This thread is freaking me out! (but a good reminder to get started!) I found this article that might be a good starting point for some of us who want more info on 529 plans. It's a couple of years old but goes state by state and might lead to more findings.

Okay! That's an excellent point otherwise they could be too mushy. I usually cook my stew 7-8 hours with all the veggies in it, and it's fine, but better to wait for them for morning and then I can leave it on low the rest of the morning. Thanks Hive!!

and turn it off in the morning around 8 or 9 am? I can't see the difference in letting it cook 8 or 9 hours overnight vs all day, but I just wondered if any of you do this? I need to get a meal to my in-laws (and what I have is stuff for stew) but they eat at 11:30ish. So I figured instead of getting up at 3am to put it on, why not at bedtime, then turn it off and refrig. They can heat it up a few hours later for their lunch, and we can heat ours up much later for dinner. Sound okay?

That's awesome!!!!

Oooooohhhhhhh yeah, baby.:drool::001_wub:

Pamela, to be honest I wouldn't go that route. Those "income" or "payday" loan places are in business to make money off the interest they charge. If you added up the interest they'd take out of your tax return and added it to the cost of the scooter, would it really be such a good deal? I'd chalk it up to the fact that you can't buy something until you get the money. If this one isn't sold, you can go for it. If it is, another will come along. Have you also checked into Medical Supply places to rent one or buy a used one? You might not like it and renting would save you the hassle of finding that out. :grouphug:

:lurk5: Interested in hearing what others do. My dd will start a book that I urge her toward for free reading that she will then come and tell me is too hard for her. I try to find out "how" too hard it is, then I assign it for school reading! :tongue_smilie: She grumbles sometimes, but she knows she can go slower with it, and we can even "popcorn" read it (I read a page, then she reads a page) and she can get help with vocab or pronunciation. I feel like this stretches her. If we read a few pages together and I just can see she doesn't get it or just has too many of these looks: :confused:, then it will go back on the shelf to try again later. She always has lots of books at her level for free reading, it's just every now and then that we will run across one that she's either not as interested in (Island of the Blue Dolphins) or she thinks is too hard (Esperanza Rising) and so they become school books.

Have you also looked at Heart of Dakota's newest one? Resurrection to Reformation. There's some info on their site but numerous threads about the books that will be included in their forums. It looks awesome for a complete program.

I'm not good at coming up with a snappy comeback but I know I would have had to look at her gasp "Are you kidding me???!?!? ARE. YOU. KIDDING? You did NOT just say that in front of my children!!!!":confused::cursing: Then again I might have started to cry cuz I do that too, when I'm mad/hurt. :grouphug: I'm so sorry about that experience!

When I looked for it on youtube I found the Cinderella one, but also Lion King and Pinnoccio and others. Too fun!

I loved Guernsey Literary! It's written in letter format so it took my slow brain a little while to catch on to the patterns, but I loved LOVED it. I also enjoyed Water for Elephants. I remember some graphic scenes, but I don't remember too many details. It's just a very, very interesting story. I'm not super sensitive about content in books, so hopefully someone will be able to let you know their thoughts.

Is there any way you can call a friend to take the boys for a couple of hours? I would guess that would help you to be able to go to the hospital to focus on DH for a while and give the boys a break from anxious mommy and sick-appearing daddy. I don't know, just a thought. Sometimes if the kids are anxious too they won't want to go play somewhere but be with you instead. Definitely eat. You can't fight off anxiety and stress without proper nutrition. Eat a good lunch, have a cup of tea, find a quiet 10 minutes to pray if you can, and maybe even read your favorite Psalm. I like 145 as a reminder of God's awesome power and strength. :grouphug:

