I loooooove thrift stores, found a fabulous one recently and did a ton of shopping. It cost me $60, but I got a huge haul and a lot of it is books for my family's Xmas presents, some beautiful mixing bowls for moi and lots of throw pillows. Those things are normally $20 or more in retai shops! We always leaVe them out in freezing weather first to kill any potential bed bugs, then wash them a few times to ensure they smell good. They look great.

OP with the kindergartener that is "behind." That is GREAT your daughter has shown so much improvement. Keep up the positive encouragement with her. It helps. Also, have you checked out starfall.com? It's a website (free) that she can go to and play games WHILE she is learning! :-D And if you're interested and have one, try going to your dollar store. They usually have work books for all ages that you and her could do together to help her even more! :-)

You guys should all check out L.R.Knost, she is a blogger and an author who has written a few books about Gentle Parenting. She's such a lovely person inside and out. Unfortunately she's just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Her parenting methods have really helped me in a big way.

So somehow now an associate's level is all you can attain if you go to a vocational program? I personally know lots of A.A. degree holders who continued in college and graduated with B.S. or B.A., a couple who became doctors, many who got Master's degrees. One was the head of the theater department at a major state university, another founded a national restaurant chain after getting a B.S. in business, many who became lawyers. Three became NY published writers with many books to their credit. One became a major movie star. One captain in the navy, several university professors. A marine biologist. Many small business owners. An A.A. degree is designed to be a springboard to whatever you want it to be. It's not generational. Happens today as well. Try not to be prejudiced just because someone went to a community college. I graduated from a community college and now own 3 corporations with business in three states. It was the cheapest way to get an education, and the smartest.

There are two sides to every story. I was a step kid but so were my step siblings. My step dad was awesome to me and always made me feel welcome in my mom's and his home but my step siblings were horrible to me. They would physically hurt me with the intent of causing physical pain and harm. One time I was sitting at the table eating lunch and my step sister came up behind me and swing her heavy backpack that was full of textbooks as hard as she could and hit the back of my head so hard that the fork I was eating with punctured the roof of my mouth so hard that I had to get stitches in my mouth. I was a step kid too and have no idea why my step siblings were allowed to act like this and act like me and my mom are taking away their dad. My mom and I did nothing wrong imo. It was a great environment when my step siblings weren't around but the moment they were there was an extreme tension in the house that my mom and I had to deal with. We would of course always try and have fun with them, never excluded them, invite them over when it was their mom's time with them but we were always seen as the enemy. My mom would also get tense any time my step dad's ex wife's name was mentioned but that was because she was the cause of a lot of problems in our house. She'd bash my step dad, bash my mom and bash me. I remember I went with my step dad once to pick up his kids from his ex's house and she screamed at step dad and stuck her finger in my face and called me a bastard and snarled that I was a home wrecker and was the reason why she and step dad weren't together. I was 6 at that time so calling me a bastard was out of line imo. Step siblings would say that their dad loved me and my mom more than them, that we took away their mom's chance of having her family unified and that their dad didn't love them. My step dad was a wonderful man who did nothing wrong other than found happiness with a wonderful woman and loved me as his own like any good step parent should. My own dad was also in my life and was a great dad to me, both my parents got along with each other and when my dad finally married, he married a wonderful woman with 2 kids who didn't treat me the way my other step siblings did. I remember begging my mom to let me go live with my dad permanently because of the way my step siblings treated me, the physical violence from them was awful and only stopped when my step dad put his foot down and told them if they can't behave in his house then he would no longer be in their life and they can stay at their mom's house permanently. I don't believe the person who was a hellion step kid is without fault and she needs to stop acting like some victim cause guess what? I had to deal with someone like her and it was very difficult for me to deal with my step siblings treating me and my mom the way they did. My step dad no longer has a relationship with his kids because of their behavior and how they treated me and my mom. Their behavior only got worse the older they got and I was 6 years younger than the oldest. They're not in his will, he refuses to answer their calls and pleas for financial help. Of course they cry to him and act like me and my mom did something horrible to them but I remember my mom doing wonderful things for them and they'd spit in her face for it, steal out of her purse, lock me outside until step dad or my mom would come home, pour bleach on our clothes and many other horrible things they'd do to me and my mom. This is my story of what I had to deal with from my horrible step siblings so I bet the op below is full of lies. My mom and step dad are still together to this day and have never had any problems in their marriage, they refused to let 2 brats come between them and ruin their marriage but they tried their best to help the step kids and nothing worked not even family counseling.

