Access to sports and other classes was very positive for all three of mine. The big downside is that it does tie you to the school calendar somewhat.

Her story is delightful! I would love to know if her baked goods are as good as they say! ;-)

If your niece is the photographer, she can contact Facebook to have the photo removed for copyright infringment

Legally, photographer has ownership of the photo. If it was a photo you took, the easiest thing (if you have already messaged the fair and they refused to remove it) is to report it to Facebook for copyright infringement and have them take it down. Your mom could also ask the fair to take it down since she is the subject of the photo. They would be more likely to honor her direct request than that of a family member. Past that, there are legal routes one could go but probably more expensive and more trouble than it is worth for most people.

I've read through this. but may have missed it. Do you have access to the parent's perspective of this situation? Now that my children are grown, it's interesting to me how their memories vary, and how off some memories can be. Two examples: I have one kid who was saying at one point (I think she has backed off of this now) that I only allowed her to listen to Amy Grant's music growing up. I'm not overly religious, and though I like a few Amy Grant songs, I would not say I was a big fan. If anything, the kids listened to a lot of classical music in the car as I was trying to use the time educationally at one point 🙂 Another daughter was telling people that I only read the Bible to her as a child. We had a reading routine in the evening with multiple books, and sometimes there was a devotional/mildly religious type story in there. But I can say with confidence that I never pulled out a Bible and read it to any of them, much less exclusively. I do think there are likely psychological reasons those types of memories form, and perhaps they are not flattering to me as a parent 😉 Back to your original post, it's just really hard to say what may have been going on. Perhaps anxiety, perhaps spectrum-y type behavior. I do know people who find eating boring, and might welcome pill-food. Some people also get overwhelmed with choices, especially perfectionist types, and would prefer things to be simple. Sometimes the mental health issues in various family members do not play well together, unfortunately. Hopefully the parent in the situation was well meaning. By the time you have this parenting thing figured out, it's over.

Adding, there was an excellent article in n endometriosis n the New York Times last fall or so. Try to find it and read it if you can.

Go check out Nancy’s Nook and have her evaluated by an endometriosis expert if at all possible. Unfortunately, the typical GYN is likely not to have the necessary knowledge or skill to perform excision (you don’t want ablation.) Hormonal solutions are only a bandaid and allow the problem to get worse. The teen years are an excellent time to get on top of the problem. My daughter had excision by Adam Duke in Idaho last fall. Game changer.

Sounds like you are set for a tour, but I’m going to chime in. I love taking the train from Princeton (have done it both from the campus itself or from Princeton Junction) to Penn Station and walking from there. I think tons of things are walkable but of course it depends a bit on how tolerant of walking all the members of your party are 🙂 The tours are good but I would caution you that with just a day, and so many sights in NYC, it can devolve into a lot of pointing at the outside of buildings. I enjoy walking from Penn Station down toward Central Park via 5th Ave and just taking it all in. You can easily hit Times Square with a slight detour. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is down by Central Park. Another area I enjoy hitting that is walkable from Penn Station is the Highline. There’s an upscale mall at the end of it with nice restrooms and food. Not sure what access to all of that is like since Covid…I was last there Sept 2019. Two big tips: research where the restrooms are and if you see one, go. Also, bring a portable charger for the phones.

