We've enjoyed Cat Stax. Some of the other games by Brainwright look neat but we haven't tried them.

For DH I am getting him a DNA test for the dog. He picked the dog, he loves the dog (LOVES the dog) and I know they are probably unreliable, but it will be fun and he will enjoy it. I also usually get DH a couple of new pairs of Wrightsocks, which are the only socks that both he and I have used and loved for running/volleyball/other athletic pursuits for many many years. They are comfy and we never every get blisters. They last like crazy too, so he doesn't really need new ones as they pretty much never get holes, but they do get pretty dingy looking as we do not worry about separating laundry colours so the white ones are really gray now. For my dad, I am getting him Sprout Pencils. This may seem strange, but he is a man who will literally use a pencil until there is half an inch of it left. I am also getting him the Pop Chart Lab 100 Essential Novels Scratch Off Chart because he loves to read and since he retired he has been picking various literary prizes and reading through all the winners (let's read all the Booker prize winners! let's read all the Giller prize winners! let's read all the Nobel prize winners! etc). So this is right up his alley. DFIL is more of a film buff so I'm going to Pop Chart for their 100 Essential Films Scratch Off Chart.

DH and I also hated the default one. He has just started using Casts a couple weeks ago and is much happier, and he listens to podcasts quite often. I haven't tried it yet as I always seem to have children who want to yatter at me whenever I have a moment that might be suitable for listening to a podcast.

I would also be bringing knitting needles already attached to a giant ball of super fine yarn (that counts as one time right?). I would have to buy a kindle and load it with books, but would be willing to read ebooks for 3 months to avoid having to choose only one book to read. For the third item I would commission my daughter to create some piece of art that features DH, both kids and all the animals.

We've been to joint parties for siblings many times and it has been great. We, and many others we know, have also hosted birthday parties where they might not have been cake, but something else - it all depends on the whims of the birthday boy/girl and my children have had many strange whims (waffles and whipped cream, key lime pie etc). We also have opted for non-traditional gift giving some years - we've done they 'buy something from this list for this animal rescue', we've done the 'bring 5 books you don't read any more and we'll have a book swap and donate the remainder to the local book sale that supports the children's hospital', we've done the 'toonie' party where you tape a toonie to a handmade card instead of buying something, we've done the 'no gifts please' route without offering other options. All have gone over just fine. It does help that we have a community of friends who are like-minded and often doing similar things so my kids have attended other birthday parties that are of the same nature.

DD has been taking piano for 3 years and they do a lot of improvising but she does it in conjunction with her piano teacher - teacher will play a rhythm/selection of notes and give DD instructions like: you can only play on the black notes, or you can only play in this particular area. It works well for her but then again she is very much a creative person who hates to abide by the rules in any endeavour. That being said, I never improvised in the 10+ years I took piano and I'm pretty sure I would have dislike it intensely had I done so. I would say that if it's not working and causing stress, just skip it. Not worth making him lose his interest in the piano for that.

I didn't manage to vote in the first round but probably would have chosen the middle one. For the Kate Morton cover, definitely would choose the first cover. Maybe I'm not a fan of red? I've read The Forgotten Garden and one other Kate Morton book and I found that once I'd read the first one, the second one was plotted so similarly that I was mildly irritated. I tried a third but had the same problem so I've given up on Morton. Sadly, cannot help with the subplot from a Morton book as I also found them fairly forgettable and that was probably 5 or 6 years ago that I read them.

This is so true. I tell myself that all the time (along with my other favourite mantra which is 'if it only takes 5 minutes, just do it NOW', don't look at it, figure out what to do, figure out it will take 5 minutes and then put it aside only to have to repeat the whole process again some days or weeks later, therefore taking up even more time as you try to figure out - again - what to do). I'm not necessarily that good at following the just do it now philosophy, but I do feel it is a good one.

