I admit while I was reading your post I was really thinking, "Good grief, Woman! Get that disaster-waiting-to-happen out of your house!" I should have just skipped to the last line. I vote to wait. :001_smile:

I'm not as diligent about it as I should be -- as evidenced by my own recent dust shower -- but when I dust the shelf, I also dust the tops of the books. What I *didn't* realize was that I should be dusting the shelf *behind* the books, too! Yuck!

I already help make free education available to all. We still pay those taxes. Where I draw the line is the "extras." I'm not quite sure why, if I can't afford to provide those "extras" for my son, I should be required to provide them for someone else. I believe, in a democratic society, that we have an obligation to meet our own needs and take care of our own family -- and *then* take care of someone else. If more people did THAT there would be fewer people needing *anything.*

I absolutely, unconditionally support the right of free speech. I also absolutely, unconditionally support my right to plug my ears and cover my eyes. "They" have the right to say whatever they like and I have the right not to listen to it.

Another Mean Mom here. I've always believed that kids -- heck, adults, too -- do what is expected of them. Expect less, and you get less. I really couldn't help just laughing out loud when The Kid was younger and was trying to convince me that he just. can't. do it. it. is. toooooooooooooooo. hard!!!! "Um, well, you could do it *last* week!" The look on his face was priceless. I wish I had a shot of that. :lol:

I really like this. The "answer answerless." I remember now why we live out in the middle of nowhere.

I'm not sure about eight, but I know my son was still taking baths at six and seven because my mother had a fit. "He's just PLAYING in there!!!!" Yeah? So? :lol:

Considering air planes are almost armed camps anymore, I can't think of a safer place.

The first time we went to Disneyland -- I'm thinking it was in 1971 or 1972 -- the air was so bad you couldn't be outside. It made our eyes water and you couldn't even breathe. I haven't been back down there since about 1998, but it was much *much* better then.

I love the fact that I can take a shower and don't feel like I need another one before I even leave the bathroom. I love the fact that the snakes and bugs are freezing their little butts off and not lurking around my door, waiting to pounce on me. I love the fact that the weeds around the house are not taller than I am. I love the fact that my electric bill is 25% lower. And, finally, the vampire in me loves the fact that it's dark so early.

Our new septic tank started backing up into the bathroom (the lowest drain in the house, apparently) about a month after we moved into the house. I could only roll my eyes when we called the guy out -- the one who installed it in the first place -- and he read me the riot act because the washer was draining into the septic tank. HELLO!!!! HE is the one who set it up that way. We re-routed the water from the washing machine and that solved that problem.

Ah yes! I know the feeling. Light colored Pom, light colored floor. The solution to that problem is to get many more dogs of different colors. :D

I don't check my son's work. I quit doing that. I made him responsible for his education last fall. I told him I would help him if he asked for it, but other than that, he was on his own. He picked what he wanted to study, I helped him find the resources -- fortunately he pretty much wanted to use what we already had -- and I cut him loose. He told me after the first month that he was having a problem with time management -- no surprise there -- and said one thing he liked about public school was that they told you what you needed get done. So I help him with that. I give him a list at the beginning of the week. So I went back over his work for the past two weeks. If he's cheating he's doing a pretty good job of it. His work is neat and thorough. I especially checked the math -- and I was a bit curious about that because he seems to be breezing through it now (we switched to Lial's from Saxon) after struggling with Algebra for quite some time. His math papers are neat, he's showing all his work, he's marked the ones he got wrong and had to "do over." He grades his own tests and isn't getting perfect scores on them, but he is doing well. So I got out the solutions manual. He is showing his work, but it is not a copy of the solutions manual. I also checked to see if he had copied his essays from the internet, and couldn't find any evidence of that. He wanted to know what I was doing, so I told him -- and that I was very pleased. He said he does his work as if I *will* check it at any time -- just in case. ;)

Mine get large enough they look like they're leaving -- but then they figure out how cold or hot it is outside, how much nicer it is inside, and just stop right in the middle of the floor -- paralyzed in fear -- until one of us walks by and they scurry off back into the corner.

We're in a small town with small class sizes but as far as I can tell, we have the Big City problems -- drugs, gangs, weapons, inappropriate sexual conduct. I really don't think you can get away from it anymore. No matter how small the town is, there's still TV. One kid told my son, "That's not the way we do it here in the hood." The HUH? I hope things settle down for you and your daughter soon. When life gives you eggs, make omelettes. :001_smile:

Nope. I know he knows *how* to read, though. He's asked me to get a book or two for him, but he doesn't have a pile next to every chair he sits in and his nightstand has a box of tissues on it. 'Suppose he might read that when I'm not looking, but . . . :lol: He thinks I'm batty, but it has nothing to do with all the books I read. :D

Mine did -- but it took years. It just resolved itself. Not that I recommend doing nothing about it -- it just wasn't feasible and I was *really* glad when I realized I didn't have the problem anymore. Mine wasn't due to candy -- it was because of a right cross. So I don't know if that would make a difference or not.

I agree that there *can* be a plan, but apparently she was discharged simply because she didn't have one -- or didn't tell them about it. Considering everything else this woman is going through, I find it disturbing that this was "it."

She must be terrified. I don't know what having a "plan" for suicide has to do with it. Of course I'm not a professional, but it only takes a second to make the decision. I *really* hope she can get some help. I just want to throw in a warning here that even after the baby is born, you guys can't let your guard down. If she remains seriously depressed, her old medication regimen may not be effective anymore. Too many seriously depressed mothers come to the conclusion that suicide is the only option, because now they are terrible mothers, too. And if she feels no one else can care for her baby . . . Thank goodness she has such a good friend.

It really depends on the kid and the school. We have little ones at our school who aren't ready to do "real" martial arts, but they are learning the life lessons that our instructor teaches. On the other hand, we have a boy who just turned eight, I believe, who is a second degree black belt and is absolutely awesome, having earned at least two championships. Our school offers a "free trial" of a week or two. You might want to see if the one you're looking into does that.

I'm going to count it as at least 15. :D

I don't think I'll even make it through week #2, but I'm collecting the Reader's Digest "World's Best Reading" books and have more than enough of them to fill up the year. So that takes care of deciding what to read next if I manage to finish one. :D Starting with The House of the Seven Gables.

If you aren't born with it, I think one of the main ways to develop that kind of strength is through confidence and success. I really don't believe being called "worthless" is one of the building blocks. I'm not saying that mediocre performance should be rewarded no matter how hard they try, but the *effort* should be acknowledged and encouraged.

Thanks, Bill! I appreciate all that info! It really does help a lot.

There is no one who reads this board that has this subscription? Hum -- maybe they aren't that great a deal after all.