Well, we are done. And honestly have been for a while, though I did not want my daughter to "call it" until closer to the deadline, for reasons I will explain. For those who don't want to read the whole thing, she's going to Messiah University in Pennsylvania. She is in honors, and has assured acceptance into their DPT (physical therapy) program, assuming she maintains grades, etc. ****************************** The Long Part: Other info: she is my youngest, was homeschooled through 4th grade, went to public school 5th-Covid, and homeschooled 11-12 with a couple classes at the neighborhood school. excellent GPA, test scores that were just okay. There was an issue at every single sitting for the SAT, which led to her doing it three times (my others each took it once.) Twice it was a physical issue (she had surgery for endometriosis this fall, which improved that situation significantly now) and the third time it was a misnumbering issue that she did not deal with properly at the time. That last one was a heartbreak because her math score went up significantly to what we would have expected, and the verbal score with the misnumbering took a dive. It is what it is! 🙂 Would have been nice to have the test scores though, because merit was needed. Perfect-plus GPA helps, but not as much as needed generally. So, we were the people applying to 20-ish schools this cycle, as did my last college applicant six years ago. My oldest only applied to eight, and with no parental input. We learned our lesson there, though it did turn out fine for her, albeit somewhat expensive for us. There are a few reasons for applying many places, that differed a bit for my current applicant and her older sister. We live geographically distant from most of the US, and visits require a long plane flight. We need money. My last applicant was competitive for a lot of reachy schools and big scholarships which could pay off big, but were highly uncertain. Our in-state schools have some significant downsides, and I'd prefer the kids get a broader experience during the college years after growing up in a remote location. And for my current applicant, she felt strongly that she wanted to apply to a certain part of the US where her long time boyfriend would be, or where she thought he would be. This is not a part of the country known for the best scholarships. In my view, there was a lot of uncertainty as far as where the boyfriend's college plans would actually take him. And obviously, high school relationships often end. So, I insisted that she apply at a large number of schools in various parts of the country. We have family in the SE and SW, and she would likely have friends at NW schools. We did get a big college visit road trip this summer, that involved flying into three different airports, then driving to various locations. Not ideal, due to Covid and normal summer closures, but better than nothing in giving her a sense of various types of schools and parts of the country. SO, all those factors played into the list. And here it is, for those interested 🙂 A couple more notes: she did not apply separately for honors anywhere, but some places gave it to her automatically. Most merit was automatic, though we did go to one scholarship weekend. She submitted her test scores to most places, with a couple of notable exceptions. NW: Montana State (WUE), Univ of Alaska Southeast, Univ of Alaska Anchorage (our in state schools, and her grades and test scores give her close to a full ride there. Our cheapest options) SW: Univ of New Mexico (not all scholarships announced yet, but she got in-state tuition at the least. Good deal), Colorado Mesa Univ (honors, top merit, this one is a hidden gem IMO), University of Utah (WUE, and can get in state tuition by staying for the summer. Another good deal), Northern AZ Univ (great auto merit), Texas Tech University (best merit of any OOS school, in-state tuition plus another $5000, super friendly, quick decision. This is a great safety for someone looking for a large university) SE: Appalachian State (not much for automatic money), College of Charleston (see App State), Clemson (required Summer Start as condition of acceptance, no money), Univ of Georgia (got in-state tuition, really a good deal, and my husband's alma mater), Auburn (good automatic scholarship), Univ of Alabama (good, not great scholarship, but, again, my daughter did not apply for anything extra) NE: Her geographical area of interest. Messiah Univ (honors, good auto merit, small comp scholarship and the auto admit to PT), Muhlenberg College (honors, and best total scholarship as far as numbers but their costs were so high that it was just a bit more than we wanted to pay. Interestingly, they required an interview), Univ of Rhode Island (honors, decent scholarship. This was her second choice school, and they have an interesting Animal Science program.) Univ of Vermont (good scholarship, but, again, overall costs too high. Initially this was her top choice), Univ of New Hampshire (honors, see UVermont and Muhlenberg as far as costs, strong contender otherwise), Univ of Connecticut (not much for money, unless they have added some recently. This decision came out more recently), Penn State Univ(went test optional, not sure if that helped or hurt. They wanted her to start at a satellite campus. The two years at the satellite campus came with honors and a very affordable cost. The last two years did not involve much of a scholarship. In the end, she wasn't interested in the two different campuses.) In her mind, it came down to Messiah and URI. Went for a second visit to each (Messiah's second visit was the scholarship day). She quickly eliminated URI though on the second visit, based on campus feel. The interesting thing about Messiah is that she is not a religious kid, did not initially want to visit, and was fairly skeptical about certain aspects, like the chapel requirement. She's a pretty outgoing person, and I really thought she'd want a football school. She got hooked up with their private Instagram page for accepted students, found a roommate, and is excited to go, She's still with the boyfriend, whose plans are still being finalized, but will be 3-5 hours away, depending. Another interesting point is that her boyfriend is Jewish, but supportive of the school choice. I doubt he will want to don the spirit wear though. This is at the high end of our affordability scale, but we can swing it. Most affordable schools ultimately were our two in state choices, Texas Tech, Univ of NM, Colorado Mesa, Univ of Georgia, and Auburn. OH! I forgot the two rejection schools. Probably because she never really cared about them, haha. Vanderbilt and Duke. Her sister is at Duke for grad school currently. She was test optional for both. And with that, I am done with the college app process and homeschooling for good. 🙂 My older two homeschooled for the majority of their years at home, and it's been 24-ish years since I first started. One daughter went to Univ of WA, and is now in grad school at Univ of NM. The other went to Princeton, and is now in grad school at Duke. There are ups and downs, pros and cons to homeschooling, but in the end I am mostly glad we did it. I might tweak some things if I am reincarnated into another homeschool mom 😉 And the people said "A-MEN" 🙂

Slightly different from the training slots issue to which you are referring, but I did want to respond to this comment. When I graduated with my nursing degree many years ago, I had my loans repaid in exchanged for serving off the road system in rural Alaska, and went on to work in various other underserved areas for several years. Granted, that experience was a number of years ago, but it was not my experience that the docs/other healthcare workers were international. For the most part, it was young domestic docs exchanging service for loan repayment (or some similar agreement made in med school). I believe the loan repayment option is still available for various high need professions through the US Public Health Service, though I have not looked recently.

