You have four options. 1. Go on Saturday (will cousin want to give up Saturday to teach? Doubtful). 2. Have him come your way - pay him extra for this. 3. Change teachers. 4. Go to the new place. Really the only "exposure" to the possible dangers are walking from the house's door to your car, right? 20-30 feet on a private sidewalk or driveway?

I have been having trouble typing long posts on my laptop here - some happens when I push my backspace button and the entire post deletes. Ugh. So as a work around, I thought I would type it in Word and copy/paste into here to make my post so it doesn't delete. But the Hive won't let me copy/paste for a new post. Am I doing it wrong (is there a special way)? Or, is that banned? Thanks.

No, I am not asking if vaccines cause seizures. I am asking if certain vaccines, when given while a child is on a seizure medication, are a bad idea. DS4 has his 4-year well-child visit coming up in two weeks. I have to check, but I think he is due for some vaccines. He has never reacted to vaccines in the past and his last one was a year ago at his 3-year well-child visit. But he is the child that had the scary 15 minute seizure on July 26th, which resulted in the ambulance ride to the ER. On the 29th, his pediatrician had received his reports from our children's hospital visit and the pediatric neurologist who sees him now, and she called to check in with me. I asked her to and she said she would confer with his neurologist on what, if any, vaccines to give at the 4-year visit. But, what are your thoughts? Oh, he is on Trileptal (generic Oxcarbazepine). We had a titration schedule that began the 27th at 1.5mL twice daily. He is up to 4.5mL beginning this morning. Moving forward he will get 4.5mL twice daily.

I think that peace you feel is a sign you have made the right choice. Good for you!

You could locate a DIA map Concourse map online. Then, look on the airline's website and pull up that same exact flight for today. Which gates did it depart/arrive? Or, you could figure out which Concourse your chosen airline uses. Be aware, though, that if the first flight is a feeder flight from a small city into DIA (a contracted carrier using a regional jet) and the next flight is a main line carrier not contracting with a regional carrier, you will likely be moving concourses.

In regards to your clock, many owner's manuals for appliances can now be found online (if you don't have yours). That may tell you the fix for the clock.

I don't do this. But I know vitamin C is water soluble meaning any excess is not stored as fat soluable vitamins are such as (AEDK) in the body in reserve. You can take a lot but your body won't retain what it doesn't need daily. So I suppose taking it meets any gaps in your body's needs up to a certain point. Filling in those gaps could be helpful. So since it's water soluable, my question would be, does one truly need it in additional supplemental form and isn't taking it as it's mixed into a daily general vitamin tablet sufficient?

Love the update! Thanks for checking back with it. I am so glad your mom got a laugh. That's special.

I know she is not a current patient yet, but have you tried to get through to a nurse's phone/message line? Every doctor has daily reserve appointment slots for high prioroty patients. I would say 6-7 on the pain scale is a lot to deal with. These nurses can sometimes bump you into one of those slots. Like "press #4 for the nurse," sort of recording. Or if it goes direct to reception, ask to speak with a nurse. Don't explain, just ask to speak to a nurse. If they ask why, just say it is a medical issue regarding your daughter's shoulder. The receptionist will be of no help because s/he is not a medical practitioner and does not hear the details of pain like the medical staff does. If you can get a nurse on the line, say this, "My daughter is in pain, she is crying due to her shoulder. We have an appointment with Dr. ABC, but it isn't until October, is there any way you can help her be seen within the next few days? I am really worried about her." The nurse will say "yes" or "no." If it's "no," then say, "What do you have available sooner in the schedule for a person in pain within the next 2-3 weeks?" If the nurse throws up any sort of "Go to the ER" stuff, then say, "This is not an emergency, but asking a teenager to wait until October is unkind and inhumane. Are you willing to work with me here?" Honestly, if you cannot get in there within 2 weeks, I would try another doctor's office and go through the same routine - talk to a nurse.

We do all vaccines for our kids. Except flu, none of us get the flu shots. I've had updated dtap with each pregnancy. With DC #2, H 1N1 was huge, but I skipped that too. I've never had Gardasil and don't plan to. DH had to get an additional assortment a few years ago when he began flying internationally. My opinion is that some diseases are "lifestyle" ones and others are being in public in general ones. We have a highly fluid society. DH can be in five states in a day. People move around a ton. We always vaccinated against any disease we could catch out in public just breathing. We do all the others too, but if we skipped any it would be those lifestyle ones that one catches from sex or needles. It's not like my six month old is gonna shoot up behind a dumpster.... I'm not a fan AT ALL of skipping out in public ones like MMR or Polio. I know flu falls in that category, but it's too hit or miss. Many times they don't get the right strains and it's too much gambling in my opinion.

