Miranda....

I agree. Everytime I thought the article was about to end, the author would talk about how a friend had to milk cows rather than learn to read or how girls were not allowed to get GED's since they wouldn't go to college in another family. It was a jumble. I was pleased that the author mentioned that it's possible for homeschooling to be done correctly. But it was almost condescending about the child with special needs going to school because the parent understood she wasn't capable of teaching her child. I'm not sure why, but that part annoyed me.

A friend of mine told me that a certain type of antibiotic makes the symptoms of mono worse. Her daughter was diagnosed with a sinus infection and two days later was worse. When they went back, the doctor told them that the specific type of antibiotic worsens symptoms. (I wanted to say that earlier but I felt silly since I wasn't sure if it was true!)

Since you just went to the doctor today, I might wait just to see what happens over the week-end. However, I would call the doctor's office and tell them that you just found out that one of her friends currently has mono and ask them if you should come back for a test today or tomorrow. They may want you to come back in.

It's hard to tell because he goes into the woods to do his "business". His backside looks wet which makes me think it is diarrhea. I think I see some bright red on some of his white fur, but it's hard to tell. (He's a wiggly kind of dog). He is still drinking water and we're replacing it with fresh water frequently. (He's an outdoor dog). He's looking a little puny but still moving around a good bit. Thank you!

Ouch, that would bother me since it's so close to the eye. I would give my daughter benadryl and if the eye was swelling would consider a phone call to my eye doctor.

Our vet is closed for the rest of the day and the other vet in town has also closed for the day. We have a border collie, about two years old. He was a stray so we're not definite on the age. He's very 'energetic'. He also eats anything he encounters and since we live in the country, that means dead animals (we aren't sure how to break that habit). He is free roaming as we don't have fences (and the ones we do have, he can jump). Since we know our neighbors and they are several acres away, he has lots of area to roam. Last night, I fixed a special plate of food for him since we had leftover roast, mixing in some beef with his typical food (he doesn't get table scraps often and is usually really excited when he does). He sniffed it and then walked away and sat down. After an hour, I threw it out and gave him his regular food. He also refused that, but did drink water. I checked around midnight and he had eaten about half (he usually inhales food). This morning, he didn't eat, but he is still drinking some water. He's still active and moving around, chasing things and jumping. I noticed that his 'backside' was wet and it looks like he may have diarrhea. Is there anything I can give him other than just plenty of water and access to food until we see the vet tomorrow? He doesn't act sick, but I can tell he's not his typical self. My husband suspects that he ate a dead possum we saw in the road (which is possible).

I agree with the above. They should also cover time missed from work.

:grouphug: I'm sorry. I hope things improve for you, quickly.

When my daughter is deeply distressed, she self-injures. It can become so bad that if she's restrained at all (usually I am holding her arms), she'll suck her cheeks in so she can bite them or will bite her lips. Usually we see this when she is in pain. I'll be honest (and hope I'm not flamed, but we have had bad times with her and we love her so much). When we cannot stop the self-injury, we have medication that we use to calm her down and sometimes completely put her to sleep. We don't need it often, but when we need it, we need it. I'm glad you're looking for patterns. I'm not sure if you've looked into migraines, but for a while, we suspected my daughter would have them during times of stress (usually in the spring for a few weeks). Considering the vision problems, maybe it's headaches?

I wish the OP would youtube her child reading. I'm finding it hard to visualize a child that age reading proficiently and comprehending. All of my kids were late readers (though not for lack of trying!). My middle and youngest are very strong readers. My oldest (with autism) is considered a wonderful reader simply because others consider it a miracle she learned to read at all. She reads at a 1st or 2nd grade level. My personal belief is that children learn to read when they are ready. For mine (dd 10 and 7) it was like a switch flipped. They burned through early readers for a month, then moved to simple chapter books. Now they read (and comprehend) harder books. I don't think they have suffered because they were late readers. To the OP, schools will not adjust when smarter kids come in. Instead, they will make class sizes larger since they now have 'smart' kids who can help others. After my daughter learned to read simple chapter books (prior to my pulling her out of PS), she was allowed on the computer during reading lessons since she knew how to read. She was also allowed on the computer during math since she knew how to add/subtract. Then of course, allowed on the computer as a privilege since she was well behaved. If she wasn't on the computer, she was reading to other students.

One step at a time. Let them know that cleaning their plates off before putting them in the sink is a new rule. Stop and correct them everytime you see it going wrong. If you find a plate in the sink with trash on it, someone will rat out the offender. ;) Make a list of what you want them to do and go one item at a time.

I am absolutely jealous! I can't wait to see the movie although the girls probably won't see it (they haven't read the book either). Interestingly, I had a friend who was shocked that I planned to let my 10 yr old read the book. I think her concern was that it's a book about kids killing kids, but to me it seemed more than that. I didn't like Lord of the Flies (which is also about kids killing kids), but I loved The Hunger Games. I've read all three (though I didn't care much for the third book). I can't wait to hear what you think of it!

I'd be uncomfortable looking at it and I'd be doubly uncomfortable if I were the person in the picture.

