And I can add that I signed up for a concealed carry class. It didn't have enough sign up to make a class and we never looked for another. And I still don't have a problem with the policy. Oklahoma has liberal ( or conservative :)) gun laws and it's common to see signs that firearms are not permitted in a certain building or on school property.

I have a 6(almost 7) year old and an 8 (almost 9) year old and I vote too young. Does she have a favorite color? I would ask her. If you want it to be a surprise, just happen to go walking through the bedding department and see what she gravitates towards. I ask, because "I" like your shabby chic idea, but my older dd likes vibrant colors and would strongly dislike pastels. Lime green or electric blue are her thing. My younger dd likes hot pink, sparkles, and frou-frou.....so still not into pastels. However, she would be more likely to like whatever you did that was girly. Both of their rooms reflect what I've described above.

Here is the thing, though. The teacher hadn't made it to school and the parent dropped the kid off into...NOT the teacher's custody....... on a school holiday. Yes, the teacher needs to communicate with parents. But, honestly, I wouldn't leave my child there until teacher was physically there. OR... I understand leaving them with the mom, who was fine to wait....BUT..... waiting 4 hours? Really? What was the other mom thinking? After 30 minutes, I'm either talking to the teacher to find out if arrival is imminent or leaving. I blame this one equally on the teacher and the mom who let the kids wait 4 hours in the rain. ETA---I'm not saying not to contact the principal, but I would make it clear to the teacher that YOU are doing the transporting and YOU need to be contacted in the future. Then, give him any and all contact information you have (home phone, cell phone, texting, email, etc.....) ETA. #2. No, I would not have left your son. But I think it's odd that she didn't call you to tell you what was going on.

We are in the middle of this transition. If I was to make a top 5 list of easy things, without knowing where you are starting: 1. More fruits and vegetables. I serve veggies at lunch and 3 veggies at dinner (and don't count potatoes or corn. Kids get 1 pass, but must eat 2. This includes raw carrots and such, so it's not huge work.). If I serve a bread or starch, I only make 1 serving per person. I don't want people filling up on them. I always keep fruit available on the counter. 2. Whole grains for everything (pasta, bread). Even boxed mixes can be bought this way. 3. Cut out HFCS--again, can be bought boxed and jarred 4. No trans-fat or hydrogenated oils. Again, can be bought boxed and jarred. 5. Try a whole-foods, from scratch, recipe every week. Keep the whole-wheat Hamburger Helper, until you find an easy recipe to do from scratch. (it is SUPER easy and my kids love it.) But don't worry about every meal, just yet. ETA--ok. I need to add a 6th. Cut out junky snacks and soda. Pick a few healthier snacks to keep on hand. Even little changes, instead of going straight to celery sticks. Find better crackers. More fruit. Though I try to limit empty carbs, whole grain goldfish are still a hit. Granola bars with no HFCS. I always keep something easy and portable on hand and in my car, since those are better than emergency stops at McD's to feed starving kids.

I am glad you are taking it seriously. dh was diagnosed in January. His numbers were borderline and he is doing very well with diet and exercise. He's even lost a significant amount of weight. In our research, we see many doctors say that the American medical system waits too long to intervene and that much could be reversed, and prevented, if people would take action when they get those normal, but high, results. ETA. Forgot to say.... YAY! About the non-diagnosis.

Well, chocolate really has been a huge help in my weight loss journey. But, I've gradually worked up to 70% cocoa (coming from a definite milk chocolate preference.). Most of the time, a small square is enough to keep me from reaching for a junkier (no health benefit, more sugar, more fat, more preservatives) sweet treat. Now, I've also cut sugar back, cut diet pop back, started eating many more vegetables, drinking more tea, focusing on Omega 3 rich foods, etc... So, I can't contribute all benefits to chocolate. It is a help, though.