What....you gave her your house key? Did she open your front door??? Or did you let her in?

Is the dog collared? Is it the whole family who is doing this? Or kids at home while parents are gone are letting Fido out? You could get it every time it's in your yard. Bring it to their door. Or if you have their number you could call every time and say, "Fido escaped again. Can you come get him?" Six calls like that per day will hopefully send the message. Then hand them their dog and its crap. If they refuse to get a fence, then they should get a run or some lawn clip to attach the dog to while it's outside. Or a phone call or letter, "Dear Neighbor, we'd like to keep a decent neighborly relationship. We are trying our best. However, your dog repeatedly going on our yard is troublesome. We have discussed this before, but nothing seems to be helping long term. We are having shoes ruined. Please take action to fence in or tie up your dog securely while it is outside. Here is when you dog came over to use the bathroom on our lawn (dates included). We hope you come up with a solution." Then wait three weeks. Keep track of any bathrooms in your yard. After three weeks call animal control.

This post reminds me of that scene in the movie Schlinder's List when the woman comes to Mr. Schnidler's factory wanting to get an audience with him to see about getting her parents into the factory too (if they can work there, they will be safe from the Nazis). He takes a look at her from the top of a stairway. She is grungy and disheveled. He ignores her. But then she goes home, freshens up, dresses up, and does her hair and puts on makeup. Then he sees her and she ends up getting what she wants - her parents get hired. I dislike that she had to do this to get into see him. It is a good example, though, of this point you are making. In many ways in life we have to "pay to play." Sometimes, by some people, in some fields of work, to get what you want, you have to play the part. Honestly, I do not care. If I have to get all dressed up with my sassy make-up face on to be taken more seriously by a doctor, attorney, or someone in a position of authority to ultimately get what I want, it seems like a small, small price to pay. I will do it and I will pull out all the stops...

Absolutely agree. First that issue of "instant gratification" does not help us at all. Morale is very important as you stated. I see all this as the "will to survive." I did some reading back in 2012/2013 on the topic. There is something called a survival pyramid according to the one author. It is in three segments. The base is the "will to survive." It is having that, but also being able to communicate it as calmness to others. For us parents, this becomes very important with LOs around who look to us for calm and what to do in an emergency. The next segment is knowledge - how to do things like clean water, build a fire, basic first-aid, etc.. The last segment at the tip is physical materials and supplies. Without a firm base, the other parts are meaningless.

Ugh. I think that in the past few weeks my FB has exploded with ads. I have no idea why. It seems like it is all ads and no personal stuff.

A note on potassium iodide...it only protects the thyroid from radiation. It won't protect any other organs. I am not saying to not buy it (it's super cheap right now), but just be aware of its limitations. They handed it out like candy after Fukishima (sp?). Incidentally, DH travels a lot for work, including to Asia, so I bought him some for his emergency pack in his flight kit/roller bag and in that process happened to email the main company in the U.S. who manufacturers it. The expiration dates on pills bought now are good for like 5 years. The VP emailed me back...he said they have run tests on the tablets from the 90s and they still are effective as long as the tablets are stored out of the sun. Aside from this...you could just read up online about what to do for nuclear fallout. A lot of it has to do with bathing yourself in uncontaminated water using soap, changing into clean clothing, and not eating any perishable foods or drinking any liquids that are uncovered/unsealed. Yes to having cash, a gallon of water per person per day, and non-perishable foods. Means to have light, warmth, and some first-aid. These are good emergency preps anyways. ETA: DH and I went through a phase in 2012 of rethinking our live-by-the-moment needs and began to do some moderate prepping. Really, everybody thinks they have to add that disclaimer, "I'm not a weirdo prepper or anything," but the sad part is that far too many of us live without being properly insured. We insure everything and we even carry extra backup clothing for kids and extra feminine products. There are spare keys. Our cars have extra tires. We buy all kinds of insurance that we cannot even hold in our hands (auto, life, home, etc.). But we never prepare for the physical needs of an emergency. Grocery stores only take 12 hours to empty of food. For us, we decided to buy some MREs and long-term, nitro-packed food stores. In a disaster, access to clean water can be a huge issue. In addition to the large bottled waters, we have a sizeable hanging filter. When we lived in town, we decided we needed a place to relocate to in case we had to evacuate. We printed off all the road maps for our area to include small side streets and unpaved roads, keeping in mind large artery roads would likely be congested. We also wrote out a household list of items to grab in the event we needed to leave the home quickly (prep stuff, but also certain documents and valuables). Along these lines, we made some 72-hour bags, which contain materials for each household member to get by comfortably for 3 days away from the home. Those always stay packed and ready to grab. Really if you head to the FEMA site or another site like the Red Cross, you can get lists of recommended emergency items. Then, you tailor those lists to suit your own needs. Sadly, one of the toughest parts of a disaster will be the people who are addicts to drugs and will go into withdrawal. It wouldn't be pretty and many will go crazy (imbalanced, violent) without fixes. DH and I took this into account and decided how we could best protect our family if that need arose. We cannot live in fear, but we can't stick our heads in the sand either.

