in the 15 minutes or less away from being presentable. Option B - if house has gotten in a state due to big project, sickness or something: 1. Meet you at door with big go mug of coffee and suggest a walk in the gorgeous morning while we chat. 2. No, really, you don't have shoes for walking. Let's sit out on the deck. Isn't it pretty? Here, let me take the chair facing the house and you can take the chair facing well away from any windows.

Psst, Rosie. Um, don't tell anyone this, but I'm totally with you. Pumpkin pie is gross (shhh, it's dh's fav. food) Now, if you don't like it, I have an amazing recipe for chocolate bourbon pecan pie. Not allowable on this thread as it has about a thousand calories per glance. Healthy recipes - I love the cooking light mag and site. Some wonderful recipes there. Good vegetarian recipes, too (though light on vegan recipes). Have you read the Sneaky Chef? Has lots of "hide the good stuff" recipes. I'm not a fan of doing that instead of exposing your kids to reg. fruit and veg, but I do use some of the ideas to pump up the nutritional value of some of my regular recipes.

:iagree: Yes, exactly what you said. Ok, no, pass the wine, not the Mike's, but other than that, YES! Suggestions: can you barter for services with an accountant? Or find a start up accountanting business who'd be willing to do some work for you more cheaply so they can add to their customer list?

Missed that one, but am now intrigued. Hope someone else knows it.

Totally reminds me of the movie Lean on Me. Love that movie! Hate the practice in real life.

Cold and rainy, ah yeah! (however you spell that fabulous down east turn of phrase.) Oh and no lobstahh, out of season. Gorgeous, though.

I used SWI-A then went on to some of the theme books. Looking forward to doing SICC-A or B...sometime. Plate is kinda full now. Nope, you don't need TWSS. Helpful, but def. not necessary.

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: ROFL!!! That's fantastic!!

No, you don't. I know from experience....twiddling thumbs for months at a time.....hopefully gazing at lovely pepper plants that did NOTHING!! :) These are a couple helpful sites. http://www.suite101.com/content/create-a-winter-vegetable-garden-a148765 http://www.extension.umaine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2762.htm

Yes it can be done, but it's harder (pollination can be a problem) Search on winter garden, four season garden and vegetables grown inside. I have lots of success with herbs and green onions. Almost never fail. Spinach and lettuce are ok. Others are spottier (peppers, tomatoes, etc)

Depends on the issues. I did take over the finances. When I did, I just told my husband that I was all excited to try a new system that I'd read about (Dave Ramsey or something similar.) No accusations or fuss. Very positive - I just really want to do this - attitude. That worked great. We were able to completely pay off school loans and get to a better place financially. However, after a couple years, I felt like dh then didn't quite recognize how much went to bills (and he took a 60% pay cut and he needed to recognize what impact that had). I transitioned it back to him. He is now more aware and is a bit more frugal. Regardless, sounds like maybe y'all should chat and see what's going on with him. Maybe he is overwhelmed and would love for you to take over or share the responsibility. Don't know if that helped or not. Yes - you can take over and do a great job and be in control!! You can even make it sort of fun. (There's my take the bull by the horns pep talk)

:lol::lol: LOL!! I taught pilates, bodypump and then bodystep back to back to back. Ugh. Too much but seems like everyone I work with is injured, sick or has sick kids. On the bright side, I digging into a bowl of mint chip ice cream with zero guilt. May even pour myself a medicinal glass of red wine.

I bought some at GNC

I may be reading this wrong but it looks like you're planning on doing three diff. time periods at once with your kids. If that is the plan, you may want to consider picking one time period to do with all the kids, adjusting the levels for each kid. You can save money and your sanity. I'd do the same thing with science - pick one subject. Then you can use the experiments for all the kids (or at least the upper levels can share, the middles, etc. Same with texts.)

What are you looking to buy? Have you checked for used curriculum? How 'bout Rainbow Resources? There are several ways you can try to lower the cost. If we know what you're looking at using, we might be able to come up with some helpful ideas. However, even if that is the BEST price, it's still less than 200 a kid, right? Sometimes when I figure my per kid spending, it makes me feel better. :)