We live around the Matthews area. We love the close proximity to uptown (good food!) and we aren't far from SC, either. Matthews has a huge homeschooling community and you should also be able to find a reasonable home to rent in the area. We love it here! GL!

I had mine out at age 23. It was easy peasy and I began eating normal foods the next day. I was in more pain around days 5-10 because the scabs come off then, but I had a nice two weeks to relax from being a pediatric nurse. Have broth and jello around the first day or two. No drinking from straws! GL!

I will say it can definitely work. I was the 15 year old who begged to be out of school with two working parents. My parents finally relented, and it was a wonderful situation. If the 15 year old is motivated to homeschool, I think she will be more than willing to help out while mom is at work. Depending on wake time, there may be as few as 4-5 hours to keep busy before mom gets home. If the mother could arrange certain video or book studies that the younger daughter could do on her own, that would be great to do while the teen is reading or working on studies. Afternoons could be spent on school, planning the following day and going over completed work for the day. This completely depends on the motivation of both daughters and especially the maturity of the oldest. Hope it works out for them! It allowed a lot of opportunities in my life that I would not have otherwise had.

Gap is the best for tall women. They have the tall option in all of their maternity pants, and they are the most comfortable.

I would get a root canal and get the crown over it(though, cancel the current crown- it will need to be measured over your "new" post-root canal tooth). Do not get a root canal with a general dentist- endodontist only!

I started with tampons when I was 13 and around the same size as your daughter. Look for slim fit, teen brands. It doesn't seem like there is any other option that will work with her dance needs.

You are fine to wait until Thursday. A week is pretty standard with sutures- you don't want to go much longer because of scabbing that happens after that time period. Just don't wait any longer than Thursday! (I was a pedi nurse for 5 years before becoming a SAHM a couple of years ago- we dealt with lots of sutures!)

We don't exchange gifts at all starting last year when our (only) son was one. We are on a tight budget and buy our wants and needs as they come up through the year. We are trying to live as simply as we can and buying just to have something to give wasn't working. We usually try to do a short one or two night trip in January for the holidays and DHs birthday. Removing gifts for us from the equation really has made the holiday more family focused and we really enjoyed it last year. We plan to continue as long as it works for us.

Yep. What Jenn said above- DH is a cop, and that was my line of thinking.

I am a Registered Nurse with my ADN. DH has his BA in Criminal Studies and is working on his MS in criminology.

I had that problem with tonsiloliths until I had my tonsils removed at age 20. I didn't have a terrible recovery, but it is much easier the younger you can get them removed. My breath became better almost immediately. As I got older, stones would work their way out and smell SO, SO bad. When the ENT removed my tonsils, he said they were one of the worst he had ever seen in his career (but you couldn't tell just by looking at my throat). ENTs should be familiar with tonsil stones- mine talked about them quite freely, I can't imagine anyone would laugh. I would definitely get it checked out regardless, to confirm the cause.

I have a close friend who went to Johnson and Wales in Charlotte. She spent almost 60k on tuition for two years. She is an amazing pastry chef, but could not get a job in our saturated market. She worked as a chart room person for a medical office at $10 an hour for years. She now stays at home and makes wedding cakes, birthday cakes, etc out of her home and makes fair money on the things that she makes.

Citrus vodka. Yum!

We do 95% of our shopping at Aldi. We get more overall than we did at Harris Teeter for less than 50% of the cost. It is great! I will substitute items that Aldi does not have. For example, I made baked Ziti the other day. I typically use ricotta cheese, but Aldi doesn't have it. I remembered that my MIL uses cottage cheese instead, and Aldi has it- so I substituted with that! I feed my family of three for about $40 a week at Aldi. It is fantastic. Our Aldi has great produce, and is very clean and organized. I also appreciate the convenience foods now and then- you can really save a LOT. We typically purchase the tortilla chips ($1.20) and organic fruit strips ($2.00) at a much cheaper price than any of our other local stores. We are Aldi converts and I have only found ONE item (sliced muenster cheese) that I don't like.

Our favorites... Pumpkin patch, apple orchards in the mountains, local huge corn maze, backyard bonfires. We love making pumpkin everything (bread, pies, coffee/lattes), homemade goodies and making homemade chili and cider. We will be starting some new traditions this year with my toddler- special fall books and movies but not sure yet what those will be!

