Although local municipalities and water districts administer the water resources, the Fed. Govt. has *a lot* of control over water issues. There was a recent Clean Water Act that has had municipalities scrambling to update their water treatement facilities (and come up with the funds to do it). Also, one of the things the Census information does is give the Feds information that aids them in where/how to distribute funds at the local level.

Here in OR it is September 1. However, I remember back in the 70s in WA it was sometime in November. I have a December birthday, and got moved up a year, so I graduated at 17. Although I was one of the youngest in my class, I had several classmates who were just a month or so behind me.

My oldest was hsed until 9th grade. I had planned on homeschooling all the way through. What happened, though, was that at the beginning of 9th grade, he was taking choir and playing football at the local high school. Because of the schedule, I spent a lot of time driving him back and forth and it was cutting into academic time at home. Also, my attempts at outsourcing higher math were causing both of us much frustration, and I realized he needed more structure. So, six weeks into 9th grade, I enrolled him in public school. Although it wasn't our original plan, it has gone very well for him. He is doing well academically, socially and otherwise. I ended up putting my younger son into ps in 7th grade (the next year after his older brother started). It is going well for him, too.

I am just about your height and weight and it sounds like we have the same proportion. Recently, I went into Ann Taylor Loft and the saleswoman who greeted me promptly directed me to the Women's section. Women's sizes have always been too big for me but I guess she couldn't tell that by looking, lol.

The Kashi has 10g fiber, 6g sugar and 13g. protein. Good idea about the oatmeal. It would probably have less sugar. I can eat whole eggs. I thought the omega oil would make up for the lack of egg yolks, but I will certainly give that a try as well. >> What is your cardio workout?...because it may not be intense enough. Your heartrate needs to be up high enough for at least 20-30 straight minutes<< 30-45 minutes on the elliptical or stair stepper. I try to maintain 130bpm, but I think that may be a little too low, since my target range is between 106 and 152. Thanks for the reminder.

ITA with the other posters that the hs conferences tend to be of one particular leaning or another. I attended one conference where the keynote speakers and a couple of breakout session leaders were pretty set on homeschoolers having a lot of children to the point of being disrespectful of those who only had 1 or 2. Having said that, I would go to a conference if there was a particular speaker or breakout session I was interested in that I knew would certainly benefit my homeschool and just SKIP the rest of it.

Have you tried pumping? It never worked for me with any kind of pump.

I have been trying to lose 50lbs forever. 16months ago, I started Weight Watchers and lost a total of 12lbs in a year, most of that was after I stopped counting points and started counting calories. I now keep track of my calories and nutrition online, which works as well or better than WW, though I am still not really losing. I eat 1400-1700 calories/day, depending on how much I workout. I workout almost every day, cardio and add weights on alternating days. I have started adding more protein into my diet, but am hitting a low blood sugar wall every morning around 10 that is difficult to climb out of. My typical morning eating is this: Breakfast soon after I get up: (7ish) 2 egg whites, Kashi go lean w/milk coffee w/milk (no sugar) 4oz. knudsen mega green juice 1tbsp. women's omega oil (starving at 9:30) Snack: (9:30-10) 2 slices lean natural lunch meat (6 g. protein each) Apple 2 tsp. peanut butter starving 30 minutes later, so I eat lunch around 11 am. Any idea how I can change up my diet to prevent this? It looks really good to me. Btw, after I workout I make a smoothie that is protein powder, milk, oat bran, and flax seed. Thanks!!! Forgot to add that when I saw my dr. a year ago, she told me to exercise more. I am, and it's not helping.

:lol::lol::lol: Not sure who has too much time on their hands....the people who thought this up, the people who would watch this, or the people who dress their monkeys up like children. Too funny!

Do you have a gallbladder? I had similar symptoms when I had one. (Notice I refer to that organ in the past tense. All is well now.)

I enjoy shopping, but I like going alone. Because of the jobs I have now, I can't wear my jeans and t-shirts all the time before like I used to. While I like to try to wear more up to date styles, I don't usually talk about these things with other ladies. It would be like discussing what you had for breakfast or when you brushed your teeth. You just buy clothes and wear them. Also, Christy, I liked your comment. I love our church, but they have recently started doing men's and women's activities. The men's activities are things like playing softball, bowling or going to a baseball game. The women's activities are primarily potlucks and the like (eating). The men's events sound a whole lot more fun to me.

