Oh Mergath that was disgusting. It really should have come with some sort of warning! If we come across them in our little teeny garden patch the kids throw them over the fence into the creek lol.

A couple of the stores mentioned are about an hour away. Sometimes we go out that way, next time we do I will see what I can find. Thanks for all of the suggestions! :)

Haha. But...but...my "Location" thingie says "Pennsylvania." See? Right over there ----------------------->

Yeah...I'll stick with sneakers for now until I come across something. I'll poke around in different stores around here and see if I can find something but I guess it isn't urgent. I don't plan on doing extremely long or difficult hikes at this stage (and maybe not for a very long time since 1) I'm just starting out and 2) if all goes well I'll end up pregnant in a few months anyway :D). I envision 2-4 miles at most, and I definitely don't plan on doing it in extreme weather regardless. I wanted water proof because where we hiked last time and plan to go back we had to cross a small stream that involved a bit of balancing on rocks trying to get across and I did end up getting one of my feet partially wet and thought something more water resistant than my sneakers would have been nice. But I survived it lol. (My daughter on the other hand had perfect balance and was light on her feet and got across without getting her feet wet at all). I can hold off until I see if I just happen to find something, it's the kind of thing I'll probably only do once a week or so when hubby's off to watch my younger son while I go with my daughter on nice days.

lol well I DO have "Pennsylvania" right in my "Location" thingie! I just looked up "REI" and used the store locator and the closest one to me is over 100 miles away. We have a Lands End in Sears in the mall but I called and they have NO hiking type boots available, so I'd be back to having to order something online without getting to try it on first. We don't really have a lot of store options around here. Blah. It's not that *I* am afraid to pay a bit more for a good shoe, it's that my husband is like "you went hiking once so far, how do you know how often you're going to want to do it, you might only use these things a couple of times and never go hiking again" lol... he's not going to be big on me paying a lot of money for expensive hiking boots that may or may not get much use. I tend to buy $15-$20 shoes at Walmart or Payless. He already thinks it's funny/odd I want to buy $60 boots because I went on a hike the other day. $100 boots is overkill for us at this point. :P

So...the mortgage is in your parent's name, not yours? And your parents couldn't care less that you were sexually abused as a teen, couldn't care less if your kids are being severely bullied, care more about money than people... I'd be seriously tempted to just walk away from it all and go rent a place somewhere else far from all of it and let them deal with the mortgage and selling the house and put my kid's mental and physical and emotional well-being and my own sanity first and screw everything and everyone else. Let them sue you if they're so inclined. What could they get from you? You're a single mom and I believe you mentioned you're low-income, and you certainly have a valid reason to have walked away from that town due to needing to keep your children safe. Even if the judge says you have to pay them back, fine. At least you'd be out. I know. A step like that would really be leaving your parents high and dry with a second mortgage but I'd be reaaaaaaally strongly considering it with those kinds of parents and the kind of extreme situation you've outlined here. It sounds like hell for your kids (and you) with no way out in sight.

Never heard of a REI store... will have to try to look it up later and see if there's one anywhere near me; off to homeschool bowling league with the kids right now though... most of the "big" name sporting good stores would be an hour or more away from me... the only sporting goods store near me is a very small one that didn't seem to have much on their website. Went to Cabela's and unfortunately those shoes felt too tight pinching against the outsides of my toes, I need more of a wider width shoe usually and they didn't have anything for me that didn't jump up to $100 or more. Need to keep looking!

Do you go to the one in Hamburg? That's the one I'd be going to. :) We've been in there like twice, the kids like looking at all the animals and stuff too, I don't know why I didn't think to check there. I just called and they have three pairs of those boots I linked in stock in my size. Maybe I'll go today since I plan to go hiking again on Monday.:D Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Oh this is perfect!! There's a Cabelas 30 minutes from me, and I just looked at their site and they DO have a good selection for women including some waterproof ones in my price range. These might be good: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Footwear/Womens-Footwear/Womens-Hiking-Boots-Shoes|/pc/104797980/c/104790780/sc/104383980/Cabelas-Womens-Backcountry8482-Hikers/1154402.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2F_%2FN-1101218%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253BMMcat104797980&WTz_l=SBC%3BMMcat104797980%3Bcat104383980 I'll have to go there and look around! Thanks!! :)

So since I've lost all this weight and have been walking outdoors more, I wanted to expand on that. I recently took my 11 y/o daughter on a two mile hike through the woods and we enjoyed it and want to do it more often. I did find myself thinking hiking boots would have been better for it than my sneakers since we were walking over some rocky areas, had to cross over a stream (so I want something waterproof) and so on and by the time I got home I felt like I came thisclose to the start of blisters on my feet. I just browsed the websites for Kohl's, Payless, and a sporting goods store in my area. Apparently women have almost no options. They get a basic non-waterproof hiking shoe and then some cutesy boot looking things that seem more fashion than practical, and sneakers. Men get about 100 different good hiking boot options, quite a few of them water proof and very practical. I'd be happy to just get a pair of men's boots but they all seem to start at sizes that would be too big if I go by what they're showing me online. Where do I go for something fairly sturdy but on the lighter weight side and water proof? And I really don't want to spend over 100 dollars either, I was hoping for something in the $60 range at most (I did see plenty of sales in that range for the men)! I'm afraid to buy online because I want to be able to try them on.

