To answer a few questions, the woman who would sell to us is my mom's best friend. She inherited millions of dollars recently and does not need the money (we are talking about house prices that are six figures and begin with a 1). She would be doing this as a kindness to us but also because she has severe anxiety issues and is extremely nervous about the whole process of selling. This would be her easy way out. We do not like our current house at all. We have wanted to leave for years, but don't have the money. We have two boys sharing a room who do not get along at all and it makes life very difficult. In addition, we have issues with the exact location of our house (utilities/easements that mean we can't landscape as we wish or put up a shed or addition). We haven't done anything because I have my own anxiety about trying to sell and about increasing our housing costs (this deal would keep us about the same when considering all factors, but with much more equity). I guess the only not "ideal" about her house is that the upstairs rooms' ceilings are unique so that the boys couldn't have bunk beds, and the master bath is a shared one with the hall. I'd love more space, but it's already much more than we have now, and better laid out for our family than we have now. The yard is much better. It's in much better condition. Our homeschool group is here, soccer, and scouts are here. Depending on traffic, it's a 20-30 minute drive from there. Neither DH nor I have friends here. My only "friends" are my kids' friends, but when your kid is autistic, friends don't often last long. DH's friends are from work. He works at a different location around the city or even state each day, so commute for him isn't an issue. It's not really that our area is great, it's just what's comfortable, you know? All the things we do here, we could do there. Our area is less expensive in housing, but other expenses would be the same. Really, it comes down to anxiety and not wanting to leave my comfort zone. But, we do really want out of this house.

So, we have an opportunity to buy a house that is 25% bigger than ours and would give each of our kids their own bedroom for less than 70% of the home's value. It has new siding, new kitchen, new roof, new heat/AC, and she is talking about doing new carpets throughout before she sells it to us. The problem is that we aren't crazy about the area and the house isn't our ideal. It's not bad, it's just not our ideal and it's on the opposite side of the city from where we and ALL our activities currently are. I've lived on this side of the city my entire life. But if we hated it, we could sell and walk away with around $50K whereas here we will be lucky to walk away with enough for closing costs on another house. Even if we don't like it, it would put us in a much better position. We'd be fools not to take this, right? Ugh, I'm such a creature of habit. I feel like this is a no-brainer, but I'm so not excited about the process of moving. She's also willing to work with us on timeline of getting our house sold and move some "stuff" into the house so ours doesn't look so crowded and cluttered (this is my mom's best friend who is moving in with her and could afford to just hand us the house if she wanted).

My oldest read them all at age 7. I'm in the middle of reading them to my 6yo and am on book four. I had to explain the teen angst to my first but it wasn't a big deal.

We're going in late January for the Celebration of Harry Potter weekend. We just booked it yesterday. My kids are so excited. We are staying at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort. Has anyone gone during the Celebration days? How crowded does it get? I had planned on doing the trip that week since it wouldn't be crowded in January before I found out it was the Celebration weekend, but the kids said they wanted to do it.

My kids attended a day camp this year at the UU church with a Harry Potter theme. On the last day, I was approached by one of the older teen counsellors who wanted to tell me what a cool kid my 10yo was. When I mentioned this to DS, I called the counselor a "she," because while fairly ambiguous, there were several clues that said "she" to me. DS corrected me that this was a "he" and told me his very "boy" name and that someone had even asked and he said he was a boy. Looking at the pictures of the camp from last year, this person went by a different name and was much more obviously female last year. I pointed this out to my kids, not as a way to say "see, that's really a girl," but because I figured it would be a good first talking point to discuss transgendered persons through the lens of someone they'd gotten to know and appreciate. Honestly, I don't quite "get" the transgender thing, but I think that's more because I've always felt in the midst of some existential crisis and like I didn't belong anywhere, so what's the difference. Anyway, it doesn't matter to me what other people want to call themselves and I'm not sure what there'd be to complain about to the camp if it's not a religiously-based activity.

My son is doing Junior Analytical Grammar and their Mechanics book for fifth grade this year. It's short and to the point. He's previously had First Language Lessons and Michael Clay Thompson books for grammar.

No. Absolutely not. I have in the past restrained my child similarly at times to keep himself, others, and property safe during violent rages before we found medication that helped him (minus the hunching and head thing, he would throw his weight back and head butt also). It is not something that I would consider therapeutic, especially for a child who had experienced trauma or abuse. And his therapists always told me they were not allowed to touch him (when he got violent, the females always had me deal with it but he had one very large male therapist who would back him into a corner and stand there in front of him so he couldn't get out and DS would just use him as a punching bag until he snapped out of it). I would run away from this therapist.

Hmm. I tried on my phone and it didn't work but just thought to take it off the wifi, and now I can get it on my phone. Does anyone know why I suddenly can't access it with my router? ETA: the full text says: 403 - Forbidden Error You are not allowed to access this address. If the error persists, please contact the website webmaster. If you are the webmaster of this site please log in to Cpanel and check the Error Logs. You will find the exact reason for this error there. Common reasons for this error are: Incorrect file/directory permissions: Below 644. In order files to be read by the webserver, their permissions have to be equal or above 644. You can update file permissions with a FTP client or through cPanel's File Manager. Restrictive Apache directives inside .htaccess file. There are two Apache directives which can cause this error - 'Deny from' and 'Options -Indexes'.

