This thread is making me mad and I want to have some witty remarks but it's late and I'm tired. I don't know one single overweight person that is not KEENLY aware of their status and does not wish every.single.day. that it wasn't different and changeable, myself included. And all these overweight people, again myself included, have done just about everything they can to lose weight. Dropped tons of money on "diet programs", hours and hours in a gym or on the street trying to walk or run it off, giving in to the promises of dangerous medications, etc, etc. The only way I seem to be about to lose any noticeable amount of weight is to stick to about 600-800 calories a day. For real. Have you ever done that for any period of time? It is not possible long term. And yet, as one of the "obese", I have no health issues. No heart disease, excellent cholesterol, no diabetes, etc. My husband who is maybe 25 pounds overweight is on an antidepressant and a cholesterol med, is seen easily 4x a year more than me for allergies or his back or whatever. Why then am I the drain on the health care system? Do you really think I need to hear that I should just stop going to McDonalds?

:lurk5: We're planning on doing the same thing for Christmas I think. I will be reading with interest!:D

It can only get worse when you find "Juicy" written on shorts at Kohl's in the kids size 7-16 area. With skulls and crossbones to boot.

Yeah, uh, I'm not getting this list at all. :confused: It doesn't correlate to the great sites in the US in any way. Suppose I should go click on the article and read it - it must have to do with being cheap to get/stay there. Grand Canyon is cheap. What about the Golden Gate Bridge? I'm certainly not as well traveled as so many of you but I have seen some really glorious parts of our country that have made me appreciate both God's creation and man's innovation. Sure I'd like to see more on this list than I have, but it's not a particularly good list imo. :001_smile:

I :001_wub: Brian Regan. :smilielol5:

I have a question - did everyone's kids know all their letters and the letter sounds before starting? My ds is 5, just turned last week, and I got the book off the shelf today to get started with him. He still doesn't know all his letters by sight, nor all the sounds. We're doing Little Hands to Heaven as our main pre-k program, but I thought I could get him started in this. Should I wait until he knows his letters, or let him learn them as we go through the book?

Jennifer, I'm sending you a pm now.

:grouphug:I agree. This will turn out good, a job is the important thing. You said 7 months...is this temporary? Be strong!!

OH! Removing from queue immediately!!! :blink: Thanks so much for the heads up!

My husband is an only child, so it's pretty much been him and his parents his whole life. They are retired school teachers, very simple, "salt of the earth" kind of people. They think of me as the daughter they never had and I feel very blessed to have them. Unfortunately they are now becoming more like dependent children in their older years, but I care for them with all the patience, love, honor and duty as I would my own parents. I am very sorry for those of you that have to deal with being treated so badly. Life is so short and precious.

:grouphug::grouphug:

We've recently enjoyed the first season of Leave It To Beaver. Also: Apple Dumpling Gang Homeward Bound That Darn Cat The Cat from Outer Space Lost in Space, season 1 Bolt Madagascar Nim's Island the Herbie movies (originals) Freaky Friday (original) pretty much all Jerry Lewis movies: Disorderly Orderly, The Bellboy, etc Zoom: Academy for Superheroes Young Indiana Jones series Harry and the Hendersons :D

What about The Joy Luck Club? Oh.my. Sobbing! I hadn't read the book before watching it and it hit me completely out of left field. Ah, but with mothers and daughters I guess I shoulda known! The movie I cried hardest at, and sat in a dark room for many hours afterwards crying (still can't think about it too much) was Schindler's List. But of course I knew that would happen.

I wish we had done a biblical theme but we fell in love with the name Lucy and that was simply "it" for us. Both my dh and I had grandmothers named Evelyn so that's her middle name. "Lucy" was in the top 10 in England when we had her, so when my son was coming along we needed something that might go along with it. I was so in love with the name Elliot, but we also tossed around Liam, James and Henry. When he was born so early (29 weeks) we had to decide fast and Elliot it was. His middle name is Daniel after his father. We almost never run in to another Lucy or Elliot and I like that A LOT, especially considering my name is Amy and we have just about the most popular last name.

Me too. I am NOT a long-term memory kind of person. I will come up with a memory and my mom will tell me that I am remembering seeing a photograph. The photo might trigger the memory, or maybe I don't really remember and I can just "see" the photo in my mind. My DH has tons of very good memories of his childhood and has found lots of people from his school years on FB - even some teachers. I have no interest in trying because I don't remember them. It's kind of distressing sometimes and I have wondered if it's just the way my brain is wired or if I am supressing something terrible. As far as I know my childhood was no bowl of cherries, but it wasn't horrible either. *shrug* I have a few memories of high school, of course, but most are bad. I hated those years. I think my life began in college.