Of the 7 days in the week, I wear make-up on probably 3 of them. For me, putting on make-up is part of a longer morning getting ready routine, so if I do it, I plan ahead to and generally that means waking up earlier by about 20 minutes. Every morning I wake up earlier and prep myself, I notice I have a better day. I am in a better mood and I am more productive. I do not know why, but make-up and the whole getting dressed nicely, even when wearing casual clothing, makes me feel happy. I believe in good skin care - skin is an organ and deserves some time. So, I also cleanse it properly, moisturize it, and most importantly, I try to put on SPF. In the summer, my sheer foundation has SPF built in. Foundation not only evens out skin tone, it acts as a protective barrier against pollutants in the air. Those are the main reasons I wear foundation. I do not do this for DH or for anyone else. It is for me. I do not wear much cheek color. But I have an eye makeup routine along with the foundation. There's a lipstick in all my purses and in the diaper bag and I reapply a few times in the day.

Sadly, my sister's BFF died from this in high school - as a freshman. Get the vaccine.

So they are separate? This confuses me. In everyone I know, people have both. The HSA is pretax money one can use to pay medical bills that insurance doesn't meet. But in all cases I know of insurance still exists. Because how else will you cover catastrophic care? For example, an ER visit once could wipe out an HSA. Whatever you've saved in your HSA isn't going to cover that. You still need insurance to pay for emergency care. Or although you're healthy now, what will you do as you age but aren't to the Medicare threshold yet? I don't get why you have to have one or the other, not both? I'm worried there will be gaps in your coverage. Huge ones.

1. Ship it to a family member on the other side of the family in another state and have them donate it at their local Goodwill. Or 2. Stuff it under the bed.

A wooden bunk bed from Walmart for $260 is not going to hold up to the riggers of kids climbing and moving around over time. It is likely made of MDF or some composite smushed together wood mixture. It will also chip and dent easily. If she goes with wood - then she should try finding some really nice ones off Craigslist that are actually solid wood. Many people spend $2k each on these and resell once their kids outgrow them for a few hundred bucks. We actually have a metal one for two DSs. It is a twin top and a full bottom. It is from the 1990s and was given to us by some friends whose son outgrew it. It does squeak, but it does not chip and has never fallen apart. If these are the only two choices, I vote metal. But if she is willing, I would check out Craigslist. Yes, they will be pricey up front, but they will last and be safe.

Exactly this!!! Thanks so much! :hurray:

Or just a few signs that are readable from the road, "This area under video serveilance." It would be interesting to know if such a sign acted as a deterrent.

I imagine location is really important, with the best money and job security to be made in larger metropolitan areas or resort-type places that have spas. The best locations would likely serve the clientele such as professionals who need services and are too busy to do it themselves and have the cash to spend on it. I would think being trained in a few areas would make sense - not everyone wants a cosmetologist, but many, many people get their nails and waxing done professionally.

Oh gross! We have that trouble here in the country...people come here to dump old TVs, mattresses, and old appliances. The local farmer down the road spends a few days every summer collecting other people's trash from his ditches. It is SO sad that people are that thoughtless. "Oh I'll drive out of town and ditch my junk on some field side."