We only use our fingers. As soon as I brush or comb it just becomes a frizzy mess. This is younger Dd's hair. And this is older Dd's A very windy day just to show our curl structure...

To answer the OP's question. My parents lived on my uncle's property when we were little for about 18 months while my parents built our house. My mom would source everything during the day and Dad would build for a few hours after work and on weekends. We had a caravan (camper) and attached tent and we had to walk around the back of the house to get to the bathroom inside the house. I was about 6 at the time and still remember jumping from flag-stone to flag-stone on the path from our camper to the house to avoid the puddles caused by the rain. My parents also converted an outbuilding into a type of living room where our living room furniture stood. We took a different path to get there. The area we lived in has winter rain, but temperatures are fairly mild - going down to about 10 degrees Celcius during the day (50 F). My sister in Ireland just had my cousin's daughter stay in the camper parked in her driveway for a semester while attending university. Keeping the camper heated was a challenge and she basically only slept there. Doable with the right clothing and bedding. My sister also didn't mind having her in the public areas of the house nor her using the bottom bathroom and shower. I think you need to think about how much of your home Dd and family will be using, and would you mind having them there? Different personalities also come into the mix. Do you have private spaces to retreat to? Is there a bathroom available that they can use? What about washer/drier? (I recall that my Uncle and father installed a washer in the bathroom that we used in their home). Would you allow them to use your kitchen? How often? I think you all have to have a frank discussion on how you see the day-to-day practicalities working out.

You will have to experiment a bit with products and methods that works for you. My daughters and I all have curly/wavy hair, but the textures differ a bit. Elder Dd's is thicker and more wavy and her hair goes limp with heavier products, while younger Dd and I have finer, more frizzy hair and need the heavier products to keep it in check. Our basic routine is to wash in the shower using the 'squish to condish' method (basically scrunching the conditioner into the hair for moisture)- Elder Dd rinses out all conditioner, but younger Dd and I find that leaving some in lets the curls 'clump' more. I then add a curl enhancer that I leave in as well. We then use either a t-shirt or a micro-fibre towel to wrap around our heads to absorb the water. I don't use a comb or brush. I sleep on a silk pillow-case with my hair in a "pineapple" on my head. In the morning I use a spray bottle to define the curls a bit. Elder Dd sleeps with wet hair wrapped in the T-shirt, but I want my hair to be dry before bed. I can't advise on UK products, but try to find 'curly girl approved i.e. sulfate free, silicon free, etc. You can add the product name into a website like curlscan.com.

I'm so sorry Jenny. Its so hard to lose a loyal companion.

On the old boards, at the start of the century somewhere, we used to sign with our name and location. So I was Hannah from South Africa. Still am.

Open your gifts early, but make an event of it - a nice meal, quality time together, opening gifts.

This is such an important parenting lesson. We will never be perfect parents, and our children will not be perfect either!

Very well put Rosie! My girls understand and appreciate that we really did do the best that we could under the circumstances, with the skills and knowledge that we had at the time. If I knew then what I know now I'd do things differently, but we can't beat ourselves up about that. I hope that our whole family learned from our experiences and efforts - in my case I needed to actively work on acquiring an emotional vocabulary and literacy. My girls are way more self-aware and have more confidence than I had at their ages and have more coping skills and tools. I hope that some generational trauma and hang-ups have been resolved and I'd be really sad if they have the same ones I do!

So far the full stop / period has 214 views 🤣

My mom passed away in hospital shortly after we all went home and I felt very guilty that we weren't there by her side when she went. The ICU nurse told me that she saw it very often that the patient died just after the family left and she believed that the patient did have a small measure of control about when they were going to let go - and often chose to do it when they were completely alone.

What of what she says resonates and what holds you back from living it?

People's personalities and relationship needs differ. Maybe he's an introvert and you're an extrovert? Or he just wants one friend. That's OK. But you don't have to expect from yourself to have the same need. Ester Perel is a Belgium couples counselor working in New York. She often says that modern marriage has evolved such we now expect everything from one person what a village used to offer. Your husband can't be the whole village for you and I don't think there's any need to feel guilty about that.

So very true. Well said Rosie! She absolutely does!

With our family's sense of humour, I'd leave a note in the beginning of each album with a "2001 trip to xxx - To be tossed out without a moment's hesitation or any guilt when I'm gone!"

Does it make sense to reduce the number of binders? Or would that be more trouble than its worth?

(((Hugs))) to you.

That is my understanding as well. A funeral is in a church and a celebration of life is non-religious. I was recently at a funeral where the minister did not actually know the deceased as the one who did know here had passed. He took the opportunity to preach fire and brimstone and said nothing about her life as a wonderful teacher. None of her colleagues, friends or students were called to say anything either. It was a truly horrible experience.

I'm so sorry for your loss Ottakee. May your happy memories of your adventures with her comfort you.

My paternal grandmother was meticulous in dating and labelling her photographs and in some cases even a small description of the event. I'm a keen genealogist and it has been amazing to have all of this history available. My cousin spent a lot of time scanning everything and has shared it with the rest of the family. I have a similar box to yours of my maternal grandmother's pictures and that is proving to be a lot more challenging because I also don't know who everyone is, or even where it was taken. I've scanned those that I can figure out and was able to ask my uncle about (Mom passed away years ago). I have kept a shoe box of 'bad' scenery pictures for potential craft projects, although I really don't know yet what kind of project I could use them in or whether that will ever materialize. For your own scenery I would absolutely keep only the very best and have it on one page of an album - with dates and locations so your kids and grandkids know what they're looking at! Throw the rest away.

Sincere condolences Lynn. I'm glad you could all be with her and be there for your Dad.

We have had very similar discussions. Because medical school is so prestigious and its where the "best" kids go, it means that there are kids going the medicine route only because they have stellar marks and it shows how accomplished they are, not because they really want to be doctors. Some of the universities now do required a certain amount of job-shadowing to counter this.

Our goal too was to prepare the girls so that they could enter public university if they wanted. Here too good academic results in the national school leaving (or equivalent) exams are the primary requirement, including for the 11 medical schools in the country. Medical school starts straight after high-school and is a six year degree which includes practical training from the 2nd year onwards. It is the most competitive degree with more than 36 000 application for 1 800 1st year positions annually. My kids have competed at national level in their sport, but it does not make any difference in university selection in their chosen fields. There are 26 public universities of which 11 are 'traditionally academic' meaning they only offer degree courses, no vocational diplomas. Population 60 million. I have no idea how this would compare to a state flagship, but in most of the worldwide university ranking reports the top 5 are in the top 500 wordwide and the remainder in the top 1000.

People here would probably not believe you either! Everyone uses WhatsApp, even for business appointment and such. Facebook messenger is much less common. I have family and friends overseas and we use it between us as well.

Congratulations!!

I'm surprised that there is only one WhatsApp user. Is it not a commonly used app in the US? It would be the nr 1 for most people in South Africa. So mine are Whatsapp Life360 Spotify Audible MapMyWalk