our dds both had twin sized loft beds. dd 14 switched hers out for bunk beds last year. (she found a family wanting to get rid of their bunk beds ;) dd 15 still loves hers. our standard poodle has her comfy bed under the loft bed. it is perfectly standard poodle size ;) hth, ann

we will tuck her (and you) into our prayers. so glad an mri is possible so quickly. :grouphug: ann

its been 24 hours and i'm already stir crazy. they say 4-6 weeks before i can put any weight on it at all.... aaahhhhhhhhhh....

Very Big Smile! i did an internship in a split 4/5 classroom with two teachers, and it was wonderful! i hope you have a good time and learn lots. one thing i discovered is that if i could manage 60, then anything less than that felt easier.... :) ann

they did do xrays. it doesn't feel as if its anything else, but i will see ortho next week and do an mri if it appears necessary. i am doing the rest, compression and elevation, but the ice doesn't seem to make my leg at all cool thru the immobilizer..... ?? i emailed my doctor to see what she thinks; the bandage has bled thru in about 16 hours.... its an adventure. how did you do your knee in? and we have an hmo that is willing to get me what i need once i know what i want. right now, i have standard crutches, and elbow crutches coming. ann

i was at the local theater prior to the girls' music performance, and had an encounter with a staircase with metal capped stairs. sigh.... i went to urgent care because one of the gashes was deep enough i thought it needed some help. i need some ideas for crutches. i broke my right kneecap, and it is my right elbow that won't take any weight. ideas? tia, ann

beautiful! and delicious i bet, too! you have some amazing new skills! ann

lots of good advice! reading one on one was the only way my four learned to read. nap time for littles is a good time to do work. i almost always have the kids in separate rooms working, and i wander from room to room. i fold laundry beside whichever one needs my presence to help them stay on task at that moment. hth, ann

could you tell us more about how homeschooling works at your house? things like how you start each day, if you stay with him, if there is a particular space in the house where he does school, etc. it may be something as simple as him needing outdoor time before he starts, a quiet place to work and you sitting with him. hth, ann

this. dds also said that if there is a lot of bruising from modern/contemporary/jazz, it may be because the moves aren't as controlled as they might be. this can happen when the weight isn't balanced in the right place, if the hips aren't square when they can be and/or if the core is not strong enough for what they are doing OR if they aren't engaging it. hth, ann

so, i just asked dds who dance pretty much every day, for 2-3 hours a day. she said, "i have had four bruises i can remember. its worth paying attention to." her younger sister said, "if she is rolling around on the floor in modern or jazz, she'll get bruises. if she is just doing tap and ballet, that's a problem." hth, ann

in the early years, i played the piano while they played, for intonation. because you have a piano and can play, that will help more than just about anything else. even now, when dd#3 is preprofessional, she asks me to play with her for about 10 minutes of each hour of practice. when i was first learning viola, practice is what it took. a little later on, joining a beginning quartet really helped. there are many online free violin classes, and many of the things relate well to both instruments. having an electronic tuner/metronome combo helps. and the viola suzuki books are good, too.... and there are you tube videos of the various pieces so she could hear them. dd#3 is teaching herself to play the viola (after the violin) with them. hope she loves it! ann

i'm sorry; it is simply hard. i ended up taking in boarders so i could keep my house. that was a different kind of hard. my mom had huge trouble being supportive of me thru divorce. there were lots of good reasons, and some not good reasons, but it was what it was. its like "going on a bear hunt" - we can't go over it, under it or around it. we just have to go through it. and you can. and you will come out the other side :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: ann

what is KA? King Arthur, maybe?

this site has some good reviews http://www.atthebakersbench.com/ hth, ann ps. this is the one we got this last time; its on the above site as the best machine for the frugal person ;). i like it okay (ie. not as much as i liked the one that broke) http://www.atthebakersbench.com/sunbeam-bread-machines/sunbeam-5891/ however, the recipes that come with it are dreadful. i use my old machine's recipe book or ones i find on line.

