I hadn't considered a natural homemade soap. I do know some people who make it, so I could look into that. And someone else recently mentioned a clay mask IRL. I should look into that too.

Awesome! Thank you. Is the topical antibiotic mentioned an OTC thing, or through a dermatologist? And Epiduo is new to me. Anyone tried this?

I think I read one about a year ago. Which thread? This one? http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=414807&highlight=zinc Do you take it by mouth or apply to the face?

Is this the stuff?

Hi, ladies, I have silently followed some discussions on the board about this issue. Currently, my almost 16yo is concerned about her acne and wants to deal with it. Unfortunately, the things we have tried have either been ineffective or have caused an allergic reaction (significant redness and puffiness lasting more than 24 hrs). Here is what we have tried: 1. Neutrogena Foam--ineffective 2. Clean and Clear Advantage Mark Treatment--ineffective 3. Clean and Clear 4-hr vanishing cream--somewhat effective but not enough 4. DDF Benzoyl Peroxide Gel 5%--allergic reaction Recently, she heard a pitch from a former Mary Kay salesman for the Mary Kay line of skin care regimen materials. Currently, I think my daughter sees this as The. Solution. I'm not so sure. And it would be an expensive experiment. I'm not sure that her acne is bad enough to warrant a trip to the dermatologist, but I'm wondering if her tendency to be sensitive to products puts us over the edge. I do have a couple of photos I'm willing to share via PM/email if someone thinks that would help. How does one determine if one's skin is "bad enough" to warrant a dermatologist? Also, in addition to Mary Kay, I know there are other skin care regimens out there. I would like to keep it to something doable and not too complex, or I'm concerned that she might have trouble following through. (I don't blame her--I don't really have a skin care regimen either.) What is out there, and what is good? This is really bothering her and she wants to take action. Any ideas?

Don't have your hair in your eyes! Having to flip your hair or tuck it behind your ear every 1.4 seconds does not make you cool.

I dunno. I'm always studying something. Right now it's the U.N. Sigh. Not what I would study if I had to pick. But it's this year's debate topic. And I'm definitely studying how to do debating. They see that, I guess. I never thought about this much. I think I breathe studying, so I'm hoping they will catch it by osmosis. I dunno if it has an impact. Since you know me IRL, you could quiz my children and see what they say. Would be interesting to see what they think when asked by someone other than Mom.

You are SO not nuts. Congratulations! Here are some virtual unicorns and glitter!

I've never heard that where I live now. My children are looked upon as strange and overworked because they work 6-8 hrs a day IN HIGH SCHOOL.

I would add the local library system to your list of things to check out. You might also want to consider housing close to said library.

Consider getting professional grade mats outside each door. Don Aslett says that someone should be able to walk four steps on the mat to get dirt off before stepping foot inside for the maximum in dirt prevention. I try to get the best mats I can afford and clean them regularly. Our garage one especially does trap a lot of junk, so I think it does help.

Wow, I had never heard of this! Very interesting. And very cool the effect it had on your child.

Sometimes, ESPECIALLY Christian schools, if some parents put in a child who was kicked out of a public school hoping a Christian school would reform him. Ummmmm, no. Been there, lived that. The notorious bully in my otherwise excellent Christian K-8 school when I was growing up was one of those children. He was horrendous.

You are giving up your personal power when you let them pressure you into having to answer first before you know what they are angling for. You need to take that conversational "ball" and lob it right back to them, "Why do you ask?" Let THEM do the explaining, especially if they want a favor. Sorry, you will have to grow a backbone, just as you suspected. It's rotten that these people are taking advantage of you, but they're not about to stop--they are getting what they want. It will be up to you to stand up to them.

Hilarious!

Oh no!!!

I agree with all of the others. The line might be fine, but IME, it is definite.

We jump in now, but I eased in when the children were younger. Also, we never really totally quit for the summer. We've still been doing math, Latin, and Greek every day we are home (not traveling). So jumping in is not that drastic.

I sure missed the boards today.

Good Lord. TV stoops to new lows. Shudder. I wouldn't watch that if you paid me a billion dollars.

Awesome!

One thing I did when we bought our RV was to stay in it by myself for a weekend. (This was admittedly easier because our house has a full RV hook-up.) This allowed me to try out things myself, get to "know" the RV better, think through quietly and without interruption what we needed in there and where it would go, and generally figure out a game plan. I assigned each person a space and figured out what kind of storage containers we needed. Obviously, with a pop-up there will be less of that kind of thing, but it still might be helpful. There's no substitute for trying to live in it, but it sure was a lot easier when I did it by myself first ; ). I also agree with the poster who suggested getting duplicates of some things. It sure does help.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Let's put it this way. I have seen (and experienced) that if you were made the scapegoat of your family of origin, usually the children of the scapegoat are treated as the scapegoats of their generation. I'm assuming you don't want that for your children. RUN AWAY SCREAMIN! Seriously. I decided that I would have two choices: (1) Help pay for therapists because my children did not have a relationship with grandparents, or (2) Help pay for therapists because grandparents threw serious monkey wrenches into the works. I decided for #1. You do not have to honor that naive vow you made many years ago. Really. Does it help you to know that older grandchildren who have been allowed to have relationship with the crazy major dysfunctional relatives are already reaping consequences #2, as well as more serious life consequences? PM me if you want to talk more about this. Starr put it more succinctly than me, but I concur.

I'm going to recuse myself since my DD is a Sacagawea nut and we have several biographies and assorted information!