The image of that just cracked me up this morning! Your post also reminded me of the "Unnecessary Censoring" sketch that Conan O'Brian does once in a while. (I think it's him - they all sound the same to me past ten PM.) Have you seen it? Where they take a perfectly normal speech or press conference, and bleep out random words. Oh, it makes me laugh SO hard. I'm easily amused.

:party: And now, you can get down to the business of enjoying your Home, moving forward, and being a single-home family again! YAY!! Thank you for allowing those of us far away to join in praying for this sale, and for the others listed here. How humbling. Dy

And I don't even have to make the boys stand by the TV, all Karate Kid style, or anything.

That is possibly the funniest thing I've heard all day! Thanks for the laugh, Patty! :)

I PM'd you, but I don't know if you got it. Anyway, this really is a delightful place to live. There are wildlife preserves that are fantastic for nature studies. Museums of all manner for cultural enjoyment and study, as well: art, history, science, music, dance. The festivals are family-friendly and thoroughly enjoyable. The industry in the area is very supportive of the community. The community, itself, is diverse. The weather here is gorgeous three seasons. I'm not a fan of summer, so we're entering what I refer to as the price we pay for the other three seasons. Winter may be a bit chillier than you're used to, but it's by no means severe. Perhaps two dustings with snow sometime from Feb to late Mar, and that's about it. The ice isn't even terribly bad. We often don't use the heat at all until January, when the cold snap hits. That lasts about two weeks, and by the second week in February, the daffodils are peeking out in bloom. The cost of living has risen a bit since we've come here (3 years). It's still manageable. There are many choices for home styles - from the newer subdivisions to the older, nicer neighborhoods, and quite a bit of agricultural land. Food shopping is good. You have Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Publix, Target, Garden Cove (a health food/organic produce store), Costco, Sam's, Wal-Mart, and a number of ethnic food stores all over the place. We ended up buying out in the boonies, so I don't know what the public transportation is like. Sorry. There are a number of cover schools (the only way to legally hs in AL) to choose from, offering everything from structure and curricula and mentoring, down to a very Libertarian, letter of the law set up. I'm sure you can find something that would fit your family nicely. If there's anything else you'd like to know, please feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to answer your questions. Huntsville really is a great place to raise a family. HTH, Dy

I love the suggestions already posted, and for *me*, I'd love it if DH did something like this. I would love to give him one inscribed with the quote from Ruth - what a great idea! However, for *him*, it probably would be something along the lines of "it's you", or "I know you", or even perhaps just the word "always" - DH and I both agree that our hearts had known one another long before we met. And when we met, it just took us a while before we realized, "Hey, I know you!" So, for a ring for him, I'd be tempted to go that route - something that would have meaning for him. It would be a little more challenging, since a lot of our interaction is riddled with things that don't translate well to engravings: - I love you. - You must. or - I didn't marry you for your ______ (insert whatever one of us has just botched, here) or - You weirdo. - Yeah. That's why you love me. So, I'd have to keep it simple. What a sweet and generous gift you're planning! I'm sure whatever you put on it, he will be thrilled. Dy

We've had one bathroom/toilet for two years now. Beat the heck out of the improvised one we had set up before we got the plumbing finished. So, that felt like quite the pampering when we could go *inside*! LOL! However, it's really not a problem. People queue up outside in the hallway, if they need to. No foul to shout through the door, "You need to hurry, there are people waiting!" Keeping magazines/books out of there does help. And yes, they really do learn not to wait until they haftagonow to go use the bathroom. (That, incidentally, is a fantastic trait for them to have when you're shopping in Sam's, at the other end of the store. We no longer have to bolt across the store once someone announces that they need to go. Bonus!) Other than that, all the same tips - you can remove the towel rack and put a bar w/ pegs up there. It'll hold a lot more towels and still allow them to dry. Dress in their rooms. Basically, though, it's just a matter of learning to be considerate of the needs of others in the home. That's the key, and it's an easy thing to learn. You'll be fine. There may be the occasional case where everyone in the family has Montezuma's Revenge at the same time. But there are occasional cases where vile things happen, no matter how many bathrooms you have. (However, if everyone is *that* sick, I think I'd go w/ a five-gallon bucket and trash bags, with strict instructions that no one is to move more than five feet from their assigned bucket, and they must let me know when it's been used so I can deal with it. ;) )

I think the only thing I'd be tempted to do is dry ice to kill any book lice. Our library has them, and it heebes me out no end to be reading a book and have one of the little critters scamper across the page. *blech*

We had cable, and we loved-loved-loved certain parts of it: History of the Gun, Mail Call, most of Comedy Central. Bear in the Big Blue House. (OK, I do still miss Bear - but the kids do eventually outgrow that.) :D We gave it up while DH was in school, b/c it was a luxury and we weren't in a place for luxury at the time... he's been out of school for almost five years, now, and we've never had it hooked back up. It's easy to fill those voids and gaps, really. The boys ask once in a while when we're going to get cable again, and that's when I show them how much it costs per month and ask them what they'd like to give up in order to afford it. Scouts, baseball, piano, and rocket center? B/c that's what it would take, and more. It's really, really expensive and just not worth it, considering what it would take from our resources. Particularly if you don't watch much - think of the cost-per-show, and then it's much easier to cut that bill right out of the line-up! We wouldn't want to pay that much for movie tickets, but we don't blink twice about the cable bill. ;) You can DO it!!

