Beth - Do not fertilize them for now. Remove the dead or dying leaves from the bottom. Check the leaves that are not yet dying - gently pull them from the stem. If they separate easily and have the end of the leaf stem getting brown - rotting - then you are in trouble- it is a root rot. Check all the leaves - are they limp? They should be turgid - juicy and springy. I would suspect root rot first - because you overpotted them in a heavy soil - which is the main reason of this thing. The soil retains too much water- and the roots cannot take it. Just as a precaution - snip some leaves from the middle part of your plants - trim the stems to 1-1,5 inch and put them in water. They will root easily and you will have your replacement plants to return to your Peace Corps friend. Keep us posted, please. Irina

I have had that situation in the past. I only got out of it b/c we moved, so that's no help to you. Lately I had one parent of DD's friend try that with me. The girl is in 1st grade with DD. Her mom called on a school break day, asked if DD was available to play. When I said yes, she said "Great, how about your house b/c I had to bring her to work with me today and this isn't working. I'll be there on my lunch break." OoooK. I wish she had enough respect to just call me the day before and say "I've got a childcare crisis tomorrow, can I ask a big favor?" I'd have said yes and been great about it. Now, when she calls, I say "how about next week sometime?" and she always says "I'll get back to you." I actually babysit my nextdoor neighbor's toddler, but I offered and she pays me. She even gives me generous gifts at holidays and offers to watch my kids for a night out as a favor. So that is a good mutual arrangement. I guess we cannot change the behavior of others, only our own. I finally know I don't have to "be nice" to everyone else when they aren't playing fair. When this has happened to me, and I've had enough, I say no a couple times and people quit doing that to me. In our former neighborhood, when it got bad, I also had days of the week when it was "no neighbor kids allowed." Sunday and whatever other day I wanted. If they had snacks, it was popcorn and ice water. When I've had enough kids in my home, I say "It's 4:00, if you don't live here, go home." The time is just whenever I've had enough. If I have chores for my kids to do, any kids on my property are fair laborers. Pretty soon the kids who want a good time and cool snack for nothing quit asking to come to my house. I end up with only the kids who come for the company of our family.

Depends on a lot of things....not the least of which is where you will be...and the responsibility of the sitter. I like 13 to 14 year old girls....they are old enough to be responsible and young enough to spend a lot of time playing with your kids and not be on the phone with friends. And I find that after that age they are too busy to baby sit or have other jobs. My daughter baby sat at 10....but with the infant next door and when she did we were always home. Linda C

For one child, I pay $5 an hour to high schoolers. College age kids are asking me for $10, so I only use them if there are no high school age kids available LOL $10 is more than fair for low-maintenance babysitting like you're talking about (1 child only, child will be put to bed for half that time, etc).