Wow, I'm sorry about this. I'm afraid that if you let this girl make 'grown-up' decisions, your DH could become estranged from her - that will only let the gap widen. Do you have any reasons as to why she suddenly feels this way? I assume you were not the reason her parents divorced and that she has no reason (mother) to believe her parents would be together were it not for you? A couple of things I would recommend: 1. DH talks to his ex to see if she knows what's the problem. Is she using any divorce poisoning? Most kids don't take such a strong stance w/o some encouragement from their most influential person (mom, usually.) 2. DH must not allow her to disrespect you, as his wife, or you will grow resentful - of this I'm sure - been there. I would explore the help of a marriage/family counselor NOW. My DH and I waited til recently to seek counseling - my skids are grown, but we've never had an easy road. Many men are non-custodial parents and are afraid of 'losing' the kids even more. So, they back down when the little voice inside them tells them it's not the right path, they reward bad behavior out of guilt, etc. It really leads to problems in adulthood - for many of these kids' relationships. Have you and this girl gotten along rather well up until this point? I'm curious as to why you've only known her for six mos. Did you have a whirlwind romance? Or, did you give him and his DDs space on their weekends? How long have you both been divorced? What is the ex-wife like? If the ex is not bitter or angry or jealous, she will be the key to getting through this. If she is any of those things, I'm afraid you have a very tough uphill battle. But, if DH gives in to his DD, you can bet she will begin to work on her sister and that relationship will also deteriorate. Good luck - please fill in the blanks a little. My skids and I get along much better these days, but those early days were he!! for me. I still have issues, and the SS hasn't spoken to us in over 2 yrs. His sisters have their calls unanswered for months at a time. His mother hasn't heard from him in longer than us (he has issues: lifestyle, bad choices, etc.) Anyway, the ex in my case pinned me as a homewrecker - ironic since she had a long affair during their marriage. Later, like three years later, she found the Lord and confessed, but a lot of bad water had gone under the bridge - it's still a tough process to fix the damage. Some days I want to mend the fences, but others, I just am burned out. At least the girls are adults and fairly self-sufficient these days. All the best, Dana

It's a good idea this year NOT to buy gift cards to specific stores. There's really no way of knowing which ones will still be around in January. I don't think a gift card is really the right way to go for the kind of situation you describe, but if you do feel that's the best choice, get a MALL gift card--that way, it can be used in any store, for clothes, books, music, etc, and all the stores in any given mall are unlikely to go out of business. For kids that age--if you can get an idea of sizes, casual clothes are always good. A winter coat might be needed and appreciated. Girls--maybe a craft kit to make jewelry or something else sparkly, or any bath, body, nail, make-up stuff is generally up their alley. Boys--sporting goods. Books, if you think they'd enjoy them, although picking books for kids you don't know is a challenge. Would you be allowed to buy tickets to a play, concert or sporting event and take them yourself? That would be an awesome gift, but it might not be possible in the situation. Of course, if you can find out what each child's specifically interested in, you'll be home free--much easier, if you can get that info somehow. And thanks for taking an interest and helping someone who surely needs someone who cares.

My inclination would be to paint the walls bright white and let the rest of the accents be the color players. White is the backdrop I've often seen, or been drawn to, when I look up bohemian pictures. I'd also put a really large area rug in the room that only left a few inches of bare floor around the perimeter of the room. This way, no matter which way the room is arranged, the rug is always the right size. If your daughter is anything like I was, the room will be rearranged many times during her teen years! : ) You could still layer her little rug over the large rug for her reading nook. You might like to plug the room into homestyler.com for working on the layout. Your kitties might be disappointed, but muscles with thank you. : ) If you save a snapshot of the homestyler layout to your computer, you can upload it onto here using the photo link. That would allow us to see the plan overