Yes they absolutely would. In fact there is one poster here who stated that her child was discriminated against by a public school honor society and the rest of the school leadership because the child was formerly homeschooled. The story didn't add up, and several posters offered possible alternate explanations. No one appeared to leap to the conclusion that it is an example of discrimination and/or a systemic problem. I don't mean to doubt you, but it sounds really strange that a kid of any color would repeatedly trespass such that he was picked up for it by the police on a weekly basis. It makes it appear there must be more to the story. I'm not saying police racism doesn't exist, I'm saying it sounds kooky to trespass on a weekly basis even after getting in trouble for it. The story doesn't add up. In the case of Michael Brown & Dennis Wilson, I don't think we know the facts yet. I am amazed by those who feel they already have all the facts. I loathe both police brutality and thugs attacking cops, and I don't know which one happened here. Given that there is video of Michael Brown assaulting a store clerk and robbing the place, it doesn't seem *impossible* to me that he attacked a police officer as well. I'm not saying I know what happened by any means, I'm just saying I don't know how self-defense can be 100% ruled out at this point. I certainly don't understand how Dennis Wilson is guilty of homicide just because he's white without even hearing all sides of the story. The aftermath is clearly abhorrent - both on the part of the looters and the response of the police. Seeing that, I can see how some feel that the results of an investigation can't be trusted... ugh it's just a tragic mess.

It would not necessarily turn me off, but I would like to know the reason. Does that pay for weekly snacks? Field trips? Fun activities? If the church gives them no budget, they need to find a way to pay for that stuff. So my advice is to ask what the fee covers before you make your decision. If this is a nearby church with a solid program that would be a good fit for your child, I wouldn't let a $50 fee turn me off, especially if I felt the money was used wisely. Close enough that he can bike there - that might be worth $50 alone! :)

This is easily the most beautiful non-apology apology I have ever read! Full of thinly-veiled contempt and ridicule, blaming the offended, it's truly a piece of art. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/philosopher-richard-dawkins-keeping-syndrome-babies-immoral-article-1.1911789#ixzz3B4qxWScM I disagree with his statement and I find it ironic that he is disabled himself. Fortunately his mother didn't follow his advice, and/or didn't have the advance notice that some mothers do that their child will be less than perfect. However, I am not surprised by his sentiments regarding down syndrome babies and, presumably, all disabled/imperfect babies. I find it to be the logical conclusion of the mind-set that a fetus has no human rights or value.

I voted "other". I would ignore the auction and I would not purchase TOG. I find it reprehensible when companies play these games to try to limit their customer's resale options and scare them into falsely thinking that selling would be illegal or immoral.

I would ask the doctor more about the fecal transplant. Other than the ick factor, I haven't read of any side effects. There is such a high rate of success, I agree with Hoppy - I don't understand why it isn't the first choice treatment.

No, you are not the only one. But also I would like to see the list!

If you decide to become a CPA, and you already have a BS, I would get a Masters (in Accountancy or Taxation) instead of another BS. Your first stop should be your state's Board of Accountancy to find out their requirements for taking the CPA exam and for certification. Typically it's something like 24-36 credit hours in accounting, more in business or accounting, and 150 credit hours overall (the masters classes will apply, and they will be able to tell you which schools in your state have degree programs that qualify) to take the exam, then once you have passed the exam you need to do 2000 hours within 2 calendar years working under the supervision of a CPA before you earn your certificate and become a licensed CPA. Once you have your CPA certificate, you need to maintain a certain number of continuing education credits per year. In my state it's 120 hours per 3 year period. Some firms will pay this expense for you, but typically only for full-time employees. If you just want to do taxes, you can go the Enrolled Agent route (check IRS site for test info) instead of a CPA - or just apply at a tax firm and learn on the job to get some experience. Sometimes (especially in February) it seems people are just looking for warm bodies! Once you have your CPA or Enrolled Agent or just a few years experience, you should have no trouble getting seasonal work if that is all you want and you don't need benefits or full-time year-round work. However, you need to first decide if accounting is what you would enjoy. It really takes a certain personality. I would strongly suggest interviewing some accountants (private, public accounting, tax, government, non-profit, audit) before you start pursuing education. If you don't have a love for accounting, then you will have wasted a lot of time when you could have stayed in your current well-paying job.

I like someone to hold the door and say "welcome, here's a bulletin, please let me know if I can help you with anything." I loathe handshaking as it just makes me imagine all the germs on all the hands that were shook before mine. If someone does shake my hand, or especially my childrens' hands, we immediately head to the restroom to wash up. I have never seen a hugging greeter - I would run in the other direction if I did.

