windmorn

So sorry about your grandmother. I hope your family can find a way to keep holidays alive. My mom's family holidays fell apart when she went in the nursing home. No one had a house big enough or wanted the responsiblity. I lived too far away to take it over, so they quit having holidays 15 years before she died.

Thanks Cat!

Thanks for the bump!

@Mt_Rider - staying on Amazon's a good idea. I've had a kindle app or device for a couple of years and haven't had any problem with viruses - knock on wood. @TMC - Weatherbug suggests removing it from the add/remove programs section under settings. I've seen other articles that tell you how to remove all the registry keys so that it doesn't come back. I've had to do that before for some programs, but I can't remember if it was for weatherbug. I used to keep it on my computer and leave it running at night if there was bad so the weather alerts would wake me up. I don't keep it anymore since I've got weather on my phone that sends me alerts.

Idea for supper tomorrow - crockpot taco flavored meatloaf with Kroger's Authentic Mexican Blend shredded cheese in the middle topped with enchilada sauce instead ketchup. Might have to wait until Saturday though - forgot about a fundraiser we have to work. :/ I don't have an exact recipe for my regular meatloaf. I throw in some Lipton Mushroom and Onion soup, some worcheshshire sauce, some ketchup, a couple of eggs and some crumbled up wheaties.

Ya'll are welcome. I got a bunch of them, so I'll post if any of them are good.

Glad to hear things are getting better!!

You're welcome. It says 8 & older and 3rd grade reading level if that helps. If they're too young, check back when they're older. This seems to be a sevice thay have deals on often. Even if they are too young check out the site anyway. They have a ton of other programs and a pretty big list of free stuff and places to go for field trips. I've been pleased with everything I've gotten from them and probably would have missed out on with out the programs I've gotten if I was just looking on my own. There's a really good math program under special needs called Help Math. I'm using it for dd. It has a free trial and you can do a diagnostic test on there to find weak spots to target even if you don't buy the program in the end. A lot of the products have a trial period or a sample lesson to try first. DD swore she wouldn't like the Meet the Masters art program and is now begging for it and we only did a 1/3 of the lesson so far. It introduces them to master artists and then has an art lesson. The Type to Learn has a month trial. It's another one she's begging for. It's about the same price as buying it in the store, but you can add 5 students instead of 1 and it has a teacher piece the one at the store doesn't.

I downloaded this the other night when I was looking for world history books. It was a great little read. It had all kinds of ideas on stretching butter, using fats and leftovers. It's got recipes for flourless and meatless days. It also tells how much of different items are wasted and could be saved by cutting back x amount for each person. It mentions acid stomach can be caused by too much sugar and that kids need whole milk and as many or more calories than a man depending on age. (Good foods of course.) Much different from what you hear from the government today. It also tells how oleo came about. http://www.amazon.com/Foods-That-Will-Cook-ebook/dp/B004TRTKLA/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1336051098&sr=8-3-fkmr1

Probably they hit the number of freebies between the time you pulled the page up and hit the buy button. They refresh the list at the top of the hour. I have also went to get a free book and realized that it's only free to borrow it. I think I did that with $.99 book, so I just kept it.

Homeschool Buyer's Co-op has worked out a deal with Learning Success Institute for 91% off of their learning style assessment. https://www.homescho...t/?source=98534 You get a coupon code from the co-op to use at the site. You can get a coupon until May 31, and it's good until June 7. PS I'm going to be up front so no one thinks I posted this just to get points to use at the co-op. You will get a link to send to friends that will give you points for the co-op. If anyone else gets a coupon, please post your link and so the next person can use that link and we can share the wealth so to speak. I think it's a worth while thing to test for learning styles. I worked at a school for 3.5 years and found that if a teacher is unwilling to use more than one style/change when it isn't working the kids suffer. I also know that I've struggled with finding the right thing for dd to learn math and haven't found it. I'm hoping this assessment will give me the tools to help her.

