Thank goodness for technology!

No theory on the animal, just that ... well ... to quote Tom Jones, love is in the air this time of year. We've heard feral cats doing the uh, disco, earlier this week. My youngest thought they were fighting, and was worried. That was a fun conversation, re-assuring her they weren't fighting LOL. Hopefully that's all they were doing, whatever they are, and you can go back to a restful sleep!

Maybe a nice vase to go with the live flowers? Or in that vein, silk flowers made into a pin? We're Catholic, so last year my daughter's catechism class did rosaries. A parishioner donated the beads, and to keep down costs each child got to chose between a rosary bracelet, a chapelet, or a car rosary - each uses a smaller number of beads than a full rosary. A small scented sachet. For those who are sensitive to the aroma, it's not super strong but we had a basket in the back that women could choose to "share the love" with other moms by passing on their sachet to a mom in our local shelter. For those with teenaged boys, it's the best gift a mom can have (to place the sachet into their shoes, which are piled by the back door stinking up the mudroom LOL). You can put these into small organza bags from the craft store, or we've done donated pantyhose (new!) and tied them off before putting them into small, sewn pockets. The latter we did on a smaller scale, but most people who can sew are usually able to knock out several little palm-sized sachets. They can go in the car, closets, the aforementioned smelly shoes, in a pillow ... we've used dried rosemary, roses, and lavendar. I hear they sell scented lavendar batting, too. I know it's iffy with so many people more sensitive to aromas now, but it's an idea. We've also done stationary. Just a few small pieces of paper cut to memo-size and tied with a pretty ribbon. The papers were stamped (you can use Bible verses, flowers, anything really). To accompany it was a regular ballpoint pen, to which the kids each picked a plastic flower to attach to it length-wise. It was attached with floral tape, hopefully you can envision this - kind of like some stores to do keep their pens from walking away from the registers LOL. We packaged it all up in a small canvas bag from the craft store. Pictures are long-lasting; a nice set-up, digital camera, and maybe even a wireless printer (or have a separate pick-up table the following week for printed copies) would be all you needed. I've seen a number of relatively simply photograph holders (the kind that you slip a non-framed photo into something that resembles a paperclip) that wouldn't be hard to make, or even to buy in bulk. As Catholics we love us some prayer cards; not sure about other faith traditions, but the idea shouldn't be offensive to any, I don't think -- if you can find an appropriate piece of artwork or a Bible verse or something, it's kind of like a grown-up version of a bookmark. Make up some pretty (prayer cards), have them laminated, and pass those out. I use them on my home altar, as bookmarks in my Bible and devotionals, and there are even some taped on my fridge. Many uses, is the point. It's hard to know without knowing the budget or what size church we're talking about, but there are a few ideas that might at least lead you towards something you know will work for your situation :) "Meaningful" is so subjective, you know? I think the thought is what matters; I'm not particularly sentimental, nor am I a tchotchky person ... but I still accept the many things I receive on that and other days because of where it's coming from. I actually love live flowers. Even though they do die in a few days, it's a good reminder for me to appreciate the beauty around me before it's gone. That's especially important to me on Mother's Day, as both a mother and a daughter. I know it won't be for everyone, though, which breaks my heart!

There's just no winning sometimes, is there? LOL I went and got some rubbing alcohol after scouts tonight, then decided to try in the morning. I'll have to try on the underbelly of a chair first - I appreciate the heads up. This is the Universe trying to cure of my need for a table and hutch to match, that's for danged sure! My husband's family makes moonshine. One batch in particular did take the varnish off of my SIL's table once the guys started spilling it from the shot glasses. I was like ... whoa ... WTH is that doing to the insides of these men?? Yikes!

This was hilarious. Amazing what kind hide behind a giant pile of fur!! I love the suggestions kids have for names - and in this case, how appropriate it turned out to be LOL.

:thumbup: Too funny! I'd send it back to my little brother's home address with a post-it note attached: What, no dinner first?

Well, great company loves a friend :) (Quietly wondering where that gender/species things puts a Giraffe.... LOL ...)

It's like Divine Intervention. You were meant to escape to an island today :) Hurry and finish that one, I just ordered a second round.

