Take this with a grain of salt, but I'd have HER make up fliers for rehoming the rabbit, put up a craigslist ad, etc. I wouldn't, for any amount of money, force her to keep it. The rabbit, albeit well cared for, doesn't sound like its getting much out of the relationship, and neither is your daughter. I would, probably, forewarn her not to request another animal for a while....possibly a really long while, depending on how you feel about it. I've given up animals before, due to varying things. Once because I went back to work and didn't have time to do the heavy maintenance they required, once because it was a stray dog that my husband brought home and it turned out to be a horrible fit for our family (I think it must have been abused or something because every time someone new would come over she'd cower and pee all over the place), once, about your daughters age even, I got a Pekingese who I had NO business having and took him right back to the pet store almost immediately. I've yet to give up one of my kids, though, and they are for more trouble than any animal has ever been ;) I wouldn't worry that this will teach her to give up, but some things you do need to move on from (after making sure the rabbit is somewhere it will be taken care of).

Sweet Baboo LOL I haven't heard that in ages! That's Peanuts, right? My uncle used to call his babies "Sweet Babbo"s. I've been tackling Saturday since 2:30 this morning :/ DD had developed an odd, but not disturbing, rash. At 2:30 am it flared up and was very disturbing. I ended up rushing her to the dr at 8 am. Probably poison ivy AND she is allergic to the glue in bandaids (?) so the bandaids we had been putting on the rash to keep her from clawing at it actually produced a second rash. Then, I had to get actually showered and dressed, pick up her meds when the pharmacy opened, pick up snacks/ODS's friend/rent video games because I'd promised him a friend over today *yawn* Did I mention I had to get up by 7 to drop my mother off at her church retreat? I need to grade math. Must do so. Also, need to work on planning next week. Our friends from out of town will be in for a visit so I will be planning our day to be sure we have plenty of time off to spend with them. I'll have to get lunch together. Pizza for the kids (delivery!) and quinoa with shrimp for me, I suppose. I need to catch up on some laundry. All the dirty clothes are clean, but I have some stuff I bought at Goodwill that needs to be washed so I can wear it. I cleaned the house last night for the company today, so at least I can sit down and not be bothered by dust or dirt or clutter.

My chiropractor says people are very affected by the weather, and not always in ways you'd expect. I had told him that I a,ways have a truly bad, rotten, awful day the day BEFORE a storm hits. The day of the storm, I'm measurably better, but the day before I feel like I'm losing my mind. He said it isn't actually uncommon, it's just that you hear people talk more about being affected by the stormy day. I'd say its highly likely your kids could be stressed by the weather.

Timers will help some kids, and do nothing for others (ask me how I know :glare: ). Basically, a timer can enhance a child who has the capability to stay on task, but it won't do squat for a child who can't. I have pretty much decided all 3 of my kids have varying levels of ADHD/ADD (my husband is/has always been ADD, so I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out LOL) If he really, truly has cognitive issues - such as not being able to follow multiple step instructions, forgetting what he's doing in the midst of doing it - then it could well be something like ADD/ADHD. I'd look into that. I know my 13 year old fell into the "I'm an idiot" trap that a PP mentioned. I am 99% sure no one told him he was stupid, but he felt that way. It has taken a lot of time and effort on my part to get him past immediately thinking he is too stupid to do something so why bother trying. A timer does NOTHING for him. Repeating instructions do NOTHING for him. What does help are things like a written list that is broken down into parts (1. Do vocabulary work - write the definition and use the word in a sentence. 2. Read 2 chapters in your book and then complete the workbook exercise...etc) He follows it in numerical order, by his own choice, so I prioritize for him. If there is something that must be done by a certain time, and others that could wait if they had to, I better put the must be done item at the top of the list ;) Through trial and error, we've found that a combination of reduced screen time, junk free diet, and a good dose of caffeine in the morning helps him get through is work in 1/2 the time and he says he doesn't have trivial thoughts "sneaking in" during that time. Honestly, I know that meds would be the optimal way for my kids because the effects would last longer than the caffeine, but I haven't gone there (yet). I do find that with age came some maturity that has helped. At least he KNOWS he needs to do these things to stay on track and recognizes that he won't do good work or finish if he doesn't do these things. WANTING to change is half the battle. I could, and did, micromanage him all day long when he was younger, but it didn't do any longterm good. The change came when he finally saw, and admitted he saw, that he was not keeping up with his peers (and decided he wanted to do what it took to do so).

