What an excellent and heart warming update! I'm so glad things worked out so well and he has found a safe, happy, encouraging place to be.

We have two friends with celiac disease that are extremely sensitive. I've had one over to my house for meals (taco bar) and he gets the GF chips first, the shredded cheese, the lettuce (I bought a bag of shredded lettuce), and I bought the individual cups of Wholly Guacamole for him. He brought his own taco meat because there is no way I can prepare it safety for him (my cookware/utensils/etc have already been contaminated). If he has the tiniest amount, he will get sick, so he is very very cautious. There is no way I can make anything for my other friend. She even has some problems with lotions and chapsticks because of minute gluten contamination. So, depending upon how sensitive your dil is, any homemade food in a non GF home can be an issue.

I have the Stella (the linen/wool combo one) and it is a very nice shirt. I can see something made of wool you would expect to be a sweater, but this shirt is more light-weight than any sweater I've ever worn - maybe 1/3rd of the weight/thickness. But I still think it would be a lovely gift.

My MIL always sent us an anniversary card. I thought it was strange but okay. My folks did nothing. I'm probably not going to send any anniversary cards to my married daughter. To me, anniversaries are for spouses unless it is a major milestone - 50, 60, 75 - and then I'm all for congratulating them on that because not many make it.

These gloves help keep my hands warm. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XWXQBY8 I also often put a packet of Hot Hands under them in the wrist area. The glove is long enough so they don't fall out unless you are really waving your hands about. For feet - wool socks. I prefer Darn Tough but the Pacas Alpaca socks are nice too (looser though). On really cold days, I wear silk sock liners too. Hot hands - Keep several pairs handy. I typically use two a day. They are consumable, but they last longer than my two Zippo rechargeable hand warmers. https://hothands.com/ If super cold, put a hot hand packet in the toe of your boot.

Sometimes I find that even discussing things with specific people is useless. They aren't going to change. They are not going to see anything other than what they see. If the person is this way, to me it is a waste of my time and energy to talk with them, so it becomes more of a trying to avoid person, limit interactions, try to keep things superficial, etc. So basically, yes, overlook. For me, I think of the person as 'broken', and I can't fix but will try to continue the relationship if it isn't harming me (and sometimes possibly you need to for other reasons as well). If they might be interested in hearing your side and possibly changing, then, yes, if you value the relationship I think you try (assuming they are mentally competent, etc). I have one family member who is falling into this category (maybe always was but I just didn't notice it), and I am trying to figure this out as well. For my person, there are other outside influences that are affecting some of the behaviors.

I'm just saying, sometimes the kid hold all sorts of ridiculous things against you. Example: My dd said I "sucked the all the joy out of her life" because I made her put pans/dishes that came out of the oven onto a trivet vs. the counter top. I am afraid her sister and I laughed at her. Because this was the evil that I had done? Maybe this is wrong, but I am not apologizing for having her do that. I did say I'm sorry that bothered her, but I'm not apologizing for having that standard in my kitchen. I think I probably apologized for laughing at her. The laughter was a result of the total outrageousness of her accusation. So, I think sometimes kids come up with really ridiculous things that they hold against you.

One of mine is very prickly, so I just try to keep conversations/cards/etc on the same level that she does. So, I'd send a Christmas card back, "Love Mom and Dad", or however you would normally send it. We do FB messenger - I send memes, share memories (from FB posts), etc to try to maintain some sort of contact at some superficial level which is all she seems to want. And just to say, I feel completely blindsided. It's hard when your kids turn on you/become different people/accuse you of stuff that you don't remember/didn't do/other siblings back you up/etc. It's hard. May we all find some peace in these situations.

I bought a portal power bank, small with a flashlight, solar charge a while back. My DH thought it was silly. However, we went on a trip. He had bought a huge power bank (for jumping cars but you could also use it to recharge your phone). He was planning to use his huge power bank to recharge his phone, but yet he kept taking my small one to recharge his phone. Because, yes, smaller size is very convenient. I haven't said anything. Maybe the big one he bought will come in useful in jumping a car!

I've seen some get mean. Some seem to get paranoid. Some are still nice and thoughtful - sometimes too much so (didn't want to call with this health emergency because I didn't want to be a bother). I've met people who have Alzheimer's disease - some have been unkind, some have been cheerful upbeat welcoming friends to everyone, some have been pleasant but distant - and my sample size is pretty small (maybe 5) - so I don't know if there is a correspondence to previous behavior or not, but it seems not to me, but these were not people I had known closely for years and years. I will say that getting older and loosing freedom, abilities - that is hard. Some seem to be graceful about it, others go down fighting to the end.

One of our independent/assisted/memory care/long term care facilities here is a faith based non-profit. As long as you are a paying customer for 3 years previously, they let you stay in the facility until death. At least that is what they say. I don't know anyone who has done that. Are there facilities like that other places?