Hey! I have experience with that! (Just ask my brother ;))

I'm happy to meet you in Margaritaville, just give me the green light.

Yeah, that's definitely not cute LOL. I'd probably be better about keeping his regular grooming appointments than I do my own, if that were us. (I have a well-documented and infuriating-to-my-family habit of calling all dogs "he" and all cats "she" so my apologies to Oscar for the embarassing oversight!)

I've seen a few of these, but not all - thank you for the links. So insightful, and a great reminder to us and to our kids about how others are living.

She went from cute to RAWR! I love giant furball kittehs :)

I had no idea! I'm going to try that, thank you!! Then I'm going to hide the Sharpies. Or send them to you ;) Katie, .. see, everytime I get motivated to clean I think: "Why? What good can come of it?" And your experience today has just confirmed my beliefs. See, and again - it's the computer! These things are supposed to make our lives easier, and yet ... they're just making us all do most stupid stuff!

I was this kid. I'm still not really over it as an adult. I have a chronic condition and require monthly draws, though, so I've had to get over it. I did hypnotherapy as an adolescent, when my monthly draws began. It has been a great help (if she'll require more draws in the future). They still use small needles on me, and if it's not one of my two usual people I began to panic. They've had to reschedule me a few times. That was almost worse, so I've learned to work myself down. They usually give me a few moments in a room, so I can re-regulate my breathing. They have iPods there, with headphones, which help me. I don't even turn it on, but just the headphones muffle the background noise enough that I can focus on my breathing (which is now echoing in my head) rather than on what they're saying and the noises they're making unwrapping stuff. I always turn my head, and I always have a squeeze toy. I actually bring my own from home because I have to bite it LOL. Squeezing it in my hand does nothing for me. I learned this the hard way by messing up my jaw from clenching it so hard. I'd have headaches for days. What also helps me is that one nurse is always talking me through it, kind of like a doula. She's saying, "Okay, right now we're rubbing in the ointment." etc and I finally figured out that she waits a nano-second longer to tell me they're inserting it. It's already in when she says, "It's in." and since it's so small I rarely feel it and it rolls less because I'm not all tense and clenched. And since she's mostly muffled since I have on my headphones, it sounds less scary or something. Can't explain it, sounds dumb but it's true. I've had experiences where they've poked me many times, rolled my veins, and I've had to come back again because they couldn't stick me right. That was awful, and it taught me that I had to figure out how to manage my anxiety lest it makes a bad situation worse. It might be hard to reason with her if you don't tell her ahead of time and she's in a panicked state, but it's worth a nurse letting her know that it's the only other option. Maybe it'll give her incentive to try to relax some.

Rimshot! :smilielol5: She shoots, she scores! This post made my day.

See, I thought the same but in reverse LOL. I can understand a one-time, initial bad call. I've seen it even on this forum, and definitely elsewhere on the internet where we overshare information that isn't necessarily ours and then regret it. Or regret being caught by it. Or regret how the thread turned. Or regret posting in the heat of a bad moment. Or whatever, but we weren't thinking clearly and we regret it. But to do it again going forward? To me that's when intent matters less, and the consequences must be owned without excuse. We all mess up sometime, but to not have learned anything from it - especially at the expense of someone else - well, that's hard to forgive IMO. That may just because I'm the slow-witted one who has to make every single mistake to every learn anything. I was a hard kid to raise, and to be raised WITH for that matter. I wasn't Anne in Ore.'s sister, though, how awful for you, Anne!

I can't believe you're still in the mood for eggs LOL. I blame these newfangled computer things. That was my distraction, too. I was knee-deep in Amazon reviews for books I had no plan to buy today. That'll learn us both!

I do something stupid every day B) Fortunately, not every day involves something stinky like your egg incident LOL. Today, in my distracted state, I gave my daughter the go-ahead to use the Sharpie markers. I forgot to remind her to put down a placemat first. She has never remembered to do this on her own. I just brought home a new-to-us table this weekend. It's now decorated with Sharpie hashmarks. Oh, and it's my brother's table - not mine.

