Hi all,Good Morning! I see that a lot of you haven't received your books yet, is no problem to wait, lets give it the rest of the week for everyones books to arrive. After all the first lesson involves the book LOL. So everyone who signed up, once you all get your books, pop in on this post and let me know when you get your book then hopefully we will start on Friday or Saturday of this coming week. Woodpat, glad to have you join us. This will be a casual and very easy exercise, I am hoping to have lots of thoughts going back and forth between everyone participating in this.

Dcarch and Pilllog, Thank you for your responses. I agree with the interactive and sensory comments. I am hoping that having an IPad or a laptop on a router so it can be positioned anywhere will open a whole new world of "hands on" instruction. I found that when I watched the freeby knife skills course, I only retained the techniques the second time through when I stood at the counter, knives and chopping block at hand, and actually practiced the motions described. Lots of use of the pause button while I played with angles and motions. The first time I just watched and the information didn't "stick." The second time I actually learned some new skills--maybe!! (I know I rejected some!) I think the same will be true of the cooking courses. I may well take the Mother Sauces course, partly because I really like James Peterson. If I do, I like the idea of actually making what he is demonstrating. Easy to do with modern technology--pause and rewind and fast forward. FWIW, the Craftsy (what a dreadful name!) offers permanent access to all materials--no time limits for how long you can return to review. I like that idea. Pilllog-- I have not searched Youtube for demos. Sort of at a loss with how to use Youtube. I have mainly accessed only when it was linked to whatever I was reading. Maybe I should check that out more often. CathyChex-- I didn't know Craftsy offered special prices. Nice to know! I really like that there is no time limit on access to their lessons. Glad to hear you found Mother Sauces useful. That is the one I am considering. Can you comment on it? I noticed that it had won an award--not sure how significant an award, though. I agree the free KnifeSkills was good. A really clever way for Craftsy to entice people into their programs by offering such a good freeby. Have you tried to "cook along" with any of the classes? I am really intrigued by the possibility that with modern technology we might have a virtual chef to cook alongside us in our kitchen, just rewinding him/her if we get confused and fast forwarding when we don't need him/her :-) Truly, this seems to open a whole new vista of possibilities. It all will depend, of course, upon the content of the "class" and the ability of the instructor. I will welcome James Peterson into my kitchen! We shall see. I would love to hear if anyone has tried cooking along with any of these "classes." Or has any other input or suggestions into online demonstrations and instruction. This post was edited by Bellsmom on Thu, May 8, 14 at 11:43

there are a lot of little ones who don't/won't start talking until they are older. My nephew was one! Nothing wrong with him, just two lots older sisters who said everything for him, (and with those two, getting in a word of your own can be a challeng!), and he wasn't ready yet. When the child is ready, he'll start talking and you won't get him to shut up! The reasoning behind teaching an infant to sign, is that the "terrible two's" aren't as bad, because they don't get frustrated because they can't communicate since they can usually get their point across by sign. Dilly_dally, LOL! At least you must not have told them you were pleased to meet them improperly, then! The direction you are holding your fingers can make all the difference! That was explained with the above example, very emphatically by my instructor at the time. As the friend of a deaf person, you have my thanks for your efforts in making it easier for your customers. I'm sure it was appreciated. My DD is a photographer who has several deaf customers. She doesn't remember much of the signs themselves that I had taught her, but she finger spells a lot! If she couldn't remember, or didn't know, a sign, she finger spelled everything for them that she needed to. They were repeat customers for that very reason. Firemanswife, You are great! And what an accomplishment for your. You had great doctors. My friend, Gale, has/had an implant. She still did more lip reading than hearing, last I talked to her. Unfortunately for her, she had severe back problems and had to have surgery. Every time they had to do an MRI, they had to remove the implant and she would get an infection. And when she had surgery, of course the implant wasn't in because of the infection, and the nurses ignored her when she needed help, because they couldn't just answer the bell over the intercom. I don't know if she still has the implant or not. The only contact I have with her right now is thru email. Please ignore any typos. I am typing on a rubber keyboard and think I have typed a letter or made an upper case, or space and it didn't type! Tami

There's a lot of great advice here. I just wanted to share my first thought which is, "Yikes!" Additionally, here's a story/fable I've always loved that you could share with your family about a Mexican fisherman: An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?” The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.” The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.” The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?” To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.” “But what then?” Asked the Mexican. The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!” “Millions – then what?” The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”