I did something out of character yesterday. I'm tired of keeping my mouth shut and being badmouthed all over town. While with dh I paid the majority of bills, cooked, cleaned , basically did everything for my bios and steps while dh allowed his kids to go beyond disrespecting me and bios. They've stolen from us, broken our belongings, screamed in our faces to the point we either locked ourselves in a room or left the house during their parenting time. There were incidents of me being tripped, pushed down the stairs and broken fingers from drawers being slammed on my hand. The last straw was Dss hitting my dd11 in the face with trash can breaking her nose then jumped on her punching her everywhere. Her entire face was purple from bruising, her little body bruised all over. I sent my bios to their dads, not letting dh know I was also leaving. I moved all my kids things 1st. Dh assumed I took I took them to their dads to live permanently. I took vacation time, pretended to be working and prepared our old house, moved my things a little at a time, separated my savings and income, took him off life insurance. He and steps will be off my health insurance effective January 1st. I moved myself and my remaining belongings out of dh's house and into my former home while dh and step kids were camping in September. My kids and I have been living there in peace ever since. He has been bad mouthing me saying I hated him having kids, didn't accept them and didn't act as a mom to them even though I did everything and they have a mom. Yesterday I emailed copies of the police reports, court docs, pics of dd's face, my broken fingers, items that were destroyed and the restraining order from dss assaulting dd to their friends and family. I also messaged it to dh, step kids, their family members, friends facebooks. I also put put screenshots of texts I found showing he cheated, not me and threats he's sent me since I moved. I put a lot of detailed stories of all that was done to us in that house. The truth is out there. He's been calling and sending some scary messages since last night. I'm waiting for dh to retaliate. The messages get angrier as he's being contacted by more and more people I sent this all too. I'm scared of him hurting me, but I don't regret it.

My baby slept six hours last night. All the books say he shouldn't, by he did so oh well. Two weeks ago I would've freaked out. Now it's all good. No freak out. I'm a pro four weeks in! My boobs are sore from not feeding him every two hours though. Maybe I'll set an alarm next time.

I have some friends that really hurt my feelings today about what my husband and I do with our son. A few days ago both friends were talking about taking their kids to ride on the Polar Express train around Christmas and wanted to buy the tickets. I told them our family wouldn't be joining. They regularly go to the movies and indoor play places or any festival and event that is going on around us. We don't do those things. We spend time with DS 7 hanging out at the house, playing outside, reading books together, taking walks around the neighborhood . They always make comments about us never going and doing things. We like to be home and enjoy each other's company and not be surrounded by a lot of people. DS is the same, you ask him if he wants to go do something and he says no he wants to stay home and read a new book together. Well they asked again if we wanted to go on the train ride and when I told them no and they both told me I was horrible. They said it in a joking manner but I know it was most likely how they truly felt because we never go and spend a lot of money to spend time with each other. This Polar Express thing is going to cost us $200 if we went and that isn't even including the 5 hour trip to where this all takes place. It happens in the evening so I am sure they will also be getting a Hotel for the night. I don't feel you need to spend a lot of money to make memories for your children but it still hurts that they think I am horrible for not going and doing their typical family time routines. I know I am a good mom but sometimes words still sting even if you know it isn't true.

My DD's childhood friend committed suicide this morning. My daughter is so heartbroken and can't stop crying. He was a nice kid. I wish we knew what was troubling him. He was doing well in college, a job at the bookstore and loved his 4 pit bulls, he even wanted to start a pit bull rescue. We don't know and it sucks. It's so hard to accept(?) understand(?) it. Too bad It's too late for him to know he deserved to live. Rest in Peace BR.

Would you believe your son if he came home and was very quiet and offstandish towards you until you find out he's crying and he tells you why: He said the librarian told him he can't come back to school anymore after my son told her he forgot to put the books where they belong. She's known as being a stone-cold woman and I've seen her be mean and rude to some kids before. My son is not one to spin tales and lies out of nowhere for no reason at all. He's also quite sensitive to what people say to him so I'm trying to figure out if what he said is true but he didn't falter in his story.