My biggest tip for Universal Studios, especially for Harry Potter fans, is to try to swing one night at one of the premium Universal hotels. It is expensive, although less so in the off season, but the perks are worth it. One hour earlier than park entry to one of the Harry Potter areas, and included front-of-the-line privileges for BOTH your check-in day and your check-out day. Even off season, the Harry Potter areas get crowded, very crowded. It is absolutely amazing to be there before the park opens, enjoy that area for the full hour, and be on the first train to the other park as soon as the parks open to the general public.

Just for fun. Here is one that DD built herself from a kit picked up at a yard sale for $3. (pics took a long time to add. . .had to get DD's assistance in making files small enough to load!)

I've settled on ordering the Foster-Smith brand canned cat food online as the best quality/cost combination for my two remaining cats. It's regularly on sale for $17.50 for 24 cans. I had one cat that lived to 23 on a mostly cheap supermarket dry food diet but then lost the next two in their early teens to probably preventable diseases. That was when I actually started reading up on cat nutrition and made the decision to feed the highest quality can food I could afford.

IMHO, group lessons are fine for exposure, just-for-fun purposes. I prefer individual lessons for serious skill building and attention to the avoidance of picking up bad form/habits. DD16 has individual lessons for both violin and mandolin. She did a group class for mountain dulcimer just for fun.

DD applied for and received a Discover student card her freshman year. I wanted her to have a credit card to use at the bookstore, to fill the gas tank, etc. I did have to co-sign the application but the card is in her name and she is building a credit history/score. One nice thing about Discover is that they provide the credit score for free. Also, the Discover student card provides a bonus cash back for good grades. DD has always been very careful with money, choosing to save almost all allowance and cash gifts over the years rather than spending it. She is now working and those paychecks are auto-deposited directly into the bank. I have no qualms over her having a credit card and actually prefer that she have one and use it now while we still are able to provide guidance. Credit is a tool. It can be used wisely or poorly.

People still pay to get a newspaper delivered? I thought that went the way of milk delivery. We get a couple of papers but they are freebies and we don't ask for them. We pull out the sales flyers for the grocery store and recycle the rest.

I had a very similar situation with one of my siblings last year, complete with the GoFundMe page! To add to the guilt, she had recently lost her spouse and had lots of end-of-life expenses to pay off. I still did not give her any cash. Like your brother, she has made so many poor financial decisions that no amount would solve her problems long term. Instead, I spent money to fly cross country with one of my DDs. We stayed one week to help her sort, pack and haul away many many loads of stuff. I strongly disagreed with her plan but since I didn't have a financial stake involved I was able to keep my mouth shut and we had a nice visit. We are still emotionally close so there were no hard feelings about not getting cash from me. Support the relationship, not the perceived financial need.

We include study skills on the transcript as my DDs take a course called college success as duel enrollment at a local CC. It will even transfer as an elective credit to the state flagship university.

Great. Thanks. DD will call tomorrow.

Dd has been waiting for lottery funds before confirming her courses for fall 2016. Payment to school is due Monday and the funding is not yet credited to her balance. Ugh. This is her third semester and her account has never been correct.

Another happy Amazon textbook rental customer! Just received two rental textbooks that would have cost $455 new from the college bookstore (~$330 used). They offer pennies on the dollar (no joke!) to sell them back at the end of the semester. Together, including shipping, were $55 to rent for the semester. I ordered on Saturday afternoon and received one on Monday (!) and the second on Tuesday. I do not have Prime or pay for premium shipping. Hopefully, that will reduce the sting of paying for the custom textbooks and required online code bundles for the rest of the courses. *sigh*

Wow! That's great. It's nice to be wanted. DD got tons of mail/email encouraging her to apply but they were more along the lines of: "We need to get our application numbers UP so we can turn you DOWN and thereby INCREASE our exclusivity rating!" or "We want you to apply so we can accept you but offer little to no aid and remain unaffordable!"

Like everywhere else, it really depends on the type of work being sought. I would caution that most available jobs will be low skill work. Also, salaries are lower than somewhere with a higher cost of living. For us, we feel the trade off is well worth it but we've known people who refuse to work here for the salaries being offered. Couple other cautions: public schools (K-12) are not good and we are one of the states that refused to expand Medicare so we still have plenty of folks who can't afford health insurance.

