Yes, thank you! We live in a county with 15 % unemployment. Yesterday I watched a young boy (7th or 8th grade) walking by his school with flapping shoes. He was having a hard time walking because of the poor shape his shoes were were in yet, he was trying to 'be cool' as he walked up the stairs of the library. So many families are hurting and I hope we all find it in our hearts to give where we feel compelled to give and give to the level we are able.

Reorganization mission: accomplished. Before I forget though I want to comment to ideefixe: I don't want to limit her reading by any means however, a lot of the junk is old old old and baby/toddler books. We jumped that hurdle first though by donating the baby books to friends and handing down the toddler books to her little brother/my son. She still has four shelves full of age appropriate books and she kept the books that were special to her like nursery rhyme books that are signed by grandparents etc. I did most of the reorganizing without her. She started helping and became overwhelmed and asked me to just do it for her. She has three decorative buckets that were full of 'stuff' I asked her to go to another room to sort through them and she can back with two empty buckets and one 1/2 full of what she wanted to keep. We went through her jewelry and threw away what didn't have a match or what was really old. We made a necklace hanger and hung up all of her necklaces and a bow hanger for all of her hair bows and moved ALL of her other hair accessories to a 'handmade' box As suggested by jlt above and put clippies and bands Into baggies so their easier to find. Took pictures of her most recent 'box' collection and she threw them away herself. I let her keep a box she had used to make a 'puppet' show stage but we found a place in her closet. I cleaned out he clothes of what she can't wear and organized them as I normally do. We didn't get rid of any stuffed animals, she organized them in a large tote in her closet and what appeared to be just a huge stack of junk wa a bunch of hand-me-down purses from grandma. We bought a tote to store all of the purses and she can get them out if she wants but the new rule is, they have to be put away when she is done. Organized her baby doll stuff and ended up with one large basket and one tote with a lid and I'm happy with that. Organized her game/movie collection on a freed up shelf on her book case and that made her tv stand look so much better. Her desk is cleaned off minus her lamp and laptop. Bought her a HUGE pencil box for her pens and pencils to keep on her desk. Got her a three drawer rolling cart for all of her art supplies and crafty stuff and threw away the boxes some of the stuff came in. It looks fabulous!! We hung up several of her art pieces and put all the others in an under the bed tote. Even got one for my son. She is Proud of her 'art collection' box. Thanks for all of the ideas. I was able to vacuum without Moving anything. The floor is cleaned up and everything is where is should be. She said she feels so much better and is so proud of her room. It's only day 1 so we'll see how long it lasts... But I think she is so proud it will stay organized for a while. I am a bit OCD ... And I don't want to push that off on her. As I do respect that she is very much an artist and understand that artists are cluttered and unorganized just not in their own minds. But I think everyone works better when they can see their desk... And surely they sleep better when they can find their bed...

So this is a good thread to introduce myself! I am a 1947 baby, I like the sound of that! Everything I ever wanted or needed to know about sewing I learned from my grandmother, or teachers who obviously knew her! (not) I remember as a little girl, either 8 or 10, when I spent the summer in Nebraska with my granparents, my grandmother sat me down at her Necchi-Elna zig-zag machine, and had me try it out, petrified me because I just knew I would break it. Guess that got me started sewing though, I started handsewing doll clothes, and by the 5th grade was designing dresses and patterns for my Revlon doll (no Barbie for me, too expensive, my mother's words). Still have those clothes too. Seventh grade I took art, and have never regretted it, taught me about colors. Eighth grade I started home ec, sewing and cooking, just loved both, but the sewing was better because I couldn't do it at home. First learned in school on a Singer treadle, best thing that ever happened to me in my opinion. My grandmother would send me dresses or such she had made for me, and somewhere around junior high time, I would take the article of clothing and turn it inside out to see how she finished things, or did certain things, I learned so much this way, but I did start noticing I learned different and sometimes better ways of doing things, so then when my grandparents moved to Boise I taught her, or maybe she just let me think that! For $19.95 my mom got a converted Singer treadle, boy could that thing ever stitch well! At 16 I received a Singer slant needle, treasured that for 20 years. I started in home ec with a gathered skirt, supposed to take most of the semester, I was hemming by open house and mine was the one the teacher used to show how "it should be done", boy was I ever proud! By the time I finished 5 years of home ec I had learned pattern design, reconstruction of old clothes, tailoring, and had all freshman classes in home ec waived at the University of Idaho. Unfortunately for them I had no money to go to school so I got married and put my husband through at the U of I. I no longer make my own clothes, although I am considering that again. For 17 years I was a crafter, designing, selling, etc. I just this year dissolved my little business. When I started crafting I had to teach myself not to be a good sewer. Now I have found quilting, and re-learned how to be a careful and precise sewer! Feels like I came home. I crochet, never could get both my hands working at the same time to knit, blame that on carpal tunnel. Or my brain. I learned to embroider as a little girl, have my first embroidery hanging in my bathroom, I made it in 4-H in the second grade. By fourth grade I was lots better! I love making little stitcheries, words and phrases with small embroidery with them. It is not the best thing for my hands however. So here I am, officially I call myself a quilter, even though I can never attempt hand-quilting. So I find other ways to finish and embellish things. Thanks for this thread, it is so interesting reading about all of my new-found "friends"! Lynne

SD10 has come from a family in Ca. that stops everything for the children. They actually run wild. Not something that I am used to at. Although SD10 is not wild, she is very well behaved, she does retain that "I am the most important person in the room" attitude. She has made progress and as her daddy makes progress (LOL) I think she will do much better. She made a comment after arriving here that sums it up quite adequitly I think. She was dead serious when she remarked..."I'm just not right anymore!"....She had never been challenged before she moved in with us. So here is a 13 year old boy and a 17 year old girl and myself refusing to be told how life works by a 7 year old....pretty funny. Dad would just let her have her way, she ran the show. Having her home for the holiday break is giving me a chance to work on things. She is limited now to 2 hours of TV unless we do a movie or something extra. She and I have played on the Wii together and she spent time at a friend's house. She was drawing in the living room when I came in here to post. I had a long talk with DS16 last night and he is missing the "old" days before I remarried. It has been difficult for him to accept SD's age/behavior. But then of course he was the youngest before she came along. I was quite sad about it, did a lot of crying and then decided that he and I should have a date night every so often. SD and dad could do a date night on the same night and that would give her his undivided attention. As far as extra activities....she is in an extra math and science class twice a week, private violin lessons once a week and church youth group once a week. We do trips to the library.....she loves to read. We also do church every Sunday and she is in Sunday school there. She has a pretty well rounded life. I do want to make sure that I am not picking on her. I know that she is doing what she has been taught and what has worked for her before the remarriage. I have to teach DH how to be part of family and not an outstanding individual so to speak. I don't mean that disrespectfully. Family dynamics from childhood play a big part in it, both on his side and mine. I remember my first SD being the same way and she was an only child not to mention the grandparents favorite. I had never seen adults stop what they were doing to watch a child dance until I met her. She wasn't even taking lessons. I thought...ok...when are we just going to sit and watch her breath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was raised in a household where kids were to be seen and not heard and most of the time nobody even wanted to see you.