If anyone would like to see how their students are doing, I received this, in an email from the TTUISD Middle School Principal, yesterday: "Lanny, the 2011 STAAR exams were released yesterday. You might want (DD) to take the sixth grade tests. You will find them at" http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/testquestions

Ive looked in all of the links, Ive googled it.. Ive searched the forums.. Im just missing it I guess. What does teA stand for??? Ive got a general idea.. but unlike the other abbreviations, I can't figure out what it stands for. Anyone?

Can you recommend a good place to purchase teA toys online? I know of Good Vibrations but where else?

I've been hoping the urge to post this poll would pass (oooh, nice alliteration!). I was dared to "go for it" by a fellow member last night, when I shared my secret with her. I chickened out. Tonight, boldness strikes! I am going where no [wo]man has gone before. Or actually, where many may have gone, but few admit. :lol: Remember, people -- THIS IS AN ANONYMOUS POLL. All we have to do is bump it up (oh, goodness, so much inuendo) so that it doesn't just die a slow, painful death. If you are willing to elaborate, by all means do so. I'm looking for opinions on (whispers) bedroom toys (bedroom, playroom...wherever you are when the mood strikes). You know...the sort of adult toys that start with a "v"...or a "d"...depending, and generally require batteries. I don't have one. I'm slightly inclined to try one (ack...what happens when I meet you IRL?? :blink:). I figure if nothing else, this might help lighten the mood around here (here meaning HERE, the boards, but also here, my home). I'm polling the largest source of folks I know because I am truly unsure whether it's worth it to pursue owning this "resource" or not. What do you think? Does it work for you? Does it not? Or do you never care to know? Thank you for being willing to...er...humor me. I mean, we're all adults right? Hiding now and hoping the system can handle the sudden influx of "IGNORE" buttons being pushed. :leaving:

What is the strangest place you have had teA? (yes I know it's been asked before, but it is always fun) or the strangest place you have fantasized about having teA? or a new type of teA brewing that you had not considered until 50 shades... or all three? How creative can we get with euphemisms?

:001_huh:Dh and I are so very vanilla. Or rather, *I* am, perhaps he'd be open to something more adventurous...anyway, after reading the Fun TeA thread, I realized I don't even know HOW to have a strange/interesting teA experience...I mean the logistics aspect. One person mentioned a park picnic table. And that a cyclist didn't realize what was going on...how is that possible?! Someone else mentioned a nature preserve...so if I wanted to do something like that, do we just go for a walk and then...? Bring a blanket? Do we disrobe completely?!?!:001_huh: or under a sheet? (told you, I am VERY boring!) Same with the car. HOW? I am trying to figure out logistically, and it. Does. Not. Compute. Lol. Do you wear a skirt and no under garments?:confused: Help a boring gal out!!!

How many play around a bit before the raincoat goes on? This question has just been on my mind lately because, surprise, we are having a baby and you can probably guess how it happened. Of course we are very happy now that the shock has worn off.:D I will include a poll so that the guilty parties can participate in this thread without incriminating themselves.:blush: *Update, I did the poll wrong and the results are not secret. This is a disclaimer that participation in this poll is without raincoat, wetsuit or any type of protection. My apologies :-(

Any suggestions?

:blushing: I have decided that I would like to remove some of the carpet in my personal teA room. I even went so far as to book an appointment in a few weeks. However, I am rather worried about the process of carpet removal. If you have had it done, how bad was it? What about ingrown carpet fibers afterward? What if one has a rather thick, coarse carpet? Would removal still be advisable? :scared: Please save me from a carpet removal disaster! (And don't be too hard on me. I was seriously tempted to register for a different user name to ask this question!) :blushing: This smiley has nothing on how red-faced this question makes me, but I really can't ask someone this IRL!

TITLE: "Can Tea Cure What Ails You?" :tongue_smilie:

Just wondering if you spice things up a little where/how you hide the evidence from young eyes. Dh and I were talking earlier about getting a few "accessories" but his fear was "what if we die and the kids or someone else finds them?"---well by then we would be dead and not care and it would give everyone a good laugh. I also need to figure out where/what to buy but that might go beyond this board.