We've had our piggie for over a year. He's very nice, but still skittish. My dd likes to sit him on a towel on her desk when she does school. We built one of those cages from guineapigcages.com and it's been great. Ours is divided up, 2/3 is fleece, and 1/3 is shavings. We made the separate spaces with the corrugated plastic like from the website. He mostly poops in the shavings which is also where his hay and food and "salad" is. His igloo, balls, tunnel, etc is all on the fleece. Most of the time he's snoozing in the corner under a ledge as they are quite skittish little creatures. Ours has Timothy hay, good quality pellets with the vit C added (so we don't supplement), sometimes store bought treats that have raisins and nuts, and he gets a big salad every day: romaine lettuce, carrots, apple slices, green bell pepper, celery (w/the strings removed), cucumber. He LOVES cantaloupe, that's a big treat for him. He doesn't like oranges, zuccini, tomatoes, and most other fruits. We usually just try something we're having and if he doesn't like it that's fine. I wouldn't continue to buy from pet stores. Try to adopt from craigslist or someplace like that. There are even rescue organizations. Good luck. They are sweet little pets!

I agree completely. This was our experience. We went to a very reputable shelter who works with a lot of volunteers to really get to know the dogs so they can help with describing temperment (as opposed to a county shelter that might have only seen the dogs for a day or so). We had a golden that was the love of our life, our first child, and he died at 15yo. So when we went to look for our new dog we wanted a very different breed, different color, everything. We wound up with a border collie mix. She has been AWESOME! She was 2 at the time, a teensy bit aloof at the shelter. I question sometimes how much border collie there really is there because she doesn't "herd" us, doesn't have high exercise needs, not high strung at all. :confused: I attached a pic of her in her normal mode. We read a great book about adopting from a shelter and what to look for, and also read Cesar Milan's book. We felt very prepared and made a great choice. Of course puppies are great, but if you want to avoid all the work of training and all the damage from chewing, 2 years old or older is so great! I agree with this too. Our Penny was surrendered because she didn't like to stay in the backyard by herself all the time. To us this translates into a great inside family dog.

I'm 42. I am overweight - by a good bit. I just bought this today and will modify it some. I *love* Jillian and thought a good booty kick by her would do me some good. I might not do it every day, but will try for that and if I don't want to or need to recover, I will walk at the trail beside my new house. I don't want to injure myself, so I will modify until I can get to a level that can do the full workout.

We're unplugging too. We moved this past weekend and didn't get the DirecTV hooked up until Monday morning so we had 3 full days of silence. The kids played so well together and we all played games and did rent a movie once. It was a very nice break! We're not a big gaming family, so that's not a big deal, but we have decided to limit computer and video games (dd has a DS) to one hour twice a week. And no TV on at all during the day. We do watch a few shows together as a family, like Mythbusters and American Idol, so we will allow those. The TV being off during the day will be a big enough 1st step. I was allowing it to babysit my 5 yo while I do school with the 9yo...not good. I'm proud of you for unplugging!

Funny that you'd post this! I just got an email from a friend about staying there. Here's what she said: Here is the info from a flyer I received: Additional 20% off the best availalbe rates. After the book-by date of 3/1/10, the offer changes to 10% off. Valid 1/25/10 - 3/31/10. Blackout dates 3/12/10-3/20/10. Promo Code: FUNFIRST I would recommend that you ask what the occupancy is for the night(s) you plan on going. Fridays and Saturdays tend to be pretty full. We went on Sunday Jan 31st and occupance was at about 40%. It was AWESOME!!! And with homeschooling, if your schedule allows going on a weeknight might be the best way to go. You can arrive the day of check in and enjoy the water park that day and the whole next day. So it is 2 days of fun (you'll be tired!). Great place to go with more than one family so the kids can go on slides together, wave pool, or play MagiQuest game throughout the hotel. Our kids LOVE Great Wolf. There is a mini fridge and microwave in the room so I recommend bringing as much of your own food as you can. HTH!!:D

I like lots of the sites mentioned here so far. Also: Phil Johnson's Pyromaniacs site and his links page. Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. The Five Solas is a good one too. Click on the "reformed links" link and you will be busy for days and days. And remember, prayer and allowing the Scripture to inform Scripture. Be Berean! :D