Just remember, you don't have to test that much every day. Test at different times. Before and after meals and exercise. First thing in the morning. Right before bed. After different types of meals (higher carb, higher fat, etc...). When you feel stressed (stress is actually dh's biggest trigger.....more so than carbs.) Make notes about the circumstances. But, if you do a lot of before/after testing one day, take it easy the next. Some days, dh would test 4+, to get a picture of what happened throughout the day. But, then he might only do a morning fasting the next day. He does usually test at least once a day.

I had a relative that did something similar. Their reasoning was "To each, according to their need." The one that got the money, "needed" more support. If others "needed" it, they would have (supposedly) gotten it. So, it wasn't favoritism.

Dh gets to decide on the front yard (orderly, English) and I get to decide on the back (vegetable garden, fruit trees, butterfly and bird attractors.) We just moved into this house in August, so I'm starting to get MY garden implemented (orderly, pruned, holly bushes out and blackberries in!) I did concede to his orderly issues by buying very nice corner braces for my raised bed garden. I built it a few weeks ago and it looks very nice...and orderly.:D Now, since I actually do all of the work.....his front garden (which needs attention..... The house was for sale in the really high heat and the plants suffered) will have to wait until I have taken care of my priorities......:D

Have you checked to see if your state university does any of their courses online? Maybe your drive schedule wouldn't be quite so brutal. My sis is almost finished with her Ph.D through a respected brick and mortar. She had "in-person" classes every semester, but often mixed those in with on-line classes that required posting to message boards for discussion. It decreased her travel days some. Good for you for checking into this. I'm going through the same process to look at a M.S. for library science. I'm going to start by volunteering at the library next fall to see if it's really a good fit, but I'm lucky enough to have a university branch fairly close that offers it. It's a little scary to think about going back to school. People keep asking about online diplomas, but I'm leery. I think those would work best for people who are already employed and need a piece of paper for advancement.

:iagree: Gas pumps get inspected and have to be VERY close to exact. You can see the stickers on them that tell if they measured + or - and by how much. The amount they can be off is minuscule. I only know this because a local news station did a story when gas prices started getting so high. I think it's more likely your car gauge isn't accurate and I wouldn't let your car get too close to empty.

How will she handle the sad part? My 8 1/2 year old has enjoyed the other stories you listed. She picked up LW (maybe the classic starts version). I was nervous about the sad part, but she liked it. She did admit it was sad.

Not all areas of California are the huge, huge, bucks and I don't remember if she gave an idea of the location. We have family that lives in a non-beach, non-ritz, farming-surrounded city in California. We actually call it a twin of our city, because it so similar to ours. There ARE very expensive homes. And their real estate IS more expensive than our mid-western town (though we didn't have the large-scale boom and bust in prices.) But, their ranch-style, 3 bedroom and an office, with almost an acre, pool, and barn in the suburbs of their city is not even close to million dollar level pricing. Monica--sorry it's not working out the way you hoped.

We got her in. She had a temperature. After poking, prodding, and examining Jasmine, he couldn't find any painful areas or visible reasons for the temperature. He said a blood test might or might not show what was wrong. He started her on antibiotic and said if she wasn't better by tomorrow morning, to call. She, of course, was more perky at the vet office, and ever since, than she has been since Monday.

The vet opens in 5 minutes. I have the girls up and dressed, so I'm hoping they say to bring her right in. Poor Jasmine. She stood up when my dd woke up and wagged her tail, then laid in dd's lap. She's a 50 pound lap dog. We don't really "let" her chew on sticks. She has chew toys in the house, but she does get free run of the fenced yard to play in on pretty days. There are trees. So, I'm not really sure how to stop her chewing on the sticks.

I've lost 50 pounds, over two years. During that time, I've tried many things. Some, to try to get out of weight loss plateaus and some for other health benefits. I went gluten free for 3 months, to see if it helped joint pain that I was having. It did kick me out of a weight-loss plateau that I had hit. But, I plateaued again, when I started eating too much cheese and nuts.:D. When I tried to cut out cheese and nuts, it started to feel like I couldn't find anything to eat. Since it didn't help my joint pain, I went back on gluten and have continued on in my, lose a few pounds then plateau for a bit, pattern For "ME", looking back over two years, however I am eating.....I still have to watch total calories.

