Aphrella

For Philadelphia - yes traffic can be bad - it depends on where you are and what time it is... Center city has a LOT of one-way streets, which can get confusing if you don't know where you are going. I guess it really depends on what you want to see IN the city vs what you want to see OUTSIDE the city whether it would be worth driving. Our mass transit system is OK, but not great. D.C. has a great mass transit system - last time we went there on vacation, we left the car at the hotel (in VA) and took the Metro everywhere.

Our karate instructor used it for a while - said it was like the Time Life music - "oh, you need this update - $25, oh, you need that update -$25, and so on..." he had to get rid of it because they were charging him every other month or more because he travels a lot and couldn't always cancel an update.

In my group we stick to 3.5 or Pathfinder - tried 4.0, didn't care for it - too much like cookie cutter characters.... I also played AD&D as a kid, but 3.5 was fairly easy to pick up - just decide what books you want to use and ignore the rest.... (unlike 4.0 where *every* book is core...) We also have the Pathfinder beginner box - haven't actually used it yet with the kids, but have looked through it and it looks to be a fairly streamlined (rules wise) and easy to get into.

Rich has been working on the kickstarter rewards - think they have overwhelmed him...

our rule on new foods is that they have to have one bite, then if they don't like it, they don't have to eat it - we generally make sure that there is plenty of everything else going on the plate so that if they don't like something, there's still plenty to eat.

don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask for/accept help - most people that are offering really mean it!

That ranks right up there with my kids using vaseline as hair gel (and makeup and soap and....) Dawn also gets that out (thank goodness!)

All our 7 year old daughter wanted this year was clothes and jewelry.... we had to poke and prod just to get a few toy ideas for her....

I'm assuming my recipient, Mortiana27, has gotten this by now, even though I haven't heard from her.

Mine's going out today - I also tucked in a little appology gift to the recipient. Unfortunately, I forgot to put a note in the box.

I've managed to get out of my rut for the most part - I should have my mini sealed and sent by this weekend barring crappy weather....

Mine's going to go out late.... I've been in such a funk lately that I haven't finished yet. Fortunately, it was almost done when the funk hit.... I'll just force myself to finish it - hopefully this weekend, but I'll have to see how it goes.

Ary - you should probably get checked for Strep throat -- I know it's going around in our neck of the woods and that description of the sore throat sounds mighty familiar......

We also leave ours up 'til Epiphany.... kinda stretches the holiday a little so there's not an abrubt end to the festivities.

Congrats guys!