We still haven't quite figured out the concept except we heard there is a Pokemon in our neighbor's bedroom, one at our church's front door, and one at the nearest park. And that's all 2nd hand reports. No Pokemon Go here. We're fine with those who are into it for fun, but it isn't our thing.

Peppermint oil is supposed to be a deterrent to mice. I am not sure of the connection, but there used to be some in our crawl space attic-like area above our master BR. They would get there somewhere from the garage. I put a nauseating amount of peppermint oil on a rag and put it in our crawl space. We put traps in the garage and started catching quite a few mice over a couple weeks. We kept a couple traps out each night until we stopped catching them. A year later, they got back into our garage, but we haven't heard them in the attic since. I am completely uncertain if what I did is advisable, safe, or really what did the trick. I thought about borrowing the neighbor's cat to go up there a couple of hours just to leave a scent to deter the mice, but was afraid the cat might go after one in a small tight spot like a wall and get trapped.

We quit Easy Grammar not far into 3rd grade due to frustration. Easy Grammar in 4th grade starting fresh was perfect. Same concepts one year later was much easier. I used some CLE for things not covered in Easy Grammar, but did it mostly orally. I loved the looks of the CLE 200 and 300 workbooks initially. A few lessons in decided I didn't teach or like the phonics, spelling, or penmanship. Oh, the complicated life of not liking scripted lessons!

We did MFW K for science, Bible, book lists, and crafts only. We watched science videos each week to go along with the topic. We learned a hymn or kids' Bible song each week that somewhat matched the Bible theme. For W/water we learned I've Got a River of Life, for H/horse we learned Trust and Obey, for A/apple we learned a catchy fruits of the spirit tune, for J/Jewel we learned More Precious Than Silver, and so on. I googled craft ideas from blog sites of other MFW K users. 3Rs were completely different. My kids loved the MFW K things we did, but I liked piecing together the other subjects and going at their pace. MFW K seemed somewhat a waste of money except I purchased it used and sold it at a slightly lower price. My oldest was advanced in math and reading. My youngest was slower at math and reading. I don't have curriculum suggestions for the 3Rs except to only buy one level at a time of anything that you think will work.

Upstairs there is a small cozy loft area between the kids' rooms. We have a comfy sofa, maps, charts, whiteboard, reference books, teaching manuals, and supplies in there. They have small desks and small bins for their individual school books/folders/supplies in their room. We do group work and read alouds in the loft, they do independent writing work at their desks in their rooms, and independent reading on their beds. They come see me on the sofa in the loft for questions about their independent work, for one on one lessons, or for me to check their work. Assigned audiobooks or piano practice is done in the open living room downstairs in turns. We watch educational videos together on the living room TV. For computer work, we have tablets. They only use the tablets in the living room or upstairs loft area since I am not ready to send them off privately with the World Wide Web yet.

I've seen very large versions of classic kid's books like The Story of Ping at bookstores. I think they would be great for a Pre-K classroom. A rocking chair for her to sit in for story time. A portable CD player with some classical music CDs for background music. Games like Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.

I put things to the tune of simple songs like Twinkle Twinkle, Mary had a Little Lamb, and Are You Sleeping when possible. When I rewrote notes for study, I often used different colored pens to write key words or I underlined in different colors. I took a medical terminology course in college that had funny cartoon pictures to match the medical term. For example: cardi means heart. There was a pic of a guy playing cards, then the pic changed to the man holding a human heart in his hands instead of a group of cards. If I'm in a creative mood, I try to put a funny pic in my mind related to a difficult term.

Alone: Sit on the porch rocker, sip a refreshing drink of choice, and wave to people who happen to pass. Play an online game or work a Suduko puzzle book. Watch Anne of Green Gables for the 50th time. Includes crying when Matthew Cuthbert dies. Read forums such as this one and respond to random posts. Pull weeds. Spend too long browsing at the used bookstore. With hubby or family: Take a long walk, including wading in the creek. Play a card game or board game. Read aloud a classic book or interesting biography. Watch a family friendly show. Make cookies or brownies together. Go to the zoo or a park.

Come to think of it, the cheap Target towels I bought long before I married have outlasted the more expensive Bed, Bath, and Beyond towels I registered for and received as a wedding shower gift. The BB&B ones are used for dog baths and messy clean ups now.

Well, after this follow up post, maybe the bride does expect only specific high end things.

