I did this with DS at that age. He upgraded at age 7 to a hand-me-down bed from a friend and then to a queen that he will hopefully not outgrow in the next year. I cannot imagine spending a lot on a bed for a young one who will outgrow it.

Yeah, for $2k I could have a local furniture maker make my dream bed and matching dresser and then hire someone to dismantle the narrow doorway to get it up to our room.

I am happy that he had the option to have an inpendent advocate for his best interest when emotions ran away with reason.

I agree it does not help them. I am against buildings that are poisoning children due to exposed lead paint, roach infestations, out dated heating and cooling equipment and so on. I do not know what the solution is that benefits everyone. It is systemic. And, sadly, it is race based. I want to see unhealthy and unsafe buildings made safe, because no parent should have to worry that the place they live could make their child sick. I think slumlords should be heavily fined, or even charged with criminal offense if someone is injured due to their neglect. But this is America, many slumlords are white and live in different cites and the residents are black. I have seen a slumlord buy up a lot of houses on what was a nice block and rent out the houses and do no maintence and eventually the block is little more than a collection of abandoned houses. The black residents suffer, the white slumlord does not care and knows the city has too many other problems to come after them.

Yes, fixing up run down apartments has become a must after decades of minimal maintence. And that comes with a price that is increased rent. It cannot be helped. The infastructure is collapsing and many places are just unhealthy to live. The schools here still suck donkey balls. The children of the lower income families who are in the suburbs for cheaper rent are benefiting from a far superior education and the oppertunity to graduate high school with an associates degree. But yes, it comes at a cost of longer commutes due to less awesome public transit. Though that is changing as well now that the wealthier residents who do not want to risk the crappy schools for their children are starting to demand better public transportation. Where I am, neglecting to build and update the things I am talking about will result in a dangerous to access parking lot getting worse, and an abandon building becoming more run down. The interesting thing about the retail areas is that when the buildings went for sale, no one cared about investing to keep rent low, the smart business owners bought their space when they hd a chance. It was not all about not having enough money, there are those who can afford it. Possibly better than money is the influence, again, they did not care until it was over then they decided to fight the new owners over every little thing.

I agree about changing zoning regulations, and our neighborhood has changed zoning regulations with great sucess and well as having a strong influence on neighboring areas. Almost too strong, they have halted all developement in a neighboring district. Back ti the areas I am speaking of. The areas in question are zoned mixed use for commercial and residential, no one has changed any zoning regulations. I have seen the plans and they are really nice and have taken into consideration the history and character and are respectful of blending in with the architecture of that period. They have also considered modern usage and made sure it could handle it. It is really a well thought out design. I can see why some people would object to rents increasing, but this is one if the cheapest areas to live in the country. We looked at moving and places like this in, say Austin, TX, are a million dollars more to buy. They want all the convinces without the cost. That is not how it works.

Interesting perspectives. The progress in one situation is a very popular business that has a parking lot designed to handle half the traffic it gets. It is dangerous to get in and out of. The owners bought a vacant building to expand and make it safer. The world might end if you listen to the vocal residents. The residents who agree are insulted, slammed, and even excluded from the meetings. It has been eye opening to see how only one side is supported in the conversation. The other I mentioned was half million dollar units with parking (original complaint was about lack of parking). The public transportation complaint is just weird. The tax increase is not small but is not so bad as to off set the advantages. We are planning to go down to one car immediately and we are not the only ones we know planning to do just that. It will connect everything we need to access. It will help house values and people who are lower income all on one swoop. It is an awesome plan!

These vacant lots fit the descriptor, "creepy".

This is playing out now near where I live. Land has sat vaccant or underused for decades. Due to strong Grassroots efforts by residence the area is now safe and in demand and developers are looking at the vaccant and underused areas. There are plans to build apartments/safe gas stations/retail space/insert whatever. And there is now a major uproar and backlash from residents. The objections are almost laughable. An apartment complex plans include parking for residents and they are mad because they want it to be compeltly walkable. Except there is one grocery store in walking distance and it is not affordable for most people. A solution is better public transportation. Seems to fitnwith walkable urban areas, right? There is an attempt to pass a tax increase that will directly benefit public transportation in the area and you would think the world is going to end. I have gathered they want the following: Residents who never drive or need a car Not to pay taxes for any reason, including public transportation that would allow residents to not have a car. No chain busineses near by that will provide services like a pharmacy, grocery stores, etc that are vital to those who do not have a car. I do not get why people fight progress to the point of insanity. Isn't a walgreens better than a vacant lot? A Trader Joe's better than a building that is crumbling? Publif transportation better than more cars?

And if they have a firm enough hold on the rest of the family they will play the poor me card to such a extent that the person who stops taking the sh*t will be viewed as the bad guy. It goes like this: GC does multiple illegal things, one happens repeatedly for half a decade. Person (hi!) finds out and calls them out. Excuses and justifications fly. People buy it and start to emotionally manipulate those who call it out. Gaslighting happens. Person who calls it out stands firm and are then treated like the evil person because that person has excuses and refusal to agree with said excuses is cruel and things are twisted and suddenly the person who called it out, demanded it stop is black listed. And by black listed, I mean gets married and the entire family cannot be bothered to even texts a congrats or like the relationship status update on Facebook.

