I like the idea of the two rows of drawers because it's less unwieldy to open/close than a trundle. DS has a trundle, and while it's very good quality, I do find it difficult to maneuver due to the size. This End Up furniture lasts forever. I don't know about the other brand you mentioned. I bet you won't need a dresser. :)

Thanks, it's good to get perspective from someone familiar with No VA. It's a starting position, I think, from what I've heard. They don't need a developer, it's definitely not a CS position. OP, I didn't mean to hijack at all... Just have been pondering the salary issue for some time. I pm'ed you, by the way. :)

Ah, housing. That's really the trick. The No VA area is on the more expensive side. :glare: I *think* that's why this company has had trouble hiring. Just my thoughts, from hearing stories and looking in from the outside. I don't really know. But it's been a frequent enough topic of conversation among friends that I've been pondering the lack of applicants in my spare time. :tongue_smilie:

Good points. I think if the job were to be taken by a single person, on the young side... one would think it would definitely be workable. I was wondering exactly what you were addressing though, which was... Could a family live off of this?

Yes, that's what I was thinking. I just googled the average salaries in this area, and came up with different results - depending on the site. So I am sort of scratching my head on what actually is a decent salary in this area. I think it would depend on where exactly one is located in the greater No. VA area (which is large, and I suppose salaries could vary greatly). It has been quite the learning experience watching this company go through the search/interview process. :)

Jumping in to ask a question that has been eating away at me. Salaries obviously vary widely with regard to cost of living in each area, so there isn't a clear answer, I'm sure. But what is a good living wage now? I know of a company that has been searching for months - months! - for a new hire, with no luck. I don't know if the salary they are offering is simply too low, or if it's something else. FWIW, starting salary is in the $70s. That is low in this area, but this particular company foots the bill for the entire family's insurance. I think that is a huge deal, and might increase the appeal? It also involves primarily work at home - another bonus in a commute heavy area. So there are perks. As far as a degree, there are no specific requirements, they are just looking for experience in a particular field. What do you all think? Would the above pass muster as a living wage?

Another vote for The Explosive Child. I have also found Living With Intensity and Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students to be helpful. DS is 8, and we have identified a lot of his triggers. Some things are very basic - enough sleep, timely nutritious snacks. Some things are trickier - he has multiple food allergies, many life-threatening but some that cause behavioral issues only. He has non-wheezing asthma, and cannot always articulate when he's not getting enough oxygen - at times, he used to panic about that, and react with anger and fear. We found also that one of his meds was known for causing rages. He took that med from 2 yrs old till 7! If only we'd known sooner, we'd have less to "unlearn" now. But we didn't know, and can only work with where we are now. There are some good resources about perfectionism in kids - I keep meaning to look them up again - your kiddo might benefit from those, too. Oh, and we also worked through the book for kids, When Your Temper Flares together. We just made it part of school, and did the drawings, etc. That gave DS some good tools, and I would highly recommend it. Forgot to add that we did a *lot* of inflammation reducing. We did a ton of supplements, per our environmental doc's recommendations, and that has helped tremendously. I take it for granted now. We added massive air purifiers to our home, removed many sources of VOCs, and did lots of environmental changes. DS has severe environmental allergies, too, so that may be why that helped so much. Doc's idea was to reduce overall inflammation because that does indeed impact the brain, and how we function. So we checked for heavy metals (and found they were high, likely from birth due to his genetic history) and did chelation, etc. I cannot stress how much this all helped.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's good to get more perspectives on this. Please don't quote me here, as I may delete some details later: No traditional agency involved, we're basically on our own, though if there were an agency, I'd feel that we could leave pics/updates with the agency. That would feel ... better, at least. We chose openness, and want to maintain it for many reasons. We want to honor our promises. We want it because we've seen it is good for our older kiddo, and because we know that as our littlest grows, she's going to wonder where her birthfamily is - why is her brother's birthfamily part of our lives, but not hers? Birthfamily is less than interested though, at this time. This after a lot of wishy-washiness, and some very ugly behavior on their parts. Despite that behavior, we are still committed to openness, we just keep encouraging counseling. But now they have stated they want no contact. Birthparents are very, very young though, so I want to gently make sure that they know that the door is open, and we can discuss more openness later, if they change their minds. Do I maintain a box of pics/updates? In case they want it later? What does one write in an "update" anyway? Our other adoption is so open... We are like family, we just visit back and forth and there aren't formal "updates" because that would be redundant!

I can't be the only adoptive parent here. :) There must be many of us. Anyone have a fairly open adoption? Want to share how it works for your family? What if your second adoption worked out not to be as open as the first, very open adoption? How are your kiddos adjusting to the difference? What if a birthparent decides they don't want any openness? How did/would you respond? Obviously, one would respect a birthparent's wishes, but how does one keep it clear that the door is open for knocking later? Lots of questions there. I'm busily processing quite a bit these days, and these questions keep running through my head... Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I don't remember my CD57 number right now - it was low though. I have not been rechecked on that one. My LLMD stopped using the CD57 repeatedly, as she is in the camp that we treat for symptoms, and that the CD57 test does not trump the clinical data. So if your DD had no symptoms for X amount of time, that would trump the CD57 test. Although personally I find it unlikely that one would be symptom free with a significantly low CD57. What is your DD's status re: coinfections? IME, those are a bigger concern than Lyme, in some respects. I had quite the battle with Babs Duncani. Not to mention Bart. I am grateful, truly, for life now. Please don't overlook protomyxozoa rheumatica either. My LLMD is finding that those of us who don't recover well from Lyme & co often have that complicating matters. Biofilms and sludgy blood make for poor healing. FWIW, I was on long-term abx. And am now being treated for the Protozoa. Have you checked out Lymenet.org for feedback? I have not been there in a while, as I am doing fairly well, but it used to be helpful re: treatment questions.