7% is quite high. Is that the norm for your area? If you can find someone good who will do it for less, you can drop the price by that amount. 10 showings seems very low for 6 months. What is he doing to market it? Have you had a virtual tour? Open houses? Realtors tours? Has he done any mailings? For 7% I would expect nothing but the best blitz. Don't forget craigslist. If it really and truly does look great inside, no staging needed, then it's the price. I think you should look at not just the comps for your specific neighborhood, but also the ones closest by. Everywhere that someone considering your house would also look, and then you need to be priced in the bottom third of those that are comparable. Good luck. I know this is tough as mine is one the market too. We can't wait 6 months and in fact are moving out this weekend. :grouphug:

Geaux Saints!!!!!

Yeah, we've shared it. We've gone through some poor money management years when we've needed to borrow from them, so one tends to feel like they have to be transparent in that situation. It opens you up to being scrutinized for your choices in how you handle and manage money, and that hasn't always been a bad thing. But, our priorities are different, and regardless if my mom knows exactly how much dh makes, it's up to us to manage it. Our cost of living and circumstances are different than hers and how we make our income stretch does come in to question - like "you make $X, you should have more in savings" type comments. We have both always valued our parents wisdom and they have made good choices with their finances, why would we be so private about something like income? We are quite close in all other ways it would seem weird to me to clam up about money. Also we are now in the stage of life of caring more for my inlaws. We will need to be involved with some advanced planning for financial assistance in the future (like Medicare, etc). Yes, I want to check gossip at the door, but I also want to do the same with pride.

Can I pop my head in here and ask which version of the book I should buy? I want to read it SO badly, but I read somewhere that the 1st version (available now as an eBook only as far as I can tell) is better than the 2nd. Can you practicing LCCers point me in the right direction? A pm is fine too, so as not to hijack the thread! Thanks!!!:D

Elfin, that was a very thorough and thoughtful post and I really appreciated it! Of all the posts and opinions of CC, Essentials was the one component I keep hedging about. I was super impressed by the tutor (and fingers crossed she returns next year) and now what you had to say about it seals the deal. Thanks!:D

:smilielol5: Uh, me too. Well, not so much the wine cooler as a cup of green tea. Benadryl is my sleep med of choice and if I don't take it about an hour before bed it won't matter how tired I am I won't be able to fall asleep with dh's horrific snoring. I also have to get in the same exact position every time. I'm a tummy sleeper. Puts me right out - when I'm drugged on the Bennies and dh is not too loud - that is.:001_huh::001_rolleyes:

I'm not in CC but we are planning to do it next year. I have been to the campus to sit in on a class and I loved it. I will also have a 5th grader next year and I think CC will do wonders for us. First, accountability. I do better when I know what's expected and that I have a deadline to get it done. I think having someplace to be each week with academics accomplished will help all of us make sure we get it done. Second, Christian community. We are in a homeschool group but it's very loosey-goosey and we can go weeks in between seeing friends. It works fine for the moms but isn't working for my kids. They will benefit tremendously from seeing friends weekly. Third, academic rigor. I don't think CC is rigorous per se, but the families that attended the one we like all seem to hold academic rigor as a high priority for their kids, so they put the work in to make the CC materials matter, and they have high standards in the rest of their curriculum and I like that a lot. I agree the Essentials (LA) part doesn't have the best layout, but the class I sat in on was a blast. That tutor was so fun and made it fly by. The writing was great too, and then they played math games and really challenged eachother. I can see the positive peer influence being a big deal for my dd as she tends to be shy and needs others to bring her along and bring her out. I think the atmosphere on the campus and the tutors is huge with CC. I'm fortunate to have 4 campuses to chose from and the one we really want has a waiting list. But I thought it was organized, comprehensive, fun and prayerful. We can't wait to find out we are in!