Hi all, Susan your seeds went out today. The DC# is0310 3490 0002 1403 5847. By Monday I would check this out and see how close your package is. I had forgotten that tomorrow is Veterans Day and everything will be closed...government that is. One more day at home and then the office wants me to come back for a few days again. I still have lots to do around here. I started to clean the basement but then got distracted and haven't gotten back to it. Oh well thats the way it goes. Ellie

I do not watch Martha Stewart but it was on this morning and I took the day off (not feeling well) and the pie contest sounded interesting so I left it on. Marjorie Johnson from Robbinsdale, MN won. She's quite a character. You might remember her from The Tonight Show when Jay Leno was on. She was a frequent guest and became a roving reporter for a while. She'd bake cookies and go interview a sports team or something like that. She has the metabolism of a hummingbird but has won over 2500 fair ribbons including over 1000 blue ribbons and many sweepstakes ribbons. She's a very modest person too, a real Minnesota sweetheart, and I was glad to see she won, but thought she would the way Martha was talking anyway. She'll be on tomorrow's show to show how to make the pie. Not sure if I'll be able to watch it but I might have to try. She's a 4'8" dynamo. I tried to look for the recipe but I'm sure she's not allowed to give it out until the program airs so we'll see if MS puts it up or Marjorie puts it on her site.

"I think I'd take the summer to observe, make notes and then review come the first of August as to what you saw, when you saw it and revisit the idea of whether it is ADD/ADHD and if meds would be helpful. It's a shame BM told SD what was going on with the eval, but on the other hand, if SD is faking it I think over time and with observation you'll be able to see if there is a consistant problem or one merely for the attention it gets her." Unfortunately, she will be spending the summer with her mother and since her mother is not on board, there is no way to observe her or get input. Besides, her mother lies & has her own agenda so anything she might tell us will probably not be very helpful for SD. What was decided is that they will try medication when she resumes the next school year. At my suggestion, it will be in combination with therapy to deal with the other issues. To be honest, my biggest concern at the moment is that DH is not fully aware of how much work might be involved and it will fall on me. Her mom doesn't care to get involved to help & she would take custody to get out of paying her child support, but then SD would be there doing what older sister is doing... anything she damn well pleases, wearing make up, & staying up all night. She already does that on weekends & during summer. This summer may be another eye opener for SD as well, now there is a baby there. Will BM send her off to stay with other people again? or will she want her there to help take care of the baby? and how will that make SD feel? Last summer, SD had grandiose ideas of all the great stuff mom was going to do with her during summer & she ended up staying with grandma in another town & seeing mom one or two days a week ~ grandma (who lived by us) would drive SD to BM's the day before we got her... thus making us drive an extra two hours to go get her. By the end of summer, SD was thinking she was going to start school over at BM's because grandma & her sister moved to the town where BM lives... then she was shocked & upset when we came to get her at the end of summer to get ready to start school here. That is the kind of mental anguish BM does to her... she doesn't seem to care how much her daughter is struggling or how miserable these things make her, she doesn't really want her daughter living there with her, but she does want the child support off her back. So, what happens this summer & how it impacts SD will probably affect how she feels at the end of summer. SD's counselor told us to keep telling SD the truth, but doing that makes BM angry... she even called the counselor & told him off. Actually, both of her counselors have had to suggest that, that we tell SD the truth about living here because BM continues to tell her lies about going to live over there. She also continues to lie about getting married to BF. SD just told DH that they are getting married next month. BM is still married to older sister's daddy, she can't marry BF... but all of the kids are supposedly all excited about it, including BF's kids. But that is one lie we don't tell SD the truth about... how do you tell a kid that her mom is still married to DD14's BD, but now living with & claiming to be getting married to BF? But, she fills those kids' heads with her fantasy & make believe they are the 'Brady Bunch'. So, I hope the medication helps. SD leaves in two weeks for summer. One of her teachers has raised SD's grades from D & F to a B- & C+. Unfortunately, we believe it is because DH has mentioned retaining SD in 5th grade because all her grades were D's & F's. (plus her handwriting looks like 2nd grade, she can't spell, and consistently, her teachers write "not grade level work" on her papers. We discussed retention because if SD isn't able to do 5th grade level work, how will she do 6th grade level with many teachers?) While I understand why the teachers & counselor oppose holding her back (I see that as a last resort also), it is a great disservice to SD if they are fluffing her grades to help her look better to us so DH won't hold her back. On the other hand, maybe SD will get some sort of pride out of seeing a report card with a B on it & maybe it will inspire her to work harder next year to get B's.. or at least better grades. All I know is that she has not improved from doing D level work to B level work in two weeks... and her other teacher has noted a few times how SD has given herself an A on papers that she got 5 out of 10 right.... which is 50%~ an F. At this point, all we can do is wait to see what happens when she goes to her mothers.. and when she comes back, see what her attitude about it is. Then when she starts school again, we will try the medication & she will go back to therapy. Thanks everyone for all the input. I am going to research it more. I know my nephew was ADD, but still don't know much about these disorders/conditions. I will also need to educate DH.

I have over one hundred thousand photos on my hard drive, it's really hard for me to pick just one favourite!! But here is one of my favourites. It's a 30 second exposure of an area of the city known as "The Battery"....small homes on the cliffs at the entrance to the harbour.