I saw when I was searching before. I think doing a cartwheel against a wall and stopping in the middle would help your daughter. To get her legs straight, have her think about pushing off the ground at the beginning of the cartwheel. She doesn't want to jump onto her hands... her hands should be on the ground when she pushes off her legs. Here's a couple drills- 1. Jump straight up in the air. Notice how your legs straighten when you jump. Now try to jump without straightening your legs- doesn't work so well, does it? 2. Put hands on raised surface- tree stump, rock, etc. Pretend you are going to kick to a handstand with your hands on the raised surface (don't really go all the way to a handstand.) Start in a lunge with the leg in front you want in front for your cartwheel, kick other leg up behind you and push off your front foot, concentrating on straightening each leg as you push off the ground. 3. Do the scissors handstand drill in a previous post, concentrating on straightening legs. I'm so sorry your local gym was no help!

I agree that a wedding is mainly for the couple. But what about the parents? I would be very disappointed if one of my daughters got married and I couldn't afford to be there. Or even a brother/sister. So I can see where his family might have hurt feelings. Why not have a simple (inexpensive) local ceremony, and spend money on the honeymoon?

Call the gymnastics place and ask. They are probably worried about older adults getting injured, but if you just want to learn a cartwheel they might let you go to the class for a while. You can do it!

Should work for your daughter. Doing the scissors handstands, starting off low and concentrating on keeping her arms straight will help her get the feeling and build her strength (if that's the problem.) The problem is probably not her wrists, but her arms and shoulders.

Next drill- find something solid that is about 1 foot off the ground, and about 2 feet wide. A tree stump or a solid low table would work well. (You are going to eventually do what the kids are doing over mats in .) Did you decide which foot you want to start with? If you're not sure, just pick one. In my experience, there is no correlation between being right handed and using your right foot on a cartwheel, so don't worry about that. Try it on both sides if you're not sure. You want to start off doing a scissors handstand (previous drill) with your hands on the raised surface. Don't worry about getting to vertical- about 45 degrees short of vertical is fine for now. After you feel good doing the scissors handstand, start doing it in a triangle shape... if you are using your right foot in front, put your hands on the raised surface, kick your left leg up behind you, then your right leg, and land on your left leg on the other side of the triangle. (diagram of triangle as viewed from above...) hands on raised surface right foot left foot is what you are going for. (Why couldn't I find that yesterday?) as you start to feel more comfortable with it, kick your legs up higher and higher, and go in a straighter line. Then start using a lower surface for your hands, and when you feel ready try it on the floor! shows a woman who is ready to do a cartwheel on the floor. Take a video and post it on YouTube!

OK- I did not find any YouTube videos I like for teaching adults. Most of the examples were people who could already do a cartwheel! Anyway, before you start stretch your wrists. Get down on your hands and knees like one of your kids is going to get a horsey ride. Have your hands flat on the floor, and rock back & forth with increasingly more weight on your hands. Also stretch your legs- hamstrings and inner thigh (sit on the floor in a straddle, reach toward each leg and the middle.) I will give you some steps, and work through them gradually. Master each one before advancing to the next. Next, leave your hands on the floor and stick your butt up in the air. Feet should be flat on the floor now as well, knees kind of straight. Kind of like the "Downward Facing Dog" yoga pose, but shoulders more forward so they are above hands. (Like a cross between the above pose and the forward bend on this page.) Next step- scissors handstand. Stand in a lunge- (google "gymnastics lunge" image) put hands on floor in front of your front foot, transfer weight to hands. Pick back foot up off the floor and point it towards the ceiling. Switch feet so you are standing on the other foot, then stand up in a lunge on the other leg. Do this on both sides, so you can start figuring out which leg you will want in front for your cartwheel. Start off low, and work your way up to almost a handstand. (I need to stop for a while- I'll try to write more tomorrow.)

YES. I have personally taught people older than you to do cartwheels. You just have to work up to it slowly. I will see what I can find on YouTube. I am a former gymnast- I still do cartwheels at 48 and 50 lbs overweight. I did a cartwheel in the hospital hallway hours before giving birth when I was 35. LOL!