I'm probably being passive aggressive, but I might make a BIG FAT HAIRY DEAL over the aunt and uncle for bringing the noodles. You know, with a band and skywriting and a shower of rose petals. I'd tell MIL thanks for the idea and how I "went all out" to show them how MUCH I appreciated them putting those noodles in their car ;) I really don't like people playing games with me, if you think I'm not doing something right TELL me. Do NOT make little subtle jabs at me. And, yeah, I'd find my own noodles :p

It sounds like you are making headway! IME, getting one room looking fantastic makes you itch to finish off rest of the house :)

I have supplied her with 2 fifty five gallon trash cans. IMO, 110 gallons of recycling is plenty ;) she doesn't want to crush the items, though, she could probably fit everything in if she'd stomp water jugs and break down boxes.

On my phone, typos abound. Eeek! I'll edit from the computer later *blush*

I do throw a lot of stuff away. However, I did make some donations the last two times I purged. My rule for that is: it must be really good stuff (stuff I would buy myself if I still needed it - so nothing torn up, in need of fixing up, etc) AND I do not take it in to be "accepted". We have a church run thrift store with a drop off spot. I drop it, let them handle it. If they don't like my items, they can toss them in the dumpster because that's where they'd be going if I didn't donate them (again, not that they are not good items but I refuse to hang on to something for forever just because its in good shape). I had one yard sale this summer before we moved. It was worth it. I made around $400. That said, it was a major, moving out of state purge so there was a ton of clothing, housewares, and some furniture. If it was a normal "dang this house is a mess" purge, I wouldn't have had so much stuff and it wouldn't have been worth saving stuff for a week and sorting it, pricing it, and getting up at 5 am to sell it. I'd say if you can't have the yard sale within a week, and aren't prepared to chunk what didn't sell, then you are better off to bite the bullet and discard it now. I'd find a donation box for as much as I could (some may only take clothing?) and then just dump the rest. Honestly, once you've added up how much you just threw away, it will be an effective measure against impulse buying "Do I need this or will I give $20 for it today and have to pay $5 to leave it at the dump a year from now?" I also only recycle what I can fit in the can for that week (we have weekly pick up). If the cans are full, that item is now trash. My mother holds onto stuff, throwing the items into corners to await the can being emptied, then it's full immediately from the backup, then she's back to having crap in the corners of her house. It isn't worth it, to me, to live with what really IS trash (not dirty trash, but trash none the less) in the nooks and crannies of my home. Edited for typos (thanks so much, autocorrect LOL)

I agree with Parrothead. I empty the room, clean it, and then "restock" with only what actually belongs in there. Items that came out of the room, but don't get stored in there, are put back in their rightful spot. Anything that doesn't have an immediately apparent spot is trash and goes in the trash can. I have, so far, dejunked my mom's kitchen, basement, and two bedrooms. Each room took me approximately half a day...except the basement. The basement took a week and two attempts (the first attempt was thwarted when she dragged all the crap back in rather than dealing with it *glare*)

Contact allergy?

((Bean)) If that were my child, I'd be hitting the roof. I hope it's that your sister and her husband are handling this quietly, and not that they just aren't paying attention. It's hard to be someone who cares passionately about something and have others, the people you think SHOULD be feeling strongly about it, acting like they have no interest. Surely, surely, surely your BIL has his antennae up since he is an addict and counselor.

I'm guessing by fodder you mean is it mainly made up of advertisments for toys and stuff? It isn't really (although, it IS American Girl.....so, yeah, the whole thing is like a showcase LOL) I think it has some good stuff in it, though. The crafts are good, though, like another poster, I detest it when they have sugar-y/junk items. The crafts are hit or miss for us, but the short story and Q&A section is really sweet and age appropriate. My 10 year old enjoys it.

That sounds reasonable to me. For $200 I can go to Goodwill and outfit *myself* in Banana Republic, Gap, and Ann Taylor LOFT for a season...but they never have anything for my kids. We won't even discuss shoes. Last shoe shopping trip I spent $109 and got two pairs of shoes. Two of my kids have terrible feet, and must wear special inserts in really well made shoes. The shoes MUST fit a certain way, as well. It gets pretty expensive. I'm lucky that my parents do enjoy helping us purchase clothes and shoes. I do try to buy durable items that will last more than one year (though that doesn't happen with shoes...they need a new size every six months!)

My skin is in much better condition since eliminating sugar, grain, and dairy from my diet. I didn't eliminate grain and dairy until recently, but saw a pretty drastic improvement in my skin just from cutting sugar. Also gone (besides the zits and grainy skin texture): daily headaches, stomach bloating, feeling nauseous when I wake up, never being able to feel fully rested (not that I DO feel fully rested all the time now...but I feel fine when I get a reasonable amount of sleep).

I understand how you, and the other posters, feel. I am going to look into PTSD, so thank you for posting that, Tap. I had never considered it before. I have been living, for 15 years, with one form of stress or another in dealing with my family's needs. Sometimes it's horrendous and daunting, other times it's like someone else said - just the knowledge that things rarely go right and the waiting on the other shoe to drop.

