I’m not sure I can get past the “awkward.” I just don’t know. I’ve been doing some things at home and have already improved somewhat. So the dr thinks I will respond well to therapy. But after reading a little about it, I am panicking.

My doctor just recommended PT for me. I’m having absolute panic attacks over the thought. Has anyone done this type of PT who can message me? Or you can share experiences here if you’re comfortable.

Yes. She just barely in the juniors department. She’s at that awkward size where she’s able to wear the largest kids size and the smallest juniors size but nothing seems to fit quite right. Yes I know it won’t be knee length. I meant to say a short dress - not floor length. My brain is tired and I wasn’t clear. I’m assuming floor length is too formal for this type of event. But I’m hoping to find something that’s not too terribly short. I’d also like to find something that doesn’t have all the cut outs and key holes. My daughter does not feel comfortable in those type outfits. Sigh. The kids department clothes all look too young and the juniors department clothes all look so old. I don’t think we have a TJ Max close. I’ll look.

...called Dress My Daughter We just joined a new swim team at a local high school. My oldest daughter (13) was invited to a dance party for her practice group (all 11-14 year old kids). That’s their swim team Christmas party. I was told it’s typically a little dressy and the girls wear dresses while the boys wear ties. I’m so out of touch with what’s in style. I’m assuming a knee length dress. But help me put please! It’s next weekend so no time to shop online. My daughter is slim and about average height for her age. I need ideas!

Thanks. I’ll start researching these options. I hesitate to do accutane. I took it as a teen. It caused my liver enzymes to become too high and I was taken off of it. Then when I was pregnant with my dd, my liver became swollen and almost ruptured. It wasn’t functioning properly. After an emergency induction, my dd was born early and I slowly recovered over several months. I don’t want her to struggle with her skin but I don’t want her to have liver problems either. So I’m really on the fence about it.

Ok, Hive minds....help me out! My dd is about to turn 13. She has started to get quite a bit of acne. Name the products that helped your kids the most! And maybe a good moisturizer too so she doesn't dry out her skin in our cold winter weather. Maybe toner....a good facial mask to help with blackheads..... Also, she's a swimmer and her hair is either greasy or dry and frizzy. I think we need a good shampoo to remove chlorine buildup and then an amazing conditioner for her super, super curly hair. Any help there? And while we're talking about all these products....what are some good makeup brands to start out with? Ones that won't compound the acne issues. I'd love a good concealer and some other fun things that she can start out with. I'm so low maintenance that I don't often wear any makeup so I have no idea where to start.

I should specify that none of these things bothered me. The cards were always a surprise to peel back the layers. I do know someone who takes the small complementary bottles of soap, shampoo, and conditioner and gives them as Christmas and birthday gifts. They once gave out shower caps too. Those weren’t very well received. Lol

Reusing aluminum foil. This person would meticulously flatten out foil, wash it, then spread it out to dry on dish racks. It was so time consuming. I don’t get it. A friend washed out ziploc baggies and always had them hanging up to dry. I didn’t quite understand why they weren’t finding reusable containers instead. I know someone who reused greeting and birthday cards. They would cut one up and use pictures and scraps of that card to cover the names and the message in another card. Then they would write in new names and messages and find a new envelope. I got a lot of recycled cards. I liked peeling back the “collage” to see who the card was originally to and from.

That’s crazy. And so dangerous. I once got stuck behind a lady who was folding clothes while driving. I was so confused. It was strange. And she was not driving safely.

Well I tried this with my 6th grader. It was not successful. Each year you cover the same material but with different student books so they are seeing different sentences and different exercises. But oh my word, it was so difficult and tedious. The lessons took at least 20 minutes to wade through and my daughter was spending so so so much time working on the exercises. We made it maybe 3/4 of the way through book 1. It was too much. And she is my writer, reader, strong language arts loving girl. We switched to Abeka. Kind of boring but straight to the point, colorful, great review, and much less tedious and time consuming. She’s perfectly happy with it and no longer complains about grammar. I thought about stopping year 1 and starting over with year 2 but my daughter begged for something different. She nearly cried when I mentioned buying year 2. All that to say, I found it very difficult for my daughter. So I’m not sure about using it for a 9 year old or anyone who is not solidly in middle school. I definitely recommend using it for older kids. It is a lot of work.

This. My kids swim. They are in their rooms at a certain time each night. They are free to read or color or listen to audiobooks for 30 minutes. After that it’s lights out. So we tell them goodnight before they head to their rooms. This gives us some quiet time. And then we go to bed really early too because we get up so early. My kids might not fall asleep right away but they have to hang out quietly in their rooms.

Oh she does like ice cubes. I’ll try that.

I’m going to have the vet do a CBC. She is drinking a little. How can I get her to drink more?

