We seem to have the worst luck with book lights. I just bought everyone a new one for Christmas and half of them are not working any more. Does anyone have a favorite brand or style? The kids like the kind that can clip to the book. Thanks

This may not be helpful....I was gifted a beeswax candle from someone that raises bees for honey. Can you located a hive owner in your area?

The payphone was gone by the time we sold the house because of cell phone usage.

I encouraged you to speak to the who ever handles zoning because I know of a small town that had very little zoning. There was a commercial strip mall that had residential homes across the street. The restaurant in the strip mall applied for a "strip club license" and the town had to give them the license because the town had no zoning rules for strip clubs.

At that time, payphone=drugs.

Our first house was on a corner lot. The house faced the residential street and our driveway ran along the back of a small commercial building. It was an insurance office so mostly Mon-Sat. 9-5 business with only 3-4 parking spots. For many years, all was fine, until the new owner put a public payphone very near our driveway. Zoning-wise there was nothing we could do. The payphone attracted all kinds of activity, noise and chaos on the weekends. Once you are interested in a house, I would go to the city/town building department and ask "worst case scenario". Could the nearby property be turned into anything at all? An Amazon warehouse that loads/unloads trucks all night long? etc. I read something recently that suggested asking the previous, previous owners when you are looking at an unusual property.

We were invited to watch football with a family that owns a Newfie. I think he's 3-4 years old. Every time someone yelled at the game, the newfie jumped up and blocked the TV. The family kept piling chew things in front of him so he'd keep out of the way of the TV. There was such a huge, huge pile by the end of the game. I've never seen 1 dog with that much stuff.

I would suggest you read a bit about the idea of children using lifejackets vs. not using them. I'm firmly in the camp of "no lifejackets"

I've posted about my ds experience with DE credits during high school but I don't know who to find/search/repost that info. My ds had 72 DE credits during high school. Most of the DE credits were at the local CC and then a few credits at the StateU. He applied to 3 privates schools and 3 state schools. The private schools would not "degree audit" him until he was accepted and put down a deposit. So, during the application process, he had no idea what classes transfer in. Ultimately, he chose to attend the StateU and they took all of his DE credits. During January of his senior year of high school, he went over to the StateU with his unofficial transcript and asked someone for help picking classes for the spring semester at the CC. (I didn't go with him.) He did find someone to help him but they were honest and said, "It was their best guess" which classes would transfer. During high school, he kept all of his DE class syllabi, notebooks, tests, etc. He never needed any of it but I've heard that sometimes that helps in getting classes accepted. BTW, as you probably know, it's not in the best financial interest of any college to take all of those credits.....

I agree with trying to stay someplace else. However, I would think about taking the kids to part of the services. My bil just passed away unexpectedly. His 19 year old son, my nephew had never been to any kind of funeral service. He had never been inside a funeral home. His mother kept putting it off. So, my kids had been to great-great-aunt Sue's funeral but my nephew would stay home with a sitter. It was awful to watch him cope with both the loss of his father and the unknown about the events of the day.

My teens and their friends joke that all the "flunking" happens at the end of the year. They believe the state is trying to make $$$. They also believe that teens who have their parents in the back seat flunk more often than teens who have the drivers-ed guy in the backseat. I don't know if there's any truth to their ideas but it seems to happen enough that there just might be....

We just watched Christmas in Connecticut. It was funny.

This is the one I have https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LGSHMO/ref=twister_B00TQ6USWE?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

There's a story about a biological mother that was told that her baby had died at birth. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-reunites-daughter-she-thought-had-died-birth-nearly-70-n944556 I live in a state where a XYZ religion was the only agency in charge of adoption. Sometimes that religion's beliefs played a part in what birth mothers were told or not told about their babies' adoptions. Sometimes birth mothers don't have the ability to answer some of the questions you might be looking for. I have a relative that converted in the 1940s to XYZ religion to be able to adopt a baby. I worked with a women that traveled to Canada in the 1950s to give birth because she didn't like the choices that XYZ religion offered her in this state.

I drank raspberry leaf tea with the pregnancy that was 9 days over due. I had braxton hicks for those 9 days. Labor was 1 hour from 1st contraction to the baby's arrival. I don't know if the tea helped me but I really do hope that it helps you!!