I do think there's something to the older brother thing, and moving from being the big bro in charge to more of a peer in the teen years. I have two boys. We occasionally have to have the "is it kind? Is it necessary? If not, zip it." reminder around here and it's usually directed at big brother. It is also essential to have the ability to work together without insulting the (admittedly often insane) ideas little brother suggests. Diplomacy and agreeing to disagree and all that good stuff. With my older son, I notice that he has absolutely no problem getting along with his friends, classmates and teammates. They can be annoying or crazy or lazy or wrong and it rolls right off his back. It's just little brother who doesn't get the same respect sometimes. So if your son is only directing this behavior at his siblings but has no problem with friends, then I wouldn't be worried about any psychological issues, I would just work on sibling respect.

I have no idea what the cause is but I know a couple adults that do this. They seem to have a deep-seated need to be an expert in all kinds of random things. They can't handle the cognitive dissonance of not being the center of attention or expert of the moment. Is it just a recent phase? Is he insecure and needing to build up his confidence with some kind of activity or skill or passion? Have you tried just asking him why he is saying X or how he things that makes others feel? (obviously in the right moment for a calm discussion). I will say that my 14 year old, who does not generally behave like this, was making a few obnoxious, know it all, I'm a baseball expert kind of comments about something recently at his younger brother's baseball game. In front of other families. After awhile I leaned over and quietly said to him "To others who don't know you and overhear the things you are saying, you're coming off as an a$$". He immediately understood my point (which I confirmed later on in private along with some more encouraging words). I don't necessarily recommend speaking to your child like that, just sharing my experience! :)

If you have never left them overnight, I wouldn't start with a week-long trip abroad. I would start with one or two nights and see how that goes before making a decision. If they were all over 8 with no attachment issues, or a weekend trial had gone well, I would go. If not, I wouldn't do it right now.

Those of you who didn't like Outlander but do like historical fiction, did you like Ken Follett's Pillars of The Earth (1&2) or Century Trilogy (1&2)?

I am torn in how to respond to this comment. On the one hand, I completely disagree that the plot was driven by sex in Outlander and I find your "they don't know that better stuff is out there" comment to sound somewhat condescending. Maybe your statement is true, or maybe it's possible for people to read the same book and have a different opinion without some being unworldly fools. On the other hand, I am always looking for good books to read, especially historical fiction series, and I would genuinely love to hear your book suggestions!

I don't care for that scene but I did enjoy the series overall. As others have stated it needs to be considered as part of the timeperiod and I think it shows the clash between the 20th century culture she came from and the 18th century she ended up in. It's not at all a Bondage or sexual thing. And it's not done out of anger. It happens because she has recklessly endangered the lives of several members of the group, not to mention hurt their mission, and they are angry with her. She won't be respected by the men unless she is punished. So while it's pretty disgusting to me, it's a good example of the culture she is experiencing. As part of this process she reflects on the fact that she has not been taking the dangers of her situation very seriously because it still feels unreal to her and she did endanger both herself and the men and especially Jamie. I didn't feel the plot was about sex at all. In the first book, there is a lot of development of the bond between Claire and Jaime which involves both talking and sex, which felt realistic for a relationship between young adults. But there is also quite a bit more going on in the plot. The 8th book has a bit of unnecessary sex in it in my opinion - I just didn't need the descriptions of the consummation for the two sets of newlyweds. C&J's relationship is the core of the book and I get that sex is part of their relationship. I can maybe also follow the Brianna & Roger relationship as another central story. But adding in two more random couples was over the top I thought. Also the frequent use of the verb 'blink' started to get extremely annoying. I don't think Outlander is the end all be all of historical fiction, but overall I am still enjoying this series very much!

My thoughts are two fold. First, the day my husband starts putting his income in a private account that I don't have access to is the day I begin making plans to for a full-time job and my own private account. It looks like you have one child who is a freshman in high school. If you don't have the ability to immediately get a job in the career field of your choice, I would use the next year or two to volunteer in that field, work part-time or get some education in my chosen career field, working toward the goal of obtaining a self-supporting job. Since you have no idea what your finances are right now, you should assume that you will need that income in the future, whatever happens with the marriage. Secondly, I would calmly let hubby know I would like to take over the budgeting and share full access to all financial information. If he is amenable to this, ask to be added to his "private account". But I would not expect him to give the information or access up, because quite frankly this all sounds very suspicious. So without alerting him to my suspicions, I would take steps to get that information on my own. Start with credit ratings and then begin to compile a list of all account balances including credit cards, utilities, mortgages, etc.(you can call your county and find out how many loans have been taken out on your property, at least in my state this is possible). I would also put a fraud alert on your social security with the big three credit agencies, this makes it more difficult for someone to take on debt in your name without you knowing. Someone upthread suggested a marriage counselor. I would consider this, but I would not expect hubby to go along with it if things are as bad as I suspect. So again, I would calmly suggest this but not expect him to go for it. As for the homeschool books itemized list, that would be the least of my worries at this point. If he doesn't willingly give you access to financial information, I would give him the list and play along while I quietly researched the true financial picture.

