Thanks to the both of you for your responses! I think maybe now is the time for me to investigate MUS more. I looked at it last fall when I began this whole journey but didn't get it. Now I really need to look at it more. I just don't think Singapore has enough review to make sure we are really getting the concepts before moving on. Hopefully I can find a friend that can loan me a level to really try out. Thanks again!

My dd and I love the Grandma's Attic series.

Can I ask a dumb question? How do I know if I should switch? We are using Singapore. It's okay. Math facts are not memorized, but I'm going to work on it this summer. DD complains about math and thinks she's not mathy, and I know I'm not. At what point do I know if we are just going through the motions? Should I expect her to ever really "fall in love" with math, or is this fine? She is an exceptional reader and does well in other subjects. She even does okay with math, but hates add/subt facts. Singapore moved on, so we did. I just don't know unless she starts getting lots of problems wrong if a concept is not getting in there. KWIM? Math was and is my scariest area to teach as I contemplated homeschooling, and I want to make sure we don't get too far down the road in a program that is ultimately not going to work for her. If you had a non-mathy kid, who is just going in to 4th grade, would you switch to something like MUS or keep on with Singapore until the proverbial wall gets hit?:confused:

So far, do you like them? Do they make your water taste like metal? A friend said hers does, but I'm not sure it's a KK. Can you freeze some water in it? I cracked 2 of mine just the other day by freezing some small amount of water in them - yes the top was off - so we are on a hunt for good water bottles for summer. I don't want to spend a fortune, especially if they might get stolen or lost. I also don't want them to sweat, but it's impossible for them not to. Even the insulated ones do it, and they are too bulky. Guess I haven't found the perfect water bottle. :tongue_smilie:

Betcha I can get Mexico. Would that be needed?

I lost my first post, which was way more witty than I can come up with now, so...anyways... I have been avoiding certain movies until we read the books. Enlighten me because I have not read all the pages of this thread... Holes Secret Garden Little Princess Caddie Woodlawn Winn Dixie Tuck Everlasting Anne of Green Gables - I think I saw "no" Sarah, Plain and Tall Christy Black Beauty Just this week we got the original Wizard of Oz and hope to read all the ones in the series...worth the time, right? Not too weird for an 8 year old, or should I wait. And I got to show them Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang for the first time this week too. Oh. The. Memories. :blush: (Oh, and my dh has ALL episodes of MST3K recorded on VHS and we are in the process of recording them to DVD now. Hundreds of episodes that he laughs HYSTERICALLY at. Me, notsomuch.)

I think Mac-n-cheese might be on my "what to serve for the last supper" menu. And pizza. Slow orange death indeed. Bring. It.

How old are these sons and can I borrow them?:tongue_smilie:They will make great husbands someday! Good job! And I like just cleaning one room or zone a day. My house is on the larger side (we'd love to downsize) but if I could just get the kids better trained to keep up with their clutter and put it all away I swear it's half the battle!

That's it. A dear. :crying: When she said she "finally feels like she has something to offer". For all the geeks, and nerds, and dweebs, and nobodys in the world...Susan is doing it! I just love her!

Oh. my. I'm so sorry. I had two spinal taps and I have never had pain like that. It is not the kind of "headache" that anyone, even those with migraines, can understand. I don't recall being told caffeine would help. I remember having to be completely flat on my back and I didn't/wouldn't eat or drink for 2 days. Finally my dh was able to start getting some flat coke down me. Eventually, of course, I recovered. No advice, just hugs - BTDT!

Heart of Dakota

CONGRATS on your contract!!! :hurray: Us too. We've been in communication with our mortgage co to find out if we qualify for any of the housing assistance from Obama's plan. They just finally sent us a pkg we have to fill out and then they will decide on lowering our payment. Problem is, unless they pretty much cut it in half, it won't work for our income level. So we're going to send it all in, and pray they lower the pymt enough, and if not try to short sell. My understanding is that we need their approval to short sell it, so I still don't know if that will work. Sigh. And I am NOT looking forward to all the cleaning and organizing and painting, etc, that we need to do!

Holy COW! What a show! C'mon! KISS, Queen, Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper, Carlos Santana, Lionel Richie...and Queen Latifah!!!!! :w00t: All on the same show! It was fantastic! I like Kris but would have liked Danny better. Adam is going to be a bigger star. I can just feel it. He has more raw talent and some producer will get ahold of him and know how to find just the right music. I predict a runner-up star a la Rueben/Clay. Great, great show!:D

I'm glad for this thread as this is a struggle area for me. I don't even have a huge family and spend easily $180/week on food. Now, we don't eat out too much...but still. I am trying out Angel Food for the first time this month. It will be interesting to see what the quality is like. I get so caught up in trying to find things that are organic/natural/high fiber/100% whole grain yada yada yada but it's SO expensive. I had a friend mention the other night that aside from doing things to purposefully harm herself, she figures God has our days numbered so we do the best we can with what we have. Well, maybe I read too much about nutrition, but I can't help but think that having antiobiotics and growth hormones in milk, or malathion in veggies can't be anything but harmful. But regardless, I HAVE to slash our grocery budget. Even if I could just cut it down by $50/week, that's $200/mo. I wish we had Grocery Outlet or any stores that will double coupons. I never do well with coupons because the store brand almost always beats out the coupon savings. I have Sams and Costco but I am afraid of overspending there. I know I also try too hard to have variety and superior taste in our food. i rarely repeat things within a 2 week window (other than leftovers for lunch) and I am always thinking outside of the box for recipes. I need to move more toward a simple palate and serve more beans and soups. My kids will eventually eat them I guess.:confused: Keep these ideas coming!:bigear:

