I hope you don't think we're piling on you, Aimee. You have a heart of gold. I think we're all seeing what a leech this woman is. :grouphug:

Okie dokie. Can you come from another door, so Mom doesn't see you? Either way, I wouldn't let her dd in the house without the note from the doctor.

Actually I would NOT refund her the money. She contracted in good faith for that time, and you have anticipated having her - if she's a no show that's her problem.

Do NOT make your dd late for school. Be home for the time you and she have agreed you will be home - I wouldn't schedule any appointments for the time you have agreed to be with her child., UNLESS that was something you would normally do in a tutor day with her. Sorry she is being such a pain about this, but as others have said, she's really (!!) showing her true colors. I know you will be glad to have this in your rear view mirror!

Ask to speak to their patient relations person - the receptionist should know who is the right person. No the doctor should not speak that way in front of children, regardless of his concerns.

Your employer is paying you what she thinks is a fair rate. I no longer require babysitting services, but when I did I ALWAYS paid more than the going rate. I wanted to keep my babysitters happy so they would come back. :) Your children are your greatest assets, how can you put a price tag on their care?

Very cool.

We love every piece of luggage we have from LLBean. Watch for their specials - if you subscribe to their emails, they periodically do 15% off everything. Definitely worth the money. We've lived overseas twice, dd did a year in England, and the pieces are still in fabulous shape.

Inconceivable!!

Oops I started to quote your last paragraph - just wanted to say I love it!!!

Agreeing with the others that if you deduct the amount from your checkbook at the same time you write the check - then you will know you have the amount to cover the check regardless of when the landlord cashes it. Hope your move goes well and that you can settle quickly with your parents!

I'm so glad that you are thinking beyond the point of giving her notice!! YES tell the dd this is between her mom and you. If she brings it up more than once, tell the mom you aren't discussing it. Her options are for the girl to leave NOW or stay the two weeks, but you aren't discussing the matter, with mom OR daughter. Your decision is final. HUGS to you!! I know how difficult this is. Glad your dh is supportive!!

I may have missed something (I read your original post yesterday, just didn't have time to comment) but I think it would be a win win if the girl goes to school and you can help her after school. I would still charge a fair price, you would just have her a few hours and not during the breakfast hour. Hugs to you for wanting to help her!!

My family love Buckys You can find them at airports and travel stores, but their customer service online is great as well. They periodically put them on sale or have free shipping, etc. if you subscribe to their emails.

Not to pile on Martha, but for my family even paying pool fees ($50 or $60 each per season) is worth it. My dd and I swim laps every day. This summer, I've been going twice a day when my schedule allows, as I had knee surgery in the spring and had to give up running after it being my main exercise for nearly 40 years. Our back yard isn't large enough for a lap pool, so the pool pass is a worthwhile investment for our family.

You may already have a plan by now, but I would suggest that you go to your local bookstore and spend some time perusing the study guides. The best study guide is the one you'll actually use :) That said, my dd is taking the GRE in a few weeks, she liked Princeton Review for the SAT so she chose that for the GRE as well. There are also some (free) practice tests on the GRE website.

Those are great! Thanks for sharing the article, Kareni. I liked the one about living on a flat plane and the one about being green - but I have always had a soft spot for Kermit ;)

What a great picture! And your littles aren't so little anymore! Enjoy your time with him.

My dd spent the past school year studying in England. We were fortunate to visit her 3 times with dh having meetings in Europe. We always traded out clothes depending on the season. But she would have been fine without our doing that. She had British friends who wore the same clothes all the time - she found they weren't as fashion-conscious as Americans. She ended up buying a pair of "gumboots" because it rained a lot. This probably applies to girls more than guys, but clothes are "louder" here so she found she wore more subdued colors there. I would recommend your ds not wear any political or controversial t-shirts ;) As mentioned previously, Skype was our best way to communicate. I Skyped with her a lot more than dh did, but we arranged to Skype with her on a weekday morning before he left for work, and a weekend day. Maybe your ds can find a coffee shop or bookshop near his campus that has Wifi so you can Skype with him. I hope your ds has a great experience! My dd loved her year there. She just spent over an hour Skyping with two friends there. Her church was amazing. She spent a week with family friends in Paris - they worshipped at Notre Dame on Easter. She learned to try (and cook!) new foods - her best friend there is from South Africa so my dd was able to learn some new recipes from her. :)

my dd did extremely well on both the SAT and AP after doing both Apologia Chem and Advanced Chem, and lots of practice tests. I can't imagine what her scores would be if she had only done the first book.

Dh and I saw a preview of it a few weeks back - I totally agree! We loved it. Now that I know the story, I would love to go back and see it again, to watch for the little subtleties I missed the first time.

I love wearing Dansko clogs for travel - easy on/off for airport security, and flight attendants swear by them ;) I would definitely keep the tried and true bag - it will be less likely to be attractive to thieves, and you know it works! Regardless I hope you have a wonderful time, Jane! The weather in most of Europe has been amazing so far this summer!

DH's company has an office in Calgary, the office was closed on Friday and probably into this week - definitely drastic but necessary steps. DH has a former underling who just moved from Texas to Calgary a few weeks ago, they were expecting to be affected by the winter weather, and were looking forward to the more pleasant summers :(

My dd loved the Usborne Puzzle books - we still own them and she's 21 ;)

This article (which highlights an alleged controversy surrounding the brothers building the aquarium) says it will open in November.