I think hormones could have a lot to do with it. I'm like you, and it gets much worse right before that time of the month. Sometimes I don't even remember what tom it is until I start obsessing about somethin like a hangnail and after 3 lost nights of sleep it finally occurs to me. Unfortunately for me, recognizing the problem doesn't make it go away. If only it were that easy!

Have you seen the Think! brand? They are pricey but are very comfortable and look great with jeans or skirts/dresses. I have the linked pair in black. Normally, this pair sells for around $300, but I found a pair on clearance for $50. http://http://www.thinkshoesusa.com/shoes/prod_detail.aspx?style_sku=85243

I never put SSN#s on doctor/dentist forms, and no one has ever come back to me and request that I add it.

I've read all the books and seen the movie a couple of times. I loved the movie, but I'm a bit biased b/c most of it was filmed in my little corner of the world ;) In watching some of the commentary, Stephanie Meyer talks about how she saw everything in her head before she wrote it down and much of the movie is how she imagined it. Other than Edward, I think all the vampires were perfectly cast. I didn't care much for Jacob, but I read somewhere someone else might be cast to play him in the next movie.

I wouldn't have done it early on. This year, my boys are both in ps. But from the day they were born, wild horses couldn't have dragged me away from them, especially in the infant/toddler/preschool years. Now that my boys are middle and high school, with college looming, if dh suddenly had a hankering to hs them, I'd tell him to go for it, but he would have to figure out the logistics since he is the primary breadwinner.

Dh and I were just discussing Galveston the other day. We have relatives in Pasadena and visited Galveston just before Hurricane Rita (the day they were evacuating!). Anway, we were wondering how much it's been built back up after Ike? We'd love to go to Galveston again if we get down to see my aunt this year, but didn't know what was left.

Is Washington D.C. and option? Our kids were 7 and 5 when we went there (In July!). It is a very fun family vacation, and there are things of interest to every age. I'm anxious to go back now that mine are teens. We'll have a whole different experience.

I have a couple of her dvds and like them. One is pilates and the other is strength training. I went through them a couple of times and did just what you said-I muted the sound and also ff through some parts of it.

What I did was only read when I was on my elliptical trainer. Amazing how quickly and hour of working out would go by before I even realized it! I did have to exercise (sorry for the pun) some restraint, and *only* would read on the elliptical. It was a great motivator.

This morning I administered the SAT to a group of mostly ps high school seniors. There was a one-sentence statement on the answer sheet (something about not telling anyone what is on the test, etc.) that the students were asked to re-copy and it specified cursive-no print. There was a collective gasp from the group and several of them asked what they should do b/c they don't remember how to write in cursive. Whatever your opinion is about teaching cursive, I thought this was interesting. When I hs, one of my boys had the hardest time with writing, and cursive was just unbearable for him so we finally dropped it. I was sure he'd be behind the ps students in that subject. Apparently, it just doesn't get used much anymore.

I don't particularly enjoy IMing. It's awkward to me when I'm online trying to do something else. However many of my IRL friends (especially the younger ones) IM all the time. I think it's just part of their generation. I find it a tiny bit annoying when the chat screen pops up. What does one do when one doesn't want to chat at that moment? Ignore it? Tell the person you don't want to chat? If I turn off the IM feature on my email program or Facebook, what happens when someone wants to chat? Does it look like I'm ignoring them, or do they get a message saying I'm not able to IM? What I really want to do is get into the brain of a 20-something and understand their perspective. Any thoughts?

We attend a Foursquare church and have a minivan and a Prius. Mostly there are vans, suvs and sedans in our lot. I have never seen another Prius there, and even though there are a lot of them on the road, I only know one other Christian who owns one--the rest of the Prius owners I know do not attend church. *Also* there is a conservative denomination in our area (Apostolic Reformed, I think). They only wear dark blue or black clothing and only drive dark blue or black vehicles. I think they are a little bit like the Amish, but more modern.

Also, I disagree with this quote from the article (which is not substantiated anywhere in the article): "The real target of the liberals and the left has always been the children. I know many people who claim to be liberals and/or left-wing politically, and while they may have different social,religious and political views than me, they aren't going after anyone's children. That being said, as parents, we need to make sure our children are in a protective, nurturing environment wherever they are. Just because something has a Christian label, doesn't automatically mean it's a good thing.

No, and no. When we made the decision to put my oldest ds in ps in 9th grade, it was with much prayer and consideration of all the options and opportunities available to us. There were many factors that went into the decision and in the end we knew it was the right thing to do. In hindsight, I would do it again in a heartbeat.