Over the past year as I have struggled to put boundaries up with a golden child and the push back has been calculated and malicious to a degree I was not prepared for and the impact on my mental health has been noticable. If you push back, brace yourself. Think about how she can go, and assume that is best case scenerio. I would bring a strong (I do not mean physically) and supportive friend if you agree to meet and not allow pictures. You may not need someone, but better safe than sorry.

DH is able to fix most anything, including AC units. He knows if he drags his feet on fixing the AC I will just get a hotel, hang the cost

???? $600 was a lot more money back then. Even today it still a significant amount of money. $600 is what I have budgeted just for attractions in the South Florida leg of our trip. My son says he will happily shovel snow daily in exchange for being able to do more than stare at walls for vacation.

I have in the past. Then my kid speed skated (on ice!) and I acclimated to spending 4 or more hours a day in shorts next to the ice rink. Now the heat is just too much for me. I hope that over the next year or so I can get back to not needing the AC as much.

I managed early mornings when the gym aas really close and I was able to switch our entire schedule to mornings. It was nice to be done with everything by noon (4am wake up time). Now it is not possible. It is 10 minutes after each meal. Awesome, except how does one define a meal for a teenager who never stops eating?

I think that is the same process DS qualifies. He recieved a grand total of nothing in SSI but the medicaid has been priceless. I was able to sleep at night not terrified about how I would pay for the lext level of treatment for him. I had the statues and links a few months ago but lost them in a phone reboot. Do you have them by chance? I know we are not the only boardies would could use the information to sleep at night.

It signles to the body to burn fat vs storing fat.

10 minute walk right after eating has been shown to help the body use the the fat vs storing it. Per the cardiologist.

Like others have said, it depends. Our combined income would exclude DS but the medicaid he is on is structured in such a way that almost all our income is exempt due to his medical health. I got the impression when talking to the 3 different people who were reading the qualifications for his medicaid that it is not commonly used. The caseworker had never heard of it, neither had her supervisor.

Two weeks of two food items that were vital to what we would be eating in the next two weeks. They ate nothing else. Pay for everyhing. We is DH and I. The insurance is through his employer. The house, internet, utilities, and related expenses are paid by us, they pay no rent. We bought the house in a very limited geographical area to allow them to be in walking distance everywhere they need to go and to have very easy access to the bus lines. It is a prime location, we could have moved a couple miles further and paid half as much. I will not be able to pay this house off in 10 years like we wanted. College or trade school was offered on our dime. Not an option any more due to twice as expensive house. I am NOT equipped to be in the trenches dealing with a mid 20's failure to launch. DH has to work and cannot hand hold the adultlet. The inlaws who have a fit when adultren are made to do anything cannot be bothered to help.

I am struggling cutting out the inlaws more than DH is. Weird, huh? I was very good friends with MIL and the family for 10 years and I swear I do not know what happened. These are not the same people. I am not going to lie and say my family of orgin is awesme and sane but even post divorce peoplr maintained friendships. Even after the kids were out of the house they would go do things together. There was one person I cut out when I was 21, but it was a universal they have issues and not this level of extreme dysfunction. I joke that my functional upbringing did not prepare me to handle this level of dysfunction. Everything I knew about family relationships has been shattered and I am left trying to hold on to what I was raised knowing how families interact and trying to make sense of the inlaws. We have discussed moving. We talking about it before we bought our house. I did not get it then. I do now.

I am not sure how happy it is to look forward to. I have always done Xmas with family, but I cannot handle the inlaws and feel I need to be out of town that day. No one skies and Florida is warm.

I will be starting this trip shortly before Christmas and it will continue for 3 weeks. I am not inviting the step adultren. We pay for the food they eat in 3 days that should last 2 weeks. We have offered college. We pay for their internet. We pay for them to have really good insurance. They live here rent free with minimal expectations. They have already had forst class tours of Europe, Mexico, Canada, popular Western National Parks, and even Florida in Winter. My son has not.

Zillow = Looking for fun A friend found our house and gave us a head up, but the buyer's agent helped us secure the contract. We found out later that they recieved bids for 25k above listing the first business day after it was listed. The seller's agent screwed up by listing the Saturday on a holiday weekend and not doing an open house. Their loss our gain!! We would not have been able to afford this place had it entered a bidding war.

I have seen him try to teach them. Also, when someone cannot be bothered to drop candy wrappers into the trashcan next to their chair and instead opt to throw them onto the floor making a complete circle around them, it is not a lack of instruction. Call it health related or whatever. I call it too stupid or lazy to be bothered to make sure the trash goes at least on the same side of the chair as the trashcan. Not just one time. Multiple times.