Hi, all, I am in the market for a new fridge and stove. What are your favorites and why? What should I avoid and why? Thanks!

Woot! :hurray:

I train teachers to use a cc math program and what I see pretty consistently is that many elementary teachers themselves have number sense gaps and find it difficult to teach number sense well because of that. By and large, middle school teachers don't have that issue. Also, since cc requires kids to explain their thinking, I see a huge improvement in that department on the part of the kids. Where it is implemented well, it is beautiful to watch in action in the class room. Where it is implemented poorly, it can be disaster. Often, teachers don't have time to do the self-study they need to do to get themselves up to speed to teach it well. On the other hand, I was in a school yesterday that was doing a bang-up job, and I have never been so impressed with a public school. So the news is not all bad. I have no idea about implementation for Common Core in anything other than math.

DS says duct tape and string. He's not 6 anymore but seems to remember those days well. :)

I'm not, but at the airport on Sunday I saw twins in their 60s dressed in matching halloween outfits. They had black t-shirts under some classy-ish plaid button-downs with gold spider webs on the front. Creepy. lol

I use Michael Clay Thompson, Killgallon, and Susan Wise Bauer's recommendations, and both of mine are writing pretty well now. Wordsmith Apprentice helped a bit too, I think. :) Susan

Well, I had mine made from a picture in a magazine, using lace from her dress (she wore a short cocktail affair in the 60's) and raw silk, which we purchased together. We sewed on all the pearls together. So, she was very much a part of it, but I chose the design. :)

Yes. Purchase a fish tank over-flow alarm. Cut down the wire. Attach to a snap in the underwear at the point of wetting. Make a pouch for the alarm to fit around the child's waist. Sleep on floor in child's room. As soon as the alarm goes off, spring up and make sure the child fully wakes up. Usher him to the bathroom. Do this every time for 2 or 3 nights until he or she is no longer sleeping through the potty cues. Most other alarms don't work because the urine has to soak through several layers of clothing. The trick is to wake the child up as soon as the alarm goes off so that he or she can begin to wake him or herself up. It worked in one night for my bedwetter. Others I have heard take up to 3 nights.

One time, when dd was about 20 months old, she came up with milk streaming all over her chin and crying. I wondered if something was poking her or what in the world had happened and I asked her what was wrong. "Want dat choc-lit milk!" she sobbed. Sorry, babe, it's only got one flavor! lol From then on ds was convinced that he was being cheated because *he* didn't get chocolate milk, either!

Where can I get an Aunt like that? lol

How fun! Do you have a link?

Yes, you can make *your* posts private. However, I don't want to see everyone else's public posts. I haven't figured out how to block those from a bunch of people I don't know.

I use Google Plus to keep up with family and conduct a daily math class via hangout. It's nice to be able to do that. What I don't like is seeing every one's post from all over the web, public posts. Some are just *blech*. Haven't figured out how to narrow it.

Have it, really like it. Got the logitech magnetic bluetooth keyboard. Really surprised how useful it is. Highly recommended. :thumbup:

Just FYI, you need to keep 4 years of successive school records showing that you were in the States for 4 straight years before age 18 if you ever want to prove citizenship for future kiddos. I had no idea of this rule and had to scramble for school records from overseas some years ago. Other than that, toss if you need to.

I remember her! She also said, "I've got one wrinkle, and I'm sitting on it!" LOL

Chop. Place on cookie sheet on a layer of plastic wrap. Freeze. Remove plastic wrap from cookie sheet. Dump frozen cilantro into a quart freezer bag. Place back in freezer. Use as needed. Did this just yesterday. Works great, keeps for a few months.

Ah, I love visiting their booth every year. Just bought some stuff online from them and left a little note. How sad. :(

My mom got me a fitbit for my birthday, and, as an exercise resist-er, I love it. I have been going on a walk every day just to hit my goal of 10K steps and 10 flights of stairs. Everyone else in the family has been joining me! It's been a real treat to get out for a good ramble every night, and my fitbit helps me track how well I am doing through the day. I have the FitBit One, but they have a wrist band now that I think you can wear swimming, too.

No way, no how. This is a highly controversial topic here, and you'll get a load of differing answers. However, you should know that the cleanliness of the facility can't prevent an infected deer from getting into the cow pasture and sharing the same hay as the cows who will be milked later. Brucellosis is no laughing matter.

Um... they would, but that's only if they had a chance. DH and I would have given them a run for their money. :) They sound phenomenal!

I'm in. Already done: misc work stuff and school stuff. On the way: finish tackling my paper work/file piles. I think I can, I think I can......

:w00t: Wowzers, what a price tag!

XPOST: DS would like to get into stop animation a bit more. Does anyone know of a really good app for this for iPad that would allow him to stitch together video and add sound? Thanks! ETA: There are too many apps in the iTunes store for a novice to figure out which would actually be best. I have already downloaded a couple, but I was hoping someone here would be able to recommend a great one, even if it costs a bit.

Anyone?