I could just about DIE this morning. DIE I tell you!!! My son, about to turn 10, who also has aspergers, snuck into our bedroom in the middle of the night. We had NO idea he was there and wide away from 3am on. He is very very quiet. He also has huge night time anxiety as it is. Well, figures this morning, dh and I wake really early and well...ya know... I had even asked him "there's no kid in here right?" as he had gotten up to turn off the alarm clock. "no..just the dog..I checked" was his answer. So, afterwards, he gets up for work and who is in there at the very foot of our bed, face down with his fingers in his ears, but my SON. He is completely freaked out. I tried to talk to him earlier and he would not speak. We have never had "the talk" yet. Eventually, I tried to talk to him again and he was a little more responsive. What I said was that mommy and daddy were sharing special time together and that is a way moms and dads show their love for each other. I said I was NOT mad at him for coming into my room, and also that we had no idea he was in there or that never would have happened and I was so sorry for not checking better. I used this as an opportunity to say that he is always welcome to come to our room if he's scared or anxious but that he needs to knock on the door and that he is always welcome to wake me up in the middle of the night if he needs me, but that he needs to let me know he's come to my room. I then re-iterated that I was NOT upset he came into my room last night. I kind of likened it to not walking into a bathroom if the door is closed, you always knock, or at least say "is anyone in there?". I do not have a lock on our bedroom door. I guess the reason is that so far in my twenty years of parenting I haven't needed it yet. There will be one on the door in the next 24 hours. :001_smile: My son is SO literal and has the most vivid imagination of anyone I know. I'm afraid he's going to think his parents turn into aliens or something in the middle of the night. I'm so afraid he's not able to process the "special time/ love each other" talk I gave him and that he's just going to be utterly confused and his imagination is going to run away with him. I don't know if I should tell his psychologist about this and get his opinion? ugh..figures it's a guy! Do I buy a book now? I mean, I was ten when I learned about how babies were made--the mechanics. I didn't REALLY learn about it until I was much much older. Will he be ok? or has this truly scarred him? I came downstairs a little while ago, and ds says "mom, I don't think I'll ever fully recover from last night" I sure hope he has the discretion to not just tell this story to the cashier at the grocery store or something (he tends to do things like that...say things in socially inappropriate circumstances) I figured, someone here has to have had something similar happen to them? How did you handle it?

The TeA thread was enlightening....and I haven't laughed so hard in ages. But I still don't know what TeA actually stands for. Anybody want to clue me in? Okay, so now I have to ask...how often do you have tea time at your house? I swear I would be okay with 3 or 4 times a YEAR. I take it from the other thread that is not the norm. So what is the norm??? Monthly, weekly, every day??? Anybody willing to answer?

I would like to hear from everyone what flavor/type of tea they enjoy, and what health benefits you derive from it (i.e., relaxes you, gives you energy and so forth). Also, how do you prepare and drink it, hot or cold? I'm drinking some jasmine green tea, and I've looking to experiment with different flavors. Got any recommendations, especially if it is helpful for anxiety? I tend to get all tied up in knots and it's hard to physically relax. I appreciate your input!

Maybe *TeA* brewing instead of Ham and all that? Ahem. This is very far from my usual comfort zone, so please go gently with me. A friend and I were recently discussing the frequency of TeA brewing. We've all seen different numbers, but they don't seem to agree with each other. I thought that I would try going to the source for all information--the Hive. For the poll, the question is how often do you and your husband (or wife) brew a pot of Tea together? I know some people brew solo pots regularly, and while I applaud your solo tea-brewing skills, I'm curious about the shared pots.

for teA? For dh and I, it is generally a little humming of Business Time....he even created a ringtone of it for when I called his cell. But about a month ago, it switched to any grammar reference. I was quizzing ds on his Latin with dh sitting beside me. I asked ds to conjugate his verbs and dh (making full use of his middle school sense of humor) made several (very quiet) comments about "conjugal"......I'll conjugate your verbs anytime...... My ds had no idea why mama was laughing through his recitation. If I could keep from laughing, perhaps I wouldn't encourage the 8th grade humor. But the truth is, there is an 8th grader inside of me, as well. So now, we invite the other conjugate verbs or help the other with a grammar problem. Corny, but there's ours. Your turn!

I'm sad... I went to look at my rep this morning and... IT'S GONE! WTM powers that be have made changes. They look good, but they took away the REP!!!

Am I allowed to ask about tags here...or would some of you kind people follow me over to the How-To forum in the likely event that this gets moved. How do you use tags? Are they created by us or for us? Why are some in the "cloud" in large font while others are not? Does it strike anyone else as hysterical that the current tag list has both the word colander and the word colanders? :D Help.

This is not supposed to be a political thread. I don't start political threads. I don't read them either. Well, not really. Anyway, I thought this article in Slate was funny in a general kind of way, not in an endorsing vs. deriding kind of way at all. In light of our "tea talk" I thought people might enjoy it. ;)