Ok, my ex has been paying child support for the most of 8 years. Recently, he's been job hoping and hasn't paid since May. Well, I spoke to him recently and he's had a job for about three weeks (his mother verified this). He said that he was paid today and they didn't take anything out for child support. He said it's b/c he is working with the county, trying to get it lowered. He also told me that he would be sending me a cashiers check and he was wondering how much I usually get for support. I said, you don't know? No, he said. So I told him. He then asked if it was monthly or bi-weekly. You don't know? He said that they just would take out one lump sum (he also pays support for another kid he had after he left me) and that it doesn't distinguish between our boys and the other boys payments. I asked him why the state just wasn't taking out X amount from his check and he told me b/c he's trying to work with them on lowering it. He said they told him to just send me a cashiers check and mail them the receipt so they can keep track of what he's paying me:001_huh:. Am I the only one who this makes **no** sense to? Since when does the child support agency do this? What the heck is going on? Any ideas? I'd love to hear from someone who has worked in the child support sector. Thanks so much. I'm not really sure where to go with this. I mean, I have a worker, but I'm not sure that I should call her yet. I don't even know where ex is working (he won't say). During our convo, he also said other things that don't add up. I'm not sure what to think...

Sorry, not the OP, but you don't cook them at all before you freeze them? Just curious, I've never done it before the other day and I partially cooked them, then threw them in a freezer bag and froze them. Which is better?:001_smile:

Thanks all. One of my friends is going to lend me TT7 for this year. Such a blessing! I will also look at the other resources mentioned as one of them might be a better fit for ds. Thanks again!

My ds11 just finished TT6 and we don't have the money to buy something. My dh is getting disability b/c he has to be off from work from a surgery he needed and the money doesn't cover hardly anything. Thanks for any suggestions!

Ok, for one thing, my 11.5 yr. old ds isn't isn't even allowed on fb. I don't even like him reading over my shoulder, in case of something inappropriate (which does come up now/then). As for the boyfriend/girlfriend thing...ummm...NO WAY...you're 11 years old! Try me again when you're more mature and responsible. And SLEEPING at each-other's houses?? Seriously??? I'm not even going to go there..wtheck? ETA: Oh wait, the girls are spending the night at each-others houses...not the boyfriends, right? Oops. That's better, but still the rest, no.

I am having my 4th grade ds start with CLE 300 for math. He just struggles with some concepts, so we're backing up (we did TT previously and it was a BUST for him). BUT, I am going through his lessons and crossing out stuff that he's really got down, so he usually does two lessons/day. Hopefully, he will be caught up sometime this year. If not this year, hopefully over the summer. Ds has aspergers and what I suspect is dysgraphia too. In fact, this is the first year that I've gotten him to write a sentance OR MORE in one day. For him, that's HUGE! I was moved to tears when I realized the progress he's made over the last few months. Do what you need to do for your ds and don't worry about it. As long as progress is made, even super slow progress, things will work out.

Praying honey!

The last one ds had was last night. It was the first time he got a killer headache along with it. Poor kid. He ended up laying down in his room b/c he couldn't even handle anyone talking. I am so glad that I brought him in!

My ds11 has been having vision problems. I took him to the eye doctor today and she tested his vision/checked out his eye health (both really good). BUT, she dx him with Ocular Migraines. It's basically where the blood vessel to your eye gets pinched and causes 20-30 min. of blind spots/weird light/shapes in your preifial (sp?) vision. She wants me to bring him into his regular doctor to get checked out further (medically) to make sure there's nothing else wrong. Has anyone else dealt with this?

Ok, twice today she started melting down, like (snap) that. I mean, it went from calm to angry in three seconds. BUT, I was able to stay calm myself and not feed into it. It was over SO much quicker than previous times. I really do feel like a big key to this is staying calm. I will keep on this road, along with trying the other heart-to-heart (for lack of a better term) suggestions :).

Yep, my dh just got done having surgery on his leg b/c of MRSA. It started as one bug bite that appeared to be an ingrown hair, but with in two days, dh could hardly walk. He ended up being admitted to the hospital and needing surgery. Now he's on a antibiotic IV every 12 hours (going into the hospital EACH TIME). I would get it checked tomorrow!

Thanks to this thread, I'm really starting to see this more clearly (bolded). I also LOVE your dd's comment...baby steps indeed! What wit lol!

Or it's really great when your dh VOLUNTEERS you for something WITHOUT asking YOU first. Ask me how wonderful this is...go ahead, ask.

Six pages of awesomeness (is that a word lol?). I am overwhelmed by the wonderful words you ladies have for me. I totally *get* what everyone here is saying, and I think you're right; I've been going about it in the WRONG DIRECTION. I need to be LESS punative and more loving, listening and trying to work through the problems instead of shoving them "in her room". I can absolutely see now that she really IS having a difficult time controling herself. I remember telling her a couple of days ago that she needs to control herself and she said (between sobs) that she "doesn't know HOW". Ding, ding, mama. I do have a couple of the books mentioned above. I will pull them out again. I also will start keeping a food journal. Yes, I think that protein is KEY with her. I know it's KEY with ME lol. That's probably part of the problem. I also think she's not getting enough sleep. She goes to bed around 8:30-9 p.m. and is up, usually at 7 a.m. Hopefully with the days getting shorter (not that I like shorter days), I can get her to be a little earlier. She tends to want to stay up later b/c of her brothers, but I think I can get around that with a little thought! I can't thank everyone enough for their kind words and their ideas/thoughts. Much of this thread is JUST what I needed. I think when we're in the mist of hard things, it's difficult to see possible solutions. You all helped me with that! Thank you. Thank you! ETA: None of my other kids have ever said that they hate me, our house, or whatever, just so everyone knows that :). I'm thinking it is this particular girly's drama coming out lol...