Sorry you didn't like the pudding but I'm not too surprised. I didn't finish mine either. Here's the link to the low carb bread recipe: http://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/the-low-carb-bread It's a little tricky to get it to come out right, without large air pockets. I've had it come out perfectly twice and with large air pockets twice. Stir all the dry ingredients together first. Stir the apple cider vinegar into the boiling water. Slide the egg whites into the dry ingredients and then add the water/vinegar. Stir less than you think you should with a fork. If you stir thoroughly, you'll get large air pockets. I also leave out the salt as it is just too salty for me otherwise. If you've had real wheat bread recently, I don't think this bread will satisfy you. However, if you've been away from bread for a long time like me, it really hits the spot. I'm most impressed with the texture. If you've tried other low carb bread recipes, you'll know what I mean. Some of them are tasty but just can't get close to real bread texture. Anyway, these rolls toast well and freeze well. Cover the slightly odd taste with lots of butter, cheese, or other toppings. :drool5: Good luck.

:iagree: Mountains, parks, hiking, rock climbing, tubing, white water rafting, caves, etc. Four seasons without the extremes of the far north or southwest. Low cost of living, no state taxes on earned income, lottery based scholarships for college, lottery based funding to defray dual enrollment course costs (not free, but cheaper), and FREE community college for high school graduates.

I agree with the above. Do you measure your blood sugar or ketones? That would be one way to reassure yourself that the fiber-carbs aren't working against you. I bought some chia seeds to make chia pudding recently. It was fairly strange and I didn't like it, ended up throwing out the pudding. No one else in the family would even try it. I need to look for other chia seed recipes to try. I do have a low-carb bread recipe that I found recently that makes the closest thing to real bread that I've had in 2 years. There is just something so satisfying to be able to toast and butter a roll to go along with a meat & veggie meal. It uses a lot of psyllium husk powder as a central ingredient - lots of carbs but all of them are fiber. I try to limit myself to one "roll" per day, despite how yummy they are, because of potential digestive issues with all that fiber! I've yet to have a problem though.

Do you speak Welsh? DD16 is trying to learn Welsh on Duolingo but we don't know anyone who speaks it. (sorry for the sidebar!)

DD has Ting, DH has PureTalk, I have Virgin Mobile. We are all very light users and are happy with our cheap plans. I pay $20 every 3 months. DH is $9 per month. DD varies from $7 to $18 per month depending on usage.

We use quite a few British terms. One of my favorites was used by a work colleague from the UK after lunch when he offered to go buy some ice lollies for us. We had no idea what he was talking about and he didn't know our term for the treat, Popsicles.

One warning, don't try to test one meter against the other for accuracy. This is a sure route to frustration. The meters/strips are accurate to +/- 20% so a reading of 100 can be anywhere between 80 and 120. Sounds like you have a cost effective solution with the Relion. Another inexpensive option is WaveSense Presto (I use Amazon).

I agree with the above but would change the last phrase to "and are taking steps to prevent the same mistake." We are all human and all make mistakes. This particular mistake is very fixable. Everyone will end up getting paid what they are due. In a few weeks time, this will seem like a very small blip in your new job.

I think it depends on the type of meds. General meds I would be comfortable with just keeping in an unlocked drawer in a locked dorm room. Anything with a "secondary market" should definitely be locked up. How about a locking box kept in the dorm closet? I have a heavy duty fireproof box that is pretty small but would work well, for example.

Thank you for the feedback and additional ideas. We'll try lifting the legs to the vertical position as well as using something to roll around on the floor with her feet. She has today off and then another 5 days in a row. I rubbed some generic ultra strength bengay on her feet last night. She didn't feel any effects at all until she tried to go to sleep and then they felt cold and tingly. ha! She was not happy with me this morning.

Yes, he needs to pursue this immediately. My first thought is a cracked rib from coughing with the bronchitis but that should have showed up in the x-rays.

So, DD19 started a part-time job that has been scheduling her 40 hours a week. The job involves standing/walking on a concrete floor for the entire shift. Her feet are killing her. So far, we've done the following: Bought gel inserts for the shoes she was already wearing. Bought a pair of cushioned non-slip work shoes with good support (to wear alternate days). Stretching, foot rubs. Elevation of feet above heart level. Ice packs applied to bottom of feet. Ibuprofin. Foot soak in very warm water with Epsom salt (just started that tonight). She hasn't found any of these to provide much relief (maybe better than it would have been without these things). I feel so bad for her. She tried asking for shorter work shifts; the job was supposed to be up to 25 hours per week but they are very short staffed. However, she isn't very assertive and when her supervisor responded with his preference for her to work full-time until her classes start back in the fall, she didn't push it. A co-worker who started not too long before her said that it takes about a month to adjust and your feet not to hurt quite so much. She's only been working 2 weeks and isn't sure she'll make it another 2 with this level of pain. Any tips/advice?