ODS got a windows 8 laptop for Christmas. He swears he likes it. I used it last night and wanted to hurl it at a wall. I'm not kidding. Same thing with the paragraphs. Dd needs a new laptop and wants one like his, I need a new laptop and I do NOT want windows 8!!!

Me, too! Realistically, I knew I probably had chosen as good as it was going to get ... that I wasn't going to find a better fit. I was, however, sending myself to the funny farm by second, third, and fourth guessing everything. I was also worried about cost, but, realistically, I wasn't going to get out cheaper and get out with what I needed. I bought it all and I refuse to look back! Talk to the hand!

Unfortunately a divorce, with kids involved, won't be fair to anyone. Not the parents, not the kids. You want a fair divorce, don't have kids. Not that you should stay married just because divorce is unfair...it is simply a bad situation at that point. Hopefully, divorce becomes the lesser of two evils. Op, you could've written about my dad. My mom has her own issues, and I can see why he couldn't get along with her, but his sense of their history warped at some point. She was also "unhappy with everything he did". Well, he job hopped all the time (so no steady ins for me until she put me in babysitting and went back to work to get it herself), he gave her a diamond necklace in lieu of an engagement ring.....she later found out he'd had the diamond taken off his ex wife's ring and set on a necklace to save money, I'm just SHOCKED that she threw that thing in a box and never wore it :p That isn't to say that my mom didn't end up with a memory of how things happen that she had skewed in her favor, but it was a bit less fantasy based as his was. She spends more time blaming him for being "less than" what she deserved and, thereby, ruining her life. Honestly, and Bethany likely wont appreciate this, the best thing that happened to me was my dad being told to walk in the divorce. I only had to see him 4 hours a month. This allowed me to grow up in just the one whacked out home, rather than split my time between two parents who were bitter and unhappy. My mom was the "better" choice, even if she has issues. I totally get it when one parent stays so the kids won't have to go to visitation with the other parent.

Sweet! I saw something on the video that led me to check your profile here - you guys aren't too far from me (possibly). I'm right on the Mississippi/TN state line (when we are in TN) :)

You know, my mom has talked about this at times. She knows a few couples that were shotgun weddings either while the bride was still in high school or immediately after graduation (these would be classmates of hers). She said that she always smugly assumed that they'd be miserable and divorce, but many of them are still happily married after all these years. I really think it's luck of the draw and the people's dedication to making it work (and a combination thereof) that make or break a shotgun marriage. Alternatively, I know a couple who dated all through high school and several years after. They were considered "the perfect" couple and everyone assumed, when they wed, that they'd be married for life. Two weeks after the wedding, he came home from work and found her in a compromising position on their kitchen counter. He threw her, her boyfriend, and all her things out in the front yard. Super short marriage.

That was the purpose of my edit, to add that I wouldn't want to come across as whining about or mocking my sn child. I wouldn't enjoy reading it, either. That said, you have to be very careful with hoe you write about their struggles - you need to be honest, so people don't get an idea that this is an "easy" fix or whatever, and, yet, not sound like you are at your wit's end. This is actually what I was thinking about in my original reply: Which is why I mentioned my own child's struggles and how reading Luther's blogs has helped me with him.

You could certainly do this, but sometimes photos help. To see the child actually DOING the activity. Or even just to see the child, and see that he/she is a normal looking child...that you haven't tricked yourself that your sn child looks normal to the outside world. To see that this kid looks happy and relaxed. I don't know, sn parenting is just different. I find myself more anxious, needing more reassurances, with this child than with my two neuro-typical kids. Perhaps because his disability is one that can't be seen, and is, therefore, often questioned by well meaning adults. Also, not adding the birthdate but the age can be important. My 9 year old is not doing fourth grade work. It has helped me when I've seen that other MERLD kids are working below grade level in some, or all, areas. I have considered making videos of my son doing some of the lessons with his accommodations. That would have been so helpful, would still be so helpful, to me. That would, though, allow people to see his academic shortcomings and difficulties.

Good Heavens! I don't even have a cervix anymore, and that story gave me phantom pains! Were I in your shoes, I'd probably ask them to just knock me out.

Lol I would also add that you should factor in how much you like the parents. The more annoying I find the parents, the louder and more battery draining the toys become. My personal favorite gift was a toy I gave to an ex's baby for her first birthday. The baby he had with a girl he had seen behind my back while we dated (though, thankfully, this baby came along well after our breakup). I had gotten it for free, but it was so loud and lit up...no way was I giving it to my kid! It was new in the box, and I DID buy a great big gift bag full of batteries to keep that puppy running for a long time :p People who haven't irritated me, I go gentle on :) Books, a sweet DVD, an outfit, a plushie or cute/not noisy toy set....