My son was born at 29 weeks weighing 2 lbs 3 oz. He was in the NICU for only 7 weeks. No lingering effects at all. He is small for his age and we work hard to get calories in him because he won't stop moving! No vision, hearing or lung problems. I was not able to produce much milk at all, a phenomenon I experienced with my dd too, so he was on donor breast milk the whole time he was in the NICU. Bless those mom's hearts that had too much milk and donated it!!! He also got a shot called Synegis that helps to protect against RSV. He is rarely sick now at all! I was working at the time and returned to work 2 weeks after my c-sect so I could save my maternity leave for when he'd be released. If my husband was not working at home at the time I don't know what we would have done...we had a 4 year old also at the time. We were unable to put him in day care of any kind, so that reality might impact your DB and his wife a lot. No church nursery, no mall, no grocery store, no crowded public places for the winter after he was born. That was a HUGE adjustment for our family. I'm sure their precious boy will do great! They are scared now but in good hands. Those NICU nurses and docs are angels from heaven.

Oh Katie! I could have posted this! My house was built in 1995, when wallpaper with vegetables and green stripes, and white tile was IN. Immediately after I clean it, it looks dirty. No amount of vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, kicking-out-family-and-dog does the trick. To top it off, when mine gets wet, like tracked in water from rain on your shoes it's as slippery as stepping on an ice rink! We thought we'd pull it all up and put down hardwoods but that day will most likely never come. It's just too expensive. No advice, just feelin' your pain!!!

RC, You are getting so much love and support. :grouphug: I know you are scared and desperate. Try, if you can, to pray and ask that God reveal His will, that you will be able to understand in time why all this is happening. Just like the blacksmith places the iron in the fire to make it stronger, you will come out stronger too. "Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again." Psalm 71:20-21

Ohhh, I like these, but for dd. She's been picky and hard to buy for lately. She will pretty much only wear flip flops (horrible for feet), mary-jane style Crocs, and no tennies. But I need something for hiking, more rugged summer wear. Any of you with girls that like this style of shoe?

Funny you posted this as I am about to sit down and craft a diet for myself that will restrict carbs (of the mostly wheat variety). I want to focus on 12-1400 cals a day, and mostly fruits and veggies and proteins, but with a few carbs thown in to keep the cravings at bay. i am going to use the South Beach Diet book as a guide. What diet are you starting? Your own or a store bought one? Wanna start some kind of accounability thread or group so we can keep track of eachother...or anyone else wanting to get started? I'm fat and I'm not going to take it anymore!:tongue_smilie:

Do you have HGTV? If not you can always visit their website and there is a forum there for selling/staging tips too. Have you sought the advice of an expert Realtor in your neighborhood? Investing tons of money in your neighborhood might be a big mistake, you have to know who your buyer is and the Realtor will be able to tell you that. The three most important, even before a Realtor comes is: CLEAN DECLUTTER (make it almost look like you have too much space) NEUTRALIZE (I agree about possibly covering up the wallpaper, but not necessarily redoing the floors) We used drywall plaster to create a Tuscan effect on our walls to cover wallpaper that we couldn't remove. It's lovely, if I do say so myself, and a fraction of the time and cost that removal would have been. There is a great show on A&E called Sell This House that redoes homes VERY inexpensively, using what you have and some paint. Check out the photo gallery of befores and afters for some great ideas. I swear it's mostly paint!

Thanks Abbey! I did look into it further and that's the exact suit I was looking at, and also saw where you can select "slim" I'm not so much worried about the bottoms riding up as I am the top. You know how when you jump in the water it "pushes" up that kind of top. I think we may be better off shopping together IRL so she can try on some things. Thanks for your reply though!!

Abbey, About those LE tankinis. I checked them out. My dd is 8 (9 this summer) and is quite tall for her age - she looks like most 11 year olds. And she's not rail thin, but pretty normal (with a slightly pudgy tummy). She doesn't have breasts yet to contend with. Do those tankinis ride up when you jump in the water? She really hates board shirts - not sure why - but has agreed to shorts over a one piece even though I find them uncomfortable myself to swim in. She really hated one suit that rode up or "floated" every time she got in the water. She is willing to accept my need for modesty, but doesn't want to look goofy. Which I get. Also I didn't see how you can order the top in a "slim". I'll have to look at that closer. I'd appreciate your comments about how these really fit during an active day of many jumps in the deep end. :bigear:

I thought of that too, even if for just a short while. They said something about his arm being too far gone, so maybe if he was in a long recovery and no arm, he couldn't practice medicine and would leave the hospital. That would enable them to not kill off two characters at once.

Did you guys hear that TR Knight was not coming back? I thought I had heard that somewhere...And they certainly alluded to it on the show. What about Katherine Heigl?

My step-father is a Mason, was a Worshipful Master, and is now an Inspector. He's in - deep in, and we don't have anything to do with it as Christians. My dh has tried and tried to talk to him about it to no avail. I completely agree that anything that is that secretive is just plain creepy and in this case demonic. Look up stories from people who have left the Masonic organization if you disagree. Hey - what about Girl Scouts? Lots of community involvement there. I think it's a fantastic organization. It's NOT just for little girls. Older girls can still get involved and have all kind of opportunities.