LSU is about 21,000 a year for tuition, room/board, books and food. We live about 20 minutes away, so my kids could go for around 10,000 a year living at home. 30 minutes away the other direction is Southeastern University. It is about $13,000 a year for tuition, room/board, books and food. My kids could go for around $7,000 a year. We are lucky that we live within driving distance of 2 schools, which would save room/board in general. I think LSU has a requirement that freshmen live on campus, but I am not sure about SELU. Over 4 years, the difference between the two add up to a significant amount.

First off, I think it is understandable for you to be upset. With that said, I would go. I would extend some grace to your husband. It sounds to me like he is wanting everything to go perfectly and hyper-focusing on little details. I get like that when I am anxious. I would not say anything about it before the dinner, but may discuss the situation afterwards, especially if he has a tendency to do this often. If not, I would be inclined to let it go. Either way, go, have fun and drive your own vehicle to make sure you are home in time for work.

One of his chores is cleaning his and his brother's bathroom. He has changed his mind on what he wants to do. Now he wants to be a football coach. He used to want to be a college football player until he found out they don't get paid. LOL

I forgot. When my middle child was 5, he wanted to be the person who "cleans the potties at the YMCA". I was so proud when he made that announcement.

My 7 year old wants to be rich. So, he figures being either a diamond miner or a gold miner is just the job for him. Because then he will have diamonds and gold and be rich. He said he would give me a diamond, but the biggest diamond is for his former pre-k teacher. I am his 3rd favorite teacher. I rank behind his K4 teacher and his K teacher. I start homeschooling in 1st.

1. We would pay off our debt, other than mortgage, which would then free up the money we pay towards those debts each month. Then we would do a hybrid of the following: 1. bOOk reduction for me 2. Remodel our kitchen 3. Save for short term needs (braces, vacations, appliances breaking, new tires/vehicles, etc.) 4. Save for long term needs (retirement and college) 5. Work on paying down our mortgage faster The emphasis after paying off debt would savings.

My dad was killed in a car accident when I was 5. My mom was a widow with 4 children ages 2, 4, 5, and 8. She had no job, no college degree (she had just gone back to college to finish her degree when my dad was killed) and lived out of state with no family support. And life insurance didn't want to pay because they called it suicide since the accident was a single car crash. We moved, with family, friends and church support, back to Louisiana. Until the lawsuit with the insurance was settled, we had no money coming in. Us kids did get SS benefits, but those took a while to start. Family paid rent, people gave us food, drs/dentists we knew gave us free medical care and people baby sat us kids for free, just to give my mom a break every now and then. I started 1st grade less than 2 months after my dad died. My sister started 3rd grade. A local church's college and career group bought our school supplies. I will never forget the excitement of seeing sparkly notebooks and pencils, with pictures of popular characters. Having the same notebooks, etc. as others in our classes was one less way we were different. I try to remember that feeling when I donate items, especially when fulfilling specific requests such as adopting families for Christmas. I am 35 now and still remember. They made an impact on my life by spending a few dollars extra. BTW, my mom remarried a few years later and our lives greatly improved and we were in the position of being able to help others.

Louisiana - graduated 1997 2 years required, but some of it was health. Maybe 1/2 semester, I am not sure. It was a complete waste of time. It was just mass chaos most of the time. I did it my freshman year, but I was home bound most of the year due to health problems. I went to a private school my sophomore year because I was still having health issues and they were more flexible. I was still having health problems, so I was exempt from most of the activities. I walked most of the time. Sports counted and they did it the last hour because practice continued after school. I know cheer leading and dance team counted, but not sure about marching band.

We have bought 4 houses and sold 2 (one was a lawsuit over a falsified termite report, so the sale was rescinded). Every time we have been in the same room as the person who we were dealing with. So when we sold a house, we were in the same room with our buyers. Later that day (usually, once was a Friday and then a Monday), we meet with the owners of the house we were buying and completed that transaction. The only cases I have ever heard of that weren't like ours was when the seller of the house had already moved and was out of state. ETA: We got/gave the keys based on our contract. We only bought one currently occupied house and they had 24 hours to move after closing. When we sold our houses, we had 48 hours to get out, but both times finished early and called our buyers to give them access to the house before the 48 hours was up. I am in Louisiana if it makes a difference.

I posted on FB the other day that our motto is "Just Shut Up and Do It". Some of y'all's are much more educational sounding. lol

Oh my goodness. Heartbreaking :( Praying

Lots of yelling here. From me. ;) My DH is not a huge sports fan. I am, especially LSU (football and baseball) and the Saints. I am a huge college football fan.

We have had Geico for almost 12 years, with no problems at all. I don't know how they determine rates though.

My DH has brown eyes and I have hazel eyes. My oldest has brown eyes, my middle has blue eyes and my youngest has hazel eyes. We are all right handed.

All 3 of mine started at Mother's Day Out when they were babies. My MIL was the director and I worked there off and on. Homeschooling wasn't even on our radar at that point. They also stayed at the same church for both preschool and kindergarten. They went from 9:00 to 11:45 M-F, with optional "Lunch Bunch" T, W, Th, where they brought their lunch and ate and then played on the playground. I brought all of them home for 1st grade. My youngest is in 2nd now, but if I had any younger ones, I would still do it that way. I have no regrets.

I love Pilates. It does stretch and it is sometimes considered strength training, using your own body weight. It works smaller muscles that normally don't get worked doing other exercises, like running or kick boxing. My personal experience is that after using it consistently, I looked smaller. Other people kept asking if I had lost weight, but my weight had not changed. This is only to a point though. ;) I am getting back into it and alternating Turbo Jam with Pilates.

Aw! I need a baby. Precious!

This thread is cracking me up!

Praying for y'all

We were going to start today, but then my oldest was sick all last week with double inner and outer ear infections. I felt bad that his last free week was going to be spent in pain and sick. We now are starting next Monday. That works well, because I am sick today and I have doctor's appointment this afternoon.

We watch it and like it here. My kids used to play American Pickers in each other's rooms. LOL

My OB/Gyn's nurse always gave updates If he was delayed a significant amount of time. Now, he doesn't deliver babies anymore, so he is almost always very close to appt time coming in. My other doctors all run pretty close to on time. I never wait that long once I am in a room.

Our local schools start August 7th this year. We started mid-August when I was in school. I don't know of any school districts local to me who have ever started after Labor Day. I am in Louisiana. ETA: When I was in school, we got out early to mid May. This school year, my local parish is ending May 28. We had about the same number of breaks then as they do now. Maybe a day or 2 different. We also had half days monthly. Now they have only 1 or 2.

My degree is in Education, so needed for a job. However, I got pregnant while student teaching and ended up staying home, so I have never used my degree. Unless you count homeschooling as using it. :)

My son turns 12 on October 11 and he is going into 6th grade.