We walked through a model home recently with a fantastic floor plan. My favorite feature was that the garage opened into a laundry room, which had two exits - one to the kitchen, the other to the MASTER CLOSET! Brilliant! And the master closet opened to the master bath. Of course, the laundry room and master bath were enormous.

I haven't read all the posts, so my apologies if this is redundant. You may not have any obligation to your mother, but you have an obligation to your own well-being, as you clearly know. When the time comes, if your mother is terminally ill, for example, try to consider how you will feel after she's gone and make your decisions based on that. It may be that a farewell visit, while in no way satisfactory to you, will soothe your conscience after she's gone. I had a distant relationship with my dad. When he passed last June I spend his last ten days at his side. We never did have that heart to heart talk, he never said more than five words to me. It hurt that he didn't want to heal our relationship, but I'm glad I was there for him. I feel I did everything I should have and more. (My relationship with my dad wasn't nearly as abusive as yours with your mom sounds, so take that as you will.) And try not to worry too much now. You can always decide when the time comes.

Brave. I love that name.

Not whole grain, but we love this pasta made from legumes. http://www.tolerantfoods.com Believe it or not, it's tasty enough that the kids like them and full of protein.

Just wanted to add my prayers and congrats! :grouphug: :grouphug:

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

It turned out my oldest got into a classical charter school and is taking pre-algebra in 8th grade.. and getting a D. It's very disheartening, and the teacher is of basically no help. But there are on options except to soldier on. To be honest, the school uses Saxon, which we quit in 5th grade because it wasn't working. I believe she needs a mastery based program rather than a spiral one. I'm hoping high school math, which has a longer focus on one subject, will be better. She still scores very well on her arithmetic skills, it's just the algebra that is tough. My 6th grade son started with AoPS, which worked well for about two months and then got too tough. We put it aside for next year and he's doing CLE. We just started coming back from Christmas break, so far so good. My 5th grader started in CLE 500 but had gaps, so we bumped her back to CLE 400 and are supplementing with Life of Fred and Khan. It's a bit chaotic but seems to be doing the trick. Now to decide for the upcoming K and 1st grader. Ah, the joys. :) Thanks again for everyone's help!

It's not just Amazon. I ordered gifts for the grandparents on Shutterfuly the day before, according to their website, I had to order to have them arrive by Christmas. Today, one of them has still not shipped. There's no way it's going to be there by Christmas, I'm hoping for New Year's at this point. I would happily have paid extra to get it there on time, but their site assured me it would all work out. Next year I'm ordering Christmas presents in October.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

We always order Chinese takeout. (We have no family anywhere close) This year I was considering ordering a ham from Honeybaked Ham, since I got a $7 off coupon in the mail. Just found out they run $70 or more! Guess we're not having that.

I wonder if he suffers from anxiety or depression. I know this is totally out of left field, but if he did, he might see your text and feel an enormous burden of guilt because he knows how great you've always been and that he hasn't reciprocated. He might think he should really call instead of just text but he doesn't have time right now, so he'll call tomorrow.. Tomorrow is another busy day and the more time goes by the worse he feels and the less he wants to deal with it. Grasping at straws maybe, but it happens.

I have nothing to say, except that I'm sorry and we're all with you in this. My dad had cancer as well. If you speak to his oncologist they may put you on the notification list, so the doctors will let you know what's happening instead of relying on your stepmom. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: I'm so sorry. My dad passed in June and my heart is right there with you. I will be praying for you this week.

I agree with all her points about white people being priveleged and not really knowing it, but I'll say a few things in defense of white people, if I may. First, I think many white people have been told frequently that simply because they are white, they are racist or blind to racism. For example - you're white, therefore you can't possibly understand what minority races deal with. While true, these statements are often made in such a way that puts white people on defense, trying desperately to 'prove' that they aren't racist. There's really no way to 'win' that argument, and the white person ends up feeling vilified. Second, due to the insulation the author talks about, many white people do feel they've had to struggle to get where they are, and to be told that they are 'over privileged' rubs them the wrong way. If you started out as a minimum wage worker, went to school at night, scrapped and saved and went without, you get a little irritated when people who don't know you claim you got where you are simply by being a white male. The real problem, in my eyes, is that we too often just talk at each other, rather than actually getting to know people of other races and developing relationships that allow for real dialogue.

Thanks guys! Off to the library.

You all really came through for me when I needed a book on the Civil War, can you help me again? I was going to do All Quiet on the Western Front for my co-op class, but I have a more sixth than eighth graders and I think it's a little heavy. What else can I use?

No, but I really want one! Too bad they cost four times what my minivan cost us. If any of you decide to sell yours in a few years, hit me up! ETA: That was a lot of exclamation points. Sorry for enthusing all over everything. I took some out.

I think those charts can be very misleading, for all the reasons already mentioned. I'm 5'4" and about 125#, so I always score well on those. But honestly, I'm very out of shape, have very little muscle and way too much fat around the middle. My doctor told me I'm a 'skinny fat' person. It's interesting information, but not always helpful.

Maybe not what you're looking for, but I have a classic, brown, Coach diaper bag. It's fantastic, goes with everything, great quality, roomy, lots of pockets and doesn't look like a diaper bag. I found it on Craigslist for $40. ETA: Here's a picture of mine. http://s1312.photobucket.com/user/mrskelz22/media/q_zps62793770.jpg.html

My daughter attends a charter school in a different district. We don't even share a border; it's 20 miles away. I'd go ahead and look around if you don't mind the drive.

This thread has been very cathartic to me, so thank you TammyS for starting it up. My dad was like this. He visited us three times when my kids were tiny, and all three were because he had business in the city or a layover (we live in another state). The kids would get Christmas and birthday presents, but I am certain they never spoke on the phone with him or his wife. He would rarely call; months could go by without us speaking unless I picked up the phone. We visited them several times, but generally all they would give us was half a day, once every two years or so. I always wanted a closer relationship with him, but he never seemed interested. He seemed perfectly fine with the way things were. He passed away in June without ever speaking about it. Hearing others' stories makes me feel so much less alone in this.

I comfort myself with thinking that out of 1 billion YouTube users (I googled), only 100,000 liked that video. That's only .0001 percent. I can live with that.

Yesterday our Bible reading was from Matthew 8 - the part that says not to swear by your head because you can't make one hair black or white. Afterward I asked the kids to tell me what they heard. The five year old's response? We shouldn't dye our hair. I'm going to hell.

I was pleased to see this morning that my FB friends who are denouncing all this as ridiculous far outnumber those who are boycotting Starbucks.

My kids are 5th, 6th, 1st and kindy.