I would toss it. I had a similar thing happen when my dh took one of my sons, who was 12 at the time, to Asia with him. He threw up on his jeans after the flight on the ride to the hotel. They put them in a bag and brought them home 14 days later! EEWWWW. I never opened the bag.

My sister read to me a lot when I was small and actually taught me to read at 4. She was 12 when I was born and was much more of a parent to me than my mother. She got married and moved away when I was 9, but still read to me when she came home and made sure I had tons of books. Since my sisters were so much older, I grew up more like an only child and spent most of my spare time reading. To this day we are always discussing what we are reading and she is still recommending books for me to read.

Feeding them their special requests, for me, is part of the way I show my love for them. I would do it. I have gotten worse about this since my son joined the Marine Corp and called home telling me what all he wanted to eat when he got to come home. :001_smile:

We call my oldest son "the absent-minded professor." He is 24 and all my strategies trying to make him more organized/less forgetful has never worked. He is just the way he is. He is able to take care of getting to his college classes, hold down a job, and will be getting married in August. He can handle life - but he will ALWAYS be dippy. His soon-to-be wife and I have a "look" that we give each other when he has done something dippy. :001_smile: It drives him crazy! When I'm pulling all the stuff out of the dryer that was in his pockets, I just say to myself "he has a heart of pure gold and he is very bright." He has so many good qualities, that after 24 years I have learned to overlook his forgetfulness. I would not punish your son for his mistakes. It wasn't something done out of malice. It was an honest mistake. We all make them.

I just went through this same thing with my oldest dd in the past year. Things are much better now. Some things I did: 1) Let her know she could disagree with me if she did it respectfully. If she wasn't respectful, she was sent to her room until she could be. 2) When it comes to schoolwork, what I say goes. She is not in charge, non-negotiable. 3) Spent lots of extra time with just her doing girl things. She needed me to listen to her. I have already had three boys go through this stage, but girls are a whole 'nother story. Hang in there and have some patience with her. It is a hard time for her too.

:iagree: Jean, you are SO wise!

I will second The Giver. Another favorite of mine is Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. My favorite series right now by a current author is Outlander and the books that follow by Diana Gabaldon.

I would not respond. It is amazing that someone thinks they have the right to tell you how to parent your own child. Incredible!

I have a 12x8 ft. bookshelf in my family room that is full of curriculm, no fiction. I also have a library 10x8 with floor to ceiling shelves full of fiction. After 15 years of doing this, I have purchased WAY more than we need, and never sold much. I am planning to sort through and actually sell some stuff this summer. My dh says he will believe it when he sees it. :001_smile:

1979 Chevy Camaro.

My children do chores right before school. I get them all up at the same time and they know that beds made, chores done, breakfast all has to completed by 8:30 when school starts. It is simply part of our routine.

I love storms! When I was growing up in Florida, my friends and I would go to the beach right before a hurricane. The waves looked and sounded incredible. Some of my friends were surfers, and that was their favorite time. I have been known to run around outside while trees were bending to the ground!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

I do it all the time. I use the low setting and let it cook all day.

When I was growing up it was: 7-9 - Junior High 10-12 - High School The way I think of it now, and the way it is around here in ps is: 6-8 - Middle School 9-12 - High School

I don't even want to think about how many times! I went through buying/selling/buying back until I was afraid to sell anything. Now I have WAY too many books on my shelves and need to sell and not look back.

How exciting! I am so looking forward to being a grandmother one day. :party:

My dc simply know it is not an option. There is no free time until schoolwork is done. We have activities almost every afternoon, and they know if schoolwork isn't done they simply don't go. When my now high schooler got to the age that he had independent longer-term assignments, he began to procrastinate. Not getting to go where he had planned on the weekend let him know we meant business. It only happened once or twice.

We are on our fifth set with two more to go (one dd has to have them twice). It is SO expensive. Thank goodness they let you make payments. Our insurance does not cover braces. I told our orthodontist that we should have a room in his office named for our family! :001_smile:

Thank you for the update, Kari. I am continuing to pray for you and yours. :grouphug:

This is what I do. I try to get a head-start on dinner while I'm washing up lunch dishes. It usually only takes me about 15-30 minutes right before dinner to finish. I cook about 95% from scractch (as in, I don't make my own pasta!)

I love my nook. I also like the fact that as they add features, they automatically send you the updates. You don't have to go buy a new reader. They have recently added a web browser and some games. I can get on here on my nook! If I have problems, I can walk up to the nook counter in B&N and get a real person to help me. That is also a plus for the nook IMO.

Hi Dayle! :seeya: Welcome back. It sounds as though things have been interesting down your way!

I'm thankful for a husband who: Works 10 hours days so I can stay home and school our kids. Loves us all and makes each one of us feel special. Walks out his faith every day and teaches his kids to do the same. Doesn't complain about how much I spend for school. Does the dishes for me every night no matter how tired he is. Thinks I'm beautiful and doesn't seem to notice my wrinkles. I could go on and on . . .

Just one more voice to say the Carson is drying and boring. I also have them all. I've tried to use them twice and we just couldn't do it.