I remember her though I haven't read her blog in years. I remember they moved to State College, PA from CA. Her husband's blog had something about a "dog" in the name. Let me see if I have the link somewhere.

:lol::lol::lol: Laughing so hard that I'm crying!

All.the.time. Seriously, my son is attending community college studying commercial music with the plan to attend Musician's Institute in about a year and a half. He practices 2-3 hours four days a week with various ensembles at school, practices at least another 1-2 hours at home on those same days, and practices another 3-4 hours on each of the remaining 3 days he does not have school. If he has a band over to practice, they may very well practice 6-7 hours. Music is his obsession/passion. When he is not practicing, he is using music software to compose and edit. Did I mention he has Asperger's which accounts for some of his obsessiveness? I've had to force him take some days off when he starts having physical problems due to the stress of repetitive movements.

Symantec

Events of 2010: Started grad school in Jan. Ds and I went on our first big trip (LA) by ourselves in 14 years. Divorce was final in April. Became very close to 2 new friends from school, and was able to stay connected with old friends despite being in different seasons of our lives now. Ds finally got his act together and is now doing great in community college. Started intensive, time-consuming experiment/project in Oct. for thesis. Hopes for 2011: Finish intensive, time-consuming experiment/project in March. Graduate with M.S. and start PhD program. (probably Dec) Ds continue doing well in school. I'm hoping for a sedate, stress-free year.

While living in this same area, I've had AT&T, T-mobile, and Verizon. Verizon has by far the best coverage where I live. AT&T had okay coverage, but dropped calls all the time so when our contract was up, we switched to T-mobile. It had better coverage, except within a 3 block radius of my house. I called T-mobile about it and they checked and said something was out and they would get it fixed. My area was supposed to have the highest level of coverage. We went back and forth on this for about 6 weeks. They tried to blame my phone until I explained that my son's phone and any guests with T-mobile ALSO had no signal. They sent techs out and freely admitted the problem was on their end, but nothing ever got fixed. I told them I wanted out of my contract. They had made sure to string me along past the 30 day period where I could get out easily. They would not agree so I finally stopped paying and switched to Verizon. We are still arguing about it. I think I will have to get a lawyer to show they were breaching their end of the contract, and I can't afford that right now.

Hmmm, I wonder if Verizon plan prices vary by part of the country, because I have the same as you except only 3 phones. The other difference is we have the family road side assistance which is $5, 2 phones have the insurance protection (ds and I are ROUGH on phones) which adds another $13, and 2 have the thing where you can manage minutes, set time restrictions, and block numbers which adds another $10. You would think my total would therefore be $28 more than yours. Actually, if you subtract the $12 (9.99 + tax) off for the extra phone you have, then mine should only be $16 more than you, buuuuuut my total bill is $230 a month, and no, we do not go over on anything or have any extra data charges. I know when I called to check on my plan once, it was called the "Central Texas Family and Friends 1400" plan which would make you think they vary by location.

Glad to hear he will get some relief soon!

I carried my ds around all the time. I didn't know slings even existed so he just got held in my arms, or balanced on a hip. Once I was diagnosed with this - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/de-quervains-tenosynovitis/DS00692 - my doc told me I needed to stop carrying him so much. Ds was 4 at the time and he adjusted to the change just fine. He is now attending CC full-time and preparing to transfer to a college in CA in a year or so. He sleeps alone, has plenty of friends, and is generally well-adjusted. He'll always give me a hug though, even in front of his friends. :)

I think the personality of the child plays a bigger factor than "where" he is hanging out. I also think it is irresponsible for an adult to blame the mistakes they are STILL making on something their parents should have done differently. I'm not saying your brother is doing this, but I have known a few people like this. For what it's worth, my son plays in a couple of garage bands and three bands at the local community college. Both garage bands and one of the CC bands have played at bars. Since he is not yet 18, I usually still have to attend. You would not believe how many bars (and one hooka lounge) I've visited in the last year. It is just soooo much fun to be at a gig that starts at 11pm on a Thursday night... (The CC commercial music department does not have classes on Fridays, but I still do.) I have not found any of his band mates to be bad influences.

I agree with Ottakee. My ds sounds very similar to your ds. Meds have made ALL the difference in the world. He will be the first to tell you that it is a relief to finally be able to focus.