yes, you want one. if you don't like it, you can send it to one of us ;) fwiw, ann

i think it was about a week after he noticed he had a problem, so likely about 10 days from when it started. however, his eye went from puffy to swollen shut and the area around it swelling Very Quickly. He looked just puffy in the morning, and realized he was in trouble mid-afternoon. hth, ann

glad you are there. (and it will be cheaper than waiting!) fyi, its still possible to enroll in the new health care if it looks as if this might get expensive (as long as you start trying to enroll by the end of march) still hoping its something simple! ann

:grouphug: :grouphug: glad they are moving quickly on this. i had to keep reminding myself that knowing really is better than not knowing. one of my dear friends is in remission from stage IIB. my understanding from when she had treatment (which was a long while ago), was that stage II usually responds well to treatment. this weekend marks the one year from the choosing point for me. after six weeks of testing and pain, i decided I was not going to stop living. we went camping with morphine. it was a Very Different camping trip, but it turned out to be the turning point in my journey. I became fully committed to changing diet, exercising as possible, surrounding myself with music and beauty, meditation, etc. then came surgeries, etc.... but that was the moment when I stopped giving up control. choosing to do what i could in the face of all i couldn't control helped hugely. :grouphug: ann

this is a Very Important thing. once upon a time, dh did not do this, and ended up with the infection moving into the lining of the brain. its much easier to go to the doctor and get what you need now than to do the whole ambulance/ER/ hospital stay with intravenous antibiotics thing later. and if the doctor knows you are nursing, they can hopefully find something that will be fine for both of you :). be well, ann

http://www.marions-kochbuch.de/rezept/1735.htm eis mit heissen himbeeren or ice cream topped with hot raspberries. we make it just by microwaving frozen raspberries, and pouring them over frozen yoghurt. another nice one is pavlova with whipped cream and raspberries. or yoghurt breakfast parfaits with yoghurt, granola and raspberries.... i'm smiling; i think they are one of my favourite foods!

hugs, no advice. my dmil is still ticked that i won't let kids ride in car with her driving.... even after she nearly had a head on with us all in the car. sometimes you just do what you need to do.

you are a good mom. this is what i mentioned about helping your dd. even her local-to-you councillor may have ideas that would help about how to tell her. (and of course being tough isn't a solution, just the way it wouldn't be a solution if her leg was broken. i think it was a different poster you were referring to....) this makes you truly the sandwich generation. another thought would be if there were any way your dd could just move home now? take a leave of absence, so to speak? is that possible? hugs, ann

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: ideas: my cousin took his mom to visit friends on her good days to spend time with them. she loved that. (she had bone cancer). he also did interviews with her that were recorded so that we all had a record of her life as she wanted it remembered. (there was a company that helped with that). we moved into dfil's home for his last two months. (he had pancreatic cancer). dh did as much caregiving as dfil wanted, and we were there when he wanted company. some days, that was just to snuggle one of the babies. other times, it was to tell stories. my folks are still doing well, but i have spent weeks in the past few years recording 75 things i remember about each one of them. i have cried buckets in advance, but feel better prepared for it now. my brother has been going thru photos, to the same effect. many years ago, as my grandfather was dying, i spent time each day listening to him tell stories; i was seven. it was a treasured time for us both. if its possible to touch base with your dds councillor, they may have an idea about the most helpful approach with your dd. when does her semester end? i am thinking if it ends in six weeks or so, is it possible to hold off telling her until she gets home at end of term? usually, i don't recommend with holding information, but if there is a risk of suicide, it may be worth considering. her counciller will know better what might make the most sense. many hugs, ann

this week, we are going to go over one essay question a day in addition to everything else, and then she will retake the practice test next weekend. she seems to feel better knowing there is an approach. apparently, when i said to her that we had spent so far learning biology, and would spend the next six weeks learning how to share her knowledge in test format, that helped.... a lot. who knew? thanks to all for the reassurance.... we're open to any new ideas, too. ann