You might also contact your local Division of Aging and other social service organizations closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many organizations call wanting to adopt a family at the holidays...it would be a wonderful opportunity if the couple would agree to it. Items received probably vary, but I've seen gift cards to Walmart, grocery store...etc. Presents of socks, blankets, houseshoes...etc. Plus food for the holiday meal, many places do Thanksgiving and Christmas both. Churches and Salvation Army are also great resources to try. Our Dollar Store has quite a few holiday items...even $20.00 would buy a lot decoration wise. Goodwill Stores and such are also great places to try. Hope these ideas will help you!!

IMO, your father is playing both of you like a fiddle. As long as each of you are complaining about the other one, all focus is off of him. Brilliant! Golddust.. I agree. I've started replying 3 times and deleted all of them. I think there's more to the story & doubt it's just the girlfriend. Reading her letter, she probably thinks she's helping her man. Danielle, the best advice I can give you is to try to understand where she is coming from; but don't let her walk all over you. This is a very touchy situation; you know what your dad was like when you were growing up & she came into the picture after he was out of his "unhappy" marriage. While he's probably told her his side; she's never going to know what really happened because she wasn't there and IMO.. she needs to respect your feelings & how hurt you were by him but try to respect her for trying to be there for your dad now. I have issues with my step son. He likes to go back to his father & say that I said this or I said that. When my hubby fell off of his truck I sent him an email because he stopped speaking to my hub & wouldn't you know it, he twisted my email around trying to start a fight between my hub & I. Thankfully my hub knew about the email before I sent it; it was a rude awakening to my hub of just what his son would do to get me out of the picture. This is all in SS's head, not mine because I can be grown up about it & smile like nothing ever happened but he can't. The best advice I can give you is to try to have a relationship with your dad without the GF around every time. You still need father/daughter time. I encourage hub to call his son or go golfing with him because even though we can't see eye to eye, it's still his son. My hub does not talk about me when they are together & if the kid starts, he says it's between you 2 and not me. SS's mother was an alcoholic - probably why he hates me so much because we have the life he never had growing up & his father has been raising my 2 kids for the last 10 years.. so he's bitter; but he's also an adult man in his 30's & a divorced father. I don't feel that the GF was trying to place "blame" on any of the kids for the marriage/drinking problems, I read it as her just stating why he was drinking. My dad stayed in a bad marriage because "It was cheaper to keep her" & we kids suffered with the fighting. Dad was not around most times, he chose to work as much as he could.

I'm actually a dermatologist in my other life. First statement: you can't make a diagnosis or treat patients over the internet. He needs to see a doctor, today preferably. I don't think a GW Kitchen forum, no matter how great, is the place to get advice! Best thing which is so often neglected would have been a swab culture from the area at the initial visit, before treatment was initiated, for both bacteria, and also herpes simplex, if they really suspected "cold sores," though that's quite rare in that location. Many do what you doc did, which is to treat empirically with Bactrim, a drug that covers probably 98% of all staph including MRSA. Failure to respond certainly could indicate that this was not staph, or the incredibly rare case of Bactrim resistant staph. Equally likely, as we see this all the time, is that he's doing fine and that what you interpret as "not better" actually is improved to an expert's eye. Because of your concern, and even more so if other symptoms are present (fever, chills, red streaking, swollen lymph nodes, pus draining, etc etc) a recheck is indicated and I woudl press to get bacterial and HSV cultures if they think it's a consideration. Maybe you can guilt your derm into seeing him if he's worse. PS: staph is almost certainly acquired at school, not in the temp kitchen.

Here's my own perspective from an entirely different climate - fwiw. I love Young Lycidas! I'd read some bad reviews but really wanted the color, and it was my surprise favorite of the year. Yes it's lax, but I find that can be graceful. It has personality. Some have suggested Darcey as an alternative and I'll agree she's an absolutely wonderful rose, tidier and more compact if that suits your garden design better. I'm discovering that my favorite DAs are those which do not have thick canes and vey upright growth. I don't want my English roses to look like Grandifloras. Not that I hate modern roses... For those with similar tastes, I will offer that so far I'm not pleased with the growth of the Lady Gardener. Too erect. Maybe maturity will round it out. Concerning the "modern" character of Sir John B, I haven't figured out yet. Mine have begun as low, broad, sturdy branching plants. The foliage is a bit shiny, but not the shiny plastic look of some Kordes roses, for example. The color is bright, but not garish. Deeper than bright. Medium pompon blooms with good substance. They're both rain and heat tolerant and last a long while without fading. I think it's a rose that could make a nice bridge between modern and old style roses. I grew a Hyde Hall hedge that didn't work out. It had dramatically uneven growth, much winter die back, and terrible back spot. It might like a drier or more temperate climate. Beautiful, plentiful blooms, very little fragrance. Sorry for no pics, my hard drive crashed recently :(