Alabama allows corporal punishment in school. I think it's horrific. In our district, if you do NOT want your child spanked, you have to fill out forms specifically requesting no corporal punishment. I fill them out every year for the kids that I have in public school. However, my kids know that if the school ever has to call me due to their behavior, they may prefer the spanking from school. ;)

I only know my housekeeper's birthday because she's on facebook. lol Pay differs depending on where you live. I give her basically a day's pay for those days in addition to what she makes for the day.

I give a cash gift on her birthday and Christmas, but no tips.

I wouldn't co-sign, simply because it would affect your credit and might interfere with your home loan. I also wouldn't loan, but I would gift the money. If you feel you can't gift a lot, perhaps you can send him something like food (pre-cooked meals for two weeks) that would help on his groceries (and therefore free up some money). I would also make the offer that he is free to move back home if he'd like.

I don't understand it either. Granted, I'm told that I'm over-protective, but I believe that most parents check on all their kids before themselves going to bed. For me, it's almost a ritual, I take a bath and then go check on each child, make sure the doors are locked and off to bed I go. If a child is going with a friend, I double-check, "You're taking so and so, right?" and with the child, "Don't forget, you're going with so and so. If something goes wrong, you go up to that desk and ask them to call me. You remember our number, right?" And with cell phones, there's almost no excuse. I've also been known to call people and double-check that they have my child in their car if things are hectic.

Can you talk to the other mom before your dd goes over to visit? That would give the mom a heads up to either NOT offer a snack or give a pre-determined amount of food as a snack.

MIL and I get along fairly well. She's a bit scatter-brained which is frustrating at times, but she's sweet and means well. She called me tonight to chat about coming by to visit everyone next week-end. She made the comment that I was quite the Mother Hen (or Duck, I forget which one she said). She said that I was such a great mother. Then she paused a moment and told me that she had often thought about how wonderful life would've been if she'd grown up with a mother as wonderful as I was. She said she wished I was her mother. I admit I was a little teary because it was such a sweet thing to say. Interestingly, MIL has never had to work in her life because her mother was quite wealthy. She gave MIL everything. Anyway, just a sweet moment and wanted to share a happy In Law story. :)

Thanks. I hope this is all just a simple mistake. I do have the paperwork from when they originally bought the land from my mom/stepdad. They gave it to me when i moved in. I'm not sure why they thought I would need it, but they gave it to me.

I'm definitely having a title search done before we make the final payment. My aunt/uncle paid my mom/step-dad the money for the land. It was basically a gift to my aunt/uncle and they bought it for "$10 and other considerations". They gave me a copy of the deeds when we moved in. I feel like my aunt/uncle felt they genuinely had the right to sell it. I think that my step-dad (and probably mother knew about it) were trying to up the value of their property for their mortgage. But, wouldn't Wells-Fargo have done a title search prior to giving them the money? What's even more odd is that other than my step-dad, nobody else has called. I would have thought that my mother, aunt/step-uncle, etc would have called. Honestly, if I were about to receive a fairly nice sum of money to pay off a house, I would be almost hysterical to find out that it was being held up. I would want to reassure the person that I hadn't lied.

It did and it's the land that we're on right now. However, apparently that land was also in my mother/step-father's paperwork (description) that has a mortgage on it for them. (They owned it originally).

I'm in a complicated situation and would love the opinions of those who are smarter than I am regarding real estate, renting, home buying, etc. I own acreage and a very small house that we lived in until last October. My mother and step-dad own the acreage next door. About fifteen years ago, they sold a small one acre lot, right where our land connects to my step-uncle and aunt. My step-uncle and aunt decided they wanted to move and since they had a bigger home, we bought their property. Since we were family, and their home was paid off, they agreed to let us make payments at zero interest. We did not do a title search since the land has always been in our family and the contract they signed stated that the land was free of any mortgages or liens, etc. They had a lawyer draw up all the paperwork. We recently inherited some money and after discussion decided to pay off our home to my step-uncle and aunt. They, of course, were more than happy to let us pay it off. They contacted the attorneys to prepare the final paperwork. Then we hit a huge snag. My step-dad called me this afternoon to tell me that somehow the mortgage he and my mother have on their property, includes the property we are trying to buy (and currently live on and paying for). He said that the bank (Wells-Fargo) obviously made a mistake when preparing the documents. (I'm not mentioning Wells-Fargo to bad-mouth them, but I wanted to mention them because I consider them to be a reputable company and I'm not sure HOW they made this type of 'mistake'). He said that their lawyer is going to contact them and get our property out of their mortgage but it might take a few weeks. (We were supposed to sign everything next week). As much as I love my mother, this isn't the first 'deal' I have been burned on. And my step-dad is really a snake. I'm not sure that this was an 'accident' or a 'mistake'. I don't know that my step-uncle and aunt knew about it though. They have always appeared honest to me and my step-aunt worked at a real estate company for years before retiring. Obviously, I'm not paying it off at the moment, although I will send in my next payment (due on the 15th). Nobody wants to tell my husband (and neither do I honestly), so I can't discuss this with him. He has been under tremendous stress at work and is having health issues. I don't want to bother him with it. My question is, how likely is it that something like this is a mistake? And how easy is it going to be to correct it? They just re-mortgaged their place last year. I feel like I'm being made a fool of and if I continue to smile and say that I know it's a mistake, how naive do I look? Or, is this a common mistake?