Can the kids just come and take anything of yours or Dh's without permission and use it? I think kids deserve the same respect. We actually found that there was MORE sharing when the "owner" of the item had the power to share or not. We actually for many many years (and sometimes still do) open gifts with a black sharpie markers at hand. We just out a tiny initial on the item if several kids get the same or similar things. Then everyone knows whose is whose and I can easily see who left something out. It reduced sibling bickering by 90% in our home. Instead if they wanted to play with something they asked permission and often offered up a trade....may I play with your doll and you may play with my horse...type thing.

I can see how an SXI classroom could be too close to home right now. Sorry for your loss. We have lost 2 students in the school in the past 2 weeks. Even though I just sub I had been in their classrooms many times. We have a nurse that we call for trach issues but I do suction and tube feed as well as AFOs, positioning, and having lots of fun.

Here is the stove I have if anyone else is interested in one http://www.sears.com/ge-appliances-jgbs66dekww-30inch-freestanding-gas-range-white/p-02289612000P?plpSellerId=Sears&prdNo=2&blockNo=2&blockType=G2 You need other places to look for books. First you can try your library. Most have overdrive or hoopla or other programs for downloading books on your Kindle. You can usually borrow them for 2 weeks but if you turn off the wi fi you can keep the book until you are finished even if it is longer (but you can't download any new ones until you turn it back on). I find most of my free books from one of 3 places: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store/zgbs/digital-text/ref=zg_bs?_encoding=UTF8&tf=1 Is the Amazon site with 100 + free kindle books a day. You can scroll through them or click on the left to narrow it to certain genre, etc. I will say that often I scroll through 90+ books that hold NO interest to me but I can find some that do. The book selection can change daily and sometimes hourly. I tend to check this site every few days and do a very quick browse. Most of the times I can rule out a book just by its cover. I then subscribe to 2 of the daily free/cheap kindle email things. Again, many days I find NOTHING that appeals to me at all (esp. since I only do the free ones) but several times a week I find a book that looks appealing and since it is free I buy it and if I don't like it I can hit delete without guilt. What type of books do you enjoy? If your interests are similar to mine I can even loan you many of the ones I have collected. I have come to love audio books. I get them free from the library through Overdrive and Hoopla. Sometimes (ok, very often) I have to wait days to weeks and even months for some popular books BUT I can request active holds on 10 at time and keep like 500 on my wish list so I can always have a good to listen to. A few of my utmost favorites are A Man Called Ove, The Nightingale (the BEST listen, powerful), Small Great Things, Born a Crime, A Long Way Home (book that movie Lion was based on). I will say that a few of these have some adult language/situations at time but mild compared to many books and really integral to the story, not just to "sell" the book or shock value.......and I am quite conservative as to what I read/listen to.

While sharing might be ideal, I would crack down on 15dd for "borrowing" her older sister's things with out permission. It is not going to be OK with a roommate or others. If she gets an allowance/has money, maybe have her pay 17dd a "rental fee" each time she wears something without permission. Is there a reason why she wants 17dd's clothes?

Congrats. It is a nice feeling. I went back about 1 1/2 years ago after 20 years off. What type of Special Education do you teach? I do mostly SXI (severely multiply impaired) ....anywhere from 3-26 and love that the best. I also do a MOCI/AI class of young adults (moderately cognitively impaired who also have autism)

If you don't have one, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kindle paperwhite. I love the nightlight feature so I can read at night in the dark and not disturb others. You can also read outside in the daytime. I have over 500 FREE kindle books on it that I don't have to worry about returning to the library and I can download ebooks free from the library for an even bigger selection. I did also like my Kindle Fire (the $39 model on sale last holiday season). It isn't super fast, etc. but was great for my audiobooks as then it didn't use up my cell phone battery. LIkely out of the budget for Christmas but I just got a new gas stove a few months ago and it has the large center griddle. That I LOVE. I seriously use the griddle feature way more than I ever use a pan on a burger now. Great for sauteing vegetables, making pancakes/french toast, grilled cheese, corn tortillas, and best of all EGGS......scrambled, fried, or omelets. They do NOT stick and clean up is just a wipe down with a wet rag. I can now make omelets that look like a fancy restaurant and it is so easy.