Currently: DD choir - $400/year (8 months) so about $50/month DD Guides - $300/year approx (that's for registration fee, weekly dues and camp fees for 9 months), so about $35/month DS Cubs - $450/year approx (again, reg fee, weekly dues, camp fees for 9 months), so about $50/month This is a particularly slow session for us. That was deliberate as we are trying to pay off debt. In January we'll add piano which could be $80/month and swimming which is probably about $30/month. Some years DD has been in 7 activities and DS in 3 or 4 so those years have been more along the lines of $600/month. Yikes. When I add it all together that's a lot.

I think my book's title would be: Musical Beds: How to sleep in a different bed every night and not lose your mind (or your phone, your glasses or your book). The sequel could be entitled: Everyone Else's Brain: When do I get to use it myself? Related to the discussion about productivity/organization type books, a friend and I are doing a year long Happiness Project challenge. Each month we are going to read a chapter in the book and try to figure out how we would attempt to make ourselves happy following her models. The first month in her book, which she starts in January, but we've started in November because we're rebels like that, is all about Boosting Energy. So we have each come up with ways that will hopefully help us boost our energy (physical and mental) and we are endeavouring to put those into place this month. So far, halfway into the month, I can't say that I have more energy but I am thinking about the things that give me energy more and trying to figure out how to have less energy sucked away from me.

We have not. I will look into these. They sound great!

That is a great idea. We've just finished watching season 1 of The Durrells on Corfu and the kids are intrigued by the notion of being that age and being set free on an island full of animals. I read a whole bunch of his books many years ago and enjoyed them all.

I just reached over and plucked that right off my book shelf and deposited it into the donation box. Finished The Beach by Alex Garland - it struck me as very juvenile and also dated, being written in 1997ish. Set in Thailand with a cast of characters of Western 'travelers', it seemed that the author, who was very young when he wrote it, was trying to figure out his own morals and what he wanted his life to be like. I won't be keeping that on The Shelf. Trying to find a new read aloud for evenings with the kids (10 and 11, not that into fantasy/sci-fi and my preference is for older books because they are simply much more pleasant to read out loud). We have been striking out lately. Ideas welcome.

Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke was popular around here at the same time as those. As for drinks, I'll take any kind of tea, caffeinated or otherwise, but I limit my coffee consumption to once or max twice a week and even then I cut it with half hot chocolate. Caffeine from tea doesn't bother me but caffeine from coffee can give me some serious jitters and heart palpitations if I'm overdoing it, which seems to mean having one per day. Book wise, I passed on the book Chrysalis Academy recommended about The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating and he read it and enjoyed it and promptly went off and researched things about snails and insects and passed it on to my mother who also read it and enjoyed it (a rather shocking event as this is not her usual choice of book). Working on The Beach by Alex Garland from The Shelf. I remember reading this in the 90s as a young person and being blown away by it but I cannot for the life of me figure out why (DH also read it back then and felt the same way but cannot even remember reading it at this point) .

I had to convert from celsius, but we are at 72 F right now and I am wearing a lot of layers and a wool sweater and wool socks and warm fuzzy slippers and playing twister and hula hooping and I would not describe myself as warm in any way. We do set it down quite a bit at night though (to 65ish) as we sleep better when it's cooler and the second floor where the bedrooms are located is warmer than the main floor.

Ooh! Ooh! I know! I just ran across this today and it looked super interesting to me. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad It's YA but for much older teens and quite lengthy. Obviously I haven't read it but it would work for that square if that is something that sounds interesting to you.

I'm not sure that I sacrificed my ambitions to further DH's career but did so to some extent to be with him. The career I was looking at initially when we first started dating would have required me to be constantly moving from one city to the next pursuing the next job and there was never any certainty of finding another job. DH never said anything against it but he wasn't willing to be involved in a mostly long distance relationship. I decided to pursue graduate studies in another area but became disillusioned with the quality of research (at least at the institution I was attending). By that time I'd also realized that 1. DH was not keen on moving anywhere or travel and 2. in order to be able to afford a house where we were living was ideal so moving to another university to continue my graduate work and find a job (which would hopefully have been in academia) was unlikely. In the end I was pretty happy with where I ended up from a job perspective and even happier when I got to be home with the kids part time (and full time for 2 years).