Heather and Dawn...Just wanted to say, what both of you posted makes a lot of sense to me. I will try going this route too. Maybe I'm going in the wrong direction. I admit that I have a pretty quick temper on me. Its nothing that I'm proud of, but I'm working on it.

Good things to think about on my end. As for the following through with consequences; I've tried telling her to stay in her room until she calms down, but she crys and hollers and comes to the top of the stairs every minute crying, "I'll stooop mama! I'll stooop! Pleeeease!" I tell her she's NOT calm and to go back to her room. She'll come again a minute later with the same thing. It.just.gets.crazy.annoying! The dyes. I will see about cutting them. It couldn't hurt anything anyways ;). Triggers...hmmm. With school, it's frustration. Especially since she's struggleing with blending. I think that's a huge deal there. Another trigger that I just thought of is being tired (especially when she says she's NOT). Maybe hunger too...not so sure about that one. About the aspergers; she really doesn't have the other "signs" that ppl generally talk about. I don't see adhd either. She also flys off the handle at her brothers easily and hits/spits at them. So aggravating! I've been very ademant about no hitting and no spitting and it's gotten better. I just had a flash back to posting on an on-line board (maybe it was here, who knows lol) about my now 9 yr. old ds. I remember typing about HIM standing at the top of the stairs crying/screaming too. It was probably about this age. It seems SO TOUGH. Maybe it's because they're not babies anymore, but they're not big kids either? Idk. I appreciate the insights and hugs. I really need them!

It's seriously wearing me OUT. Everyday she throws these screetching, crying, whining FITS. I remember my boys being kind of like this, but nothing this extreme. I'm really at a loss as what I should be doing here? I send her to her room, but it's more shrieking, crying, "I hate it here! I hate my room!" Etc, etc, etc. What do I do? Nothing is helping...timeouts, no. Spanking, no (I hate spanking and it's NOT helping...just causing MORE crying). Threatening to take away priveleges, no. She.just.keeps.crying! With every new threat, it's WORSE. It's hard trying to teach a child like this, as you can imagine:glare:. Sigh. Gentle help, please???

Yes, me too! The doctor that operated on it said MRSA needs to be treated aggresively and quickly. I had no idea how serious it *could* become before this whole thing started. I don't know about the 401K, we'd have to check. YES...there are plenty of things in dh's SHOP that we could sell. The problem is getting him to see that :glare::tongue_smilie:. We currently have TWO non-running vehicles in the yard and lots of "stuff" dh hasn't used in the 7.5 years we've been together. I, myself, honestly have nothing of monotarial (sp?) value. Hopefully, I can get him to see the "light" and take stock of what we may need to part with. The good thing is...we could always buy something that we realize we needed at a later date.

Aw, thanks Tammy. You're appreciated:grouphug:. We keep praying for a quick recovery. It's a nasty wound from surgery that will take awhile to heal. Poor dh. He's slowly getting better. Love that man!

As some of you know, dh had surgery on his leg. Dr. said he'll be out of work for 2-3 months. He will qualify for short term dis., but it'll only be 60% of his income. After taking out taxes, 401K, and insurance, it's going to be very meager. Add to that our mortgage payment just went up b/c of insurance and property taxes (it will take up about 65% of dh's income)...sigh. I have faith in God that things WILL work out. It's just going to be bumpy for awhile. Thank God that we qualify for help with food or we'd really be sunk:001_unsure:. Of course there are things we're going to cut out or minimize. We won't be on the internet as much b/c if we go over a certain amount, it raises our bill. Instead of having unlimited talk/text/internet on our phones, we'll only have 750 min. I'll be using cloth diapers as much as possible. Aaaannd...we won't be going much of anywhere. Thanks for listening to me whine. I'm really trying to keep a positive outlook, but MAN, can it be tough:glare:.

Put me in for CREEPY. Weird and wrong in SO many ways. OP-Do you go to a big church? I'm trying to find out why you've never met the youth leader before...

I'm going to say; DO IT!

I bet she's on cloud 9!! Exciting!

Praying for you and baby sweetie!

We're a family of 7. We have an almost 18 yr. old boy, and two pre-teens that have recently hit growth spurts, so they *eat* like teen boys. The 6 yr. old and 1 yr. old can eat quite a bit too! Including toiletries and the like, I used to spend about $150-200/week. I've *had* to cut this back very recently though. So, for the past two weeks, I've spent $214 total. I guess, I've just made more of an effort to shop more frugally b/c I've HAD to. Dh is going to be laid up from work for 2-3 months, so we can't afford much. The kids also get two snacks/day as well as three meals. I try to cook from scratch more often and REALLY watch meat sales. We don't have much junk food in the house. I don't use coupons b/c we normally buy generic brands anyway.