Oh, thank goodness! Yes, we used homemade pages, online printables and have started copywork that I run off on the copier in our office. I was starting to think there was something else I needed to research. DD#1 has gorgeous handwriting & she is only 4.5. She has begun making her handwriting with flourishes now....

investors business daily, monday july 20th newspaper (on the stands today) http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=482580

a saucer with a bit of red wine and pouring boiling water down the kitchen sink (or bathroom) drain for a few days (2 or 3) to kill the eggs. vinegar and baking soda makes their life uneasy in the drain also.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/

check out this link, it is Forbes.com I first read this article last year and was stunned from what I read in this fiscally conservative magazine. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/1208/092.html after experiencing long term medical problems with a family member and watching their financial demise, then, having a family member in england experiencing the same thing there, the socialized medicine was far superior on many levels. the only down-side is that you have long waits for non-life-threatening procedures, but you do here too if you don;t have the right insurance. my grandmother waxes poetic about healthcare overseas, and she's as conservative as they come in many ways- anti big government for sure! my personal opinion- if we can bail out bad businessmen, why can't kids see a doctor when they need one? really disgusting IMHO.

I remember her saying it was a thick slab, maybe 3 or 4 inches? I know marble holds the cold, they don;t make marble rolling pins for nothing, do they? I bet you could find a piece of marble scrap from a stone yard (if such a thing exists in your neck of the woods). HTH!

what do you want for it?:)

I had a friends au-pair here the other day, she is from a small town in England very close to where my grandmother grew-up. She walked in the house & saw my big-ole american fridge andwas shocked, and in love in one fell swoop.... in my defense- we live very far from the nearest grocery you would *want* to eat food from; and, it is actually no bigger than a standard side-by-side, just in a different configuration so it appears to be a vault like structure. My grandmother told me when she was growing up, they had a pantry with a huge slab of granite or marble (?) that kept food cold, but fresh for only a few days. Good for you, Rosie, to try to reduce your footprint. I wish there were ways I could with out loosing my fridge or my little bit of a/c that I do get to enjoy... simply I am no more than the light switch police at times! We do try though! Rosie, what else do you do to reduce your footprint & what is your husband (studying or teaching?) at the university? RObyn

What a great topic. I think I will use some of these suggestions for fun with my 4.5 year old who is obsessed with our reading of the Little House Treasury. Thakns so much for asking & all of the replies- I would never have thought of this on my own (I am such a newbie!) RObyn

send me a pic by PM, and some rough dimensions- it's what i do for a living!

Our has had supplies for weeks. I wanted to mention this in a post- They have in the dollar section lesson plan books- for a buck I bought one & modified some of the pages to fit our summer & will work nicely to organize our K5 year. For a dollar! DD1 wants me to add a 'sticker' so here it is::grouphug:

How about checking out Borders for something like the Rainbow Bridge series? I know our local store has lots of what I call extra curriculars, I bet you could get 2 books for 20 bucks. Does that help?

never in a million years could we live off of half of what we are making now. i'm cringing at the thought of when we will need to sell our house. we've run out of credit and between the economy and this rainy season we're out of savings and have run out of credit thanks to advanta who closed our credit card (all accounts everywhere not just us) and now we can't get credit anywhere because of it- black stain on what was a perfect credit score. ugggg! thanks for the vent. my prayers are with everyone trying to weather this and everything else they have to deal with. :grouphug:

Where are they traveling from? I am not far from Boston, but there is a ferry ride involved- it's a 2 hour trip total. LMK

I would try to buy anything you can organic anyway- frozen items from discount/bulk stores, etc. make smoothies. I know that there are different degrees of organic as some might say, I have a unique perspective on this though. DH was raised on a farm, he now has a disease which only comes from high pesticide exposure, he has never sprayed anything more than round-up in his life. His dad would take him up to the farm when he was a kid. In good conscience I cannot buy anything that is not organic, every piece of produce I touch I think of every child exposed to it's processing. I buy all organic on less than what I used to spend feeding 2 (now 4) from stores like BJs. HTH

how very funny, i've never heard it referred to that way before!

