Agreeing that micromanaging is going to backfire. Two things that helped us survive my kids teen years: 1) Making sure my kids had lots of hard physical exercise to deal those teen emotions 2) Weekly planning meetings about what they needed to accomplish, any outside commitments to work around, and what their game plan was. I told them that it helped my anxiety if they walked me through their plans so that I wouldn't feel the urge to jump in too much. I told them that it was good life skill practice. The more I put aside judgement and micromanaging, the more comfortable they felt in coming to me if they felt overwhelmed or unsure how to manage. I'm not saying that I did this perfectly ... I fell down a lot and let my own anxiety pull me back into micromanaging. But by the time I got to my 3rd kid, I was better at it. She was also better at setting boundaries with me.

That was my first thought, too! 😄

Praying.

I don't think it would matter. Doing the prep as directed, including avoiding food that are harder to get rid of (foods with seeds, nuts, etc.) would take care of everything. Depriving your body of needed energy for that long would not be helpful.

I didn't have a sugary prep. Mine was a powder that I mixed with water. For flavor, they said I could have lemon Crystal Light added to it. They didn't recommend anything with sugar. ETA: Fake lemonade is not something I regularly drink. But I was thankful for it for the prep.

It's entirely possible that it arose when you were still ovulating, but it just didn't resolve for some reason. I had a 5 cm simple ovarian cyst that we found in ultrasound school. Since I was post-menopausal, it "shouldn't have been there." It did, however make it much easier to find my post-menopausal ovary on ultrasound - those babies are tough. Since it was a simple cyst, we we weighed the risk of ovarian torsion and decided to take a watch and wait approach. 18 months later, a follow up ultrasound revealed that it looked like it was bigger. Since I was starting to feel some discomfort, we decided to remove it. The plan was to remove just the cyst via laparoscopic surgery, but we discussed alternate plans if things didn't look as expected. If they cyst looked wonky, they were likely going to take the whole ovary, and possibly uterus if they felt that it may be diseased as well, which would have needed to be an open surgery rather than laparoscopy. Fortunately, it was exactly as they expected, so they were able to drain the cyst and remove it without taking the ovary. Recovery was easy peasy. I did have a little reaction to the surgical glue they used to close the small incisions.

It is my understanding that a terminal masters is where a masters is the highest degree you can get in that field ... that there is no PhD. A non-terminal masters is where you get the masters degree but there is a PhD degree in that field. Like many said, it depends on the area of study. My oldest was accepted into a PhD program with BS as are most in his field. An MS isn't typically awarded. Some candidates may decide to switch to a masters if they for some reason don't want to pursue the PhD (disillusion with academia, a lucrative job offer, a life plan change.) Some who may be changing fields or pursuing a new field of study may come in with a masters, but it is less common. According to my son, it appears to be more common for international students to come in with a masters. Not sure why, though.

< Please don't quote this. > @maize , I have some similar concerns for a mentally ill adult in our lives. While I feel the threat level is currently low, I live in fear that I will not have done enough or that I didn't effectively assess possible danger. We do our best to help keep this person stable - access to good mental health care, stable living environment, basic needs met, etc. But, in many ways, our hands are tied. Due to HIPAA laws, there is a limit to what information we have access to. Due to self-determination rights, we cannot force this person to get help, nor can we get them held without clear evidence of threat of immediate harm to themselves or others. And any forcing anything will be seen as betrayal - we are much more effective if we can maintain a somewhat positive relationship with this person. It is a difficult tightrope. I have to say that when I heard this verdict, a chill ran down my spine and I pictured myself being led away in an orange jumpsuit. After more details came out about these parents and their absolute disregard for the very real evidence of danger, I relaxed a little. But in the court of public opinion, mothers are always judged harshly, no matter how hard they tried. I fear my tombstone will read "it was never enough."

You can see a little valley in the moon at the bottom of the corona picture. I think they called it the diamond ring.

