No advice on how to stop it, but I do have some on how to manage it, having worked in nursing: Non-disposable, washable, cloth pullups (Sew or find someone to sew for you) Bed pads (the kind that nursing homes and hospitals use, here's an example: http://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Bedpads-34x36-absorbs-1000cc/dp/B0002DMPFS ) Put the folded pads in a nightstand right next to his bed. Make him in charge of putting them on the bed when he makes it. Supervise him the first several times to make sure he does it, and periodic spot checks for the next 6 months to make sure no more mattresses are being ruined. I'd make him wash his laundry too, and to manage it I'd use a diaper pail with water & vinegar or use a wet bag like this one: http://blogs.babycenter.com/life_and_home/diaper-tins-out-wet-bags-in/

Or this one: http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/brent2.htm If you don't have access to a pool you could substitute something like a rowing machine at a gym on those days.

Yeah, if you're going to insist the crate not be in the bedrooms, I would probably get another dog too. Or just move the crate to one of the bedrooms permanently. My dog sleeps in a crate on my side of the bed. Occassionally he whimpers if we sleep in past 7am or leave a light on after 11pm at night, but he never wakes us up.

Take him for a checkup and have them check his blood sugar immediately, as well as sign up for a glucose tolerance test. My guess is that he's not diabetic, just hypoglycemic and a little entitled. If hypoglycemic he needs more protein at meals, ABSOLUTELY NO CORN SYRUP, sugar only at special occasions (His birthday, one or two holidays per year one piece of cake or a couple of pieces of candy, not a gorge fest), and more exercise. Hypoglycemia means he's having insulin resistance and is at high risk for diabetes. Even with blood sugar issues, meltdowns are not okay. I'd probably put him on some sort of restriction until he apologizes too. And make him go to bed earlier to get extra sleep - because clearly he needs more sleep or he wouldn't behave like that... :lol:

Bringing relatives over? Running the air while leaving the door open? Invading every area of your house? I would assume they were casing the place or stealing something. I did some petsitting as a kid. I would sometimes sit and watch tv with a pet on my lap, just so they had someone spending a little time with them. But it was maybe for 20-30 minutes top. No one came over. Nothing was invaded. And I certainly never snooped or moved around their belongings. How horrible. I might have snapped at them.

This is interesting. I would maybe consider giving him an athletic goal to train for before school. This could be something simple - like working up to 25 pullups, 200 pushups, 200 situps, 150 dips, 200 squats, etc. Or it could be something more extensive - training for a race or a triathlon or something? Maybe let him choose?

The thing to remember about henna is that you can NEVER dye your hair with traditional color again after using it. It has to completely be grown out before you can color it again, which will take years if your hair is long. I had to cut off my long long hair into a pixie after I'd used a henna deep conditioner (not even a color) a few times and then colored it. It turned an awful color & to a brittle, straw like texture. No conditioner (professional or at home) could touch it. I finally gave up and cut it off. It took several years to grow back out to the long length I prefer.

I was going to suggest Ana White too. If you have a lowe's near you, you can have them do all the cuts (sometimes they charge you 25 cents, but usually they forget that and cut the wood for free). Assembling is really no more difficult than assembling a piece of furniture, and it's solid wood without toxins. Just choose an easy plan. If you absolutely don't want to build it yourself, check her website for people who live near you that will build for other people. You can probably get a handmade table for the cost of materials + $100. It takes more time to go pick out wood, cut it, and get it home than it does to assemble a table. Then either they could finish it for you or you could do that yourself. If you live near me (Iowa), I could probably build it for you.

Yes, a bag of baby carrots too. I forgot that because the last two packages of corned beef we got were so huge the carrots didn't fit in the crockpot. Yum. We can only get corned beef in the spring, and now I'm craving it again.

My hair was thinning a lot. I figured it was my thyroid when I stumbled across an article about iodine being able to cure ovarian cysts. I've had several cysts rupture. Read the article and realized that I basically eat very little iodine, and what I was eating was being removed through contact with chlorinated water, eating soy and broccoli. I ordered 50mg supplements of iodoral from someone on Amazon and stopped thyroid pills. In 90 days my hair was thicker (the few hairs that fall out in the shower now show a line from when I started taking the iodine- it's now much thicker, darker, shinier and I lose way less hairs per day). I've also not had any more cyst problems and my most recent thyroid TSH reading was 2.3 - the best I have ever had since I started testing at age 19. My hair no longer looks thin. I am not a doctor, but honestly I'd seriously take a good look at your thyroid results and start by taking iodine. It is a large amount of iodine, which made me hesitate at first, but it's also much less than you would be given if you were exposed to radiation. I don't think I'll ever stop taking the iodoral. It's made an amazing difference in my hair.

Crockpot with diced potatoes and cabbage for about 8 hours on low. It's going to be your new favorite meal.

Have you had your thyroid and iodine levels checked? I've heard those can cause male pattern baldness in women.

On Dr Oz yesterday he said that by the time there's a fever the infection is in the kidneys and is in danger of becoming sepsis. I once had what a doctor called "the worst kidney infection" he'd ever seen, but didn't have a fever. He said to call him the minute I got chills, because if I got a fever he wanted me in the hospital. I think you should get a new pediatrician. A little neosporin should help if it's a tiny cut. Otherwise, push fluids. Make it a slushie if necessary, or 10 popsicles, anything he will swallow. Whether it's over concentrated from dehydration or an infection, pushing fluids will help.

