I have a student in my class that is deaf and reads lips and uses sign language. Time for me to up my game and learn to sign. He is fluent so I need materials for me to learn it.

I am more in the stay with the job if you can department. Is there anyone locally you could car pool with to cut down on your actually driving? Do you have people you could call on the phone and chat with while you drive (hands free of course)? About every other week a friend and I chat for 30 minutes while we each commute to work. Does your current job offer any sort of retirement? If not, that is an area to seriously consider, depending on what you already have saved/invested for retirement.

Thanks. I requested.one of the short stories collections.

I am leaving tomorrow morning on at least a 6 hour drive and would love a light, funny, but clean book. I have some serious ones but I just want laugh out loud funny. Even a collection of short stories would work.

One thought is that teaching daily showering as part of a daily routine might be easier than trying to remember if it is shower day or not....or arguing over whether it is shower day or not. I work with young adults, ages 18-26, many of which are on the spectrum and during our hygiene lesson the other day several mentioned that daily was better as otherwise they couldn't keep track.

Would I enjoy the movie if I never saw the show?

Me too pleaae

I have a factory installed Android Auto and I have a love hate relationship with it. When. It works, it is great. When it doesn't it is super frustrating as you lose your gps, etc.

Margaret in CO.....do you want a strong young 31 year old? My son needs a lot of good physical activity and isn't getting it as much now that we are in town. He has special needs but is a hard worker.....when we aren't in the midst of huge girlfriend drama 🤪. I might even give him a one way ticket to CO.

It's Not Fair: Learning to Love the Life you Didn't Chose by Melanie Dale was extremely helpful for me when I was going through the arrest of my husband, divorce, etc. It is a book about grieving, dealing with life that isn't fair, and moving on. It is NOT a everything is hunky dory type book. It is Christian but not a "just quote this verse" and all will be well type book. It was very real and honest. I found it very helpful. I have purchased several other copies and given them to friends going through rough times as well. It might be helpful for your daughter as well.

And this is where I struggle so much. Due to foot issues I can wear Chaco sandals, Brooks dyad tennis shoes, oboz hiking shoes and hopefully a dansko shoe. I have a wide foot and high instep which makes it super hard to find shoes that fit. I also walk miles a day at work so they must be comfortable.

Don't underestimate the power of your $5 here and $5 there. Those amounts add up and when combined with other $5 tithes they become powerful. You are being faithful with what you have

This spells out a lot of my concerns. I agree the kids seem to have some needs that do need professional evaluations. It can provide clarity and a plan of action. Just like a medical issue, if you know the root cause (even if the symptoms seem the same) the treatment might be different based on what the root cause is. My bigger concern is the emotional environment in which you seem to have to be parenting. Lots of demands are being put on you, your opinions are not heard/considered, etc.

Carpet for sound unless you have pets up there, allergies, or kids prone to make huge messes

Here is Texas last spring.

We have 6 houses in our subdivision. One with a lab said the dog is not well leashed trained...at least not for me. Others have happy tiny dogs...including one that bites. That is why I wanted our dogless neighbors to buy one for me to walk 😀

Thanks all. We don't have larger animal predators around here and not a lot of loose dogs. It is more the people issue. The trails I want to walk are owned by our local airport and right out my back door but not really public trails....they just let neighbors walk them. I haven't seen any recent activity but it could be an area where someone could hunker down for days and not be seen type area. In general though our area is very safe. Fostering might work in the future but not right not. There are many days when no one is home or available to let a dog out for 8 hours+.

Monday afternoon we out our 14 year old Australian Shepherd down. She was starting to fail more and more and we didn't want her to be in pain. That brings me to my question. Do you walk alone? Like through the woods, etc? I am not talking about bike paths/sidewalks where there is traffic/houses/people but more secluded areas. I live in an area with low crime rates....at least those we hear about/against strangers. I am a plus sized almost 50 year old so not a prime "target". Still, it feels weird to go out walking in the woods alone. I have no qualms about it with a friend or with one or more of my kids. It is just that alone part. I tried to convince the wonderful neighbors across the street with 3 young girls to buy a dog. Then I could walk over and take the dog for a walk whenever I needed one....and they could pay the vet bills, train the puppy, housebreak it, etc. For some reason they didn't buy that idea....but the husband did offer to let me take their cat for a walk with a harness.😉 So....getting another dog is not really in our cards right now and I like the freedom of no animals when we want to go on vacation. So what do you do about walking all alone?

The Ocean Within Ghost Fish In a Tree

I agree. Worse they can say is no.

Cadillac Michigan is a great place. My friends own an Airbnb there with 4 bedrooms, 2 fireplaces, etc on a lake that would be frozen. They are right on the snowmobile trail. The ski resort with lessons, etc is about 15-20 minutes away. They generally have a lot of snow ....but the resort makes it for skiing even if there isn't that much elsewhere. If you flew, likely you would fly into Grand Rapids MI. This isn't a huge resort but you would not be paying big resort prices either.

Is there a young adult guy you know that you could give a small bit to come me spend the night? Are you near neighbors/friends that could come pick him up for church, a meal out, etc a few times while you are gone?

I don't have these...but would love to try them. I think the material is similar to that used in Crocs.

Thank you. I am not a gifted writer but there was NOTHING out there for women and families left behind by a sex offender. Feel free to share the link if you ever come across anyone in a similar situation.

I just finished the pre-release copy of Rachael Denholland's new book, What is a Girl Worth? This is her story of breaking the silence and exposing the truth about Larry Nassar and the USA Gymnastics. It is set for release on Sept 10. It is a powerful book that details her experiences and also details how such crimes can go on for decades. This is an excellent book for survivors to read and I also wrote a brief review on it for my blog which focuses on hope and healing for the unseen victims of sex offenders. Church leaders, community leaders, medical stuff, parents, and teachers.....OK, EVERYONE...can benefit from this book. I even feel it would be empowering to older teens. Boys can also be victims and I see that this book could be very helpful to them as there seems to be even less support for male victims of sex offenders. I won't say it is an easy read, esp. if this hits close to home for you or someone you love, but it gets a solid 5 stars from me.....and a box of Kleenex.