I'm so jealous of all of you that were able to see it. I had hoped to travel, but it didn't work out with the dog's issues and the drama. I was hoping to take my colander outside during the partial (we were supposedly at 94%), but they overbooked me with patients (and one had a medical emergency.) I'm so bummed. Living vicariously through everyone's pictures.

Yep. With bad directions, with cooking new recipes, at work when I have a known difficult patient on my schedule. Better Off Dead is one of DH's favorite movies. Yes. It can be so confusing to people outside our family. I've been known to use this. I eventually had to make my kids watch the movie so they would get the referece. Us, too! 🤣 In addition to all the Princess Bride, LOTR and Star Wars references ... "I picked a bad time to stop sniffing glue." from the movie Airplane. And I've accidentally muttered it in settings where people didn't get the reference and thought I was a closet drug addict instead of the ridiculously straight arrow person I am.

Update 2 posted in OP. As far as the club I mentioned before, it is a private club since much of what is posted there is sensitive info. I've forgotten how to find it and join it. If someone else here can help out here ...

Update in original post.

K is in crisis right now (long history of mental illness) and we had an ugly confrontation tonight. I am deeply worried about her and afraid for her safety. She left the house (supposedly to work) and we called the local crisis line for advice. We are hoping we can convince her to voluntarily talk to the mobile crisis unit to get her some help. She has a deep distrust for mental health professionals, police, her parents ... I don't want go into the history with her on this forum, but we have felt stuck between a rock and hard place with her for quite some time. The best outcome would be for her to agree to get some help. UPDATE : Sorry I couldn't update sooner. I didn't have access to my login from my phone. Late last night, she texted that she was doing better and staying the night with a friend. At least she was still alive. Today, while I was at work and dh was home, she came back to get some stuff and was going to stay with this friend and her mother who were "going to help her since we failed." She was pretty ugly about it. She's delusional right now, partly from her mental illness, and exacerbated by some inappropriately prescribed meds from someone who doesn't know her full history. K is brilliant and likely snowed her with some well-researched story to get what she wants. But in her state, she did a lousy job of packing and left behind some important stuff. In some way, I am relieved that (1), she is still alive, and (2), she isn't under our roof (I feel so burnt out, yet so guilty for feeling this way.) But we are mostly numb ... this 10 year long roller coaster has meant that we have had to find some emotional detachment. I never thought I'd be feeling like this. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your support, prayers, and good thoughts. I'm struggling with prayer as I begged God during Easter Mass yesterday morning for mercy and healing and this gut punch was the answer ... yet again. I will post more details at the Parents of dc with Mental Health Issues club. UPDATE 2: She's back. I had just gotten around to resigning myself to the situation, hoping that distance could be a good thing, and comforting myself with all the things I can feel comfortable doing without her in the house. The last evening, she walked in the door and "apologized." I didn't "gray rock" and asked her what her plans were. She said she found a therapist, but this person is "on vacation". She plans to get a job to "become independent." We talked about a couple more things, but she didn't make eye contact, then took the dog for a walk. She and dh had a conversation. Later in the evening, dh pulled me aside and told me of their conversation ... that K doesn't plan to take any of my advice and can't wait to get herself together so she can "get out of here." So, she's back. I'm back to being as benign as possible. Dh is going to lay down some ground rules. We will see. The turmoil continues ...

Not much planned this year as I have very little PTO (this job sucks in that regard.) Also, having a senior dog and an adult child with an unstable mental illness makes travel difficult. Storrs CT in September for DS30's PhD defense and maybe a side trip to Plymouth MA to visit dh's elderly but spunky aunt who has always been so sweet to us. He may stay out East to visit a cousin in Vermont. Several trips to St. Louis to visit DD, for a bridal shower and wedding for Dh's niece. Springfield IL for my nephew's wedding. I hope to swing a trip to Nashville to visit my sister who was widowed last fall and is not doing well.