I cannot for the life of me find our pickling salt- can I use kosher? We're in a pinch & DD#1 is dying to make dill pickles from the ingredients she grew in our garden. Unfortunately we did not grow salt, LOL! Much thanks in advance for all of the great advice I receive here!

amen sister! yes, i do agree, you are not alone in your opinions.:iagree:

:grouphug: I do pray for you.

that's great

we need a hairy pit smiley for our posts! ROAR!:lol:

I don;'t see this as a political issue (not from the OP point of view anyway).... but when you have a community of intelligent people with strong opinions (or why else would we HS?) anything can turn political i guess. ANYWAY- I would never have known this if I hadn't stumbled upon it just today (still finding my way around here). It is from SWB, and she must have been MAD when she wrote it. Hope I don;t make anyone else mad quoting it here..... HTH. "Restrictions on political discussions, avatars, and signatures Avatars and signatures that make political statements are not permitted. If the moderators judge avatars and signatures to be in violation of this rule, you will be asked to change them. You don't have to agree with us. You just have to do it if you intend to remain an active board member. Discussion of political issues is allowed under the following conditions: 1. The discussion must remain nonpartisan. You may discuss specific issues, policies, and politicians. Sweeping statements about Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, etc. will be deleted. 2. Links to outside sites, except for those to federal or state government web resources, will be deleted. 3. Discussions which devolve into abuse will be deleted. Not closed, deleted. Don't email us asking why a thread has been deleted. You can safely assume that the discussion went off track. If you're unsure what qualifies as "abuse," here is a brief and noncomprehensive guide; your post will probably be deleted if it Calls another poster's opinion "dumb," "ignorant," "stupid," "ridiculous," "asinine," or any synonym. Contains the words, "Any idiot can see that..." Contains the phrase "foil hats" Calls another poster "irrational" or begins, "You're clearly not able to follow a logical argument" Four final things: I don't want political threads to swallow the board. Please post to an existing thread if possible, and exert some self-control in posting new threads. If the board gets too political I will close/delete threads for that reason alone. Please consider avoiding the words "clearly" and "obviously." Oh, and you could deep-six "conspiracy" too. If you choose to post on political topics, man (or woman) up. Discussion will get heated. And if you break the rules, you're going to get temporarily banned. Don't email us as soon as your ban is lifted to complain how unfair the ban was. You were the one who stepped into the arena. And if you post a THREAD about the rules, it will GO AWAY. I'm really, really, really, really sick and tired of discussing this. If you see a breach of rules, please report the offense. But don't begin your email to the moderators with, "Why are you allowing such and such an avatar/thread/signature to remain? Clearly you don't enforce your rules evenly." We can't actually read every thread, let alone check all nine thousand avatars and signatures on a daily basis. We rely on the community to help maintain these standards."

I do not watch Dr Phil. I really do not care for Dr Phil. My Dad (when he was alive) 'watched' him religiously (at the point in his life when he had lost his sight and as a result his independence), I would roll my eyes at every morsel of 'knowledge' that was conveyed to me by way of my Dad from the almighty 'doctor' With that said- it seems to me there is no grey with that man. If you breast feed for what he considers too long, your a bad mother. If you co-sleep, you are endangering the life of your child (when the numbers say exactly the opposite). Now, if you homeschool, your kid must be wild. Has he been to a elementary school yard in the last 40 years- kids fighting, playing games of violence, vulgarities galore? If we all thought like Dr Phil, should we say 'if your kid goes to public school they will shoot someone'? Dr Phil, Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh. They are among many who will say absolutely anything to get their 'numbers up'. oy.

not sure if this will help. dd1 has always been my sous chef. as long as she could stand on a chair and help, she has. i started with giving her a cheese knife (no actual blade more like a flat spoon imo) to cut things like mushrooms, then a butter knife for soft foods to be chopped. she can cut up many veggies and fruits for whatever i am making. i let her turn on the cuisinart of the mixer (with serious supervision) that is one way she practiced her numbers- 'turn the mixer to 1, now 2..." measuring cups and spoons for fractions. whisking dry ingredients, or wet, them mixing together. i'll give her a few bowls of food items that need to be mixed (think fruit or mixed salads and we do a lot of one dish meals here) to be served. i let her make our pb & j's on a thin cutting board (4 in a pack for 5 bucks from williams-sonoma) any kid that can handle a butter knife and spoon can do that & will be pleased with their accomplishment. she can handle a potato masher- baby guacamole, all you need is a ripe avacado, a potato masher and an 18 month old! she could make many things that require the stove, will walk me through them, just from being in the kitchen with me for so long, but she is not ready for open flames (gas stove)..... it is amazing what they will pick-up second nature just from watching you do it & i have the best conversations with my little sous chef.

thanks for the great laugh & yes i do agree. i'll listen to the ramones in my volvo wagon. wear tight jeans. wear way too much black clothing. but, i would never, ever, wear a bikini this side of 30 or motherhood! the only artwork i have to display comes from BF 2 kids & a low slung shirt (which are never bought that way, just happen when dd2 needs something to eat!) sorry if that was way tmi! ;)