I had heard that, but had forgotten it. Thank you for the reminder. I've also read that Aztec runners used chia seeds for energy and due to their ability to absorb water, they helped retain water so not as much was needed. I'm sending them with the boys on their hike this summer to add to their food for the energy and extra calories.

This is a spin off of the tree tapping thread that I spun off from the edible plants in Texas and the Southwest thread. I think I'm getting dizzy from all the spinning. http://www.dew-drop.com/purewaterextractedfromplants.html PURE WATER EXTRACTED FROM PLANTS There are a number of ways to extract water from plants and almost all water from plants is clean, pure and ready to drink. With the exception of toxic or high resin plants 98% of all plant material contains purified water. There is a destructive and a non destructive method of gathering water from plants. How to get drinking water from plants The Non Destructive Method The non destructive method typically involves tying a plastic bag over a leafy branch and allowing the plant to transpire into the bag. Another way to put this is to collect the plant respirated water vapor. Either way you say it, it is an effective way to get clean, pure water. The downside is you need a lot of plastic bags to collect enough water to live on. Look at this method as a supplemental water supply. 1) Select an appropriate plant/s. Water loving trees and plants such as willow, cottonwood and berry producing shrubs are the best choice. Of course there probably aren't any of those around where you are and when you need them, so the next best thing is anything with leaves. The larger leaves the better. Leaves with a large surface area tend to give off more moisture than smaller leafed trees and bushes. This is true about 85% of the time and is the safest bet to follow. 2) Enclose a live, leafy branch with a bag and tie off around the stem. Whenever possible use clear bags. Any plastic bag will work, but clear bags will catch water and the sun will also help dehydrate the enclosed branch because of the increased heat. 3) Water will gather at the lowest point in the bag. Keep that in mind when it comes time to harvest your water. 4) Allow 4 - 5 hours for the water to collect in the plastic bag. 5) Harvest the water and drink up! How to get drinking water from plants The Destructive Method One of the most common destructive ways to extract drinking water from a plant is to cut a stem or tap the trunk. You either allow the tapped liquid to flow into a container or suck the moisture out with your mouth. Be careful about placing your mouth on twigs and branches as these outer part usually contain bacteria. Drinking water from a Cactus In the desert, one of the most common plants to provide you with water is the cacti or prickly pear cactus. You can simply cut a notch in the cactus to allow surplus liquid to drain. If the prickly pear is low on water you may be forced to chop off a branch and squeeze the fibers like a sponge to extract the liquid. This can be hard on your hands due to the prickles and it is definitely hard on the cacti. You will et some cacti type water from the fibers but the main cacti will continue to slowly "bleed" for some time after you remove the branch. This is something to consider BEFORE you remove cacti bits. Of course, if you are dying of thirst and it is between you and the cactus, you are going to do a little surgery on the cactus to save your life. Drinking water from a Banana Tree Okay, I realize most of us don't have to worry about tripping on the banana tree out back, but, your knowledge base wouldn't be complete unless you learned about getting drinking water from a banana tree. (Pretend you are stuck on a tropical island). 1) After you have found a full size banana tree, chop it down leaving about 18" of stump sticking out of the ground. (I hope you were marooned with something to chop down the tree with). 2) Using a rock or knife, dish out the top of the stump forming a bowl as deep as possible with 8" being your target. 3) This bowl will fill full of liquid which is undrinkable. Empty the liquid and let the bowl fill again. 4) By about the 4th bowl of liquid, drink up! This will be clean, drinkable water. 5) You might want to cover the cut bowl in the stump with some banana leave to help keep the insects out. Drinking water from a Coconut Tree Of course you can drink the milk or water from the coconut, BUT, did you know that the liquid from mature coconuts are also a natural laxative? You can drink your fill of coconut "water" if you follow these simple steps. 1) Seek out only immature or green coconuts. 2) These juvenile coconuts are safe to drink from but should only be stored for a maximum of 4 days. 3) The best advice. Pick young coconuts only as you need them for drinking "water" (watery milk). Using them in this way will keep you hydrated and healthy without excessive bathroom trips. </h1> <h1 class="style7">* Always be sure to test your water before using. Dew-Drop.com accepts no liability for the use of the information on the site. We do our best to bring you information on clean, drinkable water.

