I'd have him take it cold or with whatever prep he can manage beforehand. My dd took it cold. It's a long story but basically it was not our intention to have her take it cold and we anticipated that she would have to take it again to get the score she needed. She scored much higher than predicted (and much higher than the practice test I sprung on her a few months prior). It turned out she did not need to take it again at all. She needed a high enough score to get the max merit aid at her college of choice. Since she got it one and done, she saved a lot of wasted time on prep.

That would be a hard no for me. My dd is in the process of signing a lease for next year's college housing. She has run across an apartment complex in which one bedroom, of three total, is windowless in each unit. I do not understand how this is legal but the building was just completed two years ago so it must be to code. They are not cheap either so it was off the table for cost reasons alone.

Thanks for all of the responses! No, their facility does not have a social worker. That would be extremely helpful for a LOT of things. And since their lease is the only "proof of current address" I have, I am thinking a note from the facility manager or a bill for rent is not going to be considered a second item of evidence. But I might try it.....I could always switch down to non-enhanced if they rejected it. But, you have confirmed my thoughts that going with a non-enhanced ID is probably going to be my best initial step if all else fails. As of right now, they would be able to fly with that and if there is a possibility of flying later, a passport might be the way to go. Every. Little. Thing. is such a battle!

Thanks!

We live in a ToT destination neighborhood and always ToTed from home. We live in an old city neighborhood that on paper would appear to be the worst place to ToT (no sidewalks, lots of student rentals, low income) but because the area is older housing, the houses are very close together and lots of people decorate their house, have scary music, offer "treats" to the parents, etc...... People come from all over and no one that I know of minds it at all. In fact, before we were empty nesters, we hosted a big annual ToT party so all of our friends out in the country had somewhere to launch from. I have had to run to the store to restock candy a few years, which I do prefer to having a bunch leftover. Like others, I don't mind the extra people but the cars drive me nuts. Many parents will follow their kids with their car or have the kids actually get IN the car between houses. Our lots are 50 feet wide. This makes to sense! I have asked these people over the years and they say they do it because there are no sidewalks. So, they are making it MORE dangerous for everyone else. About 50% of the time, it snows on Halloween, making the roads and visibility even worse. As far as I know, no one has been hit by a car. But I know the city has been trying to discourage traditional ToTing for years and the police have stopped patrolling that night like they used to. Instead they hold a Treat Street thing downtown on some weekend day around Halloween. I think it is lame, honestly. Half the fun is being in the dark and seeing your neighbors and house decorations, etc..... Most kids do BOTH anyway so I don't see the point. I always hated explaining to dd that she could do one or the other but she was not going to end up with TWO giant bags of candy.

I was not a EE major but had to take Circuits I (and II and II for that matter) as part of my degree program. It took me 4 tries. Four. Sigh. But I did get through it on attempt 4 and luckily was able to waddle through II and III with one try each. I was never interested in EE anyway but if I had been, it would have been obvious right away that it was not for me!

I know nothing about this story nor do I have a real opinion on homeschool regulation, but I can say in my state, that no we never had to notify anyone, ever, that we were homeschooling. No testing. No hours reported. No registering as a homeschooler. Nothing. My dd has graduated (as in, I issued a diploma) and is a college student now but as far as our state in concerned, she did not exist as a "student" in any official capacity. I believe there are 14-ish states that fall into this category.

I have a lot of long distance nieces and nephews in that fun toy age (0-7years). We have a great local toy store that I have used almost exclusively for gifts for years. The problem is that they do not ship so I have to buy the toys, wrap them, then ship them. Even before the most recent shipping price hikes and reliability issues, the cost and hassle of shipping was getting unsustainable. So, I switched to Amazon since they will wrap and ship directly. But, I am not a fan of Amazon in general and their always-the-same-boring-bag "wrapping" is lame for kids. I am looking for smaller online companies that wrap (with the ability to personalize) and ship. Please share!

I just read this article as everyone in my family is reaching the booster eligibility date. One thing they wrote about is that people who had two doses (not J&J) AND had Covid will not see significantly increased protection from a booster. Anyone know how this might work out over time? If we know natural immunity from actually having covid wanes over time would that also mean the need for a booster increases? Dh had a "mild" but knocked-on-his-back case of Covid. Then was vaccinated three weeks after his positive test (that was the local recommendation at that time). I assume this means he should probably not get a booster now. But when, if ever, should he consider it? He is in a very high risk job situation so he is exposed on a regular basis. And.... Because dh is in a high risk situation and dd lives in a college dorm at a school with no vaccine or mask mandates, dd and I are chomping at the bit to get boosted. We both had Pfizer. It looks like Moderna is the way to go for boosters. But I do worry how we are going to have any real data with all this mixing and matching over time. I don't really like that we are all just supposed to choose our own adventure here. I would like to see some best practices before I get another jab. Is it worth waiting for a bit to see what shakes out?

