Two thoughts: 1) PPs mentioned learning a little French before you go. Might you be able to get something from the library? Or if you have an MP3 player, iTunes University has podcasts (free) for people wanting to learn all kinds of foreign languages. You aren't going to get fluent in the time you have, but I'm guessing that every little bit helps. 2) I have a friend who travels to France for business. She said (just last week) that it's not so much that Parisians are mean or unfriendly; it's just that going there is like going to New York City. You would never expect people in NYC to be as nice as people in, say, Iowa City, and likewise we shouldn't expect people in Paris to be as friendly as in other parts of the country. I agree that if you're 5-6 hours from a city you've always wanted to visit, you should do it. Five years from now, you could be thinking, "I could have gone to Paris, but I didn't. Why not?"

I'm going to second the "move to Colorado" opinion. We live in the suburbs of Denver, and we know people who live further out who have acreage. I moved here 14 years ago from Chicago, and while I loved certain things about Chicago, I do not miss the clouds. I think this part of the country is an ideal happy medium between having enough sunshine to avoid depression while not having so much that you live in a desert (ugh). Since I grew up in Minnesota, I was not impressed with winter in Chicago, and I am less impressed here. Winter is positively wussy here - you'll love it. They're even gradually learning what snowplows are for, so we kind of have the best of both worlds. The one thing we don't have here is large bodies of water. I grew up on the Mississippi, and spent 5 years looking out my bedroom window at Lake Michigan. I miss water. But if you want water, you have to deal with clouds, and I for one am better off this way. Good luck deciding!

It's better. I wish I could still eat the stuff. As for the original question, how about on a bagel, layered with some cream cheese?

I've always heard that smaller (not that 7.2 is exactly small), more frequent earthquakes mean that the big one isn't imminent, because the pressure isn't building up to let loose all at once. True story? I'm no expert; I live out here in the middle of the country so I don't have to think about it.

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree: That's why I live in Colorado. Hurricanes and tornados are one thing, but the ground is supposed to hold still already!!!!!! :grouphug: ETA: It's funny - I posted before I read the whole thread, and read all the people who would rather have an earthquake than a tornado. And snow???????? Pfffft. What's a little white fluffy stuff? I'd shovel any day of the week and twice on Sunday to get out of an earthquake.

The vast majority of 3yos just aren't ready to read, no matter what you do. I say, let them enjoy being three, and enjoy them being three. You have exactly one year of that, no more and no less, and you'll get to enjoy them being six (or whatever age they learn to read) when they get there. For what it's worth, my dd6 could read my name when she was 2.5, but she still didn't learn to read until she was five.

I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder at that age. My dd6 likes Junie B. Jones, and the series about Ramona Quimby.

I'm so glad it's not just me!!!!!

I use a pumice stone on my feet, and then lotion. Aveeno makes and intensive nighttime something-or-other that works wonders. I think you're not supposed to use a pumice stone (or any other means of scraping off skin) if you have diabetes, but I've always wondered if it's ok if you just rub very gently with it.

Two things I didn't see mentioned: 1) If dd6 loves public school, you may get some resistance when you're ready to pull her back out of ps. 2) I don't have a baby in the mix, but I do have a dd6.5 and a ds5. If I start with dd6 first, ds5 comes along and says, "Teach me some math!" and won't stop pestering us until he gets some attention. So it works best to start with him, so he gets the attention he's looking for, and once I get him occupied with something, he's totally absorbed and will let me and dd6 concentrate. This works b/c dd6 is a little more patient about getting my attention. Long story short: if your dd3 is like my ds5, you'll stay saner if you do something with her that looks like school than if you don't. I second the idea of having the older kid(s) teach the younger one(s). Your oldest could even "teach" the baby whatever she's learning. "See Baby, these 5 blocks added to those 5 blocks makes 10!" Baby thinks, "Fine, but how many can I get in my mouth at once?"

I can't have chocolate, and I'm allergic to peanuts. Between the other four, I would be very seriously torn if I were sitting in a restaurant. For general purposes, my favorite dessert is creme brulee, or anything involving coconut. But I also love to try new things, and the pear cake and lemon cream puffs sound so intruiguing. Will you give us the recipe for the pear cake?

Trusting God Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges. It's not specifically about death, but you get the idea from the title. :grouphug:

:iagree::iagree::iagree: He can always work on learning the best way to object to authority figures who are in the wrong. Too many people don't need to learn how, because they'll never object. I'd be proud too!