This is helpful for me too, I notice that I don't get any cramps when I use cloth pads.

I wouldn't say that lupron ruined my life, but I really really regret taking it. It did nothing to help with my endo symptoms and it caused many other problems for me, some that are permanent issues now (mostly metabolism, I think it killed off my thyroid because I became hypo-thyroid afterward. When lupron didn't work, I did the surgery (both cutting and burning a bunch of stuff) for endo and that didn't help with symptoms either. It continued to steadily get worse. It was a very difficult time, I think about 4 years total. The symptoms actually began when I started taking bcps. I personally feel that there is some correlation there but I really don't know. The only thing that helped was a drastic change in diet and stopping all drugs (including NSAIDS and bcps). My main goal was actually to detox in preparation for attempting to get pregnant. I went no drugs, not even advil, no sugar, no meat, no caffeine, no alcohol - no beverages but water. I ate just rice and fruit and drank a ton of water for a month, then added vegetables, then dairy & nuts, and was vegetarian for about 6 months. After that I added chicken and eventually red meat, but I continued with somewhat low sugar until after I had my kids. All my endo symptoms completely disappeared after the first month. 17 years and two kids later and I have not had any recurrence of the pain whatsoever, no matter what I eat. Sounds crazy right? I just googled 'endometriosis diet' and there are a few sites listed, so maybe there is a more formal recommendation out there now. I was basically doing an elimination diet and I was shocked at how successful it turned out to be. I hope that whatever you try is as successful for you!

Treating them badly in hopes they will quit just gives them opportunity and motive to do additional, and possibly much worse, damage to your business. I would fire them both immediately. Since you are a business owner, you really need to focus on eliminating them and repairing the damage they have already caused. That would be much more useful than feeling hurt and wondering why it happened. (Not that I blame you for the latter, just saying that as a business owner you don't have time for that stuff!).

I hear you and I think this is a good example of a similar situation to the OP. Nothing wrong with the sitter using a nickname per se, but Mom has her reasons for requesting that the nickname not be used and Mom's request should be honored, simply because she's the Mom.

I don't think she's nuts! She may have had a bad day, and/or this is a hot button issue for her, and she didn't express herself well, but she has certainly tried to apologize for her initial overreaction and explain her reasoning, which is respectable. Aside from the delivery of the message, it's a reasonable request to ask someone to call your son by his actual name, especially if the nickname is abhorrent to the parent. Names can be very meaningful to some people. I really don't see it as this mom is nuts or demeaning the OP at all. RE calling little girls "mama", I have noticed this in Hispanic families and I think it is adorable! As to is it ever ok to ask a kid about a nickname, and call him a nickname, of course it is. I don't see anything wrong with what the OP did by calling this kid Benji. But I also think that it's ok for the Mom to make her request, even 4 years into the game... not sure I am explaining this correctly but I just don't see the need for a moral right or wrong on this particular topic. Now that you know, you'll call him Benjamin, or perhaps a nickname that has nothing to do with Benjamin (as I suggested previously) and life will go on. It doesn't make either of you wrong or right.

Did anyone order the Franklin Covey high school planner? I am considering it but I can only find the 5x8 for sale on the FC site. I think the 7x9 size looks more useful. I need to order something soon....

Please share the make and model of this wonderful sounding washer for those of us who may be in the market soon!

This happened to me last year and I just invested it all. I didn't even consider anything else, investing the whole chunk felt great because I don't get to do that very often (I work outside the home very little and my husband handles the money he makes; not that he doesn't consider my opinion but it's not really "mine".) I love to travel; that and photography equipment are the two things that would tempt me. But honestly I wouldn't even consider spending a windfall on them unless I had no consumer debt and retirement and college were fully funded or well on the way.

In general, nicknames don't bother me and it's a nice sign of affection but I also don't care for Benji. I wouldn't get as upset as her, but I would probably simply request not using that name. She doesn't even need a reason, though I can see her point that it's a famous dog name. If you like calling him a nickname (which I think is darling for a relationship between child and babysitter), try something unrelated to his name and complimentary, like "SuperMan". One apology and respecting her request in the future should suffice. I would not repeatedly apologize, there is just no need for that and you don't want to validate her overreaction.

Thanks for the info, I think we will just do baseball! The letter says they will mail the awards which is nice of them.