That was a fitting song! I know you are already agonizing over the serious questions, so I'll be frivolous- they have Starbucks!!

DH laid down his motorcycle last night. Broken thumb, road rash knees, but otherwise he's fine. Thank God. But I have just absolutely hit my limit. I'm not freaking out on the outside. Nope, outwardly I'm just fine. And to tell the truth, there's not much to freak out about. Everything is fine. But somewhere in my brain, I have been screaming at the top of my lungs All. Day. Long. My house is still in stacks of stuff because we just moved in. My 8yo is still recovering from his surgery in January. I am running kids to sports stuff 5 days a week because we just moved here and I want them to make connections. We have an incredibly supportive congregation who has bent over backwards for us. We have been under such relentless spiritual attack since taking on this position. I cannot even explain how oppressive it has been. I am just so fully confident that God is with us here, but dang I wish ministry wasn't such a war field. I wish I could just have a toddler sized tantrum. I am so worn out. And if somebody tells me what great schools they have here one more time, I might spit. *If* I wanted to, for the first time I could send every single one of my kids off to school next year. it's tempting. ok. I got it out of my system. Let's see if that helps....

I wouldn't. I don't think Twilight is ok for my almost 12yo. However, if you are ok with her seeing the movie and getting caught up in it all, more power to you. I say this as someone who has read the whole series and quite enjoyed it.

I've never thought of YouTube as a kid friendly site. Between the many inappropriate videos that are posted and the language that people use when commenting on videos, I've always put that in the Only-when-mom-calls-you-to-the-computer-to-see-something category. YouTube is not a kid site, nor does it advertise itself as such. I would just chalk this up to a lesson learned.

Are you happy to see me or did you just get bit by a spider?

You don't think so? Why not? Her autopsy was released. Cause of Death

I partly grew up in this area and I really love it. Be very careful to check out any possible areas. La and oc have a lot of nice cities that border on not so nice cities. It seems weird, but you can go from decently safe to lock your doors when you drive in matter of blocks. I would not move anywhere without visiting at least once. La mirada is another good suggestion. Good luck!

My kids are just learning how to snowboard. This has been a good reminder to me to not slack on helmet usage.

We own it! You rock :-)

Thanks for posting this.

When dh and I really need the freedom to discuss something, we set the kids up with a movie, leave the oldest in charge and go sit in the car, in the driveway. If the kids need us, we're close by, but in a sound proof "booth."

We moved from Orlando to NorCal a year and a half ago. I don't think you can underestimate the sunlight factor. I have had a VERY hard time during the winter months. In the past, it has taken me a year to feel at home in a new place. We just moved about 2 hours away from where we started, so we've reset ourselves. I can see myself being happy here, but it doesn't feel like home just yet. Give yourself time. Get through the winter and let the sunshine help you along. ((((hugs)))) I can totally relate!

Friends of ours had a little girl who was completely bald until she was 4, because of this. It turned out that it was connected with thumb sucking. Once she gave up sucking her thumb, she stopped pulling out her hair. Hth,

We had our largest bill ever in January, right before we moved out of that house. It was $500 for 2000sq ft, all electric house. We didn't even have central heat in that house. We used space heaters at night (as little as possible) and a wood stove the rest of the time. I was always cold in that place. It was shocking to me because the highest bill we ever had in Florida was $350, with a/c on 24/7 and a pool pump running daily. Anyhow, you said that you are trying to heat the house to 70? That's pretty high. We shoot for 65 in the day and I drop our thermostat to 55 at night, now that we have moved to a place with central (gas) heating. Our first bill in this place was $125 and I was jumping for joy. Is this your first bill in that house?

No worries. It is impossible for me to feel picked on about AI. :) I agree about the eyeliner. When it gets down to it, I'm pulling for Danny.

This is funny

The last time we went to the tar pits, we happened upon LACMA. On Sundays they set up free art projects for kids and free admission into the museum as well. It was a lot of fun.

This is a quote from the original article linked above I think being a friend of the show's producers is a different issue, if that is the case.

I'm pretty sure that Kelly Clarkson had a record deal before, as well as Brooke White, and a bunch of others who have already been mentioned. It doesn't bug me at all. I have several friends who have had record deals, but their professional careers haven't gone very far. There is a huge gap between record deal and successful career. That said, I haven't read the article, so maybe Adam's experience goes beyond that. I still dig his 80's hair band voice.

I was so excited!!! Oh, but I'm sad for Carter. No kids, split from Kem.... So excited to see Doug and Carol all in love still, it made my heart pitter patter. It was such a great episode, ER is my all time favorite show. I haven't watched it in a few years, but it's been on for half of my life! I was reminded why I don't watch dramas anymore, the old man and his wife had me all teary eyed.

#2 sounds fantastic if I'm thinking about my 11yo. When I consider it for my 6yo, nope, not as appealing. I'd go with choir. Keep things simple.

In general, if we have had a fantastic home school day, the house will be thrashed. If the house is clean, we probably didn't have a great school day. I am not organized or tidy by nature, so I don't have the expectation that I will ever get it all done. At least not in the same day. Homeschooling IS a full time job. You have to treat your expectations as far as the house is concerned as you would if you were working out of the house all day long. The only difference being that the kids are still home to mess it up. I really just do the best that I can and prioritize from there. For me, the dinner issue was getting out of control, so I have made that a priority. This is my pecking order at the moment- 1) clean clothes for DH. 2) homeschooling with excellence. 3) Meals planned and cooked on time 4) everything else! Believe me, a lot falls by the wayside in that everything else category. I try to tackle it a little at a time, focussing on problem areas as I can. I will never have the cleanest house in the world. I also think we're far from being slobs. I shoot for somewhere in between (hopefully landing closer to the super clean side). Give yourself a lot of grace!

I hadn't really thought through this part before. How your dd put up boundaries and she pushed through them. Not that you need me to tell you, but you are absolutely right, she is not safe. Before I was thinking that people were over reacting because I don't think she's do anything to physically harm your child. But reading this post makes it clear to me that the danger is in the way she is pushing past your dd's boundaries and violating her mentally.

You're right- she doesn't have the right. I guess the only thing I'm torn about is the motive. I can relate to her motive, so I don't find it as devious as you do. Knowing your history, I totally get why this is so disturbing to you. In the end, i still agree with you- she's totally out of line.