I saw those first two on Amazon, and my gut was telling me they'd probably be good. I'm glad for the confirmation! I have not seen the third one, but I will check it out. Thank you very much!

I've had tile in the bedroom before. Most of it was covered with a large area rug, but the room was huge, so there still was a lot of tile. It was cold, even though we lived in the tropics. And it seriously did not help when my plantar fasciitis flared up. I don't dislike it enough to rip it out if it's already there, but I wouldn't put tile in the bedroom of my own choice. I'd prefer hardwood, which tends to be warmer, not as rock-hard, and a little quieter. If my husband really wanted tile in the bedroom, I'd lobby for in-floor heating, and I'd probably still want rugs over as much of it as I possibly could cover.

I'm putting together plans for K, beginning in the fall. My daughter will turn 5 in July. One of the things I'd like to do is have a "morning time" in which we read her daily devotional, do some calendar work, and read a poem. I would appreciate your recommendations for books of poetry, or maybe some books-that-are-a-single-poem, to mix in with longer books of poems. We read A Treasury of Mother Goose poems this year. My daughter didn't like it--the poems were all too silly and nonsensical to her. I admit, I also didn't like it, because the whole point of nonsense poems is to be nonsensical, and when your child wants everything to make sense and therefore asks you to explain the poems and to tell her why the cat did this or the woman did that, you find yourself in the difficult position of trying to make sense out of nonsense. Not fun! We also read Eric Carle's Animals Animals this year, and it was liked better, but mostly because of the pictures (my daughter loves animals), not because of the poems themselves. For next year, I'd prefer poems that, while still on a level that a 5yo can understand, are longer than the 4-8 lines that we've mostly seen in our current poetry books. I'd like them to be a length where we can read one poem a day, then talk a little about what it says and what happened or what it's describing or how it makes us feel. I don't want these short little nonsense poems that we read one in 2 seconds flat and then can't discuss because what is there to say about nonsense? (I'm not a fan of nonsense poems, in case you couldn't tell!) I personally prefer old fashioned poems with meter and rhyme, rather than what seems to be the modern ideal of freestyle poetry, but I don't mind mixing in a book of modern poetry with books of older (or older-fashioned) poetry. My daughter may like it, and I would rather give her the chance by exposing her to it instead of imposing my preferences and not giving her the opportunity to see if she likes it. Beautiful artwork to accompany the poems would be much appreciated, but is not absolutely required. Given all that--what would you recommend for us? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

It depends on the children in question, their familiarity with the area, their ability/willingness to follow safety rules, the area itself, the weather, all sorts of factors ... all of which the parents know those factors best. It's their decision to make. I do not think the state should have gotten involved.

The direct link is: http://www.tapestryofgrace.com/forum/ You can find it also by going to their website and looking under the Community menu in the top right. It is not very active at all, but as I said, if you post a question, you'll get a response from a customer service rep if nothing else.

I'm with you--I'd love to hear updates as to how this works for you.

In this case, with no pre-stated deadline, I'd send an email with a 12-hours-from-now deadline, noting the time. In future, I'd put in the listing that if payment wasn't received within 24 hours of you accepting the purchaser, the item goes to the next in line.

I'm so sorry for your loss. It sounds to me like you are experiencing normal grief, and you should not be too hard on yourself. It's good that you're going to see a therapist.

I haven't used TOG yet, but I know there was a thread here somewhere in which people were saying they liked it. I am on the TOG forums, and they aren't very active. However, if you post something, you will get a response. You may get one or two "real" responses, you'll definitely get a response from a CSR, and you won't hear anything negative about the curriculum from anyone, at least not that I've seen. So WTM definitely is your best bet for real reviews.

Praying for your friend and her family, and also for you and yours, for peace.