Quite possibly. She constantly picks up sticks or bark in the yard (or pencils and pens in the house) to chew.

Ok...that makes sense. She needs to watch him doing frustrating things so she can catch behaviors. You suggested reading. She's doing it wrong. If you could pull her aside, without kid, I would blame it all on your phonics program. "Our program has this certain way of doing things." Either specifically ask her to be more of a spectator to watch for the behavior issues while you conduct the lesson the way "the phonics program" wants you to, or give her the rules for how it's done.

You said it was something you thought was a good idea? So, it was your idea and you asked her to do it? (just clarifying) I think you asked a behavior therapist to do something that she's not trained to do. It seems like a reasonable request, but you are going to have to "train" her to do it the way you want it done. If you can't do that without causing issues (you would be a better judge of the situation), I'd pick something easier so he can build confidence or drop it.

My 8 month old boxer is sick. She was lethargic yesterday (starting about 3:00 am yesterday morning, when I took both dogs out.) She just wants to sleep on the couch and she moves very slowly when she does get up. I would describe it as acting achy. I did get her to drink something yesterday. No food. She went both types of bathroom. Early this morning, she went out again and peed. No whining or acting like she's in pain. But still moving slowly and not herself at all. I keep wondering if it's just a doggy version of a cold/flu and I should let her be, or ....? She's fully vaccinated.

Well, I had my kids in a lot more activities when they were both home schooled. So, you may get skewed answers for what is feasible, since your kids attend school. And my answers may be skewed, since I stay home. I can prep dinner during the day and some of our activities are right after school and before 5. So, I would take an hour-by-hour calendar and figure out what is really feasible for you. When we started my older dd at a private school this year, we had to cut back. She has homework, and I know the first graders have homework (Saxon, reading aloud, Dolch words, etc.). Plus, I want her to still have some free reading time and down time. We keep some sport of physical activity going. If a sports activity is once a week, they might do 2. If a sports activity has 2 practices and games on Saturday, that's the only one we do at that time. Beyond that, decisions depend on location and how it fits in our schedule. We try to only have one activity per night. Having 2, even when ON PAPER there is plenty of time, means that homework time is stressful and she has no down time to decompress. I also keep them in some sort of fine arts. We had to drop this down to one, for my school child. So, she dropped music lessons and kept up art lessons. Then, I want one weeknight where we have no activities. It let's us breathe and get caught up on any bigger school assignments, and we can all eat together. Currently, we had to schedule that with dog training. You know we're bad when the dog has an activity. :tongue_smilie: But, it was necessary and it is short term. And that was the only night it would work on.

Animals, babies, young children-- Animal shelters And We have a children's shelter...a-we don't have enough foster families, supposed to be temporary, but reality isnt ideal-place that accepts volunteers to come in and play with the young children/babies. I know they require background checks and references. I am considering getting my Masters in library science. So, next year, I am going to start volunteering at the library. Either in their adult literacy program (helping adults with reading skills, which is something I'm highly interested in) or volunteering directly at the library....or both. I want to see if I like it, before I invest in school, and I want to start thinking about building a resume that has a 10 year work gap (already...more by the time I might go back to work.) Volunteering lets me work fewer hours (who would hire someone for 5-10 hours a week) and also take off when needed for family issues....though I want to be reliable to earn some positive references.

Ah, ok. So, just a long summer break. I wasn't sure what the "SPD" was and if he NEEDED to be in school. I'd go, since you said you would all see your dh for dinner and an hour a day. Consider it an adventure. That's how I will vote, then.

Your oldest child, in school, would be the issue, for me. If it wasn't for switching schools, I would say move with him. When would you be moving and how would his school be affected? Would you move before this year is up, enroll him for a month, do summer break, back to school for a couple of months, than have to switch schools? The reason that I would, otherwise, choose moving is that the stability for them stems from having the same adults in their lives. I guess I see moving around as not being any worse than dad being gone for 6 months.

:party: Happy Birthday!