LOL .. ya Bonnie he will show up .. he is that stupid :o) He isnt looking at a few months in custody he is looking at maybe 5 - 7 years + +. I have yet to hear for the fool .. but its only a matter of time cuz he doesnt even have any clean underwear .. yuck. I got my new kid on the 5th. So far he isnt any problem at all. But he isnt in school yet so the expectations are pretty minimal. Tomorrow I am going to start tightening the screws :o) We are going to go the Humane Society in the morning (7:30 am) to volunteer. He needs to be doing something so why not work on his 40 community hours that he will need to graduate. I would have to say that the other foster parents in our program are a bit jelouse as my kids are hand picked just for me :o) My old social worker deals with all of the kids in the group homes so she knows me well and what type of kid would do well here. It works out great for me as they are usually an excellent fit so we have little issues :o) This kid is pretty explosive (so they tell me) but I have yet to see any behaviours .. you have to love the honeymoon period :o) He really likes all of the animals in our home which is a plus as the pets tend to defuse alot of the emotions a kid feels. Laura

Barker_Tx, we are in Austin, Tx and if you have any suggestions, please email me at bevangel_72(at)yahoo.com. A big problem we're having is the cost of all the facilities in Austin. MIL gets about $1100/mo social security and about $900/mo investment income. All of her money is invested in CDs however and none of those mature until next March, so even though know she needs to start spending down the principal, we'd very much like to wait to cash one out to avoid the early withdrawal penalties. In the interim, DH and I are supplementing her living expenses. But, both our jobs are currently "shaky" so we really can't afford to supplement more than about $1000/mo and even that is a MAJOR stretch. If either of us actually loses our jobs, we're going to eat through our own financial cushion very very fast! In Amarillo, MIL's social security and investment income came really close to covering her expenses and she would cash out a CD about once a year to put enough in the bank to cover the rest of her expenses for the year. The only thing we were supplementing was her medication management at about $400/mo. Moving her down here and paying the $3000 non-refundable move-in fee to the Meridian ate thru pretty much all the extra cash she had on hand. So, until next March, we're going to have to supplement every penny above about $2000/mo that it costs her to live. As for the Meridian... I have talked to the administrators until I am blue in the face. They just keep shifting their stories to cover their a**es. First they claimed that they intended for another resident who attends almost all the activities in the main area to go and get MIL and befriend her... but that that resident moved out shortly after MIL moved in. When I pointed out that 1) they never TOLD us the volunteer resident had moved out and 2) THEY were the ones who made the promise and, if they couldn't find a volunteer to fulfill the promise, they should have assigned a staff member to do it, they changed their story. They NOW claim that the only activities they EVER promised to take MIL to were the ones in the Platinum Plus wing and that, if we understood anything else, it was just a misunderstanding on our part! They won't respond to the fact that we talked repeatedly about how much MIL enjoyed playing the dominoes game called Forty-two, which was shown on the MAIN schedule 3x per week and is NEVER shown on the Platinum Plus schedule, and which they very specifically stated they would make sure she got to play. They also ignore the fact that we talked very specifically about my concern that she would get lost trying to get all the way down to the main activity room by herself and discussed the need for her to have a scooter because it was too far for her to walk. The area where they hold their once daily platinum plus activity is right around the corner from MIL's apartment. She can find her own way there quite easily and doesn't need a scooter to go that far. But, "we only said we'd get her to the Platinum Plus activities" is now their story and they are sticking to it. As for the non-events on the health center calendar: According to the administrator, the "current events" activity on the health center calendar would have happened except that the volunteer that leads current events on the weekend was unexpectedly called out of town. The "worship services" on that calendar was a reference to the worship services happening in the Platinum Plus area (as if any one living in the Health Center could POSSIBLY have made it up there since it is at least a 5 minute walk by a healthy person!) The "social hour" was a reference to the fact that, about 3PM the nurse came around and gave each resident a cookie and some cranberry juice! As for the non-events on the Main Calendar: their story now is that "our independent residents lead most of the events that are scheduled and, if they decide not to hold them, we ask them to let us know so we can revise the calendar but, if they don't, that is nothing the Meridian can do." And, as for scheduled afternoon game time that didn't happen in the Platinum Plus wing: "our staff member was there at the scheduled time to lead the activity but none of the residents showed up, so after a few minutes, she left and went to take care of other duties." As I said, they're covering their a**es! As the situation now stands, MIL is back in her apartment and we have been told that they will "remind her of all activities, including those in the main building, when they go in to give her medications." They will also tell her where the activity is happening (as if she can possibly find it on her own) and that, IF a staff member "has time", one will walk her down to occasional activities in the main building. I would bet a million bucks that no staff member will ever have time!!!! Bottom line, she will be left to vegetate in her room until we can move her out. The only reason we even looked in Temple was that Austin seemed so expensive and, as one went further out from Austin the prices seemed to drop. We figured we could afford the time and gas to drive 50 miles to/from Temple once or twice a week more easily than the prices of similar places in Austin. BAD PLAN! Obviously the staff at these places need to know that family members can and will drop in at any time of the day or night! Otherwise some of them are going to take advantage of the fact that they can pretty much lie to you with impunity. I don't want to file a lawsuit or bring other legal action against the Meridian as long as MIL is still basically in their control. No telling how they might take it out on her! Further, a legal action would probably be unavailing because all the promises were made verbally --- nothing in the written contract about them. Once MIL is out though, I intend to sic the state on them for running an unlicensed assisted living facility and also to post bad reviews at every location I can find. Meantime, we're still looking for a good situation for MIL in or near Austin that is somewhere within reach of our budget.