Oh, interesting. I got "harry" and was surprised there wasn't more chat about that particular solution!

Oh my goodness, story of my life when it comes to the various medical conditions that have popped up in our family. Thank goodness for Google and Facebook groups, as much as people like to deride those resources. OP, my daughter developed hair pulling as a young teen, which thankfully we have worked through. I remember the stress of dealing with it though. Hair loss has such an emotional component. I assume you have ruled out hair pulling and feel confident in the alopecia diagnosis? I have known a few people with that issue, one who sounds very similar to the person in your life, as far as age and dealing with eczema. One person had a father with the same condition and a sibling who was unaffected. There does seem to be a genetic component. I do know these people tried many things, but it did seem to be progressive. If your insurance/finances allows, I'd be tempted to find someone who has particular expertise in this particular condition (meaning this is what they deal with primarily, as opposed to a typical dermatologist.) as they may have the most up to date treatments.

Do you live in a high altitude area?

Some parents take their kids' sports success very personally. I suspect I know the sport to which you are referring, as my kids were in it for many years (and one still coaches.) Parents in this sport tend to be a little...much...in my experience. I think some of it is the amount of money involved. Tends to make many lose perspective.

I did not realize Dixie State had changed its name. Interesting! Congratulations to your daughter! Sounds like a good plan!

I had not either, but we became acquainted with this woman with a passion for the breed, and next thing you know there's a fluffball in the house 😉 Ours is a pet. We have a Great Dane as well and this puppy has turned out to be a good companion for him (and should be similar in size once grown.)

We have a 4 month old Polish Tatra Sheepdog pup. People are always asking if he is a Great Pyranees, and after looking at your pics, I see why. Very similar appearance!

Just catching up here, and I am sorry to hear about the disappointing news over the weekend. There are certainly decisions that just don't seem to make logical sense at times.

This year was the first time it happened to us, and it had to do with withholding on my husband's military retirement income. His first year retired, new format, we did not notice the problem. We fixed the problem on the first business day after I did our taxes though 😉

I just did our taxes this past weekend. We got a penalty for failing to withhold enough. My husband's employer is not penalized at all.

He can take a PSAT any year, but it will only count for National Merit during his junior year. You do need to figure out what year will be junior year.

It does sound like plantar fasciitis. I have struggled with it for a few years now. Have found physicians or physical therapists to be of little help. I did get steroid injections twice and did many PT sessions. The first time the injection helped for about 6 months. The next time I never really did get much relief. HOWEVER, I did find a solution recently that I am hoping will stick (or at least be reproducible). I Taped my feet using this technique described in the video with zinc oxide tape for 6 weeks. Tape was on 24/7, and changed as needed (usually every 3 days.) It's been a few weeks since I ended taping, and I have no pain in my feet, which seems miraculous. Video link: Other things that can be helpful (but this varies so much for different people, keep that in mind): Oofos shoes (I wear the slides in the house and the boots outdoors). Hoka athletic shoes (I use the trail shoes, sandals, and hiking boots). Stretching the calf area (but really everything is connected, so don't ignore the rest of the legs). Massager on the feet and calves (I have a Sharper Image massager that I like)

There are two schools that haven't given my daughter a decision but at this point I'm not sure she cares much. She's pretty close to her own decision, I think.

ED really only makes sense if the student 100% knows that is the school they want, and you feel confident you can pay. You CAN back out of an ED agreement for financial reasons, but it's best to have a clear picture of finances before the application is submitted,

To the OP: not sure what your income situation is. Above a certain point (which is way lower than you might imagine), the calculators are not going to be super useful. People fit full pay pretty quickly, or the need is met with a loan. Merit scholarship amounts and qualifications vary widely, but that's generally the best source of scholarships for the typical student. Those are typically listed for the current year on college websites, which will give you an idea of how that goes. Some merit is automatic and some involves competition with other applicants. In state public is going to be lowest cost for many if not most people, but there are plenty of exceptions. College Confidential has a pretty useful financial aid forum if you have the time to dive into that.