Finished my Stephen King book (11/22/63) last night...it was really, really good! Then I went back to reading The Traveler, by John Twelve Hawks today, which I had put aside for the S.K. book, and finished that one, too. Turns out it's book one in a trilogy, so I've reserved the next one from my library, but in the meanwhile, I'll be able to read the very last book in Karen Marie Moning's "Highlander" series this week, which I've had sitting here from interlibrary loan for a while, then I'll be done with that series. It's pretty short, only 102 pages, so I'll probably be able to get a bit ahead this week and read something else, too, even. We'll see!

Emily, I think most of what you are describing sounds fine! Are you asking if it is okay when you are managing an elderly person's money to make the decision to use some of that money to pay for a volunteer aide's meals etc. while the aide is with that elderly person? I would think that would be okay as long as it doesn't end up negatively affecting the elderly person to the point where they don't have the things they need etc! If the elderly person is mentally competent enough to be asked about it, it might be nice to ask them about it. "What do you say we buy lunch for so and so today, does that sound nice?"

Apparently I'm in the minority because I'm more apt to think the parents of the babysitter. Any person should be responsible for getting themselves back and forth to a paid job, and that includes a babysitter. If they're not old enough to drive themselves, they can get their parents to drive them. That doesn't mean I'd never be willing to do it but for the most part I don't want to have to be expected to do it all the time.

Ah okay! They do list infertility as one of their "services" and on their website it says they have over twenty years of reproductive endocrinology experience and a good working relationship with board certified reproductive endocrinologists so hopefully they will do what needs to be done for me or at least point me in the right direction! I'll see how my appointment goes next month and take it from there.

Thanks, everyone! :) Yeah, I read progesterone is one of the things that can be prescribed to help lengthen the luteal phase. I plan to ask the OB-GYN about it when I go for my appointment on 3/12- I made the appointment to basically just discuss fertility/TTC, the luteal phase/progesterone etc... is it something any OB-GYN can prescribe?? I'm not sure what an "RE" is? I'm hoping the OB-GYN can and will prescribe that and between that and staying on the metformin I will be able to conceive when I start trying in a couple of months. For now I'm just SO glad the first hurdle has been overcome and that I'm at least ovulating. I was starting to worry that I wouldn't at all!

I GOT A POSITIVE TODAY!!!!!!! :) :) :) It took until cycle day 18, and it's been so nerve-wracking and discouraging seeing those blank circles every day up until today, but I got my smiley-face this morning!!!! So, I'm ovulating again, at least! I've also lost 40 lbs as of this morning! I've gone from 247.6 lbs to 207.4 lbs! SO close to getting out of these stupid 200's.... had a follow up appt with my doctor the day before yesterday and he was SO pleased with the progress I'm making with regard to my weight loss. I'm really pleased, too, and now incredibly relieved to know that there's hope that I'll still be able to conceive again when I'm ready. Just want to lose a bit more weight first...! I'd like to maybe get into the 180's and then start trying. I'm hoping by April/May. ETA: Of course, that seems to give me a pretty short luteal phase, since the metformin has my cycle exactly 28 days and an LH surge at cd18 means I prob don't ovulate til cd19 making the luteal phase only, what, 9 days? I read that anything under 10 days (and some doctors say anything under 12 days) is considered a "luteal phase defect" and can lead to early miscarriage, but that doctors can prescribe something to help lengthen the luteal phase. I made an appt with my OB for 3/12 to discuss this stuff. At least I know that's rectifiable and that for now, I have a positive sign! (No pun intended)! :)

Of course, back when my older sister was born (she just turned 53 or 54, I forget which), my mother wanted to try breastfeeding her, but said the doctor told her she was too flat-chested and wouldn't be able to and didn't even "let" her try! 15 years later she knew better and managed to with me, I guess!

If he wants to go on the trip, I'd let him go on the trip. I'd just politely tell her or send in a note, "I'm so sorry for the inconvenience but so and so will be leaving early today for a youth group skiing trip. We were not aware of the time for this event until just very recently, and the skiing trip was previously planned." If she wants to stew about it, let her. With that said, he will have to recognize that this MIGHT mean she may give him a part he didn't favor as much... while she certainly could have and should have put up the time much sooner, you guys also could have contacted her much sooner and said, "I don't see a time, what time is this going to be?" And if she had told you the afternoon, he still would have had to make a choice as to whether to stay for the whole thing or leave early for a skiing trip, and something tells me he still would have wanted to leave early for a skiing trip...he's got to make a choice and if part of that choice means dealing with an annoyed theater teacher or taking a less desired part, that's part of the responsibility of that choice. I'd still let him make it though.