If someone had told me, the night I met DH, that in 12 years, we'd be living where, doing what, with how many kids... and I'd be HAPPY about it... I'd have run. Fast. (And y'all know I don't run!) The most pleasant turn for me is that I'm an okay Mom. I didn't think I would be, and so I didn't want to have children. Let alone five of them. (DH had to talk me into a second. LOL!) And while I'm not the perfect Mom, I love it - I love them - I love being their Mom so very much. And I'm not terrible at it, which is really exciting.

What exciting news - and I can hardly wait to see how the day develops!

For his cubicle at work! :lol: He's in heaven.

Everything else - mixer, blender, toaster and crock pot must all live elsewhere. Even if I use them daily. If the coffee pot didn't run almost 24/7, it, too, would have to find somewhere else to live. I despise having "stuff" on my counter tops. Honestly, we needed another three feet of counter space in order for any of the pantry-residents to have a permanent home on the counter. But DH wouldn't budge on that one. :tongue_smilie: We do have an island, and on it is the utensil jar beside the stove (it holds the spatulas, wooden spoons, whisk - things I use in everyday cooking), and a condiment basket by the sitting portion (salt/pepper, napkins, and whatever else the kids happen to stick in there).

Happy Birthday to one of the most beautiful people, inside and out!!! I hope this was a joyous day for you! Know you're loved. Dy

What did you do today? Wrestle the internet guy into hooking up service? Charge, single-handedly, into the utilities offices and straighten things out? Or did you, by chance, finally have a relatively peaceful day with no unexpected snafus cropping up? (I'm hoping it was the latter. You deserve it.) Here's to a joyful, content, non-moving year ahead!! Love ya! Dy

You're a rare species, huh? :tongue_smilie: I think Sioux Falls is clear across the state from where we were looking for information (Hot Springs, about an hour SW from Rapid City). But state-wide, what's the situation like, regarding homeschoolers? A friend and I were looking at the laws, and all I could think was, "Look in Texas! Or Idaho! Run!" (But the scenery is gorgeous - wow!!) How is the overall tone of the Sec'y of the Dept. of Ed, etc.? How active are the truancy officers? Do older kids run into trouble if their schedule doesn't mirror the public schools' schedules? Is there much awareness of homeschooling, in general, there? (Yeah, that last one is a little vague. I know.) What's the status of hs'ers in 9-12? We couldn't quite make that out, from the laws. It states that the teacher must have a Bachelor's to teach high school, right? Are there any other details along those lines? We got a chuckle out of the no more than 22 students caveat - makes you wonder what happened to make them put that in! Thanks so much! Dy

I've just been looking. I have questions, and I thought, certainly, I'd be able to find the info, here - but so far, no. No SD WTM'ers! :001_huh: That just seems so weird. I thought we were *everywhere*! :tongue_smilie:

Line it all up before you take anything out. Have dates. Give yourself a little leeway (because if you don't, then it'll be a sure bet that the countertop guys will want to come in early on the one day that the cabinets didn't get delivered... or something weird like that). Measure twice, then hand off the tape measure to at least two other people. (Home Depot is good about pre-measure. The Lowe's around our area isn't very good, and they've had a lot of returns and snafus from bad measures, or from not going out to do a measure. You do get your money paid for the measure applied to your purchase toward the cabinets - it's totally worth it.) Make use of the kitchen design available to you through those stores. They'll give you an aerial view printout that you can take home and double check against what you've got. You can make any and all changes you want ahead of time, and then have them confirm it all at measuring time. Plus, if you have a good designer (I pm'd you about a good one in Huntsville), you can say, "This is what we want it to do. This is a list of our must-haves. This is what we don't like about our current kitchen, and this is what we would like to have, if possible." As a matter of fact, if you can articulate that to your kitchen designer, you'll be MUCH happier with what he/she recommends, and the process will go more smoothly. They know all their products, and when you can explain what you want to do, they can make suggestions about what would work. Use that option to its fullest! Lead time on cabinets is usually what your project will hinge upon - check to see what the lead times are. They get psychotically backlogged around Christmas and Mother's Day, from what I remember. :) But for the most part, three to six weeks is somewhere in the norm. How thoroughly exciting!! Dy

