My dd might have a not-scary and quaint Lincoln Park sublet available this summer :lol:. Tempting?

I had this happen to me with a foster dog. The thing I was sad to find out was that it was dangerous to spay a dog in heat (bleeding risk), so I had to wait 6 weeks before I could spay her. Ugh!

I wouldn't lose if I ate all of my extra points. I try to keep a fair number left over at the end of the week. I do eat all of my daily points and my exercise points. It's working for me.

Check out: Belmont University in Nashville: Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business Columbia College, Chicago: Link to Music BA program Berklee College of Music, Boston: Professional Music Major

Since they are in season, I would expect some delay in receiving a return phone call. Also, if this is an NCAA school, the coach has rules to follow about contacting athletes. By all means, confirm information through the school, but don't read too much into the delay.

Check out 4 Paws 4 Ability in Xenia. They train service animals, and when a dog doesn't meet their rigorous standards, they adopt it out. That's where we got our golden rescue. She's a sweet, but obnoxious girl :lol:. I can see why she flunked out!

Be still my heart :001_wub: We're a golden family plus we foster collies (another wonderful breed).

I like Parks and Rec with Amy Pohler. The themes are not quite so adult, and the characters are nice, but quirky, people. Season 1 began a bit slow, but the characters have really developed. Similar offbeat humor to The Office.

One of the Academy girls that we carpool with from Ohio to MI is a senior in Creative Writing. She loves the program, and she also went to camp there first. This is an exciting journey. Congratulations to you and your dd for having the courage to put yourselves out there!

My daughter started at Interlochen around that age, and she's in her second year of boarding school there, now. The camp is very safe, well supervised, and quite structured. It's a positive place. Is there anything specific you want to know?

Violin. There are many opportunities to play in ensembles as your child gets older. Piano isn't an ensemble instrument until one plays at a very high level. Social playing became a very big deal for my kids around upper elementary and remains so today ;).

If nothing else, he will have had his day in court, so to speak.

I foster for a reputable, longstanding breed rescue like the one you describe. We spend an enormous amount of time matching our dogs to potential adopters, and we will absolutely adopt out to families with young children. As a dog foster, I am brutally honest about my dog's characteristics when a potential adopter asks me questions. My rescue enourages us to disclose the good, bad, and the ugly (make sure yours does, too). My rescue also spends time getting to know the adopters. We require a home visit before the family can even meet one of our dogs. Then, I will have a long phone conversation with the interested adopter. I listen to the adopter's wish list and think about whether my dog is consistent with their desires. I talk about my dog's issues and let the family think about it. Only if everyone is still interested ( including me on behalf of my dog) will there be a meeting. Yes, most rescue dogs have issues. Things like occasional accidents are pet issues, not rescue issues. Do your homework to make sure you are ok with the usual stuff that goes along with pet ownership. If you don't time to focus on your dog (imagine having the dog leashed to you when he's out of the crate for the first month, or spending 10 minutes outside every 45 minutes until he's housebroken), it might be best to wait. For my own family, my youngest child needed to be at least 5 before I had that kind of time.

No longer homeschooling, but my dd was diagnosed with ADHD as a young adult (age 19). Throughout adolescence, I didn't realize what we were dealing with. A disability that had previously been high maintenance became life impacting around age 16. Things have become much better since diagnosis and treatment.

Are you in a metropolitan area? If so, do some googling with words like career+change+women, workforce development, etc. There are often non-profit organizations that help women, low-income, ex-offenders, immigrants, seniors, etc. hone their soft skills for workplace re-entry. Check out their offerings. I'm currently working in this area, and I was quite unaware at how many resume courses, interviewing skills courses, etc. were out there before I took this job.

Former attorney here, returned to the workforce at age 50 after being home w/ kids for 20 years. If you can afford to earn a very small wage for a year, consider the AmeriCorps program. I'm a VISTA this year ($10,000 living stipend), and I'm working as a job developer for people with some barriers to employment. I love the work, it's giving me the references/resume that will help me land the next job, and my VISTA offers some good career supports. Most VISTA programs begin in June and November. Americorps state and national programs have different start dates. My only other suggestion comes from my observation as a job developer. If you want any kind of office work, it is imperative that you have some current Excel, Word, and possibly PowerPoint and Publisher training. You don't have to pursue full-blown certificates, but even free courses offered by workforce development folks will help. You will be in competition with others (often younger) who have this training. It's a must in today's world.

I have been through this with a good friend. Although it can absolutely still turn out to be nothing, I think your friend has moved beyond "lots of people have this happen--it's probably nothing" toward the possibility that it is actually something. Be ready for whatever news she gets, and we'll be praying that it's celebratory!

:iagree:I am 50. I was a lawyer before becoming a full-time parent. My faith led me to leave my wage earning job in order to raise a family. My faith is also seeing me through the vulnerability and leading me toward the next career.

I was going straight for the Bob Ross Videos ;), but I realized he worked in oil, not watercolor.

My middle dd also did the Hillsdale Churchill/WWII trip when she was 16. I can't overstate what a wonderful trip that was!

As the 50 yo owner of fine, straight hair, I'm going to gently suggest that you're limiting yourself by not using styling products. IMHO, they are every bit as important as the cut and styling methods. Consider a root lifter, styling spray, hairspray, and some gentle teasing at the crown. As much as I would love to get away with it, I don't believe that wash and go hair works well for our hair type.

Call your local bar association if you don't know someone personally. There will be a couple of challenges to shadowing a lawyer, though. First, due to confidentiality, your ds wouldn't be able to sit in on any meetings/phone calls with a client. Lawyers also spend a lot of their day reading and writing--boring to watch. Finally, your ds is only 8(?), and that is pretty young for a job shadow. I would suggest sitting in on a session of open court if your ds is interested in law. It also supports a nice American government lesson on the branches of government.....

Nope. I would rely on the Children's Pastor and my small group leader for recommendations. I go to a 10,000 member church.

This was our only goal when we began music lessons with our kids soooo many years ago. I think we were quite successful! I am hoping for all of my kids that their artistic interests evolve alongside the opportunities available. It will be interesting to see how their life choices play out.

Maryann, I think you've described my my dd#3, which is why I've posed this question. Her college goals are similar to your path, and she spent the past two summers in the Young Artists Orchestra at Tanglewood. That experience alone would have made her want to take a shot at an orchestral career (yeah, we know the odds for a flute player :glare:)! I've always kind of wondered what would be next if an "all or nothing" type person followed this path. I guess only time will tell ;).