I'd like to address expensive gifts on the registry. I did not register for many expensive gifts because I did not expect people to spend that much money on our wedding gifts. We were in our early 30s and I had a furnished house with the basics. We were not in as good financial shape as the bride and groom in OP , but not in need of much either. A few people that I did not expect a gift from at all gave us a generous amount of cash in addition to what I would consider a generous portion of the high-end everyday day dishes I registered for instead of China. A couple people even casually mentioned at our low key wedding reception they wanted to give us more in terms of material gifts, but they bought all I had requested on the registry of the items they chose. One was my husband's boss and the other was my mom's boss. A few more were extended family on dh's side that were well off. Even though we didn't know them well, and I didn't expect much from anybody, they were used to spending quite a bit on wedding gifts I suppose. The bride likely has family or close friends that are on the richer side who would like to willingly buy something more expensive. It is easier for them to choose off a registry than try to guess at what she does or doesn't have already. I would guess the bride does not expect to get all the expensive items on her registry, but rather just offering a variety to those that would like to spend more. When I am invited to a baby or bridal shower for an acquaintance or casual friend, I suspect the expensive items are there for close family or rich relatives to have options. It is nice if the registry includes several $20-$40 items for people that don't spend much on gifts due to budget or just not knowing the bride or groom well, but if it doesn't that is fine. We got gifts like picture frames, photo albums, vases, candles, bottles of wine, and restaurant gift cards from people who either don't have a lot to spend or didn't know us too well. None of those gifts were on the registry, but I was thankful for them just as much as I was thankful for things from the registry. One more useful reason for expensive gifts on the registry is to give an opportunity for groups of people to go in on a group gift. Some groups of people prefer that. My husband's coworkers went in together on a grill for us when we married. None would likely have spent more than $15-$20 each, but collectively it was well appreciated. I recently contributed a small amount on expensive baby gift for a neighbor. It's fine to receive a bunch of small things or give something small, but it is equally nice to give or receive a more expensive gift from a group.

I did this for 4 years through college. The pay was poor and it was physically taxing, but I LOVED it. I met so many interesting people, I loved being out and about around the hospital all day, I made friends with workers from so many different departments in various job roles or professions throughout the hospital, and there was no stress to take home (the job was done mentally and physically once you clocked out- no at home phone calls from the boss about not finishing something up.)

http://mathrev.redwoods.edu/PreAlgText/ I am going through College of the Redwoods pre algebra text as a refresher before I have to teach it to my oldest in a year. It is a free download for the text and solutions.

Reading this thread is almost like trying to figure out, "He loves me, He loves me not..." Except it's replace the car, don't replace the car. I can't decide which advice is winning. I would replace the timing belt and reevaluate in a year or two. I would buy gently used vs. new when the timing was right and the payments would be less stressful. For me, dealing with car issues that don't effect the basic functioning and safety of the car is easier than dealing with debt. The issues do annoy me though, debt just annoys me more.

OT from thread and TMI about me, but these are great perceptions and curiosities. I am American and am mostly exposed to the "to each his own" views. I am mostly familiar with each family unit (husband, wife, children) having to find their own ways to make ends meet, and getting regular help from extended relatives isn't the norm. I don't agree with it. I like the idea of daily multigenerational connectedness and helping each other out. I'm not talking about asking a grandparent for free childcare so I can get rich and do all these extravagent things, but if one of us is struggling, having someone available to help ride the wave is invaluable. Or in my mom's case as a single mom, my grandma would look after us for free so she could earn money. We lived next door and basically fended for ourselves past age 10, but it worked. Both my mom and MIL would help us out in a heartbeat with full time childcare or whatever, but it is physically taxing for them to do that because they work. Our parents on both sides are divorced and are all having to work full time to pay for their own separate living expenses. That's 4 full household expenses, separate insurances, separate car trips to come to holidays and birthday parties, and cars for 4 separate individuals because of divorce. This has led to both sets of our parents having to work longer and harder and none have retirement. Well, MIL has some, but not enough to retire when she would like. They don't expect to need to depend on us someday, but I am betting out of 4 of them, a couple of them will need us. My mom is betting that a reverse mortgage and social security is going to carry her through without needing my help, but I doubt it. The parents (mine and ILs) don't consider their old age our responsibility, but I do. We hope to be able to accommodate if needed. Now if any of the ex's need to live with us at the same time, there is just one spare room and they will have to figure it out. We are not getting a bigger house with a higher mortgage because they decided to live separately. My friend who is very independent and an only child told me her mom had long term care insurance and the mom is not planning to have the friend take care of her. My friend does not think it wise of me to plan to continue to stay out of the workforce to be a martyr for our parents if they need care. She thinks I should have a purpose in life beyond raising my kids followed by being a caregiver to my parents or ILs. Our parents are all nearing retirement age and 3 are already showing signs of declining health, so I see it as a high likelihood of needing one or some of them to live with us in the next 10 years. I hope to be able to do it the way other cultures do it instead of throwing them in a gov't nursing facility and telling them to grin and bear it. I do not agree with my friend, but if their plan works for her and her mom that is great for them. I do know if I can't physically can't care for one of our parents, especially my very tall larger bone FIL, then the nursing facility may be a sad reality. Or if one develops severe dementia and I could not provide 24/7 continual monitoring. If we had lots of siblings to all help together, that would help avoid that, but we don't. That is what I like about larger families staying close together, they can rotate needs within a family as needed if a need becomes too much for one person. That is what I like about the way some other cultures do it. FIL has said he plans to not need our help in old age, but time will tell. I hope to do all we can. I know that is shifting away from the cultural norm. There are a few times I encounter it done the way you describe it in this culture, it's just not often.