I'll have to play with it some more. I think, honestly, it's time to take my camera in for a 40K photo tune-up. You know, get the cracker crumbs out of the crevices, get whatever is sticky off the flash hinge... :blink: I know what you mean about putting up the best. DH will take six pictures of an event and tell me, "I think there's some good ones in there." There never are. He doesn't realize that even though I have more whatever-it-is (experience? interest? study?) in photography than he does, I'll still take 100 shots and end up with a dozen that I could edit into decency, and maybe three that are really nice SOOC. *sigh*

If you saw him hedged in behind any furniture, you had to act quickly! But my favorite boy-pee story is this one: We had just moved into our Forever Home, and our church was an hour from the house, so it was a bit of a drive. The boy in question was about six at the time... It was a Wednesday, and they had youth group that evening. I'd laid down with the two youngest boys so they'd nap, but as soon as I was out cold, they took the pup outside to play. Naturally, having not napped, they both fell asleep on the drive to church. Ah, well, they're little. It's okay, I thought. We pulled into the parking lot and DS6 woke immediately, crying. He had to pee. BAD. NOW. I got his older brother out, got him out and gave them instructions to go straight to the bathroom AND DO NOT DAWDLE!! They held hands and headed inside. As I was lifting the then-baby from the pickup, I heard eldest son telling his brother, "No, not there! Come on! THIS way!" I turned around in time to see my son, the fountain of youth, urinating off the front porch of the church! Pants clean down to his boots, nekkid white legs illuminated by the glow of the sanctuary lights. So, being the nurturing, with-it mother that I am, what did I scream across the parking lot? "NOOOOOOOO! OH MY GOD, STOP! J--, NO!" *sigh* Lovely. And then what did I see? One of the elders walking across the lot, snickering. (This is where I prayed, for the first time since, oh, Junior High, for God to just kill me now and make it end.) Son turned and waddled all the way to the glass front doors before remembering to pull his pants up. ...Evidently, in this particular nightmare, he could not hear me, as my screams fell on deaf ears. I think he was still partially asleep, as he doesn't have any recollection of this event. (Lucky kid. *grin*) Anyway, it sounds like your little guy is having a bit of a rough time w/ the upheaval of the move and all. Love him through it. Let him know the rules are the same, the boundaries are the same, and the love is the same. He'll be okay. In the meantime, it never hurts to pick up a bottle of the enzyme activated odor eliminator. ;) Dy

I can't believe they did that to you! {{{hugs}}} Do y'all have some Traumeel on hand for when the muscles start to complain? I think i'd get at least three tubes of that stuff. YAY, BOYS! I'm so glad to hear they were helpful. Isn't that wonderful? (You know, after you've recovered, and have the chance to look back and really dwell on how much you appreciate them.) That's very cool. Good luck on the other end. Is there anyway to check the numbers, talk to people, and confirm, ahead of time, that the guys will be there to help unload? Dy

Those pictures are beautiful. Absolutely great - all of them in this thread. I just cannot master night-time photography. It's going to be what causes a blood vessel in my head to burst spontaneously one Fourth of July, or Christmas Eve... so, let my husband know what happened, will ya?

I'll have to ask DH what he uses to season the meat for ka-bobs, but I know on the veggies, he brushes them with olive oil and then sprinkles Greek seasoning on them. Oh. My. Word. SO good. Squash, eggplant, red onion... yum!

It's along the same lines, so I thought I'd put this out there. DS9 and DS8 have a tendency to do things that make me nuts (don't they all? Heck, don't we all do it to someone, right?) Often, it's things like telling their siblings what to do, or getting into something that makes a mess, or forgetting what they were supposed to be doing (obviously, in no specific order of occurrence). When I want to really unravel because of it, or when I start to feel like they're doing this just to make me insane, I stop and remember that they're wonderful children who are generally helpful, loving and thoughtful - and there's probably a grain of that in whatever irritating behavior they're exhibiting at that moment, too. So I find it. And then acknowledge it. "Honey, that was a very generous gesture, and I love that about you." "Sweetheart, I appreciate that you want your brother to make good choices, and that's wonderful." "Love, I'm so glad you enjoy exploring/creating/writing (whatever activity he's doing that isn't what we need to get done now)." Then I deal with why the action isn't appropriate (or isn't appropriate at the moment). THEN I redirect. It's taken some effort on some days, but it's so worth it.

Some poor person in New Hampshire is going to have to wait an extra week. We picked up our box today and it was HUGE - I opened it up to find books I didn't order. EEK! And a packing slip that wasn't mine! *double eek* All I could think was, "This woman needs her books NOW!" (I don't know that she does. I don't know her. But I felt for her.) When I called Rainbow, however, the lady I spoke with was wonderful. They're repacking the poor woman's order and hopefully shipped it today, and they'll send UPS to come pick up the ones that are here. I'm so glad they aren't going to make her wait for these to go back to Rainbow and then out to her.