Helloooooooooooooooo! So, I'm back, and look at all the fun you've been having while I was away. I should be a 6. Honest. I should have been born a day earlier. My mother would agree - there she was, a lovely Sunday afternoon, huffin' and puffin', and my dad and the doctor with their ear to the radio, listening to an all-important soccer game, and telling her to hold on just another few minutes until the game was over. This must be why I don't care for soccer much. So I'm a 7 - all the way through the first line and a piece of the second one. But it stops where it says I'M SLOW! NO WAY! :) Mary P.S. Who, besides me, REALLY liked that Chad whatshisname lost to that nice young dutch feller on the 10,000 (speed skating)? I spend a few days looking in all the stores for a bright orange quilted sleeveless thing with "Bob won Chad lost" on the back. Couldn't find it. Bummer. Maybe I'll quilt one myself.

I have a problem with numbers. I can't remember dates or prices because they just don't have meaning for me. Letters and words have colour and feel and taste and sound, but numbers? Nada. I didn't take math until grade 5, and boy did it kill me. I had the best teacher who really tried to help me learn the times tables, but let's face it. When you can't even add single digit numbers, no way can you learn to multiply and divide without a fight. Math came hard to me, but it wasn't impossible. I took high school and university level math classes and passed, even got very good grades. But it just didn't come easy to me and was a LOT of work. I learnt a method of adding large numbers, called "chunking". You remove chunks of easily added numbers, then deal with the bits left over. So if adding 123 and 234, instead of starting with the 3 and 4, you start with the 1 and 2. I would do it this way: Three hundreds, fifty, and seven. 357. Multiplication can be "chunked" as well by memorizing just a few from each number, then working from there. I know what 6x6 is (36). So 6x12 is double that so 72 - 60, chunk the ten from 12 so 70 plus 2). It seems complicated, but I can do it very quickly, almost automatically. But I still don't know all the "times tables".

Hi all, I'm new. I just want to say that many of the issues you mention really aren't YOUR issues. Things like her fraudulant lawsuits for example. I have an ex who's always frauding someone...but it's not my problem. The system will catch up and when it does, they'll have to pay somehow. You need to focus on dealing with the children when they're in your care, and disregard what they do in her care, unless they're in danger. You seem to have stopped the spanking but maybe you should make their Dad handle all the discipline. You could even try a "wait until your father gets home" stance when they are in your care and your husband is away. Once you stop engaging with them, they will stop engaging with you. You've only been married two years, so you have a long road ahead. Your nit-picky issues are just that, little nit-picky issues. I'd blow them off and laugh it off as a jealous bio-mom...those do exists sometimes. You know YOU and those around you know YOU...don't waste your time focusing on what she says or does. Keep documenting everything and always anticipate the worst, but hope for the best. If the relationship with the girls is broken, I'd really try mending it. If you're interested in some ways, let me know, maybe we can get creative. If you plan to stay married, you really need to get along with his kids, they don't go away after they turn 18, only the CS.