That's what I thought. While you're there, consider letting shop owners who are looking for inventory know that you are closing up. You might find that someone is willing to buy your inventory for slightly less than wholesale. Or you might find that there is another artist who owns a shop and will trade goods for goods. I know of someone who closed out their inventory this way, and finished all holiday shopping in one fell swoop. Oh, and want to share a link here to your site? :D

DS uses a Blue Air Filter in his room, and we have one on each floor of our house. They are expensive, but have made a big difference. We removed the carpet & replaced the flooring with hard floors throughout, but I know that's not always an option. We still use a HEPA vacuum, on our (very few) area rugs. DS does not have an area rug in his room - all the better for block and lego building. I vacuum when he is not around. Per his allergist: wash all bedding, pillows, stuffed animals weekly in hot water. Then use the allergen covers. Replace any curtains with pull down shades. If you're buying vinyl shades, let them off gas somewhere away from the kiddo for a few days before hanging. Keep clutter contained so dusting and cleaning is easier. We have pets, so DS has a gate in front of his room so the dogs don't go in his room. It's hard, especially the weekly washing of all the soft stuff! But all of that has really helped DS.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I am learning so much from this thread, there are so many helpful tips here. Makes me realize my 8 yr old DS could do a bit more around the house. :) We also have very special dietary needs - severe food allergies & I am gluten free (so we are peanut, tree nut, sesame, gluten, banana free, along with limited raw foods due to OAS). Grocery shopping is a chore. Now that I know what our store carries, though, and what is generally safe there, I do all of our shopping online. It is a flat fee, $5, and I place the order online. The store shoppers all know me, and I make notes about which items can be substituted (if any). They do all the shopping, bag it, and have it ready for me. All I do is pull up to the sidewalk, press a button, and they load it in the car. Actually, it's DH who usually does the pick up. For $5, I think this is well worth it! You might check your local grocery stores to see if they offer this service. We love it. We use Harris Teeter, but I know there are other chains that offer the same service. I wish I had more to offer, but that's really all I can add to the wisdom already on this thread.

:lol: I don't like chicken fried steak!!! :) And I have auto-immune issues, too, and am right there with you in the pity party, OP. Addison's, Hashimoto's, and more... I *had* diagnoses for FM and MS for many, many years. Those issues, thankfully, are better now as we found the root cause. CFS is still an issue, but my doc thinks it's due to a newly discovered protozoa and she's treating me for that now... the treatment makes me feel horrible. Just horrible. Crossing my fingers it's worth it. Here's hoping for a good day for all!

Love the colors! Love all of it. Those are great bookcases! What a comfy place to learn.

A soft bed, lots of cuddles and hugs. Walks as he wants/tolerates them. If he has trouble with stairs - reduce his need to climb them, if it's bad. A trip to the vet to rule out anything that could be causing pain, and to find the causes of the white spots (or are they just his hair turning white with age?). Supplements to help with arthritis, etc if necessary. :grouphug:

We love to play Senet! We picked this version up at the King Tut exhibit a few years ago. Just in case anyone else is like me, and not so crafty. :P

We kept ours in a bookshelf in the family room, which is where we do most of our school stuff, and they were used often. But this year I moved them to our reference book area, which is downstairs in a bookshelf lined hallway. They are seeing less use now that they are out of sight, so that might not have been the best plan. A low bookshelf is a good idea.

We are letting go of a lot of extras here, too. :) It is so liberating!

How about free? :) This might be worth a look: Mr. Q has a unit on health and nutrition in his Life Science e-book. You might check it out and see if it covers enough for your portfolio. http://eequalsmcq.com/ClassicScienceLife.htm ...Just check out the health/nutrition units for parents and students.

Does she eat fruit? You might take her a little plate of in season fruits - pears, etc, as someone else suggested. Those are a huge treat for my mother.

My Mom is a very strict diabetic - she does not use meds at all, but keeps it well in control. (Actually, she's no longer considered diabetic due to her efforts - yay!) Coffee or tea would be her choice. Not sure if this is doable for you, but one of my favorite "just because" gifts (to receive) was a few Gerber Daisies, with the stems wrapped with some twine. Super sweet, and not expensive. Made me smile.

I didn't even open the link, based on the other responses. Just wanted to send a :grouphug: because I have clueless family members, too. There is no figuring out *what* they are thinking sometimes. It is truly mind boggling sometimes to think that we were raised in the same family. You are a strong, good person to think of your mom's feelings and just let this one be. I need to take lessons from you, I think! Nice job. You are inspiring. (Again, I didn't open the link, just saying that based on the responses, and my own realization that keeping my mouth shut sometimes would go a long way toward keeping peace in our family! :D)

You've probably read this one, but zenhabits is one of my favorites. If I remember right, he has 6 kids (I could be wrong, maybe it's 4, and there are 6 of them altogether?) ...I love his article on traveling light with a large family, very inspiring. (And, again, not positive he fits with your definition of minimalism!)