Our homeschool group has basically stopped organizing anything that involves money. We will host parents nights at people's houses and park days/games days and that's about it. We find that people clamor for activities (both ones they can do with their kids and ones that the parents can attend for support without their kids) and are theoretically going to attend but then no one shows up. We try to make things accessible by making sure we offer daytime and evening activities in various parts of the city and changing the day of the week on occasion and we even offer free snacks and drinks but so often only a small core shows up. At least we can say we tried. As have you.

Having now finished it, I found that for me the dominant season was spring - there were some parts that featured spring that for whatever reason stood out for me for than others. It was a satisfying read and I'm glad that I stumbled upon it thanks to this group of readers.

We did a modified version of this over the summer which I called "Nature and Neighbourhoods" (but only to myself). We basically invited one other family to come with us, which kept it both manageable and contained and also made my kids excited to participate because they got to do it with friends. We would go out to a nearby park one week for a short hike (1 hour max), and the next week we would explore a new neighbourhood in our city by walking (also about 1 hour). We usually tried to learn a bit about the park and what we might see in terms of plants, animals, geology ahead of time or something about the history of the neighbourhood ahead of time. Because we were limited to 7 people maximum and because the kids are on the older end (9+) and also because they are generally lovely respectful kids, we didn't have a problem with anyone being noisy/littering etc even though those things weren't made explicit ahead of time. I'm not sure I would want to 'lead a group' but this was more like a neat family playdate where we all got outside and explored new things. But I'm not really the 'lead a group' type person.

I'm trying really hard to finish both the bingo and my current shelf before the end of 2017. However, other things keep on interfering. As in, other books that I read about on this thread. In the last couple of weeks I've finished the following: - Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell - read for the Flufferton Bingo category, which was a delightful and quick romp through 1930s English gentry's lives. - Main-Travelled Roads by Hamlin Garland - obscure book that was next on The Shelf - collection of short stories all centred in same area/time frame (1880s Wisconsin/Iowa kind of area). I normally hate short stories but I've ended up keeping this book much to my surprise because I think I might have the kids read a couple of the stories as an antidote to the romantic view of westward expansion and rural life that is so often found in other books. - The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey - thanks to Chrysalis Academy, this was an example of me straying from my path but I was happy to do so as I found this book to be a quick and engrossing read. I've already recommended it to several people IRL and passed it on to my father. - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - read this for the Bestseller from the year of birth of your spouse/child (2007, year of birth of DS) - it was also already on a shelf in my house but not The Shelf, sadly. I'm still processing this one. Compelling look at Afghanistan from the 1980s through 2003 as seen through the eyes of two women whose lives intersect and who experience the trauma and upheaval of living through that time. It has compelled me to research further into Afghanistan's past and present and I am going to keep it on the shelf in order to press into the children's hands as they get older. I usually avoid best sellers but I guess I shouldn't dismiss them out of hand. Currently reading The Ghost and Mrs. Muir thanks to Kareni, I believe, and I'm enjoying that and now want to see the movie. I have to find a Western, a Steampunk novel, an Ancient and something with a Prime Number to finish the Bingo. I think I'll try for a Prime Number book next.

DS was not that into toys but he did really enjoy his Plan Toys banjo and Plan Toys drum. He played with those for over 4 years and even still pulls them out. I enjoyed the fact that the noises they made were not obnoxious. Depending on how you are travelling however, that might not work well. DD on the other hand loved all toys but for travelling one of those Magnadoodle drawing board with a few magnetic shapes was a huge hit. She could play with that for the 2 hour car trip with no fuss.

We are using Burning Cargo this year, which is going much better than their previous program (typing.com I think). They started with DanceMat before this. Burning Cargo is free, which is a bonus as well.

I have two Lily Bloom crossbody purses that I really like. One is more upright so the water bottle doesn't have to lie down, whereas it does in the other one, which risks leaking depending on what water bottle I bring. Depending on your fondness for patterns, you might like this. I have one that is very 'fall' and one that is more 'spring'.

I have found a local rescue for rabbits/guinea pigs/hamsters and we will probably get some from them. They seem to be quite serious about vetting people and matching animals with the right family.