Oh no! So sorry! If you want to drop fat fast with minimal time, look at high intensity interval training or tabata training. Or try workouts that are online for free that you can do with minimal equipment. I love Zuzana (though she's not for you if you're offended by a bikini): http://www.youtube.com/user/ZuzkaLight Also, only eat when you're a little bit hungry. Eat whatever you want, but don't wait to get really hungry. Eat only enough to give you more energy. If you get a little sleepy after eating, you ate too much. Pay attention to how many bites it takes you to satisfy your hunger and give you more energy, and how many until you feel sleepy after eating. Mine is about 5-12 bites, depending on how heavy & rich the food is. You might find yourself eating a small meal every 3-4 hours on smaller portions. That's fine. If you find that there are certain foods that you are compulsive about (wheat, sugar, dairy), try to avoid them most of the time. If you do a 10-20 minute high intensity workout once or twice a day and only eat a little bit when you're hungry, you will probably drop 10-20 pounds in a month, for free.

Do you know what kind of leather they are? Do you know how they were finished the first time? I would be afraid to do anything to bonded leather, which is like a thin layer of leather covered in a protective coating. If it's genuine leather, that depends on the color. I've used a leather cleaner, a conditioner, and clear shoe polish on dark natural brown leather. I've used a cleaner, a homemade mix of olive oil and something else I can't remember on light leather (I found the recipe via google). I've never tried to repair worn color in colored leather. If it's high quality and older, you might want to keep the worn part and let it grow - there is something wonderful about really old leather furniture with the patina of age.

No fosters yet, so no advice. But I admire you. :grouphug: I think if God is calling you to do something, there will be multiple confirmations - at least 3.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/ Though now that she has a cooking show I'm not sure how long her blog will be such a focus. She's also a homeschooler. Best lasagna recipe EVER. http://iowagirleats.com/ Mostly healthy recipes for when I want to eat better.

Cocker spaniels and dalmations are two breeds I would NEVER get- they are high strung and tend to bite children. Basset hounds are cute, very low energy dogs. They do tend to smell, and bellow when they bark, but if you don't mind frequent baths they might be a good option. Greyhounds are great with kids, don't shed much, are very trainable, and if you adopt an older one they are lower energy. Puggles, vislas, bulldogs, pugs, and rat terriers are other good, lower energy short haired options that are good with kids.

I think movies would glamorize it even more for him. I would do a couple of things here: - have him do a unit study on gangs as a summer project. This could mean a scrapbook with newspaper articles (or things printed out from the internet). This should (obviously) be highly skewed to the highly negative side (IE: nothing about rappers or anything glamorous), more about scary side - drive by shootings, things you can do to be safe, the terrible things that have been happening in Chicago for the past few years, how they make money from drugs and what happens to addicts. It could include fieldtrips to talk to a police officer in a gang unit, even a short ride along if your town allows that at a young age. It could include trips to a rehab center to see the consequences of drug use. -give him more strong male heros, preferably also of mixed race. I think martial arts is a great idea. Military movies where he sees strong men doing the right thing might be another option, depending on your political beliefs. Boy scouts. The thing you're looking for is strong, physically dominant alpha male types that you would approve of him emulating. Maybe this is athletes. Maybe it's the president. He needs some heros.

L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara - the one in the burgundy and white tube. Avoid the waterproof one, it's not as good. You have to wash it off in warm water only- eye makeup remover doesn't touch it. You put on a base coat of white first, then the black while the base coat is still wet. This means I first coat my upper right with the base, then upper right with the dark, then lower right with each, etc. It gives gorgeous long lashes. Clinique makes one that uses tube technology too, but it's more expensive and I'm not sure it's worth it. My sister loves it though.

Specifically not secular, but good nonetheless: Boundaries in Dating http://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-Dating-Dr-Henry-Cloud/dp/0310204550

If it's a flash video, you may be able to save it by using the firefox browser with an ad-on called NetVideoHunter. I've downloaded a few things with it, but not every video works. If you use a mac you'll also have to download something called FLV Crunch to convert it from a flash video to something you can watch with quicktime. Also, with a mac you can then use iMovie to combine videos, separate it into chapters, and burn it to a dvd. I don't know how to do that on a PC, but I'm sure free software exists so you could.

I've been googling preteen pregnancy, but everything in the USA is rather vague. Here's an article from the UK, which basically blames older boyfriends and schools that teach girls having sex is fine: http://www.medindia.net/news/10-Year-Old-Schoolgirls-Pregnant-in-UK-Shocking-Survey-Results-64865-1.htm

On pre-teen pregnancy rate: http://townhall.com/columnists/janiceshawcrouse/2007/08/03/why_is_the_pre-teen_pregnancy_rate_dropping/page/full/

Kids having sex isn't new. Obviously the younger the age, the more likely it is to be abuse and not with a boyfriend, but still. Here's a link to a wikipedia article on young mothers. Probably not going to find a lot of current information due to modern privacy laws. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_birth_mothers