I have three of these flexible tubs. I'm not sure they are actually meant for gardening, but I find them very useful. They help transport dirt when I need additional dirt, they hold weeds when I'm weeding, they hold the plants I buy as I relocate to where I want to put them, they are useful when mixing your own dirt/manure/peat moss/whatever mixture. I'm not sure this is the brand I have because I got the first one from Marshall's Home Good store and liked it so much I picked up two more from Tractor Supply. They have a variety of sizes too. I have three different colors because that makes me happy. https://www.amazon.com/Red-Gorilla-Flexible-Gardening-Pistachio/dp/B000UJUS7G?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1 ETA: I'm pretty sure I didn't pay anywhere near that price though! The medium is about the size I have, but I'm pretty sure I paid like $15 at Tractor Supply for the last two. ETA 2 - I guess I should have just looked at the Tractor Supply website: Here are the Tuff Stuff bins - I didn't realize they had a colander one too! https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/catalog/buckets-pails-tubs?filter=1q|Tuff Stuff

We didn't do anything special for the 21st birthday. We aren't drinkers, so the legal drinking age thing isn't even on our radar.

I have most Darn Tough socks. They do last and last. We have had a few socks replaced, but that DD is hard, hard on clothes. They are warm, but I don't know that I would call the ones I have soft and cozy. I do have a couple of pairs of Pacas (alpaca) socks. These are softer/cozier than the Darn Tough, but I like the Darn Tough better - better support. I won't be buying any more Pacas. They are nice but just not for me.

We had a suction cup feeder (to help entertain a cat!). It didn't stay up long - either the suction cups were not strong enough or the squirrel got involved. I wouldn't invest in one again. Suet feeders might be a better fit. Our suet feeders do get a fair amount of action (hanging from trees, birds land in tree, jump/fly down to suet cage, either get a bite or bites and then return to safety of tree. They are little mess but how often you have to replace changes with type of suet, amount of birds, etc. Sometimes we find the suet cage on the ground, and I suspect squirrel got involved again.

My DH sent his mother and aunt the mixed cookie box from Costco These - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZIR8YU They love them. They can eat them, or bring them out for guests - there is a key which says which cookie is what kind. So I thought I would pick up the box from Sam's Club which looks the same. Nope, those are not as good as the Costco offering! I will not buy the Sam's box again.

I've only used my white corelle with a dusty blue and bright yellow table cloth, and I thought it looked fine. My table is golden brown, and they look fine on that too. So I vote it will look okay. If I wanted to add more color to the table, I'd get contrasting cloth napkins. Can you just cut some printer paper into rough plate-sized circles and set the table with those to get a visual how it will look?

My oldest DD loves her pair. She has washed them at least once, they still look new. She is traditionally very hard on shoes. She has had them about 6 months or so.

I like them. I like the plain white as it goes with everything. I got them probably 35 years old and have added a few small sets over the years, and some friends gave me extra leftover from their mom. I like the fact they are lightweight - I love the look of Fiesta but it is too heavy for me. It is nice they are dishwasher/microwave safe. We have dropped a few over the years, and yes, they have shattered on the ceramic tile into a billion pieces. We sweep, sweep, vacuum, and often even a month later still find little shards or big ones under the refrigerator. People rarely go barefoot here, so we haven't had an issue with any injury. I wish they came in solid colors. I got a small set with a pattern (couple colors stripes around the edge) but got tired of it after a while. I will say that now there are a few plates that have scratches on them - from knives? dishwasher? I don't know. But I can't tell if that came from my original set, the friend's mom's set, or one of the newer pieces I put in (the advantage or disadvantage of just having the plain white!). But with like 25 plates, we are talking 2-3, so if it really bothered me, I could toss and still feel like it was a good value. But colors! I wish! That is really the only problem I have with Corelle. White is great, but I would like some colored serving dishes to brighten up the table!

I have this issue in my own family. And so, yes, walking on eggshells.

The items you got him (nice head phones + gym bag) are very nice - both of those are useful every day, multiple times a day. Very useful gifts, IMHO. A bass guitar is nice, but somewhat less useful. It is perfectly okay, IMHO, to not get children everything they say they want for Christmas. If he really wants a bass guitar, you can wait until his birthday and get him one then, or he can work on saving some of his own money to get one. It may turn out that he changes his mind before his birthday, or he may not. Personally, unless an instrument was something I would play regularly, I would not want it at college where I am moving every year and would have to protect it more than the rest of my college possessions.

My DH has this problem as well, so he gets diabetic socks (he is not diabetic). They are looser/less binding on the calves, but they still don't fall down. Maybe something to consider.

I'd wait. I'd do the NSAIDs, ice, rest, maybe wrap it (for me this helps me remember not to use it, those little wraps at the drug store or Walmart are fairly inexpensive), more ice (10 minutes every hour that I'm awake). If I keep rotating it (making it hurt), I might consider getting a brace at the drug store instead of a wrap.

Thanks, everyone, for the input. I hadn't thought of setting up alerts for the CC although I have them set up for our bank accounts - that is an excellent idea, so I set those up to start!

I have no idea. My dad was in the service and we moved every two years. Then I moved to college/co-op/back to college/co-op job, then got married, has six month rent as we kept finding cheaper places to live, moved several times. We've been in this house the longest I've been anywhere - 12 years. I recently had to prove my identity with a CU to move money within my account. This CU has some sort of arrangement with a company that generates a list of 5-7 questions (fortunately multiple choice) for you to answer. This is really tough for me because they gave me a list of counties and asked which ones I had lived in. I can guarantee you I do not know that answer for most of the places I've lived! And they asked about street names - again, I really don't remember them all. And then they asked what state I was living in during in one year - except it was decades ago, and I had to really think, and I don't think you get unlimited time to answer those stupid questions. I don't think those things are fair for those of us who have moved around a lot. This is the second time they have made me 'prove' my identity, and quite frankly, I think it is luck I pass this test.