Ordinary vegetable oil usually works, but it depends on the surface. A leather cover would be fine with some oil, but oil will stain paper. Put it on and let it soak for a few minutes, then rub. A washcloth is a little more abrasive than your fingers, and shouldn't hurt the surface, if it's something that can handle oil in the first place.

RIT makes dye (available at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and JoAnn near us) and their website has instructions for various ways of doing it. I want to try this one.

I never would have made that connection, but yes, and it extends to nearly everything I do. 1) A recipe is a recommendation and nothing more. 2) I would never dream of blindly following a curriculum. 3) For knitting and crocheting, patterns make me nuts. I'm much happier with the finished product if I take charge of it from the beginning. 4) I couldn't follow a daily schedule if my life depended on it. There have to be other examples, but I'm going to bed (way past my bedtime of course).

:iagree: No kidding. My mom told one of her friends about it over the phone, and I was so mad. I was too embarrassed even to tell her I was mad, but I thought, "Why don't you just put it on a billboard already?" I would have preferred that my dad not even know, but I couldn't figure out a way around that. I definitely would not have wanted flowers from him. And I think if anyone had planned a public party for the occasion, I would have found a way to move to another continent.

My mom's rule was that we had to try whatever she made, but we didn't have to eat a lot of something we didn't like. I always thought that was reasonable, even as a kid. And now the only food issues I have are with foods that cause me problems. Unfortunately, they are generally my favorites!:sad:

Eggs are our whole family's main source of protein, just because they're so much easier for me to fix than meat. You don't have to think ahead about taking them out of the freezer. If your plan changes between getting meat out of the freezer and the time you were going to cook it, you don't have a lot of leeway for making adjustments, but the eggs were in the refrigerator anyway. We eat them boiled, scrambled with cheese, as egg salad sandwiches. I'd make quiches if I weren't lactose intolerant. BTW, boiled eggs are really good with salsa - who knew? None of us has any cholesterol issues; I have no idea what I'd do if we did. We'd probably all starve.

I disagree with the idea that your only two choices are to protect her or to let her figure it out. I would say that you can help her figure it out. When I was 15, I needed someone to help me figure things out, and to listen without being in a hurry to judge me, but I didn't have that, and I "figured some things out" on my own, with less than happy results. It sounds like you have a good relationship with her, and she feels like she can talk to you about anything that troubles her? That will help her. :grouphug:

RightStart rocks. I have become convinced that children need to understand math using real objects first, and then go to writing all the symbols. So I'm not at all a fan of worksheet-heavy programs. Plus, they bored me silly when I was a child, and I got problems wrong that I knew, but I just couldn't stand to pay enough attention to do it right. So we started Kindergarten with Math-U-See, because I liked the manipulatives, and some friends are enjoying it. But it's still just worksheets, and you use the manipulatives to do the endless worksheets.:bored: Then we heard that RightStart uses a lot of games, and not many worksheets. We got level B for 1st grade, and discovered that it also uses a variety of manipulatives, and card games whose cards have pictures of real objects. I love it, the kids love it, and we haven't looked back.:D

I'm a very big fan of going with your gut on this kind of stuff. I think you did the right thing. And the only other person in the story who had any right to be even slightly unhappy with you about it wasn't unhappy. So don't let people tell you that you shouldn't protect your kids from people who seem "off."

Back when I had one, soap and water took care of anything that might have wanted to linger. It was marble, with the non-polished surfaces you describe. The thing it couldn't handle, unfortunately, was my 2yo dropping the pestle on the tile floor.:crying:

I didn't vote, since none of the choices reflects my position, which is that I support it 100%, but I am open to joining any group in which I find people that I like. I am a conservative Christian, one of those annoying "Jesus is the only way" types, but I like being friends with all sorts of people. So we were part of a secular and very inclusive support group until it disbanded, and now we're part of a Christian group that requires a statement of faith. The lack of non-Christians in the group isn't a problem, since we can meet a variety of people in other places. I agree that people should start whatever kind of group that they want to start, but it's a serious bummer that you only have one in your area that doesn't work for you. And kudos on your integrity. I like that you won't sign something you don't believe, just because it might be practical.

:iagree: When I was in grade school, my favorite books were: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle (and the two sequels) Laura Ingalls Wilder's book series (It's not fiction, but it's a great story)