Sorry it is dire, but as someone who went through some awful things in the past two years, I will say that just having a friend to talk to, cry with, vent to, etc can be priceless. I don't know if you are near enough to her to do this, but I had a friend who showed up weekly for a walk, help with housework, or whatever I needed. No matter what was going on, I knew that on Thursdays she would be there.

I am quite a bit more than 175....would love to be there. Today though I WAS the "people of Walmart". I went to the store in my painting clothes with my crocs on......and yes the door person did check my receipt....never has before when I was dressed in nicer clothes.

If possible, buy the name brand stuff. Kids in care often get the cheapest, left over type stuff. They so want to fit in with their peers and not stick out

Hoodies ....name brand ones, sports teams, fun ones.....esp in L, XL and 2x (or ask agency what sizes are needed) Kohl's big one fuzzy throw blankets. They have lots of styles and are under $10 on Black Friday (I think) Graphics tees...got nice ones from Kohl's for under $10 as well.....mountain Dew, star wars, etc Warm fuzzy socks If you are in am area with a black population, things like fun silk sleep caps. Mine always appreciated head phones

With a child, I would want a pdoc if at all possible. Once things are fine tuned you could maybe have reg doc do refills and see pdoc every 6 months or so. That relationship with a pdoc can be very helpful as they get older as well. Strattera was terrible here for 2 of mine (non bio related) but that is just my 2. We had a big increase in aggressive behaviors.

What about an elliptical bike instead? Would that give you the movement you want but be safer?

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah How Much is a Girl Worth is very good, hard read though, that details the exposure of the Larry Nassar scandal. Author is a Christian though.

Our tradition was to do heavy appetizers with my MIL (and anyone else that wanted to join in) on Christmas Eve. We will likely continue that even though she has passed away. Tamales are a traditional Mexican Christmas food that we added when I had Hispanic foster boys

We don't really have a classroom library. I work at a program for going adults 19-25 with intellectual disabilities, severe LDs, etc. We utilize the public library weekly. Our main focus is to teach them to use community resources. I certainly believe that classroom libraries should be diverse. I am looking for diverse titles that are appropriate for our students, esp one girl, to expose her to at the public library.

We had a phenomenal psychiatrist. We followed her to 6 different offices in 5 different cities to keep her. Sadly she moved to NM....which is a bit too far to commute.

This Is Us handles the complexities quite well....but it is not a show for younger kids.

I agree with the medical first. I would ask for complete blood work, urinalysis, etc. Thankfully our psychiatrist did all of this. She ordered the stuff before starting meds and my dd was anemic, hypothyroid, had a bladder infection, AND the EEG showed seizures. OK, she STILL has some mental health issues but we had to address the physical stuff first. We did the MRI too. Yep....ask for it all.....vitamin levels, thyroid, maybe a sleep study, EEG, MRI, etc.

Thank so much. I will search on our next library trip.

Here is one website that reviews movies from an adoption perspective. http://www.adoptionlcsw.com/

I don't know the name of the group but there is a group out there that reviews movies (and maybe books) for adoption related issues. This is often discussed on my adoption FB groups.

Thanks for these ideas. I will see if our local library can get these.

This should not be this hard. I am looking for books for a young African American girl in my classroom. She wants books to help her speak up and empower her. She also wants books written by and about black people. She reads about a middle school level but has the interests of a young adult. Nothing with a lot of violence, intimate scenes, language, etc. They need to be "school appropriate". She is a Christian so Christian books would be welcome. I found some on the Civil Rights movement and books on slavery and while those are good, she just needs books about everyday teens that look like her. Any ideas for me?

My first thought was to try a surgical stainless earring. I bought mine from the tattoo shop.

I went with Snapfish. $15 for 160+ prints ...using coupons. I don't have a Costco membership.

I am NOT an apple person at all....I have a Kindle fire. It might do what you want. I use mine for streaming Pandora and my audiobook. I don't do much else with it. It was cheap. That said, if you can financially swing it, an iPad would be the way to go. My daughter had one that is OLD and still chugging along.

Where is your favorite place to print out pictures for Christmas cards? I want something better than the Walgreens 1 hour thing as these will be pictures from my daughter's wedding. I also want to print out some other wedding pictures for my living room and office as well as for Grandma, etc. Is it better to order soon or are there great deals on Black Friday? I am looking at maybe 40 4x6 of one picture, 2 8*10 and maybe 10 or so other random 4X6 pictures.

$150

Well, I hope it is good as I now have 46 boxes of it in my basement. I can let everyone know once it is in how it does. Manard had it on an 11% rebate until today so it was worth it to get it now. I will use the rebate to buy all the misc little stuff we will need when the builder is done.

And I am on the opposite end of the scale. I likely have 50 books max in our house. When we moved, I majorly downsized and kept just a few classic kids books and I have some non fiction reference books and a very few fiction books. I read 95% of my stuff on my kindle. I listen to audiobooks and have a great library system. I am never lacking for things to read. I thought about keeping more books but they really wouldn't have been read much.....and I donated a large portion of them to my friend's rural "little library" she runs in her tiny community (closest tiny public library is 8-10 miles away). She said books disappear so fast she can hardly keep up. I figured better to get them into the hands of people that will read them and might not otherwise have access than to keep them sitting on my shelf. I don't begrudge anyone though that wants to keep a large selection of books at home.

I am about ready to get 46 boxes of Tarkett VeriCore LVP flooring and wondered if anyone has used it before and has any input. I can't find much online. This will be for almost 800sq ft in the basement