Can dh take them to work and leave them in the common area? I don't mean this in a snarky way, but wasting food is probably something to be opposed to also, since it already has been made. Someone could eat that. Then you can tell your neighbor, "Thank you so much for the lovely gesture" if she sees you and asks. (She probably won't.)

For most holidays, I just decorate the fireplace mantel. That way, the clutter is contained. The best thing I ever did for Christmas was buy a fake, pre-lit Christmas tree whose limbs are already attached. There's like 3 things you have to do, and it's ready to go. Saved me hours and hours of time. I no longer dread putting up the tree. I get it done in five minutes, and then put the tub of ornaments out for anyone to put on the tree as they wish. ((hugs)) It sounds like you already have some very nice Christmas traditions, by the way.

Mathusee has been awesome for my big picture thinker, visual spatial learner.

We get my parents a Sam's Club membership every year. They would never pay to have it but they like having it. Also, restaurant gift cards.

Document, document, document. In case you need to send an angry email/certified letter very soon (cc perhaps the district's legal dept and/or superintendent) listing when the doctor's note was provided to the school, what it said, and the dates that the school knowingly violated doctor's orders and jeopardized the health of your child. Also document the conversations you had with staff about it, list names and dates and times. Include those in the angry letter. Your anger is correct. Protect your kid. They are wrong.

I think you might need to talk to the PE teacher and make it clear about not participating. Office staff don't generally know a whole lot. I bet the PE teacher will be fine with your library preference.

We buy our phones separately from a place like gazelle. And we use Ting for our monthly phone stuff. So not counting the initial cost of phones (which varies but is about $200 for a slightly older iphone), we pay about $45 total every month for three phones. We dropped cable. We either use netflix or hulu. We have a roku and an antenna for local programming. For a month in August or September, we did a free trial of DirectvNow. So that was awesome free cable for a month. Good timing, too, when all the shows start new seasons.

Laundry is my nemesis. Everyone in my house does their own laundry. Your 8 year old is about the right age to start. I believe my dd was 9. They just wait until they have a full load, and then do it. That way, you're not wasting water or anything. My dh does his own laundry, too. He used to change clothes twice a day and throw them in the laundry. Now that he does his own laundry, he wears things for more than 4 hours before he decides they need to be laundered. As for mice, get a cat. That's all I got. I don't know that fantastic housekeeping is the solution.

They are like brothers. They share tools and equipment. You have to reframe it in your thinking to "family" even though it grates. I am assuming that your dh figures that if his friend had it, he would pay it. Or maybe he's mentally charging six months rent on that trailer you dh has had. What else has he loaned dh? How much would it be to rent or buy those items? You might think about how much your dh owes the friend, too, and maybe that will make you less mad. To quote Frankie Heck, "You do for family." I think this counts.

Gently, the thing is, it seems like your dd is getting mixed messages. Every week, the adults at Awana say "Bring a friend!" even though Mom says no. But Mom used to say yes, and now Dad said yes. And you keep taking her to a place where they directly contradict you. Awana: "Yes, bring a friend." Mom: "No, not anymore. Don't bring a friend." Next week,"Yes, bring a friend." I can see where it would be confusing. I don't know that your dd is being sneaky by asking dh. She's just trying to work within the system she has been placed. Dh actually sounds like he handled it well. To co-parent, sometimes you need that parent to experience the negative consequences. Was he going to be around to experience the consequences? If so, then it might have been good to let it go forth. And who knows, maybe it would have worked. Sometimes the other parent pushes us out of our comfort zone. ((hugs))

I'm not really seeing the problem with the clothes. She had leggings on under a dress. That's modest. She had boots on. That's just cute. If the dress was skintight, she probably has grown recently. My dd went from a size 2 to a 4 to a 6 to an 8 this year. In less than a year. The leader needs to relax. Sometimes kids grow out of clothes and wear them anyway, because yeah, they fit last week. That's kind of what happens in puberty. Don't make it a thing when it's not.

He loves the school. He loves the teachers. I wouldn't switch for one course, even if he has to take it for three years. It is one course. I promise he will hate some courses at public school. Keep him at the school he loves.