Make sure to check your route- I am not the best navigator, but I think Savannah is about an hour off of 1-95. I might look for somewhere a little closer off of the highway if your main purpose is to sleep in a safe place. :)

Savannah midtown also has some cheaper options. Not dangerous, just more "city" like. Several of them have pools.

Yes! Historic Downtown. Beautiful city... DH and I have been there 1-3 times yearly since we were 16 together. So much fun, so many good restaurants. If you have a little time, take a Civil War walking tour. If you can stay at the hotel at Ellis Square, there is TONS to do within walking distance (though if you stay anywhere in the historic downtown, you will be able to pretty much walk anywhere- it may be just a bit more difficult to navigate. If you need any food suggestions, let me know. I have about a million! :)

6# at 32 weeks. He was 10# at birth (at 39 weeks)

Thank you for your response. I guess my main concern here was my wondering if I was reasonable in my feelings, or if I was being a complete spoiled brat for being upset. I am thankful for the gift to DS so far, hurt that the commitment was broken, and ready to move on. Thanks again!

P.S. I love Margarita Salt. Pass it over!

We are suspicious people too ;) You are in good company. I don't want to go into too many identifying details (although, lets be honest- if MIL happened to be on this forum, she'd be dense if she didn't know this was about us)... while ILs only have account numbers to deposit, they also have some relationships with the institution we save through that could interfere with his account. Let me be clear that FIL would never, ever take money from DS's account. While he has major boundary issues, and apparently commitment issues with us, that is not something I could ever see happening. And having said that, I still think it is probably a good idea to change account numbers for my son's financial safety.

DH has actually had several discussions with his dad about the subject. While likely immature, DH suggested that trimming his adult brother's illegal drug habit "allowance" might be a better way to save some cash if that was his intention. (Couldn't believe that he said it when he told me!) Today, FIL texted DH all day telling him about different pricey things he bought (obviously his right) that sent DH over the edge. He was upset that he broke the commitment, then bragged to him about all of the new things he is buying. DH called FIL who ended up telling him in their discussion that the main issue is MIL, who is a major over-spender. He says she needs to reign in the spending (she literally has hundreds of dollars in packages daily coming into their house), and then maybe he can afford to contribute. Obviously, I am not counting on it, and honestly (immature, I know- similar in feelings to the above poster who said she would probably want to send it back!), I am thinking of changing DS's account numbers for possible security concerns (well, to make a point as well).

Oh DH certainly does handle any issues with his parents. We have been together since young teenagers as well, though, so sometimes I let my feelings show. Sometimes I am a little too comfortable with them! While the money was ear-marked in a college savings plan, DS is not old enough to know or care (though I still feel like it was a broken promise to him- stupid, I know- and I think that is why I am so hurt). DH and I live on about 1/10 of the money that IL's do, but we have always been good savers and were actually saving close to that same amount anyway. So, I don't think it was him trying to get us to save for DS (as we made it obvious that we had been). We are very frugal with our money, Dave Ramsey style with no debt (thank God we paid that off before I became a SAHM because we have about as tight of a budget as we can). Thanks for the advice so far. I think I will stay away or keep my distance for a while longer and let DH take DS over there if he wants to. Obviously, I don't want to keep DS from his grandparents, but going over there at this point is just too much for me.

Without getting into too many specifics, I'd like to know how you would feel/what you would do in a similar situation. FIL approached us in the Spring and asked if we would commit to contributing a small amount to our DS's savings account if he would match that (specific) amount each week for one year. He wanted him to have a certain amount at the end of the year. We eagerly agreed, and have been direct depositing money into DS's account every week since. FIL has been flighty about actually depositing any of it, and DH has had to remind him nearly every week. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. FIL told DH that he can no longer contribute, and will not finish out his commitment (to be clear, it is not for lack of being able to afford it). He completed five months of what was originally a one year commitment from him. We have some major other issues with my ILs (boundaries, etc) but this feels like the straw that broke the camel's back to me. While I understand it was/is a gift, and it is his money to spend as he sees fit, the fact that he put so little effort into a commitment to his grandchild that HE approached us about is so tough for me to get over. I am disappointed and hurt. Maybe I am overreacting... I have avoided talking to him or MIL since (though there have been a few words) and they live close to us. I can't avoid them forever. DH is equally upset, maybe more than I am, at his father. Is this something I just need to get over and move on or do you think I should discuss our disappointment and hurt with them?