You need to make sure you only choose images with a high resolution. For the ones I had printed that was generally over 1000 x 700.

Here

We adopted 3 female guinea pigs a couple of months ago and one hadn't been separated from the males before she came home with us. We knew there was a good chance that she was pregnant, and it turned out that indeed she was! She was getting quite large and when you touched her sides you could feel the little ones squirming around. (It made me start wishing for another baby! There is nothing like that feeling, is there?!) Today is my husband's 33rd birthday, and we came downstairs this morning to these two sweet little pups. What an awesome birthday present! I haven't had a good look yet to see if they are male or female. I'm really hoping female so we can keep them! Or both male, so they can go to a new home (or a separate cage in our home) together. I am so happy that the birth went smoothly, especially as Sweet Pea is still a baby herself! The boys think we should name them Lucky and Happy, but I think Marc should have some say since they were born on his birthday! Anyway, I just had to share the cuteness. :D

That's what I bought to use, but I haven't started planning and filing yet so I don't have pictures to share. At $0.15 each I paid a total of $10.80 for 72 folders (I have two kids.) Boxes of 25 file folders were almost $6 each, and I would have had to buy 3 boxes for a total of almost $18. I think the pockets will come in handy, and we can use the prongs if we want to but we certainly don't have to. I'm still going to file them in hanging file folders to keep things nice and neat. The hanging file folders that I bought are striped and I chose 3 different colors (yellow, white, and green) for the autumn, winter, and spring trimesters, respectively. I can't wait for the last item to arrive in the mail and a free day to start planning!

Me, too! Isn't it awful to feel like you have to hide that fact?! I feel like a criminal sometimes, simply because I don't believe in the Christian God.

I completely agree! I voted for seriously limiting the time there, but I really wanted to say meet elsewhere. My father quit smoking when his first grandchild (my nephew) was born, after having smoked for 35 years. He smoked around my siblings and I when we were growing up, but by the time his first grandchild came along the dangers of smoking were well known and he wasn't going to risk not being able to be around the baby because of a nasty and dangerous habit. Did I mention that this grandchild lives 10 hours away and he only sees him 2 or 3 times a year? I was incredibly proud of my father for kicking such a hard habit out of love and concern for his grandchild. Most people may not be able to take that step (I smoked for 8 years, so I know how hard it is to quit.) However, if they cannot make accomodations for the health of loved ones, particularly babies, well......they would have very little respect from me.

:iagree: Me, too!

This is my favorite thread ever and catholicmommy is my hero. *happy sigh* I wish I didn't have a house that needs cleaned, because I would love to start planning and filling my folders right now! ETA ~ I wanted to touch on the issue of taking workbooks and instructor's guides apart. I try to look at every homeschool expense as if the item purchased will be mine forever. If it's not worth the money I paid for it without taking any resale value into account, then it's not worth the money at all. It's still a lot cheaper than paying for private school, right? And we are a struggling one-income family, so I understand that it can be hard to let go of the "I'll sell it and get my money back when we're done with it" mentality. For me, it has been worth every penny lost in resale value to take things apart so that they actually get used.

:grouphug: I am so sorry for your loss.

Did someone say bacon? Popcorn? Nachos? Ugh, now I'm hungry! :drool5:

:iagree:

Thank you, Jan! Is it this series? Thank you, dmmetler! I'll take a look at your suggestions!

We are getting a piano from Marc's grandmother and have the opportunity to get some very reasonably priced lessons. It is only going to cost me $5/half-hour for lessons in piano or voice from someone with a BS in music education who also spent a year at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT studying pre-opera. She has been giving voice lessons since she was 16 years old (not sure how long she has done piano lessons), and has experience working with young children. I am crossing my fingers that this turns out to be as good as it sounds. She seems like a wonderful lady. Or, we can do the expensive group class with the Music Together® teacher. This would also mean that I need to buy two keyboards for the boys to use in class. And it would mean a public recital, which is something my oldest would hate. So.....if we go with the private lessons, what is a good program to buy for use with a beginning student? She is willing to use whatever materials I buy. My sons will be 5 and 7. She said that she grew up with the Leila Fletcher Piano Course, but that it is now out of print. I'll also need a book on music theory. Please help! ETA~I did a search, but everything I was finding was for teaching piano at home without a teacher. We have a teacher, so they don't seem to apply!

I am in the US. I guess I just call the region's council then. Thank you!

That makes things much harder, doesn't it? I hope you can figure something out very soon!

Oh, dear! Scream all you want. I'm assuming she is worried that her septic system isn't rated for an additional two people. Even so, it's certainly rude to give you such short notice! It's time for DH to call his mom and figure out what the issue is.

I don't. I have a feeling that's the wrong answer, though! Actually, I do clean them once or twice a year. I use a wet rag and clean them thoroughly. It takes forever to finish. Since many of our windows downstairs are painted shut and very old, I'm considering leaving the winterizing plastic on so I don't have to clean them at all. Isn't that awful? :lol:

:iagree: Soup! That's the only way that I find frozen veggies appealing, with the exceptions of frozen spinach or peas.

Since we're on the subject of Scouts......(OP, I apologize for the thread hijacking!) How do I sign my son up? We don't know anyone with children in our town that we could ask (although he starts soccer next week so that will hopefully be changing!) Thinking back to my brothers and my scouting experiences, we found out through school. Since my son is obviously not in school, I don't know what to do to sign him up. Do I just fill out the forms and mail them in and someone will contact me? Or do I have to find out who the local leader is and contact them? Nik is 6, turning 7 in October. I was a Brownie in grade school, and that was nice since my mom was the leader. I was also an Explorer in high school, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I want my boys to have that experience. Thank you!

Congratulations! She is absolutely beautiful!

That is such a wonderful collection!

I would go to my bedroom, shut the door, and cry. My oldest is only 6, so I have no idea what I would do to punish a 13-year-old. The lock sounds like a good idea, not to keep him from getting into the freezer but so that the extra step can ensure it is always properly closed. ETA~My almost-5-year-old son forgets to properly close the refridgerator sometimes. The first time he did it we lost a lot of food, and I went to my room and cried just like I said I would do in your situation. Afterwards, any time he went to the fridge I sent him back to the kitchen to be sure he had closed it properly. He got pretty sick of having to make two trips to the kitchen to get a snack, so he has become much more careful about closing it properly. Perhaps that would work for a 13-year-old, too.

I hope everything is ok and that you have some answers soon!

I have to say a huge thank you for the link to this blog! I love her organizational systems.

:iagree: I tried to do something similar this year for our first year of schooling, but this is so much better than what I did! On Sunday, I was putting everything for the week in a folder with the intention of finishing everything in the folder before the week was through. It didn't always work out (a kindergartener can't always do the work by themself, after all) and I got very sick of spending every Sunday evening working on it. I really like planning at the beginning of the year, but after that I just want things to be ready to go so I can spend my time teaching and having fun! I think I'm going to try out catholicmommy's system this year and see if it works better for us!