I just wanted to encourage you too, that they work and will be SO worth it. We used the Dri Sleeper, and it's not inexpensive, but wireless. I wound up sleeping in the guest room near my dd's room, with a monitor, so I could hear it go off, help her wake and go, and get resettled again. She was 7. I can't say that I wish I had bought it sooner, because I don't know that she would have been ready sooner, but it worked in a few weeks and she has never relapsed. Good luck to you and be of good cheer! It will work!:D

Hi Rebecca, I'm dale1088 over there at HoD. We kinda sorta got started with Preparing this week but got derailed when I pulled out Singapore to get started again and realized it just wasn't going to work. So we had a slow week getting back into the groove while I await my order from CLE Math. I'm excited about the switch to CLE for math (I have read a lot of your posts about it, as well as others). I think the workboxes are going to be great with Preparing. I made a spreadsheet for the week with what she's supposed to do and all the materials are found in the boxes. She knows what is to be done independently and what to come work with me on. So far I love Preparing and think it will be quite rigorous for 4th grade. My little guy has just turned 5 so I am doing pre-k with him in Little Hands and he really likes it. Depending on how much work he gets in the groove with, I might start working on 100EZ with him too, and just keep adding whatever seems appropriate. For now he likes the pace. All is well with HoD around here! I LOVE it!:D

My son is named Elliot, so I was going to suggest it! We hardly ever run into another one. Also: Daniel James Garett Jackson Travis Simon (still my fav but didn't go w/my last name:glare:)

Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright Gullivers Travels by Swift A Gathering of Days by Blos Little Women by Alcott Eagle of the Ninth by Sutcliff The Phantom Tollbooth by Juster Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by O'Brien The Great Good Thing by Townley Ella Enchanted by Levine Stories of Charlemagne by Westwood The Pushcart War by Merrill Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Taylor Christy by Marshall Jacob Have I Loved by Paterson :D

We had leftover pot roast that I pulled out of the freezer. It was okay. I have a new recipe that I'm going to try tomorrow night where you layer diced cabbage with browned ground beef and stewed tomatoes in the crock pot. You are supposed to top it with 3 slices of bacon while it cooks for 6 hours, then remove the bacon since it's just for flavoring. I have serious doubts that my kids will eat the cabbage, but I gotta try something new. Rebecca, have you ever used polenta? I buy the tube, slice it and lay it on a cookie sheet and drizzle with a little EVOO, s&p, and even a little parmesan. Broil those babies with some chicken sausage and serve with roasted veggies, or some marinara as your veg. A different spin on spaghetti and my kids LOVED the polenta. Monday we are grilling bugers and I'm making them with hoisin, ginger, and scallions. Mmmmmmmm.

:lurk5: John MacArthur has a bunch for individual book studies. I loved the one on the book of James especially.

:smilielol5:

This is sort of us too. My ds was a preemie (29 weeker) and is very small for his age. He is now 5 and usually pretty bulletproof with most colds and strep, but since he has asthma, I am thinking that we should do it. I also care for my elderly in-laws and am thinking that because of them and ds, we should all get it. I just CAN'T STAND all the conflicting information. I am not up for reading all the medical reports and it just seems so confusing to the average person.:confused: To be honest I trust our pediatrician implicitly and if they tell me it's a good idea, then we will do it.

I'm at this place too. I have no energy. I am overweight. I eat crappy. I don't get enough sleep because I can't shut my brain off. I use caffeine to wake up, caffeine to stay awake mid day, and benadryl to get sleepy at night. Clearly this is not right. I am overwhelmed by my house, the bills, the shopping, the kids, their schooling, my responsibilites for my in-laws. It makes sense to me that right now I don't have the energy or motivation to exercise, even though intellectually I know I need it. I can't "find the time" either because I can't get up early enough. Sorry, but I hate being told that all I need is exercise. I'd like to get some thyroid function testing done, but I am always told to lose weight to solve all my problems...except that the problem is I can't lose weight (unless I go on like 800/cals a day). I have ALL the symptoms of hypothyroid but I always somehow test barely within normal ranges and that's not really even the good T3 & T4 tests. I'm not depressed. I really don't think I am. But I do think I am having some major hormonal fluctuations relating to perimenopause, and I need help. I hope you can work it out for yourself. I think I am going to make an appointment with the doc to see if I can get her to try testing my thyroid again - or refer me out to an endo. Maybe I should just skip her and go straight to one...? Would they help with ideas on perimenopause? Maybe I will also talk to DH about joining the Y. I have a different gym membership right now but I don't go because there are never any homeschoolers there and dc stick out and hate it, and I hate it because it's a HUGE gym full of beautiful people. The Y folks are more normal. :grouphug: Hope you get some more good ideas.

How about just a nice "I'm not interested, thank you. No need to stop by again. Have a nice day!" And then close the door.