Facebook is a big deal for businesses right now. Everyone wants to have a "Facebook Presence", but a lot of small business owners have no idea where to start, and have no time to post updates. I know an adult in my area that charges $500 per month to post 6 updates per month. I got a tutor to teach me how to do it myself... it's pretty easy. You can set updates to post automatically through HootSuite or similar. I would bet a teen could get $100 per month to post 2x/week.

Maybe you could add her to your checking account. I'm not sure why it's such a problem in some areas to get a checking account for a child- I got each of my dds checking accounts with debit cards at 13 yrs old.

I can answer to this part. I used to hire 14 & 15 year-olds to train to work in my business, and assist. When the economy started going bad (in 2001) I raised the age to 16, because they were now available. Now I rarely hire students younger than 18, because there are just more people available to work.

I would go with humor. They will laugh and realize their question was rude. Maybe when asked if you're planning more, say- "Well, I'd love to stop but I have no idea what causes this." or "I'm trying to have an even number of boys and girls." "I want my own basketball team." "I need a few spares in case some don't end up rich enough to support me in my old age." "I need 12 so I can live one month with each after I retire." Are they all yours? "I think the nurses at the hospital slipped a couple extras in my car when I was leaving the hospital." "Would you like to see my stretch marks to prove it?" "Yes! I had them all DNA tested just to make sure..." I think people who ask if they all have the same father deserve a blank stare. Or maybe "Their fathers are all the same, but I'm not so sure about the mothers..."

Exactly what I was thinking.

I think he's a goofball. I don't thing it's going to be hard for him to lose the weight at all, I think he's wasting his time.

I must say, I feel rather accomplished having raised an adult I am proud of. But it's still rather alarming to not be needed much anymore.

I just updated my signature. I am the mother of two teenagers, one of whom can now vote. Hmmmm...

They should consider themselves lucky. I once worked at a birthday party place where a dad let his son and friends smear frosting from a Blues Clues cake all over the mirrors, table, floor, and chairs. When the guy called to schedule his party the following year, we were full.

No, I don't have that much spare time in my life. I don't unfriend people though- I have a business, and I don't want to hurt people's feelings. I just put them in a group and their posts don't show up on my wall, and my posts don't show up on theirs.

Yes, and eliminate wheat.

All the vets I have ever used ALWAYS provides an estimate before doing any procedures, even when the procedure is clearly needed and I already said I would pay whatever. I'm not sure if you are entitled to a refund or not, but if I were you I would let the vet know that you would have appreciated more information about the procedure up front, especially the cost and the mortality rate. If you don't go at it with an "I deserve a refund" attitude, he might offer you something. If he doesn't offer anything- further explanation, empathy, apology, or money back- I would consider changing vets if possible.

I know some people who would argue that point! (I'm not one of them...)

I think that's closer than the widget analogy. Some people do follow a homeschooling philosophy religiously;). But I don't think many people would think they are going to hell, for example, if they change their homeschooling philosophy.

I'll give it a go- Religion is a life philosophy. People who share religion are trying to "save" the souls of the people to whom they are proselytizing. It's not a "hey, this widget works for me- maybe it will work for you!" kind of arrangement. People who want to share a widget that works well for them are not trying to save your soul. They are trying to make your life more convenient. I've never heard someone say they follow a particular religion because it's convenient (as a matter of fact, I've heard people say the opposite.)

Um, no- it's not like that at all. The widget example would work for a door-to-door salesman, not someone who is trying to convert one to a different religion.

My dd is a senior, and she has never worn nylons to a dance. She does, however, wear bike shorts under her dress... because evidently sometimes kids will decide to do their own "thong check."

Saving dinner helped me a LOT. After my dh died, it was really difficult to keep my head above water- working, raising kids, trying to keep house. Our eating habits went way downhill. A couple years ago I subscribed to Saving Dinner- it's a dinner menu plan, gives you three different menus each week to choose from, plus a shopping list. My kids really like (most of) the recipes, and the dinners are for the most part made with real food. Go to SavingDinner.com, they have sample recipes you can try.