My kids have often said, "there is NOTHING to EAT, all we have are ingredients". Sounds like this is your problem. I too am trying to eat through our ingredients right now and trying only to buy dairy and fresh produce and bread at the store and avoiding buying more canned goods, frozen foods, or pantry staples until we eat up what we have.

I know the grays are in but all of my woodwork and laminate floors are more of the red/honey oak type color and gray just doesn't work well with it. I also have an open concept main floor where the 2 story entry flows into the dining area, hearth area, and kitchen as well as a hall with no walls between them to switch colors, etc. I do like the idea of accent pieces for color/design and then core pieces. Part of my issue is that I had the money saved up for new furniture for the living area, repainting the main floor and then some accent pieces and life happened and dd needed $$$$ in dental work and other unexpected expenses so the money is not there now and I refuse to take out a loan/credit card purchase for wants.

I saw nebulizers online for the basic table top model which does the job just fine for $35-45. The tubing kits I think are $7 each but I could be wrong. They generally last 3-6 months or so depending on how often you use it. If you rarely use it we have gone a year. When you use the nebulizer for us it is a several time a day thing for several days. So if numbers are low, dd gets out nebulizer and does it. Then 4-6 hours later does it again, repeating the cycle for 2-3 days. Each treatment takes 10-15 minutes or so but easy to watch TV, read, etc. while doing it. Depending on the medication in the neb treatment (we have used Albuterol, Xeopenex, and Duo Neb) it can be used as often as treatment, wait 20 minutes, treatment, wait 20 and treatment again (for really bad attacks) but at that point you need to be calling your doctor most likely for an oral steroid burst or trip to ER. We have learned over the past 20 years with dd when to start treatments (better early than late), how often, when we need ER, when to just start oral steroids, call the doctor, etc. Make sure the doctor knows you need an asthma action plan that spells out if A then B, if response is good then do C, if response is fair, then do D, etc. and on and on. It all sounds confusing but once you have a good plan it is really quite easy. For my daughter we know that if she is traveling, camping, or has the very first hint of a cold/cough/nasal congestion, etc. we start the preventative inhaler right away and if she is already using it we double it....even before any drop in peak flow. Then if we have a cough she does Duo Neb twice a day and goes from there based on her responses. Our doctor gave me a 5 day steroid burst to have on hand for nights, weekends, etc. so we can start it if needed and call them vs. having to try to go out and get a prescription filled at 2am or go to ER. The whole key to asthma management is to be proactive and prevent as many big attacks as you can. You can't prevent them all but we have reduced the need for steroids, the albuterol, etc. just by addressing it with the first hint of a symptom. As to cleaning the nebulizer, you just rinse the med cup and you are good to go for the most part. Maybe a 30 second clean up :-)

I seriously want to update our home a bit and just make it look better all around. It has good bones and while the kitchen counter tops are a light teal/green from the early 1990s they are in good shape (and I have noticed that accent items with teal are becoming popular). I just have a very limited budget here. I need someone who knows design and flow and decorating to come in and make a few inexpensive changes to make it look better. I just want clean and neat and comfortable while being inviting and not looking "tired". Any good books on this? Ideas? I really don't want house envy, etc. but I see so many of my friends that have homes that are just put together well vs. the craigs list piece by piece method of decorating that I have done due to finances. Like our couch. It is a very good name brand quality leather couch in great condition.......it is just older and that out of date/style burgundy leather. The rocker recliner is close to the same color and also leather and in good condition. The snuggler (smaller love seat thing) is the 90s forest green leather. IT is NOT in good shape at all but right now a place holder.

For under $100 you could get a table top nebulizer, the tubing and mask/mouth piece, a 25 dose set of albuterol, a peak flow meter, and an oximeter. The peak flow meter and oximeter both help with seeing how well/poorly you are doing. They are not an end all/be all but if you see drops in either numbers you know it is time to take action. Some people have one drop before the other.

