Pretty please with sugar on top???

Surely the weather report was not your suggestion of a quote to write in a book???;)

Please???

Recently, I gave a children's book as a gift for a dear friend to keep at her house for reading to her grand-dc. I haven't seen her since she's received the book but she mailed me a "thank you" and said that she wanted me to sign the book for her so that her gdc and great-gdc will always know who gave them the book. Help! My creative brain has been on overload lately. I'd like to write an appropriate quote along with my signature in the book. What would you write as a quote when signing a dc's book? Thanks so much guys,

Unless, dh and I are doing a rare night at a hotel, we practice this too. Even with my kids being 20 and 17, they'd rather have us home before they turn in. Of course, that's not a biggie for us because our kids like to stay up late and dh and I DON'T like going out to dinner real late because it makes it harder for us later on to get to sleep. But, yes, it's creepy even for my kids to go to sleep when we're not in the house. Heck, I'm like that when my dh is on business trips:(.

Oh, and one more thing.... When I first began leaving kids alone for brief errands, I made a point of always giving them non-urgent phone calls while I was out. The method to my madness:rolleyes: was to allow them time to be on the receiving end of the stupid phone calls. By the time dh and I began going on dates while kids were home alone, they understood really well how it feels to be interrupted for foolishness. I know, I know, the board fairy is wicked:p

Joanne, Obviously, if your kids are still calling to tattle or ask stupid questions, they need more training. We hit a change when our oldest was about 10-12yo so we developed a transitional plan to *gradually* teach them how to be home alone. You know, baby steps. At ages 13, 11 and 9, once you train them to call ICE only (in case of emergency) they should be fine. Only exception I'd make regardless of age is when one is dealing with limiting emotional or medical disorders/diseases. Like in my case, youngest dc was/is insulin dependent diabetic. We waited until oldest was about 15 before leaving her home alone to be responsible for overseeing younger sister's diabetes care while dh and I would be on a date. Good for you to be taking the initiative for finding "alone time" for you and dh. The relationship between dh and dw should come first. Many homeschooling couples, yes, even Christian couples, are ending in divorce today at about the same rate as non-homeschooling couples because nobody makes time to tend to the fires of marriage. Their homeschooled kids ALWAYS had to come first. You know this. I'm mentioning it for other Christian readers to ponder. I applaud what you're doing. Take some time to train your dc to learn what are the appropriate situations that you would want/not want them to call you. Only recently, my dh and I waited until oldest dd was 20yo, youngest was 17yo before we finally felt safe enough to go away (in our town) a few times a year for a romantic hotel night. Again, diabetes care was the deciding factor for us. Before they become adults, kids need to understand that parents love them but that they (parents) have their own dh/dw relationship to nurture as well. Otherwise, how else will they understand the importance of keeping the marriage fires stoked if/when they become married. As a Christian couple my dh and I believe that our order of priority list for nurturing relationships looks like this: 1st- love of God 2nd- caring for relationship with spouse 3rd- caring for relationship with kids 4th- others Sorry, this was more than you asked but I'm feeling especially long-winded this morning. Lucky you;):D

Happy Anniversary to you all. Happy 27th to dh and me.:D

I know you asked who doesn't celebrate the day but I thought I'd chime in just to say that we DO celebrate it..... as our wedding anniversary ;) . Happy 27th to dh and me:D .

Sister Wendy's videos along with her commentaries are delightful, a "must have". My oldest dd also used Gombrich's Story of Art, following the text with assignments from Oak Meadow's syllabus. We didn't find Stebbings materials or "Short Lessons" all that suitable for high school. They weren't meaty enough.

I just had another talk with dh about this. It seems he's been drinking a lot of coffee lately. Early January his job changed from driving all day to working in the office all day, every day.... and drinking... a lot of coffee... like at least 10-12 cups each day... could be more. Could the coffee be doing this?

He's in mid-50's. Bad breath has been present for maybe a few days to a week. No significant changes except he's drinking more coffee lately. Thanks.

Ditto!!! Don't ever put a stranger in your car, knowing that they are not acting right. She could have caused a car accident, she could have had a gun... who knows! Bringing her outside away from your kids and then calling police might be best, for future references. Not meaning to sound like I'm fussing at you but after dh put her in the car, things could have gone very, very wrong. I pray she doesn't hurt anyone before police catch up with her.

My dh has recently developed a horrible bad breath. He went from no bad breath to horrible, terrible bad breath. What would you do? We're clueless about what's causing this. Should we see the dentist first, our family doctor, other?

It kind of annoys me that this cumingirl I read about who I know is a school teacher... may have been the same one who posted here posing as a homeschooler.:mad:

I read about a "cumingirl" at another website. She started a really stupid marital intimacy blog called christiannymphos with 4-5 of her friends who all go by different spice names on the blog. I say the blog is stupid because all the spice girls sound alike when they post articles on the blog and nobody comments on their articles except the other spice girls. The flavor of the blog articles is such that they really believe they are giving out good advice but their advice is lame. Everyone I know in cyberspace who's seen the blog only laughs about it. Oh, and the best part is that this "cumingirl" I read about is a full-time school teacher. Do you happen to know the link to the cumingirl who was here? (I missed it too.)