Because of our living situation (overseas, sometimes in places where we can't assume herd immunity because the local population may or may not have been vaccinated), my family re-ups all our shots whenever they're due, as well as submitting to a few vaccines that most Americans safely skip. Also possibly because of our living situation, and because I take frequent breaks from paying attention to the news, I have no idea you're talking about with regard to a recent outbreak :huh: . However, I would encourage anyone who is not philosophically opposed to vaccines to check out their records (if they still have them; I've been told that I'm very strange for still having all my records, even from childhood) and ask their doctor what vaccines may need a booster. ETA: And yes, I think everyone who vaccinates should ask about *every* vaccine they've had. It does you no good to have had the shot at age 2 if it wore off when you were 12 and you've never had a booster, and whatever is going on with this outbreak, why not be prepared for the next one while you're at it?

Throw some chicken breasts or pork chops into the slow cooker. Pour in some of your favorite sauce; amount needed will vary based on the size of your slow cooker and amount of meat--BBQ sauce or salsa tend to work well. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4ish hours. Depending on what meat and sauce you used, you may want to shred it with two forks (BBQ chicken is a particularly good thing to shred), but you may not (salsa pork is good without shredding). Or, almost as easy as those, and SO very good: Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs/Legs/Whatever, as long as it has skin and bones so it doesn't dry out (quoted from http://garlicmysoul.com/blog/paleo-friendly-honey-garlic-wings/):

I had to double check with Google to be sure I was right before I clicked that I knew it--I was right, though I had no idea that the British had a different definition.

I also love my Dutalier with the rocking ottoman (which also has a nursing stool thing built in to the ottoman). Super comfortable. It's 5 years old now and still going strong. Edited to add: depending on the style you get, it can lock into place for safety around unattended little ones, and it can recline. It also has the little pockets in the arms for books.

I'm not Orthodox, so I don't know of any holy places in Greece. However, I am beyond excited to do our first rotation through ancient history while living there. We may have to extend our school year to accommodate all the field trips!

I'm the wife of an American diplomat. We have the legal right to homeschool anywhere in the world where we are sent on behalf of the United States Government. It is unfortunate that there most likely will not be home school co-ops that have any Greeks in them. However, I am aware that there are non-Greek citizens there who do homeschool their children--but I'm not certain if there are exemptions to the law for them, or if they after school but call it homeschooling since they're meeting all their kids' English-language educational needs, or if they're illegally flying under the radar by homeschooling. I know these people exist, as I've met people who've met them, but I haven't been able to make contact myself. I also do know that there are a couple of other US diplomat families there who homeschool, but I've gotten the impression that their kids are significantly older than my daughter. We may end up relying on church connections for opportunities for her to make friends. I have just begun paying attention to what's happening in Greece, in preparation for our move there. It will be an interesting time to live there, for certain. I hope your relatives are able to weather all the storms that come.

:party: Such exciting news! I'll third the request for an audio-only download option ... OOH, I can have my husband play them in the car on a road trip in July instead of all political podcasts for 8 straight hours! A podcast would rock, but I trust my techie husband to figure out a way to get any audio file onto his phone so he can plug it in to the radio. :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

If he's willing to go with "A. Jeremiah," then that's what I would do. It preserves his nickname, which it doesn't appear that he minds, but removes the bulk of the name that he associates with a difficult past. If he is not willing to go with "A. Jeremiah," then I would seriously consider changing it to whatever he most prefers, if you're confident that this is a lasting thing and not something he's going to regret or want to change again later. Just make sure that he understands that if he continues to be known as "AJ," but people know that his legal name begins with some other letter, there will be requests for the "story" throughout his life. Of course it will be up to him whether or not to share the story, but you can't have such a disconnect and seriously expect people not to ask. (Names are not often such sensitive subjects that people would think it inappropriate to ask.)

If there's an outlet mall near you, see if there's a Haggar outlet. They sell nice suits at good prices.

I would apologize for missing the dirt or whatever, then not say anything more about it ... but I also would not be spending time at her house anymore, period, and there would be some rather extreme limits on how much time I or my children were with her at all.

I think it's ok to deviate, but it also would be nice to stick with the theme. How about bruschetta? Slice the bread and make the topping before you leave home, then when you arrive, toast the bread and slather the topping on.