Have you ever tried a long acting preventative inhaler?....something like Advair, Symbicort, etc.? Those can be extremely helpful and have a lot less side effects than the albuterol inhaler. Another thing to ask the doctor about would be Xeopenex which might be expensive but works like Abuterol but has less side effects of anxiety, increased heart rate, jittery, etc.

I would go see the doctor. It could well be that you are just used to not breathing well. Make sure they know you are a self pay patient and as they streamline any tests and possibly give you samples of meds to try....if you only ask. The flonase mentioned above has really helped my asthma symptoms as well. It is fairly cheap and over the counter. Are you are on a daily allergy med? I find Allegra 180 works best here but others find others more helpful. The nasal spray plus Allegra really help but not instantly. It takes a week or so to see results for me.......and I need to keep up on it daily. Do your peak flows several times. Then use your rescue inhaler (albuterol) wait about 15 minutes and do the peak flows again. See if it goes up significantly. That might give you more information as well.

As the respiratory therapist said at the hospital when my dd was little, If you can't breathe than NOTHING else matters. Seriously, breathing needs to rank right up at the top. :-)

What are his interests? Gaming, computers, etc? Maybe a club or other get together with those that enjoy those things. Colleges often have groups that cater to all different interests.

Can you share the recipe?

I hate hate hate my side by side. Never ever again. It was the only fridge with an ice maker that would fit in the opening I had.

Do you have an asthma action plan? If not you need one. One that says if you are in the green (80%+ of your max) then use this daily med (or possibly none). If you hit the yellow zone (50-80% of your max) then use this med/meds...inhalers, steroids, debulizer, etc. If you are under 50% use this med at this dose and if not better in an hour or gets worse call doctor/go to ER/ call 911, etc. It would be personalized to you. I know for my daughter the first sign of a cough and we hit things hard as viruses are her main trigger. I would talk to your doctor about the tree. Honestly I would strongly hesitate.

Glad the surgery and other appointments went well. One step at a time. Sometimes one day at a time is too much so I go one step at a time. I have been where you are and the stress can be overwhelming. Take care of yourself. Self care is super important....sleep, eating, take a walk, visit with a friend, etc. Just don't neglect yourself.

Thanks. It is like Michigan. We had 90s in October but also but of snow. May is typically nice but could be snowing or 90s. I remember one spring break (first week of April) we had beautiful 80s and sun. 2 years ago we had over 12 inches of new snow and near blizzard conditions.

My girls' sister is moving to Denver soon. My girls will want to go out to visit her in the next year or so. When is a good time to visit? We do NOT need snow or cold as we already have that and I don't do hot. I am looking for daytime temps in the 60s (maybe 70s if not humid) but even upper 50s can be good. We are mostly interested in outdoor activities....hiking, biking, zoos, parks, maybe outdoor markets/food trucks, outdoor concerts, etc. but low key (free/cheap too) things as their niece is only 1 1/2 and their sister is expecting again.

I am a planner but also love spur of the moment things. We just did a big 9 day trip to Missouri and Arkansas. I googled top free things to do in the areas we were going, looked at local, state and national parks, a few touristy things etc. I out each item on a 3*5 card with the address, phone number, website, costs, hours, etc. As well as city. We ended up doing many of them but we didn't have the high pressure of doing them all or in a certain order. That was great as we could decide as we went but still had some direction

Not really fun......but needed: Basic tool set...screwdrivers, wrenches, hammer, nails, screws, tape measure, small level, etc. First Aid Kit....either prepackaged or mom made with pain/fever meds, basic bandages, antibiotic ointment, etc. maybe a book of basic first aid Fire extinguishers Carbon Monoxide/smoke/fire detectors Depending on where she has been living......basic office supplies...envelopes, stamps, sharpie markers, tape, note pads, etc.

Option #3.....the rivers of pus are due to the unknown object floating around. No matter what glad you.got some better answers and a treatment plan. Why did you opt out of the steroids?

Thanks. I just bought myself a new bra. It wasn't on sale but very rarely is and with $10 off plus 30% off and free shipping it was the best deal I have ever seen.