Bumble, you might be my DD's biological mom LOL. Her (self imposed) goal this summer is to cook more "real meals." She already bakes a lot, with some supervision, and makes pancakes independently. Her real obsession these days is duct tape. She has made a variety of wallets, purses, etc. She usually makes at least one a day. She has probably 25 rolls of various colors and patterns at the moment. I honestly don't think I could make one of those wallets myself, and I'm fairly crafty...or used to be! She has her own glue gun. Tish, like you say, she's not a great speller or much of a reader but she can read complicated directions or a recipe and figure it out no problem, so she's all set!

@Laura Hoefer seems like your situation is not as bad as ours in terms of exposure. We didn't know about the windows and my kid's bed was right by them. He got exposed a lot with all the opening and closing. Plus the age doesn't help - he still puts everything in his mouth. If you decide to strip them yourself, I would advise to take a class on lead safety. That being said seems like it's a very complicated process and it might make the situation worse. There are some sealing paints for lead, but you'll still have to scrape the peeling paint off, which is dangerous. I'm going to strip only the 1st floor windows as it gets warmer (they are 8 ft tall so super expensive to replace), but we decided to replace the rest. Restoring is even more expensive if a professional is hired. Have you tried using professional lead cleaning products for lead to mop the floors? Maybe this will help reduce the exposure for your kids. It's all so scary. I'm scared that my kid will be permanently brain-damaged due to all of this :(

Good ideas, Talley_Sue. I'd like for her to be able to make these choices and feel positive about it. Elbow room is one of those things I'm just learning to appreciate in a whole new way, and hopefully she will acquire that if I can pare down more and more and set that good example. She has been good about putting some things away- outgrown books, we've packed away. We had some toys that we boxed for storage overhead, and that seemed like a big step, but at the last minute she changed her mind and wanted them back in her room. For now, she fits fairly well in her room, providing things are in their place, but her closet is a feat in organization. This morning as we were heading out the door, I commented to her that I had gotten another couple of boxes of my stuff together and needed to arrange for another thrift store pick-up. She said, "Great! More room for me!" Um, no.... I think that is one of my biggest fears- that as I minimize my belongings, DH and DD's stuff will just filter into the elbow-room spaces and it will be as though the house only belongs to them :( So far, I've done well keeping open spaces open, but who knows what will happen in the future- stuff has a way of taking over if it's not wrangled.

I know how you feel, Kath. When my kids were at UW-Madison I would get email notifications when any crime that did or could involve students occurred. It would freak me out until I heard from them. DD lived off-campus in a house with non-students in the other apartment. They didn't even lock their door! Nothing we said made any difference until one of the girls' exes became a stalker and entered while they weren't there. I just couldn't believe these supposedly smart students could be so stupid. Thank goodness nothing ever happened. So sad about the student, what a waste.