I wouldn't feel comfortable allowing that. I would be terrified of an elderly lady getting hurt in my home and us being held liable. I'd much rather they go for short walks around the block together, or a grown friend take her to the senior center, or even that she get supervised on a treadmill at a slow pace in her OWN home rather than mine if they were dying to use a treadmill (which doesn't seem like a great idea for an elderly woman). Maybe research good in-home exercise videos for elderly people and he can do that with her at her house if weather is too bad for a walk outdoors? I don't know. But, yeah, I just couldn't go along with the original plan even though it was really kind of you to consider it and a money-making opportunity for your son.

I haven't read your blog post yet but as a quick response, yes I've noticed that to some extent back when I was nursing. Unfortunate, but I figure it like I wouldn't talk to my medical doctor about my teeth, I'd go to my dentist for that. I wouldn't talk to my dentist about my female parts, I'd talk to my gynecologist about that. May as well talk to a lactation consultant about breastfeeding, because they're going to be the most up-to-date and knowledgeable about THAT, it's THEIR field/specialty, not the doctor's or pediatrician's.

Someone mailed me a box of boys clothes for free (I only had to pay shipping). That was very sweet! (She offered it to anybody who wanted it, and I happened to be the first to take her up on it). I later repaid that kindness by doing the same thing with a box of my daughter's outgrown pants and jeans. I've also sent people complete schedules for the year for OM for the grades I've used (it comes as weekly schedules, I've put several of the years together as daily schedules, and have provided it to a few people who have asked). It's nice to read these stories and see the sense of community here. :)

Several days this week, we've had sunny, mild weather for February in Pennsylvania. My 11 y/o, who is now old enough to be my companion as well as my daughter, is my walking buddy. We piled into the car a couple of different days and headed over to a scenic walking path across town. We'd walk, chat about different things, giggle about different things, enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. We'd look at some of the signs identifying different plants and trees. We'd strike up conversations with a couple of the people we passed. One lady (who we saw two days in a row) had a dog who would randomly just lay down in the middle of the path. The second day, we talked to her. It turned out her dog was old and had cancer. So she lets him explore or rest at will. Another elderly couple had a huge bag of peanuts and they were feeding squirrels. We remembered them from visits there last spring, because they had shared their peanuts with us then. They shared them again this week and we got to feed the squirrels, too. Today, we bought our own bag and fed a bunch of squirrels, who would come very close in their eagerness to be fed. They've been such pleasant mornings. I compare them to way our mornings used to be back when my daughter was in public school (before I pulled her out three years ago, toward the end of third grade)...frantic, chaotic mornings of dragging her out of bed and rushing her to get ready, rushing her out the door, rushing her onto a bus, not seeing her again for hours, then having to enforce homework for the school before going into the dinner time routine, the "bedtime because it's a school night" routine instead of just enjoying my time with her- Our days are much less stressful, much more our own, much more pleasant now. We really enjoy them. I'm not saying every last thing we do is fun, but a lot of it is. And whenever we want to drop everything and go on a field trip, an outing, a nature walk, we just do. Whenever we feel like it. 9 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon, on a Monday, a Thursday, whenever... I love that. :D I've never looked back. I'll take our homeschool day routine over our old public school routine any day of the week! As for my 6 y/o, well, he's never been to school, and sometimes he's more of a handful, but he's often sweet, and affectionate, and funny, and he's changing and growing so quickly, and I'm just glad not to be missing out on it, glad his childhood isn't flying by in the blink of an eye somewhere else while I miss out on the vast majority of it. I'm glad HE'S not missing out on the vast majority of it stuck behind a desk hour after hour, day after day, month after month. He's experiencing more of the childhood I wish my daughter had gotten to. The way I think it should be experienced!

When it comes to curriculum threads, I only look at the ones for curriculum I use. (Or have an interest in but that's more rare as I'm very happy with what I use and don't look to supplement too often).