Really? How odd! Thank you for the address.

I have been trying to get on the Lively Latin website since last Thursday so my son can watch the video lessons and do the vocabulary quizzes, but it's said "403 - Forbidden Error You are not allowed to access this address. If the error persists, please contact the website webmaster." Does anyone know how to contact her? Is anyone else having this problem?

Having come to Harry Potter through my eldest child a few years ago, I wasn't around for release parties so totally blanked on that angle until I started seeing posts about them on FB after the kids were in bed last night. I feel bad that they missed out on the chance to do that. My Amazon preorder (that I ordered in February) doesn't arrive until Tuesday. 😢

Finally was able to see the Transunion report. There were also two inquiries by T-Mobile. The first had an address in Katy, TX, the second had my address but with a phone number from an address ten years ago. The Transunion report also said *I* accessed my credit report on July 7 (I did not). All the inquiries and charges I know about so far happened on 07/21 and 07/22. FYI the deputy who came to the house said just yesterday (the day I filed the report), he arrested a guy from GA with the ID and Fake SS card of a man from CO who knew the guy had an account at Wells Fargo and was going around trying to get money from the guy's account at different WF locations (and successful at some). He told him that he got the information from a guy he talked to on an app.

Okay, I froze all three. Next, try to find how to get my reports for free? I can't dispute stuff until I get a copy of the police report which can take up to 3 business days.

If I put a freeze on my credit, can i still see my reports? I looked at Equifax and Experian, can't get on Transunion. There is a Sam's Club card with almost $5000 on it also. There are also inquiries from Victoria's Secret and Macy's. I can't get a real live person on the phone at any of the three credit agencies. I filed police report, fraud alert with credit agencies (through Equifax and they contact other two), and identity theft affidavit with FTC. I contacted Dillard's and Verizon. I can't get anyone on the phone at the credit agencies to answer my questions about viewing credit reports for free after the annual free one and whether I'll still have access to my report to see what's happening if I freeze it.

Just got the mail with a Dillard's American Express card in my name and a bill from Verizon for setting up phone service (with 3 phone numbers). What do I do??? Freaking out.

I will add that we came from very different backgrounds. Very. And while we were idealistic teens/young adults together, we've both become more identifiable with our backgrounds as we age. That makes us very different in thoughts on parenting, education, finances, politics, medical care, etc. Absolutely everything is a struggle. We just don't share any of the same values besides loving our children.

Haven't read anything else so don't know where this has gone, but I'll answer the OP. I was 16, he 19 when we met. We married four years later with me 20 and he 23. We both wish we wouldn't have married. We waited four years, so we knew each other, but we were still so young and we changed so much. We are totally different people who would never pick each other now. Neither of us are happy though we do love each other. We keep trying though, for the sake of our commitment to each other and our children. I would never recommend to my children to get married young. I would actively discourage them from doing so. I hope they're at least mid-20s before making a commitment that I hope will last a lifetime. ETA: we've been together 20 years now, married 16.

Ok with that link to front pages (thanks!) the picture above the fold was a large picture of the convention with Bill on stage, below the fold was small headshot of Hillary. Headline was "Clinton wins historic nomination."

Also, I hope this thread doesn't get political because this is a fascinating topic. I find it incredible that so many are putting the focus on Bill right now!

I checked the local paper's website since we don't get a physical copy. Big featured story is "Witness explains how sex predator stalked CITYNAME boys for years." Down below that is "Bill Clinton puts a human face on his wife, the presidential nominee."

This did it! The last piece was wedged down where I couldn't get it except when the "buckling" was happening. It clicks now and he swears there were no more. Thank you!!!!

The buckle is encased in plastic. Wouldn't the plastic warp if I used a flame? Sticking stuff in there like toothpicks won't work. Whatever is still in there has fallen below the mechanism where I won't be able to reach it. I got two pieces out. He said he put in three pieces and "a grain of sand." I'm so angry. We have a 3,000 mile trip coming up in less than two weeks and we will be taking my mom with us, so need all the seats.

So, it seems to latch but it doesn't make the clicking noise now. I got out everything that was visible, but according to him there were more pieces. They must have fallen down further in where they're not visible. If I put the male end in, it seems to latch. I pull hard and it stays. But, it doesn't make the clicking sound now. Is this a problem?

Electric $240 Water/sewer $80 Cell phones $150 Trash pickup $15 Internet $50

I've called twice on others. One was a renter who had recently moved in next door and when my husband went over and rang the doorbell to talk to him about the large angry dog he had chained up in the yard, the guy threatened to kill DH. We wanted something on record. The officer just talked to both of us about staying away from each other. The other time was people renting the house on our other side. The wife had moved there to escape annabusive marriage but he found her. She let him move in and a few months later, husband held the wife and children at gunpoint and then beat the wife badly before leaving. Wife was in the hospital for a while and cops told us to call 911 if he came back. He came back the next day. I called and then took the kids and left the house for the day so I don't know how that ended.