I started getting white hairs (they are pure white) in my late 20's. I also have some random hairs all over, and a big stripe at my part. We call it the Poltergeist Mom stripe. haha! I dye it when I get around to it. I use non-permanent dye, so it fades gradually all over. Sometimes I roll with the grey, sometimes I can't stand it and dye it.

I think they are really good quality. I would use them! :)

DS and I are both allergic to all penicillin products. They are pretty easy to avoid, and we have no problems with antibiotics in other families. I have it on my medic alert bracelet, but only b/c I was ordering one for something else more serious (we both only have mild reactions, so far) and just added it on. I have never bought one for DS.

I actually have the best luck with V05 shampoos. They are cheap (around $1 a bottle) and they work well. Pantene also works well for me, but some people consider it to be too harsh (I don't find that to be true, but..) I tried baby shampoo once, and it did terrible things to my hair and made me break out.

You can find it in the same aisle as all of the other facial cleansers, like Neutrogena, Clearasil, etc. This is it right here http://www.walmart.c...em/19758058 It is the only thing that really works for me. I would also suggest changing their shampoo. I break out really bad with certain shampoos, but not at all with others. It just takes some experimenting to find the right one.

Walmart sells their own version of Proactiv in their Equate brand. It is inexpensive and works really well. I have been battling acne since 5th grade, and I never grew out of it. This is the best stuff I have found. Some stores only sell it in the set, at others you can buy the individual items.

He doesn't have a cell phone, and mine isn't a smart phone. :(

Today is a bad day. I was hit by a proverbial bus last night after I got off of work. I felt fine right afterward, then when I was home I coughed a couple times, and within an hour I was coughing up a lung and felt horrible. DH had a bad cold last week, DS the week before, so I guess it is my turn now. Even with taking Ny-Quil last night, I woke up frequently feeling like I was choking to death on phlegm. It was horrible. Then today I felt like death, even though I doubled my meds. I had ZERO energy to do anything, and could barely keep myself awake. I would have called in, but the mom of the babies I nanny for is out of town for a funeral and I didn't want to bail on the dad. All I could do today was put the babies in a bouncy seat or on the floor and just stare at them. :( Then, every time they took a nap I took one also (with permission). I was so grateful when I was able to come home. My throat is killing me, I have zero energy, my whole body hurts, my head is so stuffed up, terrible cough, etc. Yuck. Can I go die now?

The only reason we put him on ADD meds (he is definitely not hyper) in the first place was b/c he had a VERY overwhelmed first year teacher in 2nd grade, and by the end of the year she had almost the entire class on meds for it. None of his other teachers have felt he needed them at all. We just think she didn't know how to deal with a very high energy classroom (his grade was full of some high needs kids). He was only on it that one year, and never since. He is in 8th grade now, so 6 years since then without teachers thinking he needs them. I don't know...I don't want to put him on ADD meds just for the issues we have in the morning. I figure that by the time it kicks in, it won't matter anyway. Kwim? He does struggle with focus and need redirection at times, but it is usually just with stuff that he finds boring, not necessarily that he has ADD. Does that make sense? He gets almost straight A's in school (he has one B), and at parent teacher conferences on Tuesday all of his teachers say that he is very involved and loves to participate, and they all enjoy having him in class. Also, when we homeschooled I NEVER had a problem keeping him on task when it came to that. He was very good at keeping himself on task, and a lot of the time would get most of his work done before I even woke up in the morning.

