If I remember, Flagstaff is closer to the Grand Canyon. But it has been a few years. We also chose to take the train from Williams (??) into the canyon after hearing tales of hours of sitting in the car waiting to get into the canyon. The ride was relaxing and one day was all we needed to see what we wanted to see in the canyon. However, we went in July so timing may be part of the lines to enter. We first went to Sedona in the late 80s, before it became the tourist place it is today. My dad knew an old guy that had done stunt work in the old cowboy shows and movies in the 40s and 50s. He told us that Sedona was one of his favorite places.

Usborne books doesn't sell thru Amazon any longer. School and library accounts can only be ordered thru the Usborne Educational Consultants and many libraries either have not found a consultant, or don't know that they can order the books but must find a way outside of their usual jobbers. I became an Usborne Consultant just so our local library would/could order the books.

Just remember that you will both change. Your expectations will change. Your hopes will change. Your dreams will change. But not necessarily at the same time. I am not the same woman my husband married back in 1998. He is not the same man. There will be times when you are at different points, vastly different points, in the same marriage. Add in fatigue, money problems, health problems and money issues and that 'only fight for 15 minutes' rule may not work. As the marriage evolves, your methods evolve. That is where commitment comes in play.

:iagree: I actually reposted that photo on my facebook page sometime in the last week. When I think of it, I think of heaven. God has not promised me an easy life by any means. It is not because I am emotionally immature, or had an easy life. It is because I believe that no matter how difficult it is here, that I will hopefully be in Heaven someday if I keep my faith in God. God promises Heaven. He promises that I those who follow him will be persecuted. He promises that he will care for me - but how that happens may not be how I envision it. I share pictures like that because I believe it. I share it because sometimes I need the reminders and I have enough like minded friends that they appreciate them as well. I share it for entirely personal reasons, not to convert or offend. But then I have never attended a church where the faithful are promised wealth and health in return for belief. When my athiest friends share posts related to their beliefs, I just ignore them and move on if they don't match mine. If people are posting these and you don't like it, you need to hide their posts I assume.

The jeep tours are fabulous! I wish we had done it more than once. We also took a train ride that originated around there somewhere that we enjoyed as well. We rode in covered cars out in the desert and by old mining towns. It wasn't the one to the Grand Canyon, but that one was nice as well. If you go to nearby Flagstaff, the planetarium is a fabulous visit as well.

Be careful with the sugar free diabetic candies as well. My dad can't eat those at all with diabetes. He can handle real chocolate better than that stuff.

Crunchy veggies with a variety of hummas is my bad day go to now that I am diabetic. Not as satisfying as chocolate, but the crunching certainly helps with the aggression and frustration. Pair that with some good tea or coffee and time with a friend, and the day gets better.

Sometimes when I am having a difficult day, I like to remember those sayings. If I post them on facebook, it is because they have helped me thru the day. It is part of my faith and belief system. Romans 8 says that all things work together for good. Do I understand it all? Did God promise me a life free of bad and pain? No. The attitude I try to have is that if I persevere, I will have a reward of Heaven. Am I trying to rub it in anyone's face? no. And I am not trying to be preachy. Maybe you are reading too much into the comments based on your own background.

I would check with local laws as well. Sometimes cities have additional laws about signs and such. My dad owns several rental properties and has never put a political sign on any yard except maybe his own residence. If renters put signs in the yard, he doesn't mind as long as they are not illegal, immoral, or offensive.

We had to have the liner replaced in our above ground pool this year. The liner wasn't expensive compared to the labor of putting it in - combined $1000. Of course we had to refill the pool after they were finished. Our pool holds 15000 gallons of water and the bill was not much. We were quite surprised. We did notify the water company that we were filling a pool, how large the pool was, and what dates. They only charged us for the water only, we didn't get charged for the sewer part of the bill which happens to be the most expensive here. But our water bill is higher all summer because of the pool. It evaporates, gets splashed out... and regularly needs some more added so the pumps work correctly.

Go to an eye doctor NOW! I would skip the pediatrician, I would call my regular optometrist or go straight to the opthamologist. IMMEDIATELY.

I recently sent a nice new pen, a small notepad, and a small post-it note pad to one of my dd's teachers that has really gone above and beyond. I spent $3 at Michaels in their $1 bins and the teacher has raved about it since. She uses the pen daily and always has need for note paper and post it notes. As a recently diagnosed diabetic (March), honestly, I would also rather not have a food gift. Unless it is packaged so I can read the label, but even then, I would most likely just pass it on to my kids. Fruits are even tough because they contain natural sugars that can cause havoc in some diabetics. What works for one person, may not work for another.

I bought my dd's leotard this year for $5 at a consignment shop. It looks like new. I paid $9 for USED ballet shoes this year. Make sure that the shoes you are looking at in the store are not those house shoe slippers that sort of look like ballet shoes though. They won't work. I know at WalMart they hang those house shoe kinds by their leotards and tights, but they are not for use in class by any means. TIghts. You want the real kind and they are not that cheap. My daughter went thru an inexpensive pair in one class. I have 3 pair from last year that are the good quality and they wash and wear wonderfully. The floors in her dance class are not smooth. They begin warm-ups on the ground and the cheap ones would snag every single time. oh, yeah, they also run small.

