I wonder if she can take public transit to court. What's a bus rider supposed to do once they get off the bus? The bus should only be stopping at crossable intersections; if the safest crosswalk is a half mile away, then the bus should stop a half mile away or the county should make sure the safe crosswalks are closer together (or don't run the busses out there). I can see delving deeper into the situation and possibly citing her, t hough (jail time is completely pushing it, imo). There have been more than a few times when my heart has stopped while driving because of the whole "yield to peds" rule/attitude, and also with bikers who fly by/over/through without paying any attention whatsoever. With the hit and run charge - is that including manslaughter?

Authority brand dog food is full of junk. We fed it to our golden for about a year before we realized she was allergic to several ingredients in it, and she had gained a ton of weight. Will. Never. Do. It. Again. I don't know if doodles are prone to allergies, but I would seriously try to switch his food anyway if you do keep him (we feed Nature's Variety Instinct, fwiw, but there are other great brands out there such as Wellness Core among others). In the meanwhile, when our shelter pup stopped eating after the second day, it turned out he was sick with some upper respiratory thing he got at the shelter (kennel cough). We mixed some tasty wet food (wellness core in the can) with his dry food to entice him to eat, which he did, but a little here and a little there until the meds kicked in and he got his appetite back. Good luck and keep us posted! ETA - if you do switch his food, do it gradually over a period of at least a week so he doesn't get an upset tummy.

I do feel the teenager would be considered lazy (barring a mental illness, broken limbs, etc). At least, *my* teenager would be considered lazy. Lazy is defined as a resistance to work or exertion; idleness. So, yes, I do think kids can be lazy. Since kids are people, too, and at a certain age display the capacity to think on their own and make decisions about which they will feel passionately. If sheer laziness is enabled in younger years, it will almost certainly become an acceptable way to behave in the older years, and even hard to change (like any other lifestyle situation). The blame can't unilaterally be placed on the parent, either. I have a child who has some seriously lazy tendencies, and it's not because he was taught to be that way, nor was it because I ever allowed it, he just has the feeling it is easiest (and somehow magically in his best interest) to do the least amount possible to pass on through the task. It's annoying. It's laziness. And it's worrisome as his mother that he may grow into an adult who performs work that way (provided anyone would give him a job).

Sometimes. But sometimes it is learned behavior by others allowing laziness. Are we talking about little kids? Because my answer is different for a 5 year old than it would be a 10 year old or a 15 year old. A 5 year old sitting around just doing nothing (or just thinking) is a lot different than a 15 year old sitting on the couch with a mound of food wrappers around him and dirty socks on the floor while staring off into space (just thinking), especially if said 15 year old routinely does only that.

I think you might be right - sometimes I don't always completely convey what's in my head to the world :tongue_smilie:. By "secondary vehicle" I mean the "luxury" item, the kind of car you can't fit the whole family into, that kind of vehicle.

Absolutely. Lack of motivation is an atypical behavior that causes a label like that. Which is caused by... Children need to keep stimulated to keep interested to keep learning. That is a fact. And it's not just for children - it applies to adults as well. Imagine, right now, you had absolutely no interest, no motivation, no...nothing. How do you react? Right. Same applies to kids. And to kids who grow up into adults, enabled to think that that is just "the way it is". Why would they be any different than adults in that capacity? I believe it is human nature.

Where is the crate? Our dogs all wanted to be by someone at night. With our shelter dog, the crate was in ds's room; the dog knew he was there, the radio was low, he slept. When ds was gone for a week, we brought the crate into our room and he slept (but he wouldn't sleep in ds's room if no one was there). Now he just sleeps on dd's bed :D. I doubt that is the "right" thing to do (because our non-shelter dog sleeps glued to me and I'm okay with it :D), but it worked for us. With your dog being older, I have to wonder what his previous sleeping accommodations were, what he's used to.

Midlife crisis? Status statement? Useful because it's hot outside? A matter of personal taste? What say you? ETA - I don't have one. Don't want one. I did have one years ago because it was a gift (I earned it through my job) but I sold it within the first 3 weeks and remodeled the house :D. I'm just wondering how this works out across the board.

Look at that big ol' smile! He's great!!

Ugh. I have a sink like that, too. After trying dozens of things, the thing that works the best for me is to pour bleach into a sink full of warm water and let it sit for about an hour. I hate it, but that's what I have to do. ETA - Wait - my sink has that ceramic or enamel coating (that's not the same as acrylic, is it? :leaving:)

I just pile everything on the cutting board (lettuce, cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes, olives, peppers, etc) and chop it all at once with a big knife. Sometimes I pour the dressing on first, or squeeze a lemon over it, sometimes not. Then, we grab gobs of it and put it on the plate (I add feta to mine after the fact). Easy, fast, and all the juices from the veggies get mixed together right off the bat. No fancy gadgets, just a big knife and a board. :)

