Thank you everyone for your advice. I truly appreciate it.

For me, my relationship with my parents did greatly improve after I moved out. After our oldest son moved out, it was easier to treat him like an adult. I no longer had to remind him to do his parts of the chores and to clean up after himself. He moved across the state and when he comes now, it’s a special time. He’s getting married at our house this weekend. I love his fiancé and she’s perfect for him. I truly enjoy the relationship we have with them.

We have 3 small dogs between 7-11 lbs. Though we have always had dogs, we have not had to deal with fleas in 25 yrs and the dogs have not been on any flea prevention because we have not had fleas in our environment. This past Wednesday evening I noticed fleas on our long haired dog. All 3 dogs got bathed in Dawn and flea combed that night and all bedding, dog blankets and dog beds were washed. Most of the fleas were found on our long haired dog. The other 2 barely had any though I have noticed one of those itching more than usual. The next morning the dogs were treated with K9 Advantics Flea drops- I carefully followed the directions. They still have fleas, especially the long haired one. I read that the baths could have stripped oil from their fur and kept the drops from working but I’m scared to re-apply the drops and don’t want to poison my fur babies. I know I probably need to treat our yard and our couch too but I’m hesitant to use wide spread poison everywhere. On top of all that, we HAVE to get rid of the fleas this week. Our oldest son is getting married at our house this Saturday. The wedding will be outside but the house will be open for guests to come in. I rather not have fleas jump on our guests. as of right now though, we have not seen any fleas on us or the furniture. But I know if we can’t get it under control, it will happen. We have a babysitter to take the dogs for the day and don’t want to give their dog fleas. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This is an interesting thread. Thanks for starting it. I’m an RN (26 yrs- last 12 in hospice) and work in a hospice house. I live in the deep South. The culture here for the elderly is that if someone is admitted to hospice, everyone comes. Neighbors, church members, extended family, etc. Around here it is considering a way for people to show they care. And the patient and families feel the need to be social and entertain all these guests. It is sad to me to see a hospice pt’s limited energy used for visitors that weren’t close to them and not their inner circle of loved ones. At my hospice, we will privately ask the primary decision maker if the many visitors are desired or if they would to limit visitors to the inner circle only. We have guest books that visitors can sign to show they care. I respect whatever the family and pt desire and will support them. Many families love the extra people. And many families are relieved when I act as the “bad guy/ mean nurse” and clear rooms and halls of people. It is interesting to note that a pt’s pastor is almost always considered part of the inner circle and allowed to visit when visitors are limited. Personally, I would not want visitors. I was very happy when my son was born that only my mother and husband were with me. I had a traumatic birth and struggled on many levels.

I always worked part time as a nurse so when I finished homeschooling, it was easy to move into a full time position. I also work as an adjunct instructor at our local tech school and found that I love it. I am hoping to find a full time position there. So far the transition from homeschooling hasn’t been difficult but yesterday I went to the library for the first time alone. I saw many moms and their kids. I left a little teary missing the kids when they were little. i am also rediscovering my music. I finished a music minor in school and back then never thought I would set it aside. There just wasn’t time between the kids, husband, homeschooling, home and work. Now after 30 years, I’m finding purpose again playing piano and bass guitar. I enjoy people’s reactions when they see a nerdy middle age women playing bass. 🤓 I am also taking voice lessons.

I teach as an adjunct at our local tech school. The online system we use (Blackboard) is not compatible with Chromebook. My understanding is that there are many schools that use Blackboard.

Thank you for your replies. I will share them with my daughter. She is a psychology major with the goal of being a forensic psychologist.

This is an excellent question. My daughter graduates with her bachelors degree in the fall and then going into a PhD program the following fall. She’s going to be a full time student for many years. So far she has received merit scholarships for her undergrad. We are hoping she will not end up with a lot of student debt. Does FAFSA take in account parent income for grad students?

I heard of some ladies getting pregnant after a tubal. Everyone was when they had the tubal with the c section or within a few days of birth. I always thought it was due to womens’ amazing ability to heal after birth.

I’m 51. For most of my adult life, I was over weight. I was able to lose 60 lbs in my 40s and have been able to keep it off for the past 4 years but it was a slow process and took me a few years. Towards the end, I was happy to lose a pound a month. I did through life style changes and pretty much cut out junk carbs and sugar. When I eat that stuff now, I feel terrible. It will make my muscles and joints ache in the mornings and makes my menopause symptoms (hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety and insomnia) flare up with a vengeance. Over the past year, I noticed the only way to maintain my weight was to eat like a bird. I also noticed more brain fog, fatigue and if I did stray from my normal diet for a meal, I would gain a few pounds. In trying to improve my over all health, I started reading more about improving my micro biome. This past winter, I put my self on a very restricted diet for 30 days and only ate foods that support the micro biome. For me, this was very helpful and I was able to learn a few ways to improve my health through food. The brain fog and fatigue have improved and thankfully I’m no longer having to eat like a bird.

I don’t think that human taxidermy is legal.

When we bought our last tree, we intentionally bought one that did not have lights. We’ve had lights fail on pre-lit trees before. BUT, they were cheap trees so that is probably the reason the lights failed. I honestly don’t want to spend a lot of money on a quality tree. Our current tree is a 6ft slim tree. It doesn’t take long to put up the lights or take them down so we are satisfied.

The house we have now has under mount sinks in the bathrooms and kitchen. The house we had before did not. For me, it doesn’t make any difference. They are both equally easy to clean. I guess the trend is under mounted sinks so a kitchen may look dated without it.

Our small college town has those scooters. I don’t think there have been any deaths but there have been serious injuries. I never see anyone using a helmet and they drive them really fast along the roads and side walks. There are a lot of golf carts in our neighborhood. People will have their golf carts in their garage while their cars are in the driveway or along the road. Sometimes I feel like we are the only ones without a golf cart. The prices for golf carts have sky rocketed and I can’t imagine paying more for a used golf cart than we have paid for most of the cars we have owned in our marriage. We have had issues in our neighborhood with kids driving golf carts erratically. I have almost been hit by a kid driving a golf cart. I will say that issues with the golf carts have decreased because kids driving golf carts erratically (or anyone) will typically generate someone putting a post on our Facebook neighborhood page with warnings that it is illegal and dangerous.

Have you had other packages missing? I wonder if she has stolen other items from your porch and knew where to look.