Hm, no, I never have. My daughter is 11 and I've never seen the slightest cause for concern. If I ever did, or if there was ever an issue where she knew of somebody who attempted it or we saw something in the news together or heard a story, or whatever, I think I would use that to initiate a conversation. Something along the lines of how tragic it was that kids/teens felt that something was so bad in their lives that they felt the need to do that/attempt to do that, that it's an irreversible decision that would cause them to miss out on so many potentially good things down the road in their lives, that I would hope no matter how bad things were, my kids would never even consider that, that I would always help them through any situation in their lives, no matter how bad it was, that I would always love them and be there for them, no matter what was going on in their lives, etc, that I hoped they knew they could always come to me with anything and I'd be there to talk to and help them, and I'd leave it at that. I don't think I'd broach it before age 10-12ish and in that range it would depend on if I saw something concerning or if something had come up that was some sort of springboard either in person or in the news etc. If they got to be 13ish and nothing had made it come up, maybe then it might be a good idea in health or current events or conversation to casually one day go you know it's so sad when you hear about all these things that come up in the news blah blah blah and sort of broach it because you never know what's going on with hormones, puberty, teen angst, what they're hearing behind your back and so on. I never really thought about it! Probably should though! I certainly had by 13ish (never tried but had thought about it)! P.S. I want to add that I already have all along tried to convey to my children that they can always talk to me about anything and that I love them no matter what and tried to instill in them a positive sense of self-esteem and self-worth and so on, and I think that's very important!

How sad and senseless. :( They couldn't just do something like tell her she couldn't have dessert the next day if it had to be a big deal? Who the heck can exert themselves for HOURS with no drink or rest like that? Now a poor little girl is dead forever over a stupid candy bar? I just don't understand people. Maybe they couldn't have foreseen that it would come to that, but they had to know how harsh the "punishment" was. Life's too short to bring your children up harshly over minor indiscretions. You never know when they might be gone due to unforeseen circumstances. Or even just what they'll remember when they're grown and looking back. They're just kids. Love on them all you can and be gentle when you can. What a shame.

I do it all the time! My librarians are super nice and they don't seem to mind at all. I often sit down at the computer when I'm doing school scheduling or at night and want to ensure that I have books I need for school, and if I see the book I need is in, I need to make sure that I can "get it" before it gets checked out to somebody else. So I reserve it. Then, too, I can just run in quick when I'm passing the library on my way to another activity or event to grab it when it's ready, or have my 11 y/o run in while I wait in the car with my 6 y/o, it's very convenient!

It sounds like a cool concept, but all those negative reviews would really concern me, especially with something so expensive! It looks like a lot of people said they stopped working within a few days to a month of having them. Not just the one and two star reviews, but even a bunch of people in the three and four star reviews said that! I hope that isn't the case with yours!

:iagree:

It is hard to answer without knowing what the story is, but I think if it's a similar situation, no aide, volunteer or paid, should ask a special needs child or adult in their care for their money or their belongings, unless they've reached some sort of understanding/agreement with the adult family member in charge first. By the way in my case the supervisor did tell me that she can fill this aide's hours so she was like "don't feel like you'll be making her lose hours/pay" so not to feel bad about that. She said that the aide basically said that they'd been trading off on who pays for what, which was her justification, and the supervisor said she told her that was not the best way to handle things and that she should only use her money for herself and a client's money should only be for a client. She said she didn't seem upset or anything by being told that, but she basically told me, "You have to feel totally comfortable with who you are using, that's what I would want if it were my daughter, so if you just want to go with the other two, don't feel bad." So I said, yeah, okay, let's just do that. The whole thing was just awkward but I'm glad it's resolved. I can't help feeling that the woman probably does feel a bit betrayed over us not wanting to use her anymore over it, but I guess she's not my concern. My daughter is my concern.

Okay, I did it. I told the supervisor to let that aide go and just use the other two. I can't help feeling a little bad about it, but it's done! Thanks again for all of the feedback!

Not terrible at all. But next time he's out of town if you really wanted to, you could put sleeping bags on the floor and let them all have a sleepover in your room- but on the floor, not in the bed with you, for a slumber party treat. If you were so inclined and they thought it would be fun. Not a big deal though by any means, it's not like they were scared and crying and you made them suck it up and go to their rooms anyway, it sounds like they were all fine!

next time give up tea instead! :P

:lol:

Huh? What? Who, me? Never!

That my husband's a tattoo artist who owns his own shop and I've got quite a few tattoos myself. My red minivan has my husband's tattoo shop vinyl plastered on it for advertisement (complete with his little voodoo guy holding a tattoo gun and ink bottle logo)...as well as vinyl for my homeschool meetup group haha. My homeschool group (which I organize) is quite accustomed to it but I do get double takes sometimes when I pull up to some big homeschool day program or field trip and whatnot. ;) That we're not at all religious and I homeschool secularly in a relaxed manner (we're not classical, we don't unschool, we get stuff done but in a relaxed, hands-on, go with the flow kind of way). We're also very liberal politically. We listen to rock, hip hop, play video games, watch TV, all the standard pop culture kind of stuff. :P