I am in South central Arkansas. Closing the pool means setting chemicals to prevent algae build-up and covering the pool. Opening it means that you clean it out, then bring all chemicals up to levels to keep the pool clean and usable. You will hear the word 'shock' a bunch in the beginning. Friends of ours here keep their in ground pool open all year and just make sure to clean out any debris that blows in during winter. Since their pumps are covered, and we rarely have freezing weather, the pool does just fine. They pay less for the pool guy in the months they don't swim (Nov to March here). troublefreepool.com is a good place to go for basic pool information. I don't use their borax, baking soda, bleach method, but there are lots of people there with lots of pool knowldge that can help answer most questions.

If the pool has been well maintained, it should be fine even if it is old. We have an above ground pool but friends have an inground pool that is fairly large. They pay a guy $150 a month to clean, and keep chemicals level. The chemicals are additional and can be a lot, especially when you are re-opening the pool in summer and then closing it down for winter. Many people care for their pools by themselves but it is a learning curve. After 2 summers of pool problems, I paid someone to open mine this summer and it was very worth it. The rest of the summer I maintained it. Even though ours is not inground, it has been a fantastic thing to have for the kids,and myself. I like it for convenience and exercise. Our insurance is more because of it, and we have certain rules we have to follow for them, but nothing difficult. Even without lots of leaves, you will need to keep it clean, and there will be some maintence required for pumps, filters, and such.

Have you tried the Silk Soymilk coffee creamers? They come in smaller containers and in flavors. They are thicker and richer like cream and creamers. I know you don't like regular soymilk, but these may taste enough different for you that they will work.

My 5 year old is doing some of this. I see some of hers right now as learning to assert herself verbally for the first time really. She is learning that words have power, but she hasn't learned how to best use them. She also wants what she wants because she wants it. I just keep telling her no. My son went thru the same stage and gradually he learned that we don't get what we want just because we want it. There are rules, guidelines, and expectations that parents have that must be respected. Of course, at age 12 we are looking at a whole different set of issues. Sigh.

There are very few totally clean programs out there. And even those that have the appearances, may have kids in the background doing what they should not. Since this is not a school team, it may be that the coaches/administrators had not made a great rule about how to handle such instances and could only invoke the light sentence they did because they were unprepared to deal with it. A school team would have had much more presidence and power to discipline the students than just another team lead by parents and a nonschool organization. But yeah, my children would not be on the sidelines laughing. If they had to be there, fine, but not to laugh and ignore teammates. Not to mention the loss of priviledges at home. That being said, the rape should have been a criminal issue and not a coach issue. The time in JD would have been court ordered. The parents would have had to work thru the court system to get them out. Even if they lawyered up, a few weeks in JD is nothing to sneeze at. Have you ever visited a JD? I would never want my kid at the ones here. You don't make it clear if the coaches allowed them to play again after that or not, so I don't know how to hold the coaches responsible for what happened. Kids make bad choices with or without adults behind them. (And rape is a horrible choice). Guilty or not, I would make sure my son had an attorney if he is ever charged with rape.

Our story has been put here before, but I will share again. :) I had a dyslexia diagnosis for my son, by a qualified reading specialist, when we began VT for tracking issues I was also noticing. 18 months later, after multiple issues found with his vision and lots of hard work in VT, I was told he never had dyslexia. It was apparently his vision all along. I know he is a rare case though. And he still has other difficulties with reading that make me think we are still looking at an LD of some sort. The VT currently is charging about $125 for an hour (or 45 minutes) and usually expects the child to come once a week with homework daily in between. She also did minor re-evals about every 6 weeks. Payment was due at time of therapy, no advance pay unless we wanted a discount.

Dh needs to ignore this sister. When we were married a couple of years, one my my SILs tried a similar tactic. Dh was truely too busy to reply, and after a spell she dropped it. When she tried it again, he didn't reply, and she dropped it. After the 3rd time, she stopped completely. I haven't had to deal with a whine since about 2002. Don't be angry with him (even though it is tempting) but rather find some way to support his strength in resisting.

A mom was telling me how her son's ball team stood in front of a WalMart for one weekend with parents and brought in over $3000. After a second weekend, they had over $10,000. I don't know if every group is that successful or not, but that was way more than I expected. They also chose a WM in a fairly well to do area. The first year they did this in desperation after not even coming close to their goal by selling things, having car washes, dog walks, and so on. After the first year, WalMart came first then they found other options tht would bring in what was left as far as need. If, and this is a big if, I have cash on hand, and the kids ask me politely, I will often give to those at WalMart. FOr those goofing off or just yelling, "hey, give us money!" I decline. My favorites are those groups that set up tables and wait quietly and politely.

The same places that does driver's licenses here will make photo IDs as well.

The key here is that I believe these folks are not necessarily rational, or at least in my definition of rational. Some of it is like mob mentality - think of riots after sports events and the like.

I think trhis is it. Her hands were bleeding, she sees her husband - the father of the children - and thinks the child would be safe with him. In an emergency, my reaction would be to give my children to my husband as well. Apparently neighbors were coming out as well by this time. I would have expected him to give the child to a neighbor if necessary, or something else because I would never, ever think that he would try to put the child in harms way.