I've been having hot flashes since I was about 30-35yo. I'm 51, had a hyster at age 40 and STILL getting occasional hot flashes, although living up north has tremendously calmed down the frequency. But no sickness with hot flashes unless you count my being sick of getting hot flashes:mad::mad::mad:.

::: :confused: how can I make her comphrehend how much money she will have to pay back when she's done with school? Assuming she doens't get scholarships, which I'm doubting she will. She's an average student. My parents wanted me to go to cc first, but I didn't take their advice and had big student loans to pay back. Do the math with her for both case scenarios-- student loans for 2yrs cc/2 yrs university vs. 4 years of univ. Explain to her how much she'd be paying back each month in both cases. Btw------ Don't assume they'll be no scholarships. Academic ones aren't the only kind out there. Oldest dd received scholarship money for academic performance and even one scholarship for being Asian, go figure. Dd's doing it all at 4-yr univ with 3/4 scholarship, very little financial aid and her student loan is only $15,000., which her father and I think is small enough for her to be able to pay it back. There are many types of scholarships out there. If your big toe is shorter than your second toe you can get a scholarship (jk).. but you get my point. Do your homework. ::: :confused: Do we tell her she has to go to cc first, or do we let her make the choice? If she's paying her way, it needs to be her choice but if Mom and Dad are paying, you have more say. Either way she needs help deciding. I am not of the opinion like most colleges tell us that "your kids are adults now". Excuse me???? When my kids are totally supporting themselves, THEN they are adults. As long as Mom and Dad are still putting out money and advice to help them through college, they're still kids trying to become adults. Your dd needs to live with the choices made for the finance of her college. Work with her to find a doable plan to pay for college. Others may disagree with me but I don't think a 17-19yo has enough knowledge to figure all that out on their own. If you and dh can't pay anything, then let her know, don't pay anything and don't feel guilty about it. If you and dd have a 4-yr univ picked out but you clearly know that she can't afford to study there for 4 yrs, just show her the numbers on paper and explain it to her. Don't let her sign up for 4-yr univ and then you and dh feel obligated to pick up the tab because she can't afford it. That's where you point her to cc for her first 2 years. My oldest.. 2nd semester univ... had to choose between larger state univ with full tuition and smaller private Catholic college with 3/4 tuition. We knew she'd thrive best in smaller college. We did the math with her and saw that private college would mean less money "out of pocket" for her because we're 10 minutes from private school which allowed her to live home and do 10 minute commute. Large state school across town would have involved transportation for commute OR..... she would be paying room and board herself for dorm living. A no-brainer... she/we chose the private school. Our 11th grade dd may have to go the cc route for her first 2 years. She's recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She has learning challenges. This yr and next, we have her taking a minimum of 2 cc courses per semester (fall, spring & summer) so by the time she goes cc full-time in Sept. 2009, she'll have at least 12 college courses behind her. This slow and easy plan works best for her at this time and will be easier on her finances. Last month she payed from her own money, cc tuition and books. In other words------ With our situation, dh and I are limited in how much we can help our kids through college. We help where we can with advice and other things but they "own their education" so they have to work their way through. That's life for us! Oldest dd has to work 15 hrs/week on private school campus to pay her portion of tuition. Her dad and I only help out here and there... buying her clothing (only on sale or at Salvation Army), doctor bills, insurance, free room and board, free transportation, etc. Financing college is a good time for kids to learn how to take charge of their life but don't just throw them out there and say, "There you go kiddo, you're an adult now so figure it out!" Help them through the process. Don't force them to make those decisions all alone or they may end up doing the wrong thing out of ignorance and will regret it for years and will be bitter later on that Mom and Dad didn't help guide them through the process when they needed that help. OK, I'll stop. This is probably more than you really wanted to know.:D

And for all the other wishes I missed in this thread--- POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF POOF!!!!! :D:cool:

Daisy, you are as young as you feel-- POOF!!! (says the 51yo board fairy) And Andie dear, I already granted your wish but if this makes it official--- POOF!!! :cool:

I went back to this post I made about these wonderful poetry resources and tried to edit my post. No can do! Am I missing something? And how come my posts don't show up in bold print like others? Yeah, yeah, I know I'm the board fairy and all that stuff and should know how to solve this problem but I never learned computer literacy in "fairy school":rolleyes:

After viewing several courses we decided that Abeka would work for us.

50 years ago, around the time I was born, my parents bought our home in a New Orleans suburb for $15,000. It was a decent 3-bdrm, 1-bth ranch with front/back yards and garage. Dad and Grandpa built a family rm and utility rm in the back with 2 bedrms and another bath above it. I don't remember exactly what he sold the house for 30 years ago but I know that he got somewhere between $200-300,000. for it. How's that for appreciation? Unfortunately during Katrina the house floated off its foundation :( and ended up (intact) in the neighbor's backyard where it had to be bulldozed with all the other houses in that neighborhood. I managed to get the original house numbers that were still above the front door after Katrina. Every time I look at those house numbers I'm reminded of a simple life that my parents lived 50 years ago.

No way would I make up my own science courses for high school. It would have been a horrible, terrible idea for us. Fwiw- I currently have my youngest as a hs junior/part-time cc student and oldest is second semester, full-time college.

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