I had to break this up, it wouldn't let me reply to everyone at once... OMG, you just described my DS to a T! That is exact the way he is. SUPER easy to get along with and really laid back and normally I love that he is so easy to deal with, but the pokiness drives me up a wall. You can ask him to do anything, and you get a "yes ma'am" and he does it right away, and he is willing to help with anything you need him to. It is just getting him going at a decent speed is maddening and I want to pull my hair out. No, he isn't doing it maliciously or belligerently. Your suggestion for the timed task list is a great idea, thanks! I already get him up 30 minutes before I need him to (I get him up at 6am, when I myself wouldn't need to get up until 6:30), but maybe it isn't enough? I don't know. No, he doesn't have any disabilities. We had him tested for Aspergers, but the school said he doesn't have it. I'm still not convinced. He is deaf in one ear, and tends to sleep on his good ear so that is a big reason why he has a hard time waking up to alarm clocks. We have tried a million different ones, and never have a different result with any of them. I would like to get one of the ones made for deaf people, but we can't afford one at this point. His father is in the picture, we all live together, but he goes to work two hours before I do. He helps me deal with after the fact, but can't while it is happening. I agree that at his age he SHOULD be able to do this on his own. His cousin is the same age, and her mother leaves for work at 4am, so she gets herself up and ready every morning. DH and I did the same at that age. I have NO idea why it is so hard for DS. :(

Oh my gosh, so much to respond to! LOL I've considered having him take a shower the night before, but he has longer hair (think the longest Justin Beiber style...) and if he sleeps on it it looks wrecked the next day. His backpack is supposed to be packed the night before, but obviously that isn't happening. :/ The next time he is going to make me late, I will kick him out the way he is, and he can deal with it. :) He does have a bedtime, which is normally 10pm with lights out. We tried upping it to 9pm last night, but it did no good b/c he took just as long to get ready, even with waking him up 15 minutes early. :( That is just it...he doesn't value my time or care at all that I will be late, b/c it doesn't affect him. If he has to get up and be somewhere HE wants to be, he will be up and ready to go before I even wake up. So it isn't the fact that he is completely incapable of doing things in a timely manner, he just doesn't care. Like I said, I can't. :( If I left him to wake up on his own to his alarm, he just wouldn't wake up. The week after we moved here we have a big snow storm and they canceled school. I was up early (this was before I started my job) so I didn't wake him up just so I could see how late he would end up sleeping in. He didn't wake up until 8:45, almost an hour after school started. I let him sweat a bit, and he panicked thinking he was late for school. It isn't even that he is hard to get up, b/c all I have to do is open his door and tell him to get up and he does...it is just getting him to actually get moving and do what he needs to get done. I don't think so. All he has to do is go over there and sit until their ride comes. He gets along really well with his cousin, so I don't think he is avoiding anything, not that I know of anyway. I do and he does. He was on ADHD meds when he was younger (2nd grade-ish) but they did nothing but dope him up and make him tired. He hated being on them. He has NO problem focusing and staying on task when it is something that he enjoys, it is just the menial tasks in life that he struggles with b/c he just doesn't care. I wish I could, but she leaves for work before I do. He goes over there to wait for her ex to come pick him and his cousin up and take them both to school. We don't know anyone else in our complex, either. Our next door neighbor is a SAHM, but I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. She's kind of shady.

Only if an infant has one, otherwise no. I have enough of my own to mess with if I feel like it. LOL

I have to have him out the door before I leave b/c he is irresponsible and cannot be trusted to lock the door behind him when he leaves. He's a space cadet and would just forget. We live in a town home complex, and leaving doors unlocked means someone could very possibly come in and steal something, so leaving him behind is not a possibility. Otherwise, normally I would have no problem with natural/logical consequences. I have to send him over to my SIL's house a half an hour early b/c of this reason. He actually stays at my SIL's house after school as well, b/c we don't trust him with a key. When we moved here the plan was for me to wake him up and for him to get himself off to school, then come home with a key after school, but things have happened and we just don't trust him, at least not at this point. Leaving him to his own devices is, unfortunately, not an option. Trust me, I wish it was.