I vote that it is impossible to do everything well. I prioritize my "balls" each week or sometimes each day.

I've been singing this one for weeks. Baby monkey Baby monkey Riding on a pig, baby monkey Baby monkey Baby monkey Backwards on a pig, baby monkey The world has gone insane And you don't know what is right You've got to keep on keeping on Get on that pig and hold on tiiii-ight Baby monkey Baby monkey Riding on a pig, baby monkey Baby monkey Baby monkey Going backwards on a pig, baby monkey

I HATE Visa gift cards. Ds's dad always gives him one and ds always has problems using it. It works at department stores, but he has problems using it at fast food places, for gas, or online purchases which is primarily what he needs it for. I'll end up giving him cash and buying his card from him to use on groceries etc. The thing is, he has told his dad several times about the difficulty using it, yet his dad continues to give him one. It's not like it has to be mailed so buying one would be safer than cash. His dad lives 5 miles away and ds sees him in person. My dad tried to use a Visa gift card today at a restaurant and it would not go through. My brother's gf, who works in a restaurant, said that the restaurant card thing is set to automatically try to approve for 20% more than the bill on all cards (credit or gift) to account for any tip left. My dad however, was making up the difference in total in cash. He finally just kept the card for use elsewhere and used his debit. My miss this year was a gift card to a store I have never even set foot in. Who knows though? I'll stop by this week. Maybe, I'll find something I like. Can you tell I'm not a huge fan of gift cards? Even if it is to someplace I DO shop, then I'm trying to find something that uses the full amount, but doesn't go over much...unless I was planning to shop anyway.

Ds and I celebrate on Christmas Eve. I had a dinner for several grad student and zookeeper friends who could not go home. Ds goes to his dad's on Christmas Day so I had a peaceful day at home. Except for a chocolate pie that did not turn out and my dog tracking mud through the house, all was well on both days. TODAY however, I'm getting together with the rest of my family...it will probably be interesting, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Cockatiels are great, but remember that birds are long-term pets. Cockatiels can easily live 18 years.

My son usually drops any girl I really like so if I wanted to run a girl off, I would include her in family events, take her out for a girls-only lunch, and just generally act like I adored her. ;-) FYI - I totally misread your post title as "how to run off WITH a girlfriend." lol

By the time I was about 7, I automatically answered, "Rebel, R-e-b-e-l, yes, it's my real name," when asked my name by teachers.

I chose, "other," because I wasn't sure how you were defining, "close." I have lived in the following situations regarding parents: same town - we were too involved in extended family drama an hour away - still too involved in extended family drama 1200 miles away - finally away from the drama, but felt son was missing out by only seeing relatives once a year 4 hours away from parents, but only 2 hours from my brother and sister - This is working for us. We really wanted to be closer to my brother and sister and their families, but not closer to my parents.

My son is old enough that I no longer know all his friend's parents. For that matter, most of his friend's have their own apartments. Some of his friends are younger (15) however, and I've had a single dad tell his son that he had to meet me before son came over to hang out with KJ. We met when the dad brought his son over and talked for about 30 minutes. I told him the basic rules of this house and we made general chit chat. I had no problem being asked and really respected him as a parent for caring enough to ask. When KJ was younger, most of his friends were children in our social circle. When he met someone new, I did not insist on meeting parents if new friend was coming to our house, but did tell KJ to tell new friend that I would need to speak to a parent before he went to new friend's house. So I guess the "way" I did it was to have KJ tell the friend that I needed to at least speak to a parent by phone. Sometimes, KJ gave me the number to call and sometimes new friend gave his mom my number. Either way, a phone conversation was had. Once he hit 14ish, I stopped doing that. The new friends were almost always from the church he attended with his dad and his dad knew the families even though I didn't.

I LOVE this one! In that same vein - Thou shalt thank the wisher of a happy holiday regardless of whether thou thinkest the wisher should have said merry Christmas. Thou shalt choose to not be offended by good-intended greetings.

Sorry you had that experience. I too, HATE confrontations with strangers. That being said...I usually say something along the lines of, "Excuse me sweetie, could I squeeze by?" I live in Texas (state motto is friendship) and this is said in a strong southern accent, so maybe that's why I've never had anybody look at me weird.

Thanks everybody! I had never even heard of Keystone.

Awesome job, Molly!!:hurray::hurray::hurray:

Thanks!