Jessy - I'm no censor either, but I think 16 is a more appropriate age to read 'Memoirs'; in fact if you tell me someone is trying to censor a book it makes me go out and read it. I told my daughter that some of the material is too adult and she could read it when she was 16, but then she saw the movie when she was 15 and I didn't have a reason not to let her read it. She did and loved it. I just finished reading the first four books in the Deltora Quest series and then had to order the next 4 (of course). This one is definitely appropriate for middle school fantasy fans both girls and boys. A magic belt worn by the king/queen which unites the 7 tribes/territories of Deltora and protects them from the Shadowlord. The gemstones representing each territory (diamond, ruby, opal, topaz, lapus lazuli, emerald & amethyst) are scattered to the darkest parts of the land by the Shadowlord and the king and queen are forced to flee with the help of the king's childhood friend (who is now a blacksmith). 16 years later the blacksmith's son Lief begins the quest to retrieve the stones and restore the belt to save the kingdom with the help of a former palace guard and an orphaned 16-year-old girl they meet in the Forest of Silence. Each book is the search for one stone and the group having to defeat the "great evil" that guards it. Jen

I saw the photos of this masterpiece the first time around but was thrilled to sit through a more extensive tour - even if I had to remove my boots. Ha! newdawn, when we bought our house, the heating/lights/water bill here was more than our old house's mortgage! igloochick, you will have to put in intercoms for DS and any future ice cubes... My kids were young when we moved into our house and they would loose me. My house isn't nearly as big as your will be. We painted our house for $17,000. You have one lifetime project ahead of you.

In our state, you can check in the community college catalog to see what classes will be accepted by the state universities. Therefore, a student can determine exactly what will transfer and target classes for university credit only. One of our kids chose to start at the CC and the other two started at the university from which they graduated. None of mine changed their majors once they enrolled, but the youngest switched majors the day he was accepted to his first choice. I don't see the value of an AA degree for a student who plans to earn a BA or graduate degree. Just keep working for the bachelor's degree and don't get side tracked. AA degrees are helpful only for students who will not complete their bachelor's. It is easier to gain acceptance to a very selective university in this state as a junior transferring from a CC than as an incoming freshman. I think that is true everywhere. My kids developed interest in their college choices not only from tours of the campus but also from what their friends were also interested in checking out. They may have ended up at separate universities, but that interest was partially peer popularity. Check to see if the university has an online virtual tour of their school as part of your preliminary search. Some universities are located in areas with few opportunities for a student to get a job. In some of those situations, the university on-campus jobs for students are closely guarded and offered to students with registered financial needs first. If your student has high grades, athletic or musical talent, or outstanding SATs, some of the pricier private schools will offer great scholarships that will bring the cost down to the level of a state school. It is worth checking out. My DH and I did not attend a college in our state or even this area of the USA, so our fabulous state system was new to us. With our oldest, we visited in her junior year maybe 5 schools. With the next one, his major was so specialized/limited that he knew where the best schools were to apply. The last one visited campuses with friends and with high school groups. We encouraged our kids to stay within a few hours of home for the sake of their being able to just come home for the weekend when they wanted to. Two of them found weekends home quite restorative by their senior years in college when the communal living was beginning to wear thin. It was also cheaper by far to get them home for the holidays. The youngest attended graduate school and law school clear across the country, but it was our present to ourselves, as I explained it, to fly him home for holidays. He spent an entire day coming and another returning, which really ate into his study time at finals, but he made it work. Lastly, I cannot stress enough how important it is for the student to feel at home or to like the campus of his or her choice. This will be home to him or her for at least 4 years, and being happy with one's surroundings can make a potentially stressful situation a much more successful experience. These are fun and exciting times. Good luck....

Donna I'm glad they moved your mother closer.... that will be much easier on you! Calliope, I was curious about what machine you had too.... though not wanting to dis a brand publicly is a rare quality indeed! I specifically did not sew today. I needed a break so I didn't get burned out after the last project that consumed me.... and I had to catch up on errands and house work. I cleaned up a weeks work of paper peicing scraps (had to empty the vacuum 6 times and that was after sweeping the big chunks with a broom!), ordered 20 bobbins (my machine doesn't take class 15 or 66 and I'm always out of empty bobbins and the filled ones are never the right color), and watched 3 videos about sewing/embroidery machines! So I did sewing related stuff even though I didn't quilt :o) I went to Lowes and bought one of those small fake electric stove heater things.... felt like the right thing to do as cold as it's been lately and I can't have the real thing in an apartment. The flame looks pretty real and it will be nice to put near the machine when I'm working on a project.... The heater part isn't as good as my tower heater and it doesn't have a remote, but it's not bad for under 100 dollars. I also made a pot of chili (I haven't cooked in forever) and accidentally dumped the cranberry sauce in thinking it was tomato sauce.... remind me not to cook at 4 AM anymore please. :o) Kate, you haven't chimed in yet, but did you get your Juki yet? Is the Elna back home safe and sound? I imagine (hope) you'll start a thread about the Juki when you begin to use it... Have a great weekend everyone...