We did our first Disney cruise last September, on the Magic, the westbound transatlantic cruise. We loved it! It was the perfect venue for our timid 4yo to meet the characters, in a setting that physically was more comfortable than the hot, crowded theme parks, and because we did the transatlantic, there was time for multiple meetings of each character, so she could be shy and timid the first time, a bit less timid the second, and run up and hug 'em the third. (One of the hallmarks of their customer service, for me, was that the first time she just dropped my hand and ran up to a character, the cast member who was accompanying that character said, "Yes! Way to go, Alexa!" By that action, he indicated that he knew both her name and her history on board--there was personal attention, and the quality of service was high in a way that I'm not sure would have been possible without that personalization.) We loved it so much that we're already booked on another one. We're hoping for the next few years to do a Disney cruise each year ... it will be difficult financially to do that, but we'd like to do it now, as she seems to be right in the perfect age range for it. When she's older, we'll try one of the theme parks, but for now the cruises are perfect. Also, in addition to "the Disney experience," we get all the other benefits of cruises--one comfortable hotel/resort location, but the opportunity to experience multiple "vacation destinations" in the form of the ports of call. And I loved that almost everything was included--some things were more, like spa treatments, alcohol and other specialty drinks, and one clearly-extra restaurant, but because so much was included, we knew going in what we needed to budget, and were not surprised by lots of unincluded extras.

I know it's a long shot, but ... we'll be moving to Athens, Greece, late this summer, just in time to start homeschooling our daughter for K. Does anyone know of any English-speaking homeschool groups (co-ops, support groups, playgroups, anything) there?

I think both mom and baby need to be evaluated. Baby, for all the reasons others have said. Mom, for depression, for B12 issues ... maybe for thyroid issues. Of course the problem is that you can't make Mom do anything. I know it would be hard to say to her "All is not well with your baby, and she needs to be evaluated." Would it be easier to have a conversation that begins with "You seem to be a little overwhelmed, and I'm worried about you. I want to help you. Can we talk about how I can do that?" Issues with depression may come out in that conversation, in which case you can have a phone number ready to give her. Do your research about medical issues that could cause her symptoms--B12, thyroid, for example--and be prepared to mention them as possibilities and to suggest that she get herself evaluated. In the course of that conversation, it may naturally come up that baby seems to be having some difficulty as well. Even if it doesn't, though, it may be that the best thing you can do to help baby at this point is to help mom, so that mom has the ability to help baby.

I also only have a young child, so I am usually very aware of my relative lack of experience when it comes to raising and educating older children. I'm very careful to keep my opinions to myself, except when the child in question is my own, and then I thank others to keep their opinions to themselves unless I ask. (I love to hear about what they did with their kids, the struggles and successes they had, etc, because I know hearing about their experiences will help me make better decisions, but don't tell me what to do with mine unless I ask you, and don't tell me a story about yours that obviously is a thinly disguised statement of what I should do with mine.) When I have seen a homeschooling mom struggling due to the circumstances of her life (she was struggling with an illness, not with a full time job, but the principle would be the same), my response was to honestly ask her: How are you doing with homeschooling right now? Is there anything I can do to help? She seemed so relieved just for someone to have noticed that she was in a rough patch. I couldn't help her much with the actual homeschooling, but I think just having someone recognize and affirm that it was hard was helpful to her. In your situation, if you see your friend struggling, I'd go to her openly and say "Wow, it must be hard to homeschool while working full time, and especially when you have such an advanced child who moves so fast. I think I'd have a hard time keeping up. How are things going for you?" Then let the conversation develop naturally from there, offering to help or answering questions as they become relevant, but accepting it if she says "Oh things are fine, thanks" and absolutely NOT pushing in with "Well, I think you should do this." The best help you can offer may be to put her in touch with a more experienced homeschooling mom, and if this friend indicates that she's having trouble at all, then I'd be sure to offer that--or even better, to put her in touch with a group of homeschooling moms.