:lol: I haven't read all the responses - I got to this one and had to laugh. Dh and I have worked at home for the past 12 years. There are ups and downs, especially because dh and I are complete opposites. There are days (weeks, if I'm honest) that I firmly believe there is some truth to the phrase "absence makes the heart grow fond". But for the most part, it's so normal for us that I get kind of annoyed sometimes when he isn't home. :001_huh: I think if you do this, understand your roles; if you usually do the cleaning or cooking, don't expect him to help just because he's there, and if when he needs extra printing paper, he shouldn't expect you to drop what you are doing and go get it for him (these are just silly examples, but hopefully you see my point). Things like that will cause problems over time. And he needs to understand how to competently work from home; he needs to schedule his work time so it actually gets done, and, conversely, so it doesn't take up all of his time. It may sound trite, but boy, it is a big deal when you're actually working from home, it's so easy to let it take over family time, and then the resentment sets in quickly. But, I'm sure this has all been said over the last 8 or 10 pages, I just didn't get that far yet. :tongue_smilie:

You know, I listened to the story. And your post made me feel like listening to it again. There are two narrators - the boy and the girl, so it is like listening to those tapes myself. And it's powerful. I think in your situation, you should request that he be assigned a different book. Even if you have to explain the circumstances. I can't imagine they'd make him read it. Are they discussing these books or is it just summer reading to complete? I'm always surprised by the books ps thinks should be required reading for discussion. Some are great reads, but not necessarily anything I would think should be "required" at all. This would be one of those books.

:lol: They fall into the masked man category for me and I'm not a fan. At. All.

No kidding. That creepy red haired guy with the freckles and the blue overhalls (I can't remember his name) has scared the snot out of me since I was little. What was his name? It was from maybe the 50s, he was pretty popular...:confused:

Well? :bigear:

No. I read it. I was so absorbed and it really affected me. I wanted someone else to read it just so I could discuss it with someone. But not my kids. Granted, my kids are only 12, but even a 15 year old...I don't know. But one who already has had some emotional troubles...just no. She's leaving that stinging, guilt-inducing message after she's gone. I think it would be too much for someone who can relate, who is the same age, etc. I would skip it. I really liked it, though.

Oh, that poor doll in Toy Story (2?)...:svengo: It was too much.

:grouphug:

They bother me. They might even scare me. I don't like masks, either. My family has settled in to watch The Dark Knight. After the very first scene, I've been busy with making snacks and answering the phone (and now I'm in my room trying desperately to avoid having to watch the movie). It creeped me out. My dh's grandmother collected dolls. She owned an old home that still had a "parlor" after initial enterance. She filled that room with dolls and it was as untouchable as a formal living room might be. Dolls in period costume, dolls in miniature carriages, dolls and their googly eyes everywhere. I was afraid of that room. No, I never said it, because that would certainly hurt her feelings (and grandma was a Pepsi drinkin', Pringles eatin' cool old grandma). But, geeze, it freaked me out. My mother's sister had clown pictures on her walls. Whenever we spent the night at my grandmother's house, we were supposed to sleep in my aunt's room. I couldn't sleep at all. And when I did, I had terrible dreams. Those pictures on the wall freaked me out. I had a clown bank when I was little. I stashed my money in a sock. I understand most people don't have the aversion I do to potentially normal things taking on the grotesque appearance of nonhuman things, but there has to be a few people who do. If you are one, come in here and make me feel better.

I agree with AllClad. Go all stainless, no teflon (bad bad bad). But don't buy the set - pick and choose your pieces based on what you use and then you won't have expensive pieces of cookware lying about taking up space, and then you can have 2 12" skillets if you regularly use them instead of that little butter melting pot that you may never use (or whatever your case may be :))

I would like to say "other" because I'm always called "Mom" or some variation :D. Even our residents call me that. One of them is in his 70s and he calls me "Ma". I don't even think he knows my real name (after nearly 12 years of living here!). And then half my family calls me Laurie. I dislike it, but I've given up (I have an enormous extended family). I spent the bulk of my teenage years trying to explain that was not my name, ignoring them when they called it, everything. No matter, they still do it. I don't get it, but there it is. My husband, my parents, my inlaws, and my friends know my name. It is Laura. And that is what they call me.

Are your cats indoor/outdoor cats, by chance? I ask because I smelled it at my mom's house and it was so awful. I told her about it and she insisted her cats don't pee inside, and besides, where would it soak in (she has tile in her kitchen and dining room, wood everywhere else)? After several hours, I figured out the smell was wafting in through an open window - they must use the landscaping around their deck as the outside toilet. Yuck. Anyway, if that's not the case, I hate to break it to you, but if it has soaked into wood, it may be next to impossible to get out. Vinyl can be replaced fairly inexpensively (and likely it hasn't soaked all the way through into the subfloor), but if he's sprayed the cabinets...hopefully someone will have a better answer than I do :(.

Maybe I just hate the word "submit", because your situation doesn't sound like submission to me - it sounds like making a really hard decision as a couple where one person doesn't or can't get his/her way. I would think that's pretty typical in a marriage. I don't see it as the image of "submission" I have in my head, I see it as a compromise.

I would absolutely want to know. And I'd be less than pleased if a parent didn't tell me. However, that's me. Before I would share the story with their parents, I would weigh the family situation carefully; in some families, it might not be wise to tell. I know that sounds cracked, but in my experience, some people will respond extremely to something like this (which, ftr, I think is pretty typical teenage/relationship behavior, but should be addressed) and exacerbate the problem to degrees I wouldn't wish on any child. And, conversely, some parents might just not want to know, and then I would have gone and blown my children's trust in me for absolutely no good reason. Which is yet another thing to consider; at this age, I want my kids telling me everything. If I told about something as not deadly as this, I would risk my kids withholding information from me in the future - I would need to weigh it carefully before I blabbed.