He was in prison for 5 years. This happened 18 years ago.

When I contacted my friend, she said that he seemed to have turned things around. That even back then, she was stunned that he had done it, as he had always struck her as a nice guy. I did not know him, but we are from a small town. As she & I were chatting, he posted something about trying to wrap his head around finding himself in a house of love after all of the bad stuff that he had done. (this was before she contacted him) When she contacted him, he said that he couldn't talk at the moment, as he was on a field trip. They got on the phone about an hour later. That's when she told him what was going on and that I was open to an apology. (he had no way to know my name or find me) He said that he felt that he didn't owe many people apologies, but that I was definitely on the list, but that he wanted to do it right and in person. Also, before I contacted my friend, I clicked on the guy's name and was able to see some photos and could see that he appeared to have a young family now. I didn't see anything on his page that worried me.

Let's say that you had been robbed at gunpoint while at your job. The robber was arrested the next day and went to prison. 18 years later, you comment on a friend's facebook post and realized that the guy who robbed you had just commented as well. You contact your mutual friend saying that if the robber wants to send you an apology via fb that you are open to it. He replies to the friend that he'd rather do it in person. What would you do? (more details in post #14)

They have already been charged as adults. In Wisconsin, kids as young as 10 can be charged as adults. This makes no sense to me. "Wisconsin is one of 29 states in which juveniles of a certain age are automatically charged as adults, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Wisconsin law requires homicide or attempted homicide charges to be filed in adult court if the suspect is at least 10; lawmakers created the provision in 1996 to counter a rise in youths involved with gangs, drugs and guns. Georgia, Illinois, New York and Oklahoma set the age for some automatic adult charges at 13."

:(

As the mom of a 12-year-old girl who lives in Wisconsin and likes Creepypasta, this story has hit me hard. Not as in "omg, my dd is going to do this too", but as "They're just kids. How could this happen. They can't be tried as adults." I do think that they (and possibly their parents) need some serious help. I don't think that they should be free any time soon. I believe that juveniles in WI can be held until they're 25.

We've had 2 cats who loved to play fetch. A house cat who played it with a soft ball that looked like a golf ball. We'd play until he would dip it in his water bowl. Also, when returning the ball, he preferred to drop it into a shoe. We had a cat at our guitar shop who played fetch with plastic caps from soda bottles. Dh would scrape his fingernail on the side of the cap and the cat would come running in, ready to play.

Not book-related, but I took my daughter to see this at a theater when she was about 4. She LOVED it. We later found it on DVD through our (then)local library so that dh could see it. It's amazing. So few kids these days get to experience a silent movie. It's so cool. Peter Pan 1924 silent film

:grouphug: A close family friend lost her ex-husband and oldest daughter (almost 8) in a fire nearly 30 years ago. My girl has her name as a middle name. This brought so many memories back. Cherish the stories and photos. Whenever I get together with my friend or her younger daughter (who was also in the fire, but got out), we have a few stories that always come up and we are able to have a laugh. It took a long time to get there.

I spent some time searching ebay (and the rest of the internet) trying to replace dd's Daffy Duck that she lost when she was 3-4. I could not find the exact one. Thankfully, we found him several days later. She had stuffed him into a small metal toy mailbox. We were in her room. She decided to play with it, opened it and said "Oh, hi Daffy!" like it was no big thing.

Just be sure to NOT put steel strings on a classical guitar (which is made for nylon strings). The bracing won't be strong enough and you will damage your guitar.

I had one of the red mono-shocks. Crazy. I had one with a plastic "gas tank", but it wasn't the Wild Fire...I don't see it. I think there's a photo of it somewhere...the mono-shock, too. (I had a lot of bikes over the years...)

I think mine was a Huffy...I KNOW that the model was "Daisy" and it had a white plastic basket on the front that had plastic daisies on it. :D I wonder if it's in any of our old photos....

This. Something made locally....from any of those countries.

This is a great book for learning how to make your own books. Real Life Jounals by Gwen Diehn

I haven't been there in years, but the House on the Rock (mentioned earlier) is pretty cool. Ella's Deli in Madison! Discovery World in Milwaukee is really cool for all ages. It's next door/across the street/very near (it's been a while LOL) the Milwaukee Art Museum. Are there any guitar players in your group? If so, Dave's Guitar Shop in La Crosse is a must-see. His personal collection is on display upstairs. It is amazing.

I bought a big, cushy seat for my bike a couple of years ago. It looked funny on my bike, but I can ride more comfortably now. :D I call it my "old lady seat". I then bought a 24" bmx cruiser to offset that. ;P

Not a detective, but my dd has loved the Books of Elsewhere series by Jacqueline West. http://thebooksofelsewhere.com/

Someone mentioned Craigslist. I second that. I've also gotten some great deals at our pawn shop.

Dd is enjoying Killgallon's Grammar for Middle School - A Sentence Composing Approach so much that we'll be doing their Paragraphs for Middle School next.

I ordered them online for dd for Christmas. She was so excited!

In case you didn't know....this is in my hometown in MN. It's a great program! http://redwingmusicrepair.org/guitar/index.html If you have questions, send me a PM. My dh & I both went through the program and he was a sub for several years.

Yes, this. It's a GREAT book.

We might have to check this out the next time we take the train to see my sister. Everett is the closest station to her, so that's where we go. Dd would LOVE it!

I've knit a couple of these. Super-fun project! It's the Hurly Burly from the Super-Scary Mochimochi book. These are 2 photos of the same toy. It's reversible. I used safety-eyes. You could also embroider eyes onto it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/62677954@N00/12526294124/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/62677954@N00/12525927743/