folkvictorian, you are absolutely right about people throwing away their pets. Millions do it everyday and I cannot go near Craigs list or I go nuts reading ad after ad written by some irresponsible jerk who took an animal with no regard for its' life for the next 10-15 years or for however long it would live. To those people animals are disposable. Those ads you point out are very disturbing. The one who adopted from a shelter is in direct violation of their contract because when you adopt from a shelter or a rescue organization you are obligated to return the animal to them for rehoming. It's unfortunate shelters can't do thorough screenings and they also can't eliminate as many people as potential adopters as a private adopter would require. This is the reason so many animals adopted from shelters end up without a home within the first year of their adoption. I realize that sometimes is it absolutely necessary to find a home for an animal that someone can no longer care for, but most of the time, like these 2, who clearly have not stated it is a necessity, just dispose of them because they are too lazy and/or unwilling to take the time the animal needs or spend the money to care for it. When I hear people say they have to get rid of an animal because they are moving and the new place doesn't accept animals, my question is, then why don't you find a place that does? I know why they don't, because it takes time to find that right place. I also love the one, my new fiance' doesn't like it. Well, my advice is, get rid of the fiance' now because if you marry him you'll be wishing you had not traded your dog/cat for him. I've worked as an animal adoption counselor for 25 years and have heard every excuse for people wanting to dump their animals. The one that took the award for stupidity was the family who walked in the shelter one day with their current pet, turned it in at the front desk and proudly said, we don't want this one anymore because the kids don't like it. We want to adopt a new one. Needless to say they didn't get a new one from that shelter. When people are so willing to give up a pet for some lame reason, the first question in my mind is, would you give up your child for that reason also? As far as I'm concerned, when you adopt an animal, just like when you make the decision to have a child, it is your responsibility for life. Now if you can't take care of it, then find it a better life, but don't just throw it away because it is too much trouble and you are too lazy to deal with it. What is wonderful to see and is happening around the country is shelters doing a better job of educating potential animal owners about the responsibility and expense of owning a pet. Some people are truly ignorant and don't have a clue, but unfortuantely it's the majority that do that upset me.

Happy birthday, Outside: Rant: On Nextdoor, people post urgent alerts for loose dogs, but when there actually is an urgent alert such as downed power lines or something crime related (like a high speed chase right by our neighborhood during early evening yesterday), they don't post it. Rave: I'm feeling much better, but I still am not wearing anything other than sweatpants with elastic because of my incision locations. I was able to drive in to the office for a few hours on Thursday and Friday, and driving/riding did not bother me. I did not attend the University-wide opening faculty meeting because, again, I am in sweatpants.