My best friend's son is celebrating his Bar Mitzvah soon. I've not had the opportunity to attend a Bar Mitzvah. Distance makes it impossible for us to be with them but we'd like to send an appropriate gift. What are gift ideas for this? A bit of googling mentions religious items but we are not Jewish so I'm not sure on that. Money seems to be a popular idea. I see mention of amounts in multiples of 18? If it matters this is not an orthodox Jewish family. I'd love some btdt that ideas. Thanks

That looks like a fascinating read! Just reading through the 'look inside' pages on Amazon has me intrigued to learn further. Thanks for the heads up OhElizabeth!

Hornblower and Trulycrabby - THANK YOU both so much!! This is exactly the info I needed.

Hoping someone in the Hive has some ideas on this. I need to find a reputable jewelry appraiser for a string of pearls that many years ago (over 20) were appraised at fairly high value. I want to have them appraised in today's economy but I have no idea where to begin to find a reputable appraiser. If you've done this before is there a database online? I don't want to just pick someone out of the phonebook or off Google. How did you find someone? I'm in NE FL if by some chance someone has a recommendation in this area :)

Just saw this - Two of the new flavors are gluten-free. The first is called Toffee-tastic, described by the Girl Scouts as a buttery cookie with toffee bits. Toffee-tastics will sell for $6 a box. The second gluten-free cookie is called Trios, made with peanut butter, chocolate chips and whole grain oats. Those will sell for $5 a box. (LA Times) Just when I thought going GF would save me money on GS cookies :lol: Now if they would only make a GF Thin Mint I'd be in heaven (or bankrupt). No idea on the GF certification or possible ppm on these but it's nice to know they are thinking of those of us GF. ETA - nutritional info can be found here http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/meet_the_cookies.asp

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Thanks Jean! I'm headed for the couch not to be heard from for the next few hours.

And we're done!! :hurray: :hurray: LONG day. What we expected to be a 2 hour EEG was actually a little over 3 hours on top of the hour it took to put on the leads. After being up all night and having to leave by 6:30 it made for a long morning but we survived. Little guy was giving people the stink eye by the end but he made it through with his easy going demeanor intact. I just wanted to crawl in a corner and cry when they added the extra hour+ so he's definitely a bigger person than I. I can not thank you all enough for the thoughts, prayers and fairy dust. I know it had a lot to do with us getting through the last 2 days :thumbup1:

I do not. Too acidic for me to drink but I love to cook with it. Dh, on the other hand, loves to drink it straight up from the quart. It's one of his occasional treats when we go shopping.

Love this! Definitely headed for the want list :) A new kitchen toy is always fun!

Update for today :thumbup1: We made it through MRI day! Ds really rose to the occasion and surprised us. He didn't start asking for food/drink until about 1/2 hour before the test. Grandpa was a huge help - took miles worth or trips up and down the hallway. Test took about 1 1/2 hours and he did great the team said. We're home earlier than expected. Now for a few hours sleep until we start again at midnight.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts, prayers and the fairy dust :) We're off to start the journey.

Wouldn't that be nice! We thought about snagging a college student from church and then realized tomorrow is the first day of classes around here.

They have always put him first on the list for surgeries (after the children with diabetes) but this had something to do with scheduling and his neurologist wanting it done sooner rather than later. Apparently they don't see many children having full brain and spine MRIs so they blocked a huge amount of time for him. Unfortunately that meant the afternoon. I have a feeling we're last on the list on top of everything else. Here's hoping there are no glitches in the day's schedule to push us further into the afternoon!

Thanks ever so much! I'm enjoying the shower of fairy dust :)

I chose the first but I'd love to be a fly on the wall in 500 years for the last one!

:grouphug: Praying for opportunities and students to abound.

That's one brave boy you've got. I can't imagine going through that. I hear you on the not eating triggering the tears and drama. That's such a hard part for the kids.

This is us exactly! My insomnia usually kicks in around 3 or 3:30 anyway so I'm going to put it to some good use for a change.

Glad to know it's not just me. I thought I was doing something wrong when trying to use the MultiQuote.

Oh my! Thankfully, at ds' university the opposite is protocol. He has to sign up each semester if he wants the student health coverage. He doesn't need it as he is still covered with ours. We'd easily be in the same boat as you as I've no doubt he'd forget to opt out at least once. So sorry! That is a painful (and expensive) lesson!

Something is wonky with the MultiQuote option so you'll have to imagine all the pp here. Thanks everyone! My dad is ds' favorite person in the world so we have 'The Grandpa' going to the hospital with us as a diversionary tactic (we have to be there 2 hours early). Grandpa and I will be with ds tomorrow and then dh and I will be with ds on Wed. Dh and I are splitting the midnight to leave time between us so we'll each get a little bit of rest.

Thank you!

Our youngest has an MRI and an EEG in the next two days. Due to his disabilities and challenges he's a toddler hiding out in a tween body which will make these two days quite challenging. Tomorrow he will be under general anesthesia for 2-3 hours for them to do a brain and full spinal MRI. His appointment is in the afternoon but he won't be able to eat after midnight. This is a boy who likes to eat and won't understand why he can't. Thankfully we're allowed to give him juice up to 4 hours before. We'll probably get home from the hospital by about 7pm. We then have to wake him at midnight and keep him awake until we go back to the hospital for a 2 hour, sleep deprived, video EEG Wed morning. We tend to live on the edge with him as a general rule but this is crazy even for us. :willy_nilly: Needless to say - any prayers, good thoughts or fairy dust are much appreciated. I've a feeling we're going to need them. Along with a good stiff drink when it's over!

We just went through this with ds. He fell off his skateboard and landed flat handed on the ground. We thought he'd just bruised himself but took him in for a check. Turns out we ended up at an orthopedic surgeon with a cracked scaphoid which we were told is not a good bone to break. He just missed needing surgery to pin it together but was in hard cast for 6 weeks. Weight bearing limit of 5 pounds. The doctor told us that if it had not been treated he would have probably had a lifetime of difficulty with that hand. I'd have it checked out just to be sure.