My mom refused payment for watching my children one day/week and periodically for work inservices when I had a job. This is when they were babies and toddlers. I even tried to leave fun money for activities and she refused. She is on a super tight budget so I wanted to pay what I would pay a sitter, but she wouldn't take money. I worked part time and put them in daycare drop off one day/week as well. I would buy her gifts, give restaurant gift cards, and help with some things but I ended up getting the good end of the stick. She watched my sisters kids part of the day for free and my sister's MIL watched for free the other half (each grandparent worked full time, but had different work schedules) while my sister's kids were little. My MIL lives out of town and works FT, but comes for the weekend and offers for dh and I to go on a date a couple times/year. Sometimes she comes just to visit and doesn't offer to babysit. We never ask to go out if she doesn't offer. She has come to babysit when dh had surgery and when I was helping her ex-husband (my FIL) with a surgery. She won't let us pay her, even when she takes the kids out for food or activities. She usually takes them shopping and buys them clothes, toys, and candy as well. We keep telling her it isn't necessary, but she says she wants to do it. She has invited the kids to come spend a few days with her this summer. They have done this twice before. She has been too busy with other things to do this every year, but likes for them to come for a few days when it works out. We try to give her at least fun spending money, but she says she wants to treat them. If we needed full time ongoing childcare, I would not want to ask the grandparents to watch them because they would refuse adequate payment and I would feel I was taking advantage of the situation. An exception would be to get us through a temporary rough spot. On the flip side-if our parents ever needed to come live with us due to medical or financial reasons, we would refuse money if they wanted to pay rent to live with us. If I get to be a grandma someday, I likely wouldn't charge for occasional babysitting. I would likely babysit for free if my children needed FT childcare temporarily to get through a rough time. I would not babysit FT for free as an ongoing thing unless there was an unforeseen stressful long term situation like a disability or one child ending up as a single parent.

Has your daughter always been that low on the weight percentile curve or is she slowly dropping on the curve with each visit? My low weight child that stays around the same percentage each time doesn't concern the doctor at all. My low weight child that loses weight instead of gains weight ever so often has gotten frequent follow up for weight checks, numerous amounts of lab work and medical tests, iron supplements, and is asked to drink Carnation instant breakfast. I give homemade whole foods shakes like zoobie mentioned instead of the instant breakfast stuff. This child has asthma as well and I think the weight loss coincides with times my son has to take a preventative steroid inhaler to keep asthma controlled, but not sure I can convince the doctor of that. The doctor has not referred me to a nutritionist. He does specifically tell me to be sure my son is getting 3 full meals, snacks, meats and/or beans, fruits, and veggies everyday. I keep telling him my son eats a lot of all those things including the whole foods smoothies with healthy fats (ETA: and a double decker cheeseburger from 5 Guys or 2-3 slices of PaPa John's pizza once in awhile), but I guess the MD keeps repeating it so he can mark on the chart that he is advising on nutrition. If your daughter is staying steady with some weight gain over time, but just has always been low on the curve, I wouldn't worry about nutrition or medical issue being the reason. I would take her to the referral, if it isn't too expensive for you, just so the doctor can be satisfied nutrition was addressed. Or I would instead ask for a weight check follow up in about 3 months, do some whole foods shakes, increase the healthy fat foods, increase calories, and say you will do the referral if she hasn't gained any weight in that 3 months. If she was previously higher on the weight percentile curve and has gone down to below 5% over time, I would take her to the referral now over concern that something needs to be addressed. If she doesn't gain after seeing the nutritionist and increasing calories and fats with healthy foods, I would take her back to the doctor to rule out a medical cause.