I have an appointment with a vet in a little over an hour. We’ll see what he says. I guess maybe it’s good that she’s thrown up 5 or 6 times then? I hope she’s ok. I’m so upset!

My dog started suddenly throwing up yesterday. She threw up multiple times and never ate anything all day. This morning she is still not herself. She is very lethargic and didn’t want to eat. I scrambled her an egg and that’s all she has wanted to eat. So far she’s kept it down. I could not figure out what was wrong with her until my husband mentioned he found a freshness packet on the floor. We think she ate part of it. It was a packet from inside a package of bacon bits. I had another package so I opened the packet and saw that it contains black powder. I’m thinking it’s iron dust. The vet is closed today so I’m calling other vets to try to get help. So, while I try to find one with an opening today, I need to know what to do. How bad is this? Does she need to be seen? Or should I just monitor her and feed her a bland diet for a few days? I don’t know what to do about her. I had no idea she had eaten that packet or I would have called the vet yesterday. My husband only mentioned it this morning. Oh and my dog is a tiny 7 pound Pomeranian. Update: I was able to get her an appointment with a local vet. I’ll leave in one hour. He agreed that it would be best to get her seen. Latest Update: everything checked out at the vet. Her numbers are ok and her x-ray was clear. He thinks that she’ll be ok since she threw up so many times. She has eaten today and kept it down. She is also drinking water. And she’s perked up quite a bit this afternoon. So we’re supposed to watch her over the weekend and see how she does. She really scared me!

My daughter is not a runner but a swimmer. Her coach said the girls are all faster than the boys until about age 13-14 which is when the girls seem to peak - they still have time improvements each year but they are not as big as they were. Boys on the other hand start seeing huge time improvements around this age. It was interesting to hear him talk about it. I have a 12 year old and 9 years old who swim (girls) and a 10 year old boy. My girls are currently faster but my son is finally starting to come into his own. Our coach thinks in 2 years we’ll really see changes in his times.

I would love some resources to teach etiquette and basic “adulting” skills. When I graduated I felt like I was really lacking knowledge in several areas. I’m hoping to help my kids do a better in those things. But I know I will probably forget quite a few skills and topics Do you have any great resources for teaching etiquette or any worthwhile books on skills teens should have before graduating high school and launching out on their own? Has anyone made a list of skills and topics they want to cover with their kids before graduation?

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, I’m not happy with that vet’s advice so I’ll be looking elsewhere. I gave my dog part of a children’s benadryl Tablet each day and she seems much better. She went to our groomer and had a bath with special soap and that has helped as well. So far her coat is not affected and her skin is ok. I cant really bathe her at home because it takes an hour to blow her dry. So I scheduled more frequent grooming appointments and the groomer will continue to use the special oat shampoo. So for now she seems much more comfortable. But I do need to look into other medicines that will help her allergies. Fall is allergy season here so I’m assumimg she’ll have issues each fall. I need to be more prepared for next year.

So my little 7 pound Pomeranian fluff ball has started itching like crazy. She sneezes and coughs. And now she is vomiting and has diarrhea. It’s so fun...sigh Took her to the vet today and they said ragweed allergy. He said her throat was very swollen and she had a lot of mucus. And it was likely her intestines were inflamed as well. All due to the allergies. Ok, so then he said to put Vaseline on her nose every day for her to lick off. He said it “cools the gut.” Come again? I am not putting a petroleum product on her face for her to lick it off. Gross. We do not eat Vaseline. No. So, any thoughts to help out my itchy dog who also has watery eyes and a weird cough? She’s going to the groomer tomorrow. I’m hoping a more frequent bath will help. She doesn’t have any skin rash that I can tell. Of course she looks like a giant cotton ball so it’s tough to tell. What else can I do?

Oh I have an opinion about this. But I can’t even get started on it or I’ll be too upset. Looking at you Mylan...

Anyone else have ideas?

Ok I need to get a safe browsing software or whatever it’s called. It just dawned on me that we have nothing and that’s not ok now that my kids are using computers for school stuff. What do you use? And why do you like it?

I tried BCP for hormonal migraines. It did not help. They actually became worse. I also tried acupuncture and had great results with that. But I would see a GYN and maybe even talk with a neurologist.

I stubbed two toes last night and I think one might be broken. It’s very swollen and bruised and the pain is really bad. It’s my second toe. Is there a way to know it’s broken or something I should do other than ice and elevation? Of course it’s a holiday, and I don’t want to go to urgent care. I can’t go see my dr since he’s closed today. Motrin doesn’t seem to be helping the pain.

Nope. October isn’t an option. My hubby only gets 1 day off for fall break in October. And it’s a Friday and I’m not going to GWL on a weekend I thought he actually got a fall break and that we could go then. But that won’t work. I’m so incredibly frustrated with his new supervisor. Friday was supposed to be his flex day/work from home day. That’s gone now.