John Ray Quotes English - Environmentalist November 29, 1627 - January 17, 1705 Beauty is power; a smile is its sword. John Ray Good words cool more than cold water. John Ray Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there. John Ray Misery loves company. John Ray Nothing is invented and perfected at the same time. John Ray Algebra is the metaphysics of arithmetic. John Ray In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love. John Ray Diseases are the tax on pleasures. John Ray Never meet trouble half-way. John Ray Industry is fortune's right hand, and frugality its left. John Ray Amos Bronson Alcott Quotes American - Educator November 29, 1799 - March 4, 1888 Success is sweet and sweeter if long delayed and gotten through many struggles and defeats. Amos Bronson Alcott The less routine the more life. Amos Bronson Alcott Observation more than books and experience more than persons, are the prime educators. Amos Bronson Alcott Our ideals are our better selves. Amos Bronson Alcott Thought means life, since those who do not think so do not live in any high or real sense. Thinking makes the man. Amos Bronson Alcott Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine. Amos Bronson Alcott Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness. Amos Bronson Alcott Our friends interpret the world and ourselves to us, if we take them tenderly and truly. Amos Bronson Alcott A true teacher defends his students against his own personal influences. Amos Bronson Alcott To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent that is to triumph over old age. Amos Bronson Alcott A government, for protecting business only, is but a carcass, and soon falls by its own corruption and decay. Amos Bronson Alcott To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant. Amos Bronson Alcott The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-trust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciples. Amos Bronson Alcott Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in mankind, and finds the readiest response. Amos Bronson Alcott First find the man in yourself if you will inspire manliness in others. Amos Bronson Alcott We climb to heaven most often on the ruins of our cherished plans, finding our failures were successes. Amos Bronson Alcott Our notion of the perfect society embraces the family as its center and ornament, and this paradise is not secure until children appear to animate and complete the picture. Amos Bronson Alcott Who knows, the mind has the key to all things besides. Amos Bronson Alcott That is a good book which is opened with expectation, and closed with delight and profit. Amos Bronson Alcott One must be a wise reader to quote wisely and well. Amos Bronson Alcott Our dreams drench us in sense, and sense steeps us again in dreams. Amos Bronson Alcott While one finds company in himself and his pursuits, he cannot feel old, no matter what his years may be. Amos Bronson Alcott Where there is a mother in the home, matters go well. Amos Bronson Alcott Wendell Phillips Quotes American - Activist November 29, 1811 - February 2, 1884 What gunpowder did for war the printing press has done for the mind. Wendell Phillips Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery is much higher and truer courage. Wendell Phillips What is defeat? Nothing but education. Nothing but the first step to something better. Wendell Phillips Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. Wendell Phillips Agitation is the atmosphere of the brains. Wendell Phillips The heart is the best reflective thinker. Wendell Phillips What the Puritans gave the world was not thought, but action. Wendell Phillips The best education in the world is that got by struggling to get a living. Wendell Phillips To be as good as our fathers we must be better, imitation is not discipleship. Wendell Phillips Governments exist to protect the rights of minorities. The loved and the rich need no protection: they have many friends and few enemies. Wendell Phillips If there is anything in the universe that can't stand discussion, let it crack. Wendell Phillips The labor movement means just this: it is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth. Wendell Phillips Every step of progress the world has made has been from scaffold to scaffold, and from stake to stake. Wendell Phillips Boredom, after all, is a form of criticism. Wendell Phillips Two kinds of men generally best succeed in political life; men of no principle, but of great talent; and men of no talent, but of one principle - that of obedience to their superiors. Wendell Phillips Truth is one forever absolute, but opinion is truth filtered through the moods, the blood, the disposition of the spectator. Wendell Phillips Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm, living public opinion. Wendell Phillips Whether in chains or in laurels, liberty knows nothing but victories. Wendell Phillips If you want to be an orator, first get your great cause. Wendell Phillips Exigencies create the necessary ability to meet and conquer them. Wendell Phillips Seldom ever was any knowledge given to keep, but to impart; the grace of this rich jewel is lost in concealment. Wendell Phillips Difference of religion breeds more quarrels than difference of politics. Wendell Phillips Aristocracy is always cruel. Wendell Phillips Responsibility educates. Wendell Phillips What is fanaticism today is the fashionable creed tomorrow, and trite as the multiplication table a week after. Wendell Phillips One on God's side is a majority. Wendell Phillips Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms. Wendell Phillips Many know how to flatter, few know how to praise. Wendell Phillips You can always get the truth from an American statesman after he has turned seventy, or given up all hope of the Presidency. Wendell Phillips Today it is not big business that we have to fear. It is big government. Wendell Phillips Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people. Wendell Phillips We live under a government of men and morning newspapers. Wendell Phillips Christianity is a battle not a dream. Wendell Phillips To hear some men talk of the government, you would suppose that Congress was the law of gravitation, and kept the planets in their places. Wendell Phillips The keener the want the lustier the growth. Wendell Phillips Power is every stealing from the many to the few. Wendell Phillips Let me make the newspapers, and I care not what is preached in the pulpit or what is enacted in Congress. Wendell Phillips Louisa May Alcott Quotes American - Novelist November 29, 1832 - March 6, 1888 Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged. Louisa May Alcott Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable. Louisa May Alcott I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship. Louisa May Alcott I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. Louisa May Alcott Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. Louisa May Alcott We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving, and we all have the power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing. Louisa May Alcott Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us - and those around us - more effectively. Look for the learning. Louisa May Alcott Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success. Louisa May Alcott Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn't worth ruling. Louisa May Alcott Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes. Louisa May Alcott It takes two flints to make a fire. Louisa May Alcott Conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long; even if it is, the consciousness of possessing and using it well should satisfy one, and the great charm of all power is modesty. Louisa May Alcott A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well. Louisa May Alcott Do the things you know, and you shall learn the truth you need to know. Louisa May Alcott Father asked us what was God's noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad, but babies never are. Louisa May Alcott Work is and always has been my salvation and I thank the Lord for it. Louisa May Alcott People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust world. Louisa May Alcott Love is a great beautifier. Louisa May Alcott You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty. Louisa May Alcott He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. Louisa May Alcott I like to help women help themselves, as that is, in my opinion, the best way to settle the woman question. Whatever we can do and do well we have a right to, and I don't think any one will deny us. Louisa May Alcott Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won. Louisa May Alcott Housekeeping ain't no joke. Louisa May Alcott Girls are so queer you never know what they mean. They say No when they mean Yes, and drive a man out of his wits for the fun of it. Louisa May Alcott A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure. Louisa May Alcott What do girls do who haven't any mothers to help them through their troubles? Louisa May Alcott She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners. Louisa May Alcott It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women. Louisa May Alcott 'Stay' is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary. Louisa May Alcott