Ugh. I need some advice from BTDT parents. My DS is a really great kid, laid back and relaxed, and very easy to get along with...unless it comes to him needing to hurry up with something. I need to be at my job at 7:30am, I leave at 7:00. I get up at 6:00, and I used to take a shower then make sure he gets up (also incapable of waking up on his own to an alarm clock, no matter what type we get him) at 6:15 when I get out. I actually get up 15 minutes earlier than I need to so that he can take a shower. He would take a shower while I got dressed and did my makeup, then he would eat breakfast and I would shoo him out the door to go over to my SIL's house (3 doors away) to ride to school with his cousin. We have been doing this routine since January 31st, and it has been progressively more difficult to get him moving at a decent speed. Yesterday he managed to get up on his own at 6am, but chose to do nothing until I got out of the shower, and then took his sweet time, even with my constant prodding, and ended up making me 10 minutes late for work. I can yell at him, threaten him, whatever, and he just says "okay..." and doesn't go any faster. Half of the time he just sits there and stares at me until I say "THEN GO DO IT!!" Today I got him up at 6am and had him eat while I was taking a shower, and it STILL took him until 7:00 to get ready. Telling him to hurry up does nothing, he doesn't actually go any faster. If anything I think it makes him go slower. Punishment only works for him if we are SEVERE about it, as in taking away all of his belongings and privileges, but just taking away one or two things here and there for specific instances don't phase him at all. He will only attempt to earn back his belongings if we take everything away, but once he gets a certain amount back he stops trying altogether. He just doesn't care. I cannot afford to be late to work every day b/c he won't hurry up. Does anyone have any suggestions for me, especially if you have a child like this and you found something that works?? I am beyond frustrated, and have no idea what to do now.

Baking soda and elbow grease, otherwise use liners as eomeone suggested. Otherwise, you will just have to deal with it.

I would just remove the phone except for the hours you allow free access, or say "the phone stays in this spot during these hours."

Did you get to sleep? I can't take my meds in the evening, even though I am supposed to, b/c I can't fall asleep if I do. I already have insomnia, no need to add to it. LOL I will only take a dose in the evening if I had a REALLY stressful day and my body is in haywire due to it. Do you get that feeling? Like I just can't dissipate the stress, and my body is almost vibrating but not from a rush...like it just can't cope b/c it is incapable of producing adrenaline anymore. At that point, though, once I take my meds and my body is able to calm down, I just crash.

When we moved into our last house, the neighbors down the road stopped by on the first day as we were moving in. We didn't mind at all. :)

We do this for our lunches. We just prep everything as we normally would, then we keep each ingredient in its own container (ziplock or pyrex, depending on what it is). It works out really well.

I don't participate in the book a week thing, but I do typically read at least one book a week, sometimes more. I often do most of my reading in bed before I go to sleep. I am a very fast reader, though. One night, a couple weeks ago, I read an entire book in 3 hours.

Our 18 year old nephew lives with us when he isn't away at college. He is a great kid and we get along well with him, though. I wouldn't have a problem living with DH's parents, but I love them. I couldn't handle FIL smoking for very long, though. When we lived in Missouri we stayed with them when we came back to visit and it always went well. My parents and sister?? No way. I would end up in jail for murder. My SIL is a bit too controlling. BIL is awesome, and I don't think I would have a problem with just him...his wife and kids on the other hand?? Nope.

I agree about using a bucket designated specifically for fish water, buy new if you have to, and label it. Then when you want to change the water, let it sit in the bucket for at least 24hrs. Honestly, I prefer fish other than Danios and the sort. They may be cheap, but they tend to die easily. I like to buy Gouramis and Rainbow fish, ones like that. They tend to be a bit more hardy.

I feel cruddy today. Yesterday was VERY stressful for me, with two babies that refused to sleep and screamed bloody murder for 6.5hrs straight, on top of me not sleeping well the night before. I needed to stress dose when I got home, and I did again this morning just in case. Thankfully they are better today, but I can barely stay awake and my stomach is really upset. :( I wish I could go home and sleep all day.

Then find new instructors. I have a job outside of the home, of which I am usually 10 minutes early getting to. Sometimes, though, I run into bad traffic due to a school and it sets me behind. It has happened more than once, and it is unpredictable so I never know ahead of time when I will have the issue and when I won't. Going another route is not an option, as this happens at the intersection right before the only entrance to their subdivision, and traffic backs up in all four directions. I have used that "excuse" a few different times, but that doesn't mean I'm not planning my time correctly or that I am lying.

Bad traffic or especially car accidents that clog the roads can rarely be known about ahead of time. Expecting someone to be psychic is expecting a bit too much, IMO, and I would cut them some slack, particularly if they stay late to make up for it. Pick your battles.