But screaming is never OK unless someone is missing a limb. It's natural for kids to play pretty loudly, but most of them have to be trained not to scream.

They do? And here I thought board shorts and rash guards were becoming popular. "Allowing mixed swimming" does not automatically translate to "girls wearing string bikinis and eeny weeny tight swimsuits." Pretty much everyone I know allows mixed swimming, and their kids are dressed in modest athletic swimwear. Girls wear one-piece or modest tankini suits, or often rash guards and swim shorts, boys wear shorts and sometimes the rash guards as well.

Hibernation. Both of us get a little overwhelmed at times, and it tends to come out in grumpiness. So a little time alone in the back bedroom with a book can be really nice. We're both introverts.

Dang. I voted 5, but then realized that it's really 6. I still feel like such a newbie. We've never gone to PS though.

OK fine--here!

I have Composition in the Classical Tradition and Lilith this week.

How about a cute denim or khaki skirt? She might wear the LE ones later, after she gets used to the dress concept.

The general standard at our church is to wear dresses (well, the women and girls anyway), so yes. The Lands End knit dresses are good because they're comfy and good for playing in, but nice enough for church. I also sew them things.

Ah, the joys of bureaucracy...:001_huh:

I dip chocolates for everyone except family, and nieces/nephews usually get something I've sewn. What are your usual talents? It's no good us posting sewing links if you only knit. :001_smile:

Her reaction of turning around and walking out, etc. makes me think that she found the all-important Lego man and car--probably long ago--and is embarrassed. She doesn't know how to say that it was all a mistake.

Yeah, me too, but I always thought of it as reddish-brown--the color of brown you get in some dark redheads' eyes, you know?

Hey, I didn't even know I was imagining sherry as the wrong color! More ignorance fought.

I will tell you that when my older girl was in 1st or 2nd and her little sister was 4, those days of preschool were a huge help. The 4yo wanted to be involved, but the way she wanted to be involved was by sitting in her sister's lap. It's totally doable without sending the 4yo to preschool. But you may find it a big help if you do, esp. since it's your first year.

Well, if you don't count homeschooling in any way, I'll say: self-education--reading and learning. libraries--this is my career and I love it. I just got a little job in a CC library, so I'm both looking forward to it and very nervous (juggling that and homeschooling, eep!). sewing--I spent about 10 years doing quilts and then moved into clothing, esp. heirloom sewing for my girls. ATM I'm learning to smock and make baby clothes (not that I have any babies). Am thinking of someday learning to sew vintage for myself.

This week I review Alcatraz vs. the Knights of Crystallia and another Eliot book by Elizabeth Goudge. I love her, and just found one of her children's books, which is wonderful. I really liked the Alcatraz book, but in a book that mostly has a lot of good fun with names, I was disappointed by "Crystallia." Boring!

I've never read TEWWG (on my list!) but I would not give AA to a young teen. 16+, I'm thinking. I thought it was a pretty good book, but it's for adults.

The trouble is, Jane Austen was pretty special for her day. Novels were longer, wordier, and either very bawdy (Tom Jones!) or very very moral (Clarissa!) or all gothic. You could try Evelina by Fanny Burney, but it isn't funny and the heroine is aggravatingly passive, and it's an epistolary novel. Georgette Heyer is 20th century, but she is light and funny, and mostly wrote Regency novels with wonderful dialogue and historical detail. You could try Frederica, but you should know that Heyer novels do mention sex a little more than Austen did. They're not graphic or anything. I can't think of many 19th century authors to try besides Mrs. Gaskell. You might like Lark Rise to Candelford by Flora Thompson--there's a BBC movie out now and I hear it's great, but I read the book in college and loved it.

The publisher mostly, actually. Herriot books should probably really be in the fiction section (he dressed up a lot of old vet 'urban legend' type stories, and really fictionalized his own life quite a bit), but they've traditionally been non-fiction, so there they stay. A million little pieces is still in the NF section 'cause that's what the publisher says it is. Little House was sold as fiction and that's where it stays. Anyway, "non-fiction" isn't a synonym for "fact." NF is pretty much everything that isn't a short story or novel. Myths, poetry, books on UFOs and psychics, folklore, all sorts of stuff is non-fiction.

It seems like gall bladder attacks can be very different for people. I thought I was having a heart attack; it was a horrible pain on my left and my left arm went numb. My BIL thought his was acute heartburn.

If you're going to be in San Jose, check out the awesomely weird Rosicrucian Park and Egyptian Museum. The park is wonderfully random, and the museum is almost a perfectly ordinary Egyptian museum, except for the kinda weird bits. They have 3 real mummies and a fake tomb to explore! Oh, and there's a planetarium too--the current show is about Mithras.

This week it's Nothing to Envy and a cozy mystery from Georgette Heyer. I missed last week's thread, because I was out of town, so here's last week: The Bird in the Tree and Road to Serfdom. I'm on an Elizabeth Goudge kick!

Ha! And I found that photo of the woman with the baby in the designer bathroom to be kind of creepy and strange.

I was quite impressed with myself, since we finished everything except Classical Writing Homer A, which we'll just pick back up with next month. I figure with CW we want to go with the flow and not panic--better good writing than hurried writing.

Yeah, go Lorin! Will do and best wishes for success.