Congrats!! That is so inspiring to hear! Best of luck to him on the Calc in the fall too!

Agreed! Ugh. Blech. :thumbdown: I feel bad for the guy.

The xbox and wii can be used starting on Friday at 5 PM until Sunday at 5 PM for a maximum of 10 hours in total. He has to pay a $1.00/hr out of his weekly allowance to play. We just had to limit his use of the computer as well. He plays Minecraft and Starcraft II which are great games but he was playing every. single. night. to the exclusion of all else. So right now he is grounded from all electronics for a week because of attitude. Next week I will probably allow him to be on the computer playing minecraft and/or starcraft on weekends only as well.

Nerf gun crazy here! Thank for the heads-up! We are snowed in here today watching the Pats/Bears game but I'll check online!

We watched it last night!! It is my favorite holiday movie. It was snowing out too! Perfect!

Wow!! What a great article! Your children are so adorable. Congrats! It is so nice to read such a positive homeschooling story in the news.

Welcome back! I'll add them to my prayers!

:grouphug: I so understand. My 11 year old aspie finally had one friend in southern CA in 2009(I was so happy for him!!!) and then we had to move to Chicago at the end of the year. It was heart breaking. Now he has no one. I feel so bad for him too. We have him in all kinds of activities but still no luck making another friend. He'd really love a friend.

OH!! Puppy Breath! Congrats!! He is so gorgeous. :)

I'm happier owning right now. We paid cash for the house just about a year ago. When we move again we'll rent it out if it won't sell. We have been toying with the idea of renting in Newport Beach when we move back to CA vs trying to buy again. We could rent a great place on the beach for far less than we could buy one. That would allow us to continue to continue to invest a majority of our income.

I wonder if that is based on region. Our local Walmart has several nativity sets for sale this year. It does seem a little odd to not be selling *any*.

We are in the Chicago burbs. Our electric bill in the winter runs about $55-$65 a month. It is $130-$150 a month July/August/September because we have central a/c. Our gas bill is sometimes $13-15 a month in summer, $50 a month in the fall once we turn on the heat and shoots up to $150 a month in the dead of winter because of the heat. I miss our gas and electric bills from Southern CA. Gas and electric combined never topped $45 a month. We rarely used heat and didn't need a/c because we lived right on the beach.

I think it is nonsense. I think any adult who thinks it is OK for children to be tormented by other children has a screw loose. I don't think it teaches children to deal with conflict as adults. I think it scars them, damages them, and robs them of parts of their childhood.

A couple things come to mind. The allergy may be lessened with a poodle-mix but is unlikely to be eliminated. You really need to keep up on the grooming too. He may not shed much so he may be prone to matting. The digging sounds like fairly typical terrier behavior, that is what they do. He may be trying to burn off energy (they can be pretty high energy dogs). I'd give him lots of toys and praise when he chews and digs the right things. Housebreaking issues in a small dog can be fairly common. Get him neutered and make sure you have him on a potty schedule. We have found that with our malti-poo who is male and 3 years old putting in a doggie door to our backyard solved the whole issue. My large male GSD was housebroken at 11 weeks and has never had an accident. My malti-poo was still having accidents at age 2 even after boot camps and so on. Now that he has a little doggie door he goes outside all the time. Something to think about. Enjoy your new little guy and thank you for taking in a shelter dog!

No, not Raymond. It has been about a year since we ordered Dominos(we moved to an area that doesn't have one). Our pizza maker was always "Tim".

This has been tough for me since I stopped working. I don't have any money and have to ask him for money to buy stuff so anything I get him he'll know about and have paid for himself really. He says it is silly to take money from him to buy him stuff that he could just buy if he wanted. I have been trying to explain to him that my son likes to give him gifts and that is part of the tradition for us. I think he is starting to get it!

Thank you. I believe they will work out the way they should. We are 20 months out from me finding out and so far so OK. It is still day by day. Sometimes I wonder if that part will ever get better. I was so completely blindsided by all of it that now even when things are good I get nervous and think "You thought things were great before and looked how bad they were, what if your missing something?" It makes something simple like us relaxing on the couch and laughing in front of the fire an event that can trigger me to panic and say " OMG! We did this all the time before and I didn't know he was sleeping with someone else, what if I'm missing something?" Ugh. It changes everything and sometimes I think I'll never relax again. It is becoming the new normal.

I absolutely love TT. We recently switched from K12. My 11 year old is using the TT Pre-algebra. It has shown us that he has a lot of holes in his math skills that we were not seeing using the K12 program nor did we see it as he was earning straight A+s in his public school math classes the years before. I'm considering putting him back in either the 6th or 7th grade level of TT to catch him up. I think it is a solid program and the best part is that math is no longer something dreaded. He is enjoying math again. That alone is practically priceless. Good luck!!

It could be but that isn't where I got it from. It is more of a save my sanity approach :).

Yup. Three. Times. At least. Thanks for the hugs. It has been a long and relatively lonely road back for me. I'm very open about this because I know lots of people have gone through it and many more will go through it. It really helped me to know that there were others out there like me that have been hurt like this. I'm vigilant and realistic about the odds of it not happening again. He is working hard at making things right. I'm working on my doctorate in my field to better position myself career wise should I need to jump ship. I hope that doesn't happen but my ducks are in a row if need be. Thank you for the hugs and understanding.

I'm glad it went well. Keep up the positive attitude! I'll keep praying for you.

I love clear lights. My son like colored so we alternate. This year is colored lights. I actually had two years in a row of clear lights( I was really sick one year and they were trying to make me feel better!!) but we generally alternate.

Rebuilding and reconciling doesn't mean that one just blindly gives trust again. Transparency is the key to rebuilding, it is the only way I will -ever- come to trust him again. He understands this and knew it was a condition of my even being willing to try. He is a repeat offender x3 so he doesn't get much leeway with me.

I have keyloggers on all the computers in the house and my DH's work laptop. Since his affairs came to light there is no privacy here. The best disinfectant is sunlight and transparency and I demand both from him now. Having said that I never see porn, he says watching it doesn't do it for him, he is a "hands-on" kind of guy :blink::blink: As we know all to well now. I feel for the spouses of sex addicts who find their release in porn. It is an awful path to go down and the rate of relapse is so high. The "struggle" is every day for the rest of their lives, just like any other addiction. Just so sad.

I agree however they have extended the offer. The right thing now is for the SIL to just turn it down. She and her bf should simply make other plans for the holidays. Why would anyone -want- to stay in a house with people who felt that way about them? Holidays should be relaxing and enjoyable, that sounds like it would be neither.