I've never read a parenting book, so I'll leave those suggestions to the others. Next time you're at the library or bookstore, though, don't forget to check the science section, too. You can often find many books on human behavior, and I've seen several dedicated specifically towards adolescents. I recently checked one out called Primal Teen - nothing terribly insightful, somewhat repetitive, but a good reminder (for me) to remember what the adolescent mind is going through. Not terribly unlike what my premenopausal mind is going through LOL. In all seriousness, the timing of our respective hormonal surges is going to make us or break us! At the end of the day, my kids are allowed to be frustrated, mad, upset, ticked off, or whatever. I can't control that. They can't always control it, and I know this because I have a hot head and lose it myself. And I'm older and supposedly more mature. But they CAN control their responses to those feelings. I don't aim for 100% because that's not reasonable or realistic IMO. I do aim for "more good days than bad" and good faith effort towards being a decent human being and member of our family. I think many kids this age are defiant, to varying degrees. Does he have much autonomous control over his life, or might his defiance be excessive in light of (his) feeling like he has no control over his own life? Perception is a funny thing. I've worked with families whose perceptions were so far apart that it was impossible to think they were living in the same home. If so, the idea in a PP to look for communication books is a great one. Or is it that he's just an angry kid, maybe always has been a bit more so? The condescending bit is my hot button issue. You're welcome to think you're smarter/better/whatever than me, but you're not allowed to let me sense you believe so. Because that's what truly smarter/better/whatever people would do, thankyouverymuch, they keep it on the downlow! I've probably said that a thousand times over my older teens' lives, and I still have kids coming up through those ranks LOL. If you really ARE smarter/better/whatever than me, fabulous - then I'm taking an early retirement and YOU can use your smarter/better/whatever skills to figure out how to support me in my feeble, stupid state ;) cuz I'm ready to spend my days playing ma-johngg with the other old biddies. I mean ladies of leisure. Have you had a sit-down with him? A "listen - we're in this together, let's figure out how to survive it together" meeting of the minds. I'm sure he finds you guys disrespectful and condescending at times (not that you are, mind you, but maybe there are things you could work on?) so if figure out where the disconnect is ... maybe you can repair it before it gets worse. It's not a comfortable conversation to have, and anyone who has tried to reconcile a break-up will relate ... but the effort is worth it. You can get the info from a book, or straight from the source (him) if he's not too far gone, and if he's open to working on it. If he's firmly entrenched in the me vs. them camp, though, this may not work. But it also goes to prove (to him, to you) that he's not as mature as he thinks he is, and the consequences for his condescending and disrespectful attitude are warranted. That's something for you to build from, at least. It's not you, but him.

I think a quarter, semester, year, or more - however long it works for you - is a perfect idea. That's a great benefit to homeschooling. We do homeschool year round, and that's how we spend the "semester" from November through February. Very relaxed, fun, hands-on, family-oriented, learner-led. It's a great downtime, yet still productive and the kids develop skills outside just the academic ones :) I vote you give it a go!

Whatever her intent, I think a sincere apology is appropriate, with some reparations on her part. I'd seek Brother's input on how she might be able to help right this wrong (in his eyes) when determining what reparations those might be. It's a good lesson for both of them. We live and die by the "dirty laundry" analogy here, but some kids just lack a filter and good, common sense. I'm so sorry for your son, I'd be embarassed also.

Has she said why she did it? Was she the one who initiated the information exchange, or was she responding to a request for information? Wrong is wrong, dirty laundry is dirty laundry, but I think intent does matter. If she intended to embarass him, ruh-roh. If she intended to gain favor with these girls at his expense, not good. If she thought she was doing something helpful or if she was goated into it because those girls wanted info about her brother, well - that's a different beast that demands different consequences IMO.

So encouraged to hear you've found your way home! This is my favorite liturgical season - like you say, the chants and hymns just move me so incredibly so that it's impossible to begin to describe. Happy (early) Easter, and have a beautiful Holy Week. Your enthusiasm is apparent, and inspiring!

:tongue_smilie: I love when they get all silly like that! It's sad that she's so right about that!! We were at Subway yesterday and I was feeling up all the bags of chips looking for a meaty one. None!