Just curious, are you going to keep carpet upstairs? I would like to continue the engineered wood upstairs and Dh wants to keep carpet upstairs. He thinks it will be too loud having the wood vs carpet upstairs.

Leap Frog phonics videos were great for my children. MFW K can easily be beefed up or trimmed down as needed. I liked using it as a guide to keep me going at a steady pace and for variety in science topics. I loved the weekly character studies. I added in McGuffey Primer and some hands on math lessons to the program. We did weekly topic related crafts suggested on various online blog sites when time permitted. A few years later, my children say they loved MFW K.

I have a couple extra boxes of planks stored away as a small insurance policy against having to replace all flooring if this happens. However, if we have a bigger leak beyond 50 sq ft and can't match the planks, we are screwed.

Dp

We hesitantly put engineered wood floors in our kitchen. Because we did our LR and master BR ourselves and had all the tools, we figured we would only be out the cost of the wood planks and underlayment. It's only been a few months, but it looks nice since the kitchen is semi-open to the living room. I put a small rug with a rubber backing in front of the sink and under the dog's water bowl. We know it is risky in case of water damage, but since it's a floating floor (click in lock) that is not glued down or nailed together, we figure it won't be too terrible to replace if there is water damage. My neighbors across the street had real hardwoods glued down to a concrete slab. They had a major pipe burst and it was a mess to remove the wood.

We live in mid sized city with average COL area, not too high and not too low. 10 years ago, all responsible college aged sitters charged around $10/hr (no less than $8/hr) for baby care, and the retired lady that was like a grandma to kids in her care charged $12/hr for me one day/week (friend rate) and $14/hr for another baby she kept. College students charged around $12/hr for more than one child 10 years ago. I am not sure what the going rate is now, but I guess around $12/hr for a responsible college aged sitter for a baby would be the going rate. I never paid less than $5/hr/child for Mother's Day Out or drop in care. Even though it is cheaper to do daycare, the daycare workers get paid more than $5/hr for their time, probably closer to $12/hr. There were usually 2 workers to 6 infants, I think, but had a helper that rotated in and out of the room for breaks. My co-worker who lived way out in the country paid closer to $5/hr to a retired lady down the street from her for baby care. She dropped the baby off at the lady's house on her work days. Again, that was 10 years ago. $35/day is a total lowball! ETA: I received no less than $5/hr when I started babysitting 25 years ago. Usually it was a couple kids, rarely a baby. For 3-5 kids I received around $7/hr most of the time, but was getting paid close to $10/hr for 2-5 kids when I quit babysitting about 20 years ago.

Some lower cost 'stretch' meals that we eat listed below. A huge pot of chili with lots of beans and veggies used with frito pie for one meal. I buy the generic corn chips and put lots of shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes on top. I might make chili mac and cheese or baked potato topped with chili other meals. With spaghetti, I add in lots of chopped colored bell peppers, zucchini or eggplant, onions, and spinach. At least once/week, salad is our main course. I will rotate types. One salad with bacon, apples, walnuts, raisins, and goat cheese. Another salad with chicken, mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles, slivered almonds and PB/soy dressing. On the rare occasion we happen to have steak, I will slice the leftovers and put on a salad with diced tomatoes, homemade croutons, shredded carrots, and cheddar cheese. I often make a Greek style salad with homemade hummus and pita bread. Last, but not least, I make salmon cakes from canned salmon and place on top a bed of spinach or lettuce. These are filling meals for us and not too expensive. Once/week I either make a chuck roast or pork loin in the crockpot. I use lots of potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery. Leftovers for this stretch for a couple more meals if I add rice and/or a side salad. I often cook a huge pot of black beans in the crockpot to serve with taco salad, nachos, rice, or veggie quesadillas. Chicken optional. Eggs, eggs, and more eggs. I will eat them here or there. I will eat them anywhere.

This is beautiful.