Yes, I would leave a 13-year-old home alone for 5 1/2 hours once a week.

No.

I think you should not get any pet at all. Your daughter is sixteen. She will not be living at home for the duration of a dog's lifespan. When she goes away to college, she cannot take the dog with her. Unless you and rest of family truly desire a dog (and you have said you did not), then it would not be fair to the potential dog or other pet.

Freckles, one of my daughters introduced me to Lush. The first couple times she asked if I wanted to try bath bomb, I declined because I am a fast shower type person and not one who is prone to indulge in luxury products. Finally I relented and was immediately hooked. Avobath, Twilight and Sex Bomb are my favorite bath bombs. Recently I ordered one of all their perfumes except Vanillary. Karma is my absolute favorite with Sikkim Girls second and Dirty third. Sun smells like a freshly cut orange but scent does not last long.

I googled DIY Lush bath bombs. Still have to buy the essential oils and citric acid, but I have everything else. Here are recipes I am going to try: http://www.rookiemag.com/2012/05/how-to-make-a-homemade-bath-bomb/ http://www.everythingetsy.com/2014/05/diy-lush-inspired-bath-bombs/ http://fitnessista.com/2013/04/diy-bath-bombs/

Being an ardent fan of pricy Lush brand bath bombs, I am looking to save money by making my own. Essential oils provide the scent in the bombs. It has been years since I have purchased essential oils. What brand do you recommend and where do you buy them? Not that it matters, but I have no interest in alleged healing properties of oils or in aromatherapy. Just looking for a nice smelling relaxing bath product.

Are you sensitive about your age? Not at all.

No, we do not water lawn even when that means that it is prematurely brown. We do water vegetable and berry plants.

Join only if you want to. Nothing inherently bad or good about it. It is a tool.

Uninformed people will make ignorant comments on virtually any news article. Before the internet, at least they had to put a stamp on their comment and drop it in mailbox.

At this point, I would discontinue relationship with this family based upon further information you provided. Not even sure I would bother with contacting the girl's parent. Explain to your dear daughter that some people interpret their religion as encouragement to associate only with like-minded believers. While that is unfortunate, she will certainly encounter this again, particularly if you are in bible belt or live around proselytizers. Start searching for meetup groups of secular families or families who disregard religious faith in making friendship decisions. All my children suffered hurtful experiences with aggressive proselytizers here in bible belt. The kids would interpret the gestures of proselytizers as sincere attempts at friendship only to get the old dump-a-roo when the proselytizer realized that my kids were not going to convert to the proselytizer's faith. I feel for your daughter and hope your family can find new accepting friends.

Transparency. Transparency. Transparency. Do NOT fall for sob stories. One of the most ridiculous excuses I have ever heard for theft was high blood pressure. Good advice re attorney. Smart to not make accusations but as you suggested, ask for clarifications. Generally speaking, what you initially uncover will be tip of iceberg. Further, if there was collusion with another party, you just might never know the full amount embezzled. Not sure what has happened thus far, but church should have contacted banks, brokerage houses, credit card companies, etc. to have her name removed immediately as authorized party. Block access to all financial records and any other church records. Look for checks written to vendors you do not recognize. A favorite trick is to set up shell company with name similar to a real vendor, and then funnel funds to shell company. If she stole, prosecute her. If this is a first offense, she'll probably get slap on wrist, maybe even if is second offense. It is likely she has stolen before and will again. Tighten up internal controls over cash even though this is often difficult for smaller organizations. Maybe have one person make deposits and write checks while another person does monthly bank reconciliations.

Do you intentionally invest relationship time into your marriage? Does your spouse? No and no. It functions smoothly in the background.

Like you, I would be quite upset with husband's friend. Not only that, I would not appreciate husband trying to talk me down off ledge. Plus son would not be in that particular friend's presence anymore. I probably would not either.

The diversity of experiences and opinions so eloquently expressed here has helped me to become more compassionate and educated person. In my own personal life, I have grown to respond to people's issues in a more humane manner.

I am delighted with the marriage equality ruling. I truly did not think it would happen during my lifetime.

My favorite cat is a roaming, deceptive, opportunistic, brawling, selfish roughneck. Should I marry him instead of my sweet loyal female cat since he is male?

Do you believe in signs that you have made the right choice or that is the path you should take? No.

I am elated that many of my friends will now enjoy the same marital rights that I have benefited from for last three decades.

On Blessed Little Homestead is a photo of an arched bee habitat. I hope they do not decide to have free-range bees.

No.

Of course, Nicole will claim to have properly cared for the buns. Their untimely demise will be blamed on unscrupulous breeder who took advantage of her.

I hope they have failed at inculcating virtual panhandling, thievery, lying, threatening violence and plagiarism as acceptable choices for their children. Perhaps the children have had enough exposure to community around them to learn that this behavior is destructive in long run. I hope the poor buns do not have to suffer much before they are quickly mercy killed by predators. The high tomorrow in their county will be 90 degrees. Looks like the smaller ones can escape through spaces between boards if they don't get stuck and asphyxiate or suffer a painful fracture.

Just a couple minutes ago (Friday 6/19 about 8p.m.) I took a look at Blessed Little Homestead facebook page. Per fb, two minutes prior, Nicole posted a poem allegedly written by Jacob. She put a watermark of Jacob's supposed signature at bottom of poem. A poster immediately recognized the poem and stated that she had read it before but could not remember who had written it. Wonder if Jacob has read the poem his parent claims he wrote. When I refreshed page a minute or two later, Nicole's post was gone. The poem was the one that starts out with, "A careless word may kindle strife..... " Is is apparent that I spent my day off work in an unproductive manner that preparing organic vegetables and grilling salmon cannot redeem?

Per Nicole's blogs, they have been reported to CPS in Texas, Maine and multiple times in Kentucky. Allegedly all calls were baseless and made out of spite. She implies that the Texas anonymous call was related to big ole meanies trying to steal Alex Naugler away from his father. The Maine caller claimed that the Naugler home was filthy. The odds of unfounded CPS contact in three states is exceedingly low in my opinion although I have no statistics to back up my assumption.