Thank you for this. I feel the same. Part of why I homeschooled was a desire for close family relationships. It's just dh and me today (and maybe K if she deems us worthy of sharing a meal - she is very triggered by anything Christian.) Blessings to all of you in similar situations.

What a great cache! We had many of these in our home library.

ER Star Trek Next Gen Sherlock Downton Abbey Great British Baking Show The Crown Ted Lasso The Mandalorian Bridgerton

Congratulations! How sweet.

I used to. I had a couple home businesses and, with all the work I needed to do to be ready to turn something over to a tax preparer, it was easier to just do it myself, one paper at first, and then with the help of TurboTax. However, when dh "retired" from a job that has a pension, started working for a consulting firm with stock options and bonuses and other weird things, I decided that I just didn't have it in me to learn all these new things (and I was in school at the time and my brain was full. 😬) So we've hired someone ever since. ETA: My dad sat me down when I was a teen to have me do my taxes from my part-time jobs. Dh's dad was an accountant and had always done his. When we got married, I was appalled that he didn't know how to do his taxes. So, it became my job. If something weird came up, I had to learn about it and figure it out. Although we could have had his dad do ours, I just turned to him when I had questions, like "do I need to amortize this purchase or can I just claim it outright?"

I've been here since 2000 or 2001 - lurking, sometimes posting. I was probably on here every day when I was still homeschooling. My oldest is 30 and my youngest is 23. I was Ellen in IL but switched to my "pirate name" when I was getting confused with another Ellen - I couldn't remember which were my posts. 😄 A huge thank you to @Susan Wise Bauer and to all the boardies for your support over the years!

🙏

Praying.

Sounds brilliant to me. Dh thought it was weird that I used my leftover homemade whole berry cranberry sauce as jelly for my toast.

What is your current favorite podcast, blog, or person you follow? I follow a several sonography and radiology social media creators who have funny and informative content. Oh, and Nurse Blake is a hoot. But the podcast I listened to the most is Circle Up hosted by two rock climbers - one who we knew on the youth competitive circuit in our region who ended up going to the Olympics and the other is a Canadian climber who is a funny, real person. Oh, I forgot that I listen to Sleep Cove for sleep meditations to help interrupt the worry train that starts the minute my head hits the pillow. What was your favorite book last year- fiction and/or non-fiction? I don't get to read much for pleasure so I listen to audio books in the car. For fiction, I loved Sisters of the Night and Fog by Erika Robuck. For non-fiction, although I haven't finished it yet, I've been enjoying The Long, Steep Path by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I've loved most of her fiction. Favorite purchase last year: It's a toss-up between blinds for my living room (we went 20 years without any window coverings because I kept buying them and they didn't fit so I had Costco come out and do them) and a new duvet cover for our bed. I splurged rather than just getting what was on sale that was passable and I really like it. The colors make me happy. Best life hack Since I have to get up at O'dark thirty for work (and I struggle with sleep), I prep and lay out everything possible the night before - setting up my smoothie ingredients, filling my tea kettle, packing my lunch and work bag, laying out my clothes in order of putting them on since I have to do so in the dark, untying my shoes. It means I can be out the door in under 40 minutes. Biggest regret - this was a financial podcast so it was my biggest financial regret but I think it's best to open it up for interpretation. Not making friends. Not sure how I could have changed it, though. What did you do to make your life easier this year? Hired a professional organizer to help me deal with mountains of paper (as well as other clutter.) She helped us get all our important papers together and create a "file of life" so that if something happens to one or both of us, everything is easily accessible. The work is mentally and emotionally exhausting, but I feel lighter after every session. High point of last year Once in a lifetime trip to New Zealand. Oldest was there for a Fulbright fellowship and we got to travel to with him for 2 weeks, and we got to meet @lewelma in person and meet up with some acquaintances from the states who moved there. It was a whirlwind and I wish we could have stayed longer.