It is a fairly wide range but I wouldn't stress over it too much. People have different frames and builds and ages and amounts of muscle and so on. Somebody with more muscle or a bigger 'frame' to begin with, or somebody who is older as opposed to back when they were a teen, wouldn't necessarily look as good at the lower end of that range as somebody else. I would just focus on where you think you look and feel the most comfortable and healthy and good about yourself and not so much on where you fall on a chart. I'm 5'7" and while I might have looked great at 123 lbs in my teens I'm pretty positive it would look ridiculous on me now. 150's or 160's on the other hand would look great on me. I've got a more medium "build," not a tiny frame to begin with. (ETA: actually I guess I'm a "large frame" going by the site someone linked below!) I know I'll look and feel good there. Just focus on where YOU look and feel good about yourself. :)

:iagree: This is what I was going to say. That cop has a boss. And his boss has a boss. If the cop is buddies with this guy, then you need to go over this cop's head and state that he is friends with the father of someone who is severely bullying your son and you feel he is not objective enough to do his job in this instance. I agree that you need lists of things that have happened to your kids, conversations that were had with the bully's father, threats that were made etc. In all seriousness, with what you're describing, I'd very strongly consider moving if it was even remotely possible. I would not want to live in a place like that or around people like this. It sounds like a miserable existence where there's nothing for kids to do, my kids getting bullied all the time, the cops doing nothing about it. Of course, with that not possible, I'd also really be worried about what summer's about to bring in just a few short months when school's out for those kids all day long, so I would take this as far as I can now in a full blown effort to put a stop to it. More police reports, court, lawyer, restraining order, whatever I could think of to do.... I think since you are saying nothing else has worked, it really might be a good idea to get PROOF of what is going on. Especially since the police are falling back on "this is a he said/she said situation." If you do this with your kids so that there IS video of them getting bullied, or hire an investigator to follow them around and get photos/video of them getting bullied, so you have an irrefutable witness, then you'd have proof for the police and for court. I really hope something gives before these kids are out of school for the summer and have even more hours to wander the streets looking for other kids to bully. :(

Years ago I had two cats and they got along very well together and played together and so on. Currently, I have one cat. I don't think she's lonely at all, but we're around her pretty frequently and someone's often petting her and interacting with her. If you guys were at school and work full time and then constantly out of the house at activities and so on and the cat was going to spend the vast majority of its time alone I'd agree that two might be a good idea, but if you're going to be around a decent amount of the time, I think just one cat would be fine!

I think you have to call the police and report it, every.single.time. Let them see that you won't tolerate it, ever, that you're done messing around with them. Let them get so sick of the police showing up at their house, that they eventually tell their kids "just ignore those kids, we're sick of the police coming here" if nothing else. Andi f you file a report about what happened yesterday and today, by all means you can go try to file a claim at the courthouse for the ER costs for today if there are any, or have a lawyer pay them a visit on top of the police. Or see if there's a way you can get some sort of video of any of this bullying to use against them if possible, or go over there with a voice recorder and have a conversation with the dad about what happened and ask him to keep his kids away from your kids and see if you can record him making inflammatory comments about how he doesn't care what his kids do to your kids, and let the police hear THAT... something's got to give, your poor kids shouldn't have to keep living with this, how awful!

LMAO :lol::lol: :smilielol5:

Hm, I wonder if the needle made her more anxious than she knew from the finger prick. My husband is a tattoo artist and body piercer and it's not at all uncommon for people to pass out when he pierces them. Something about those needles! Or for some people it's the sight of their own blood!

Quick, play this song, it's perfect: :D

I see I signed that one in October of 2011. It doesn't seem to have gotten a lot of public awareness. I wish more people would sign it!

I love the song "Colors" by Kira Willey. It's on like a "yoga for kids" CD LOL but I think it's so pretty. I love the melody and the lyrics: I also love "Hallelujah," particularly the Jeff Buckley version: And Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole And for some reason I like "Handlebars" too :D I know, way different than my other picks. I agree with whoever said Breathe Me by Sia, too! Reminds me of the series finale of Six Feet Under which I loved. :D And I also agree with whoever said Lose Yourself by Eminem, but I like a lot of Eminem songs.

I decided to celebrate my accomplishment by getting a spring pedicure. I didn't eat or drink anything before I went, and I wore really lightweight clothes, so that when I came home and took a picture of my feet on the scale, the scale would still say less than 200 lbs LOL. Thanks again for all the support, encouragement, and celebrating with me! Congrats again to everyone else who shared their own accomplishments, and good luck to everyone who is also on this weight loss journey with me! :)

Maybe. This mild weather sure does put me in a happy mood!

Nods. I understand!

Thank you :) I meant the (not so) to mean *I* am not so big now lol. Congrats on your accomplishment as well! :)

Awww he is so cute!!