I'm not sure it's cliche (I had to look up what trope means) to mention homeschooling to a newbie (and probable troll) on a forum that is named after a book about ... wait for it... homeschooling. Seems a bit harsh to call it grating. Sorry you're having a rough day.

Gently, you may need a different plan for his immediate future. He does not seem to be willing to do the work to get into his father's selective university. He may not be willing to put in the effort to get into vet school. That doesn't make him a bad person. That just means his goals needs to be more in line with his what he's willing and able to do. (I, too, remember his story, and I wonder if the mono is still affecting him. It takes a long time to get over.) Can he go to community college? Is he just done with school because he's burned out and overwhelmed? Think of some options and discuss with him. Not in a "you failure" kind of way, but in an "actions-speak-louder-than-words" kind of way. ((hugs)) Isn't it interesting when we get kids that are so different from us? I have one of those, too.

Just keep going. However, we school only sort of year round. Math is definitely year round. We do officially move up a grade in June, generally. I do report cards and pass out ribbons and certificates. Cuz it's fun.

I would perhaps have her re-wash her hair really well (maybe you could stay in the bathroom) with a different, known to be fine for her, shampoo. Because it may keep bothering her if that was the cause.

Make what you normally make, but perhaps serve it in sort of a buffet style of components so each person can assemble their meal to their preference, including your picky eater. That would be kind. And yes, I'll bet with the fajitas, she did just put a bunch of chicken in there. That's okay. I'm sure it was tasty chicken.

Scoliosis can also cause the spine and ribcage to rotate. So that might be what you saw in the collarbone pointing up situation (if I'm correctly envisioning what you are describing). And the curve can also make the shoulder blades totally uneven and weird. ((hugs)) You'll get through this.

It can progress pretty fast. You really just need to look at the x-rays. My dd was diagnosed in Dec. of her 9th grade year and was already something like 44 degrees. Her only symptom that we could see was that her rib clicked and pooched out when she raised and lowered her arm. The doc felt around and said it seemed like her shoulder blade was rubbing her rib and sent her for x-rays. Bam. Scoliosis. She was in a hideous brace by Feb. She had reached surgical range by Nov. (55 degrees and he was worried about her internal organs). She got surgery in March (would have been Jan. but lots of sinus infections that winter required us to reschedule surgery.) So in about a year's time, she had gone from "what's scoliosis?" to surgery. So sorry you might be walking this road.

Yup. We've discarded two different chemistry books this year thus far. I am waiting on the third. (Note to self: Even if husband is willing to teach science, do not have him choose the textbook. It never works. How many times must we go through this before I learn?) We've discarded one composition program. We completely dropped the grammar book. French III has gone bye-bye. We've stopped SAT and ACT prep because she is seriously interested in dental assisting at the local community college, and they don't require either of those. They have a different test, the TSI, she has to take. Math is only going well because I made all my mistakes last year and will never deviate from Mathusee again. Sorry Mr. Demme.

If Math Relief is working, do not switch. I looked on their website, and Math Relief offers a packet for SAT/ACT Math Preparation. Have her go through that instead of making her repeat an entire geometry class. And yes, it is okay to double up on math, as long as you are not overloading her as a whole.

Looks great!

Do it. It's just hair. If you hate it, it will grow. If you love it, yay!

I agree with KarenNC. This isn't about your run (although self care is very important. It's not selfish to look after your own health to be able to do your mom job). This is really a safety issue about driving in the dark in the winter in a snowy, icy place with no great comfort level about that kind of driving. Just no. Sorry honey. We will figure something else out. And do not feel guilty for needing to run. It's a need. You're not wanting to sit on the couch eating bon bons. You do this to take care of yourself. You matter. Your needs matter. And you can't be there for everybody else if you don't take care of yourself.

I hated them both. Discrete Structures teaches how to write proofs. Ordinary Differential Equations teaches how to solve for fifth derivatives and stuff like that. You need to have a really good teacher for either of them. At my school, both were required for a math degree. I would say Discrete Structures was most helpful, because of the proof instruction, which I later used in Analysis and Modern Algebra courses.