Does she have kids? If not, I might say, "I can't wait for you to have kids!" And maybe follow that with a series of areas in which you have much wisdom, "I have so many things to share with you, it's going to be great! I can give you books on birthing, breastfeeding, parenting, nutrition, education...." If she has something snotty or negative to say about that you could respond with, "Gosh, I know just how you feel!". If she has kids, I probably wouldn't do that. I would want to model the repect for parents that you desire. In reality, I would be pretty straight forward, like NancyXToo suggested.

I love our neighborhood. We borrow without keeping score. No rushing out to buy a pound of flour, just because you borrow a cup. We all understand that it evens out in the end. No one takes advantage. We have such lovely people living here!

Thanks so much. I talked to dh last night about it and he put an email into his doctor.

Can you direct me to that info?

Holy cr@p, Imp! I think my dh may have that. He had an accident in Sept that severed his ulnar nerve. I just looked up the symptoms and he has most of the symptoms of the acute stage. Tell me what I need to know.

Answers and update: Yes, she has an alarm, which is out of reach and loud enough for most humans. She may very well need a louder one. No, this wouldn't be some shocking and cruel turn of events. I have told her that this is coming. No, I wouldn't go to jail for letting her be late once. Yes, she would get lunch detention and yes, that would be unpleasant for her. No, I would not let her be chronically tardy to prove this point, but I do believe that at school consequences would be more powerful than at home consequences in this case. Yes, this is a big deal to me. I have to get my special needs guy ready for school in the morning. He needs me to do everything for him. He is physically at a 3 month old level and weighs 50lbs. She MUST learn this skill. She gets herself up happily when she feels like it. If it's a big day at school, she will be up curling her hair at 6am. She can, she just doesn't. She has also begun to pride herself on her ability to get out the door in 10 min flat, so the wake her in the nick of time approach has already been done and it's not effective. All that said, I do appreciate the input and the bedtime consequence ideas are something I am keeping in mind. I ended up going in to wake her when she would have been a solid 10 minutes late. She is running a fever! So there goes that. :tongue_smilie:

My oldest is in ps. I have repeatedly told her that I am not her alarm clock. I went in 40min ago and flipped on her light. She sat up, said something and then I walked away. School starts in 20min and she is still in bed. She walks about 3 minutes to get to school. Shall I follow this one all the way through?

Excuse the typo. BOW.

What do you top your tree with? Poll to follow!

Gifts for OUR family? No. Gifts for other family members? Yes. Under the tree is the spot that outgoing gifts live until they go out. Gifts for the kids/each other don't go under until the wee hours of Christmas morning.

I'm not a nurse, just going off of my general medical knowledge here. I believe that protien in urine is a sign that his kidneys aren't running at 100%. I think that could be connected with either the diabetes or high bp, but I have heard it more often connected with hbp. 140s/90s is still high. It sounds like he needs to explore how to get his BP under better control. Hth,

I am severely behind this year as well. I have high hopes of charging through a lot of work in the rainy season, when we are stuck indoors more than usual. So I totally relate. Last year, when I was doing 7th, 1st and K, I would let the littles entertain themselves while I got my 7th grader started for the day. That usually took about 1-2 hours. Would it be possible for you to start your day with your older kids early, and then release them to work independently? Then group your younger 2 together a little more efficiently? You seem to be overloaded in the LA department with the both of them. I would consider dropping a few of the programs. I also would combine them for science and drop spanish. Also, there was not a year that we did SL that I didn't fall behind. I love SL, but it is a demanding schedule. I found it especially hard to keep up with the read alouds. Eventually I decided to shift over to MFW, which has a schedule that I feel like I can actually accomplish in one school year. I still assign SL readers to my kids. Good luck!

I always look forward to these posts! Their were lots of gems in there, but my favorite was the plans for world domination.

The other thing that teen (girls especially) do more than the average driver is drive off with the nozzle still in the tank. We had a 19yo living with us who did that, and when she went in to tell the station owner, his response was, "D@#& teenage girls, always driving off with the nozzle!" Apparently, it's a monthly occurrence.

That is terrifying. You have every right to be freaked out. I pray that the police can address this in some way.

That's a hard one. It's such a rookie mistake. I think I would probably have her pay a portion of it. Twelve hours a week, at what I am guessing is minimum wage, isn't a whole lot of money. So, I probably would have mercy and not have her pay the whole thing. Maybe $100-150? It would also depend on her general attitude about helping the family, and taking responsibility for her mistakes. If she is generally helpful and grateful, the portion would be smaller. If she tends to be snotty and entitled, I might lean towards the entire total. Only you can make that call.

It's all true. I swore up one side and down the other that I would never move back unless God made me. Then He did. :001_huh: But other than the hideous cost of housing, and maybe the nanny culture, I really do love it. Still, we are crazy. Every last one of us.

I just googles them and it looks like they are sold at Meijer.

May dd went back this year for 8th grade after hsing 4-7. She plans on going to public hs as well. It's been a truly mixed bag of experiences for her. She is a social creature, so it is filling her in a way that she just wasn't getting at home. She has experienced a lot of negatives, including the suicide of a classmate. For the first time, she is seeing up close just how depraved her peers are, but because we are not Christians who have ever isolated ourselves, she was fully prepared to engage. It turns out that she has the gift of evangelism in a way that surpasses even her father (a pastor). I am so glad that she is in school. She is using spiritual muscles that she never had to use at home. The experience is maturing her in ways that I could have only imagined. It is still hard, no doubt. Academically, she says hsing was harder, but I think she is developing a different set of skills right now. I don't regret sending her, but it definitely hasn't been easy. We prayed for a full year about the decision before we made it. Blessings with your decisions!

Right before we move out, barring some sort of kitchen disaster.

Faith Kaelyn Evelyn Kate Annie

Do tell, what other free stuff is floating around out there?

5wizards posted this coupon code on another thread and I was able to pick up Living Memory for $6 shipped! HOLIDAYVIP305 Cheers!

Semantics. All I see here is shaming, not empowering. I had my son at the age of 20. I know all about rising to the occasion and overcoming your fears. I wouldnt change a thing. Living in a care facility would not be a great outcome in my mind, but the alternative could be much worse. I am sure that they were offered help from support agencies. If they still came to this end, then I will trust that the task was going to be beyond what they could handle. This outcome is still preferable in my mind. I'll leave it at that.

As the mom of a severely disabled child, I reject this. In no way does forcing a family to raise a child that is beyond their abilities benefit the child. This is the opposite of advocating. That child deserves committed parents as much as the next kid. This is the best available outcome for this baby. And thank God that these parents realized this sooner rather than later.