I just signed a four page, single spaced, parent contract for my teen's winter sport. It lists the acceptable reasons for missing practice. I don't agree with everything in the paperwork but I at least I have the expectations before the start of the season. I "think" that that rules apply to all the high schools in our conference.

My nine year old will make an egg and cheese sandwich on toast. It's a reasonably healthy snack that he can make without any help. Grease a bowl with cooking spray. Crack an egg into the bowl. Microwave for 30 sec., add a slice of cheese, microwave for 30 more seconds. The egg will slide right out of the bowl onto the toast.

So, I've searched these boards and the internet but I could still use some advice. The doc office called and said that my iron level was a 22 and my ferritin level was 4. So, the office called in an iron Rx and told me to come back in 3 months. (My VitD was a 19 and they called in an Rx for that too.) What do those numbers mean? I cannot seem to find any information on how to understand those numbers. Thanks

We were given a 4 year old female Vizsla from a breeder about 6 months ago. The breeder was getting out breeding the vizsla. She had never lived indoors, so we were expecting some bumps with training but she was housebroken within a week of her arrival. She's a really good family dog. She does like to be near us all the time. We've been able to keep her out of the bathroom, off the beds, off the couches with some training. She would prefer to sit on our laps but the compromise is that we move her dog bed really, really close to the couch :) She sits on the dog bed and leans into somebody's legs. So, yes, a velcro dog.

I do. She won a million dollars. She was in her late 60s. She always rented from a relative and was on public assistance her entire adult life. So, no job to quit or mortgage to pay off. Her kids quickly encouraged her to put it an annuity (I think that's what they did) So she gets a monthly check for the rest of her life. She gave some to each of her kids (maybe 20k?) She bought a brand new car. She kept some more out to just blow. Well 6ish years later the blow-money is gone. So, the kids did the right thing. She had to adjust to paying her own health insurance and car insurance. She hasn't traveled or done anything really spectacular. However, whatever her monthly check is, it's now more than she had each month on public assistance. The kids were hoping she's do more with the opportunity. She did have people approach her and ask for money, so that's what happened to the blow-money.

One of my teens did earn an AA during high school. It was not something that was ever a goal . It was a decision that we made late in the spring of senior year. My teen was only the second dual enrollment student that had done it at that CC. I went and found the first student's mom and ask her a ton of questions. I think earning an AA during high school is a very local question. I would suggest finding another parent in your area. For example, my teen chose not to take Calc I & Calc II at the local CC. Instead, he took Calc I & II at the StateU with their dual enrollment program. That ended up being a good piece of advice.

I gave birth at the beginning of August. All my other kids have summer bdays. So they would have been just turned 3, 5, 7 and the newborn. So yes, I know I went to the pond/beach (not a pool) without another adult. The pond/beach does not allow arm floaties, life jackets, etc. However, lifeguards were on duty. Is the pool zero entry? Similar to the pond/beach? Sometimes, I dragged my beach chair into the water and I sat in the chair with the newborn. Kids were instructed not to go past belly buttons. Sometimes, I wore the newborn in a my Maya sling. I walked in the knee deep water following the kids around. I still encouraged the kids not to go past their belly buttons. I know at some point I saw a sling made out of mesh-type material. I considered buying it but didn't because we don't really swim in September. So I would've only used it a month. Sorry, I cannot remember the name of the product. It was green.

I completely understand. My ds took all of his DE classes at community college. The only DE he did at the StateU was Calc I & II for the same reasons you have listed.

I've owned Revere Ware pots and pans since college. I don't own any of the new items. Only the really old stuff. If you have a second-hand shop perhaps you could look there? or ebay? In a fire/flood I would have a hard time leaving them behind ? Here's one on ebay but I would never pay $45. This pot would be $15-20 a the second hand shop. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Revere-Ware-6-Quart-6-qt-Stock-Pot-with-Lid-Pre1968/153174949023?hash=item23a9f03c9f

I think studying with other Calc students is a good idea. However, I want to following up on something. My ds would still strongly suggest that your son still get a tutor from the tutoring center on campus. Your son should look for a tutor that's had this professor.