Thanks Cat!

I needed some masking tape for dd's roller coaster project tomorrow and found 2 kinds at Dollar Tree. One brand had 50 feet, the other 40.

Someone slap me, my first thought was 'forced diet', forcing us to have smaller portions, hence, the healthy ad on tv... 'see what soup can do for you....' .... never mind..... You might be on to a new marketing ad/diet fad - the soup can diet. Just buy everything in the new soup sized cans and automatically your portions and calories are cut by 25% (However your grocery bill will increase 25% to offset the cost of our new scheme).

You would've noticed when you picked it up. It was quit a bit narrower. It was the same height and in a special display, so I didn't notice it was smaller until I picked it up. I checked the regular section and the ones there were visibly smaller compared to the others.

I started to pick up some Campbell's pork and beans yesterday on sale 2/$1. When I picked up the can it felt strange. I looked at the size and it was only 11oz. I hope not all the canned goods are going to shrink like that.

Ooops! Bad wording. He took it before school. I don't think he would have a way to make it at school. I really wonder what schools think sometimes and why they can't admit when they are wrong or make allowances when they are obviuosly needed. I just read a story about a boy that failed because he missed 16 days to take care of him mom taking chemo. At Boy Scouts they often add flavoring to their water, so that won't be a big deal. I looked at our local Chinese store and I think they had everything but the ginger tea. I'm going to go back and look in case they were out of it. To make ginger ale, I'm going to add sparkling water. I'm not sure how it would be mixed ginger ale. Some are so weak though, it might just make it sweeter.

chocolate banana preserves

In looking for things for the boys hike this summer, I ordered some honey ginger powder thinking it would be honey flavored with a touch of ginger. It turned out to be a ginger tea with honey and sugar as a sweetener. My sinuses were hurting one day to the point of making me sick to my stomach so I decided to drink some. Within a little while, my sinuses were better. I figured it was the med I had taken finally kicked in. A couple of days later, the Herbal Anitbiotic book by Stephen Harrod Buhner I ordered came in. The section on ginger said it was almost as good of a cough medicine as codeine and a very effective antihistamine and expectorant. I've tried it a couple of times and it's worked for myself and ds. This past weekend we went hiking, and I found out I'm allergic to cotton wood as is ds. We came home and I took the usual Benydryl along with some herbal nasal spray after rinsing my sinuses and still felt miserable after a couple of hours and a nap. I remembered the ginger tea and with in an hour was as fine as could be. DS was coughing all last week from allergies, and I couldn't get it to go away, until I remembered the tea. He got up with a little coughing this am, but I gave him the tea and he left cough free. The tea I have is http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Ginger-Honey-Crystals-Pack/dp/B002SWB73C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334581160&sr=8-2. It's good hot or cold and seems to work either way.A word of warning, it does have a bit of a bite until you get used to it. I think later today, I might make some ginger ale with it by dissolving it in a little water first and then adding sparkling water. It's definitely going in to the boys backpacks in place of allergy and cough meds. It's much lighter and works. I can also put it in ds's first aid kit for Boy Scout since it's not a drug. I'm definitely going to stock up on the instant tea, but I'm also going to find somewhere to plant some edible ginger that the dogs won't have a territory dispute over it.

Look on Homeschool Buyers Co-op http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_quickbase&Itemid=1141&c=1 The link should take you to the foreign language page. They've got Rosetta for 20% off and another program for 50% off as well as a few others. I don't know anything about the programs but have loved the othet subjects I've ordered from them. You can link to the product website from theirs. There's usually some reviews and sometimes a trial of as long as a month. They've saved me a ton of money since I found dd learns better from computer programs for a lot of things. They have all subjects and some are in traditional format.