I watched it and thought it was very well done. My only "complaint" is that despite how many legitimate roadblocks the main character faces, it still does not touch the true hopelessness many in her position face. I have never heard of a DV shelter that was so nice with individual spaces for family units....especially that had openings on demand. And the job/money/helpers math is just not how it works for many. The main character actually had a lot more lifelines than usual. They were clean, dressed, and fed almost continually. Who has a car gifted to them or has offers to stay rent-free in posh studio apartments? Pretty much no one. I think it was eye-opening but paints a rosier picture than many truly live through.

Please don't put them in a safe deposit box! I am on year three of a wild goose chase of trying to find my mom's important papers and who knows whatever else she put in a box. Somewhere. I have two keys for two boxes and we have not been able to find out what bank(s) they are in. She has dementia and cannot remember. She had her estate planning redone so we are good with that but had she not and those docs were in a safe deposit box, we would not have access to them to carry out her wishes. Our attorney has original signed copies of our documents so it does not matter too much where we store ours.

I saturated our Ektorp couch cushions with Nature's Miracle (enzyme cleaner) then dried in the sun earlier this summer. It was a last ditch attempt to save the 20 year old couch to also avoid the cannot-find-a-new-couch problem. In our case, we had a cat door malfunction while we were on vacation and the cats did not have access to their litter boxes for a few days. Whoops. They at least chose the oldest piece of furniture rather than the wood floors or something more important to us. I did not have much hope but it did work. I stripped and washed the covers then put the pre-rinsed cushions, one at a time, in a big rubbermaid bin, saturated with the cleaner, and stomped with my feet to get it everywhere. Then hung them to dry for days. It took several days for them to dry completely. They did indeed clean up all the way but unfortunately, I hate the smell of the cleaner almost as much as cat pee. I am hoping that will fade with time.

Another way to make sure people have complete mess kits is to make it a group project pre-camping. Have everyone bring their components then make "swishy bags" as a craft. A swishy bag is a hand-sewn bag made of mesh or very loose washcloth material with a drawstring top. In the olden days, we put our dirty kit into the swishy bag and literally took turns dunking them into soap and then rinse water bins. That is gross and I do not suggest that. But they can also just be a cute mesh bag to keep the kit together (and in one place) and campers can put their clean, wet kit in the bag and hang from a branch/clothesline to dry. This keeps dishes from getting mixed up and puts them all in one place for easy access at the next meal. If you suspect some scouts will not bring their kits or will not have all of the components, you could just grab a small collection from a thrift store to build up missing/incomplete kits. As for foods, if you are trying to only use fire, I suggest things on sticks and instant oatmeal. Or using a big grate over the fire as a cooktop. Or if you have the funds, tonka cookers can be used to cook an amazing array of foods with no waste or major clean-up. My family has eaten for days using only tonka cookers. For a group that big, you will want at least one cooker per three people and plan to take turns.

Stand alone basement toilets are very common in my area. Several of my friends have them and there was one in our basement at one point in the past. In our case, all of these houses were built pre-plumbing (and electricity, for that matter). When water and sewer were put in, most homeowners could not afford to fully plumb their houses or reconfigure rooms to make traditional bathrooms. Often the introduction to having indoor plumbing was a single kitchen sink and the easy-to-install basement toilet. We affectionately call them "thrones" here as they are usually on a small platform. Seeing as the alternative was outhouses or chamber pots, without sinks, it was not considered odd that there was not a sink nearby. These houses often held large families so even when proper bathrooms were installed, people kept the thrones as back up. And many persist today and are used as back-up. The basements in our area are typically not tall enough to finish so it is rare for one to put proper walls around the throne or make it into a real bathroom but that is not 100% unheard of. My family does volunteer work for an agency that assists the elderly in our area and we have come across the occasional house that still has a throne as the only toilet. It creates a special challenge for home health aids.

I get that. And understand the intent. But the flippant, "just run a fan" rubs me the wrong way. When people are grappling with a second Christmas with isolated family members being alone again, it just stings. I live in a very harsh climate and we have maintained socializing by being outside despite the weather. Our fire pits and snow pants have never seen so much action. Anyone who lives in a climate where they can open a window and run a fan can (and should) meet outdoors with risky mixed company anyway assuming everyone is healthy and hearty enough to do so. But this does not work for our elderly and fragile family members. I am not really arguing anything here, just that advice like this can feel a little hurtful and dismissive. In our case, we will celebrate Halloween with friends outdoors. I handed out candy last year, outdoors and masked, and will do so again this year. Thanksgiving is still up in the air. We plan to visit our families in person at their locations but we have one person in assisted living that may or may not be allowing in-person visitors or pick-ups and another side of the family that includes a family of anti-vaxxers/maskers. We cannot call that one until we know the status of boosters, local surges in infection, and AL rules. I cannot even think about Christmas yet. We will be winter camping, outdoors (obviously), for NYE with friends.

A window fan? Really? My heating bill is through the roof that time of year! I cannot even imagine. Many days our furnace struggles to keep up without opening windows. It is like the recommendation is ignorant to the fact that it is COLD for half the U.S. during the holidays.

OP here. Yikes! Thanks for chiming in. I will get it checked out! It sounds easy enough to do.

I am dealing with a persistent and annoying pain in my leg and google is failing me. Maybe someone has an idea? I am a runner and run 5-10 miles, 4-5 times a week, mostly on gravel or trails. I ran in my annual half marathon in mid-July and it went very well. I took a day off and headed out for a normal 5 mile trail run. I felt off the whole time and ended up tripping on a root and falling very hard about halfway through. I brushed myself off and finished my run. The next day, I came down with a nasty cold (multiple negative PCR covid tests), which is why I probably felt "off." Between the fall and the cold, I took a whole week off of running. When I started back up, both legs had a lot of tightness and pain from the fall. Nothing bad enough to worry me but annoying. I put up with it for over and month and it did improve but settled into a persistent dull pain in one leg that is present even when resting. It gets worse right after a run and is most noticeable when sitting for long periods, which I do daily for my job. So, I went to the chiropractor. I needed some adjustments but he could see nothing that would be causing the pain. He told me to rest, stretch, and ice and all the usual stuff. I did and it did improve the pain while actually running. But the ambient pain while resting as not improved and gets worse each week. It is so hard to describe what it feels like. It started as general, all-over, leg pain that is pretty normal after a wipe out. But this last persistent phase that I have been "stuck" on for over a month is a dull, throbbing, deep pain in my thigh. It is not always in the same spot and I cannot pinpoint the location as it is deep. No poking or stretching or repositioning makes it better or worse. Almost like a very bad case of restless leg syndrome. Advil does not touch it. I am almost beginning to think it is in my head. Now it is so distracting that it is hard to concentrate on my work. Driving or riding in the car for long periods of time is also very uncomfortable. Google tells me that I do not have the right symptom match for thrombosis. No swelling or redness. Although I do have a strong family history of blood clot issues. I am up to date on my annual exam and bloodwork. Nothing unusual there. I have not had covid and am fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, well before this all started. Anyone experience anything like this? I'd really like to know if I can just safely ignore this and it will eventually improve. I had a nasty shoulder injury that took 18 months to fully recover so I do know things like this can take time. Or should I be more proactive in trying to get to the bottom of it? If so, where would you start? I don't think my PCP is going to take "annoying leg pain" very seriously. And even if she did, what would the next step be?

These are the worst! We get them year round as our yard houses several large pine trees. They prefer to hang out in the carpet on the stairs, sticking straight up. At least once a year, I have one puncture the bottom of my foot. Pure evil. I'll take the cat hair in the fridge over those needles!

In that case, it is totally up to you. It sounds like more of a favor for a friend rather than the school asking you. You are perfectly within your rights to decline or only provide what you are comfortable providing. I also want to say that I cannot speak for practices at a community college. My experience is as a non-tenured instructor at a university over the span of 13 years. Sharing was the norm but not required. My contract did not address it at all.

What upset me most about the latest episode was that "M" felt the need to apologize for being upset. To make others, ADULTS whose job it is to help her, feel OK when she was so obviously with 100% proof bullied.

No trigger. I chose to listen to it. It just makes me feel so hopeless. It's important to know this is going on.

I have seriously contemplated stopping this podcast. It is just another hopeless situation that *I* can do nothing about that is contributing to my daily anxiety. At the risk of stepping too close to the politics line, this is EXACTLY what I worried about after the 2016 election results were tallied. I was so hoping to be wrong.

I've been listening and I was appalled by the principal's slant. The conversation with "M" was handled very poorly and I really do not understand why the parents were not invited to the conversation.

Unless your contract states that your materials are the school's property, I don't think you have to provide them. Are they suggesting you must do this or just asking?