I think thank you notes are always necessary, and yup, I judge people who don't write them negatively. There. I admitted it.

http://www.zazzle.com/periodic_table_of_elements_assorted_chocolates-256641403386304600

Happy Birthday, Sparkly!

No, I can't. Technology fails way too often to trust my life to it.

:)

I think for beginners, group lessons are OK, but as your DD progresses, she may want to have private lessons in order to get more personal attention. I don't think that 30 minutes or 1 hour is necessarily the best option; it really depends on what is best for your child. But it is darned next to impossible to accomplish much in 30 minutes if that 30 minutes will also include grooming, tacking, and unsaddling the horse (and there is no way I would use a barn that didn't encourage students to do this kind of work because it enables the rider to develop a rapport with the animal). My DD takes lessons at a barn where her lesson runs about 1 1/2 hours, but includes all her own horse care, from fetching the animal out of the pasture, to grooming, tacking, riding, and unsaddling. What I would look for in a barn: First and foremost, a barn focused mainly on horsemanship, which includes all aspects of care, as well as riding, rather than on competition. I think it is necessary to develop good horsemanship skills before entering the competitive world. A really competitive barn can suck the joy right out of it for your DD, so beware of a barn that emphasizes competition for a rank beginner. Degrees don't mean much, on a practical level, but years of hands-on horsemanship is worth gold. The indoor ring is a plus for inclement weather. Without seeing the barn or talking to the owner, I would be wary of Barn #2 because they don't require the student to tack and groom their own horse (although they may later on when the student progresses; you should ask this). Look around the barn: Are the stalls clean and water fresh, are the horses mostly pastured or locked in a stall (horses should be pastured whenever possible), are other riders interacting with the horses or just jumping on them as if they were some breathing Ferrari? The answers to those questions would help me decide which barn to use.

I'm happy you have been in remission for 6 years! Well, this post just goes to show you that we all have these pressures to make sure our kids get what they need.

A nutritionist and dietician for me.

When I have read about the effect of "grit" on success, it rarely refers to people reaching the pinnacle of their chosen profession. It is usually used in reference to kids in tough circumstances getting out of and staying out of poverty/abuse/tough circumstances. I don't think anyone would disagree that to reach the top of your profession takes grit, intelligence, and a bit of luck, but that's not usually the context for grit discussions. So leaving aside exceptional intelligence, it would seem that grit is an umbrella term for many traits that keep you out of trouble and allow you to live a somewhat pleasant life.

She's your friend - so the particulars are your business by virtue of your relationship. But people are flawed and fallible, even the ones we seem to have so much in common with. If I were in your shoes and was friends before these incidents (actually, I have been there), I would continue the relationship; no one is perfect. OTOH, you can't force a friendship, so if you drift away because of this, then you do. I wouldn't intentionally cut ties because of this problem, though.

Wow, congratulations!

Try the short shrug on before you dismiss it - I was pleasantly surprised.

Buy the dress with a cute shrug. That's what I do, and I am apple shaped, as well. Dresses and skirts are just easier to fit, and the prints I see are butt ugly these days.

i'd eat them.

If you are patient, you can you tube the repair of that window and save yourself lots of $$$.

When people ask where my kids go to school, I just say "They don't go to school" and just let it sit there. I enjoy seeing the stunned look on the faces, LOL.

Oh, yes, I forgot to include this. Gram staining off bacteria, simple methylene blue staining, and blood staining are easily doable at home. But other stains on complex animal and plant tissues wouldn't be worth it. P

Definitely waterproof casts will help her cope!

We are in the midst of this now with my parents, so not on the other side yet. At first, we started to descend into petty bickering/blaming, but we got our heads together and verbalized the need to focus on parent-care, rather than blame and workload, and so far, things are OK between us siblings. It's important to stop yourselves when the bickering and blaming starts, which happens because everyone is strssed and scared. We are all basically on the same page when it comes to dying; we are realistic and practical and none of us are inclined toward extreme life-extending measures. POA and medical proxies were divvied up based on who was close by, who could handle money matters, etc.... We all trust each other on these things, so that makes it easy.

Sufficient for everything except large comforters. We are a family of 4. The wash cycles are fast and furious.

To section and stain slides can be an elaborate process (depending on the stain and the tissue) and, at least for many animal tissues, requires you to first embed the specimen in wax and also to have access to a costly machine that can slice thin slices of tissues. So not worth it for most people. As far as the condition of vintage slides: Depends on how they were cared for and with what material the cover slip was attached. The seller should accurately describe the slides, and also check out the pictures (there should be no/minimal cracking of the cover slips and no/minimal yellowing). The sample specimens themselves should be adequate and accurate, though.

Yes, this. Same experience; we should have seen a dermatologist earlier.

That sounds about right to me.

My DD loves winged eyeliner. I think it looks cheap too, but it's not a hill I'm going to die on, so DD wears it. I do make her wipe it off if it gets so dark that it looks more ridiculous than usual. What about a compromise where she only wears it when she goes out for semi-special occasions and not wear it everyday?

Hand over a huge lump sum to a teenager!?!?! Not a chance. We'll pay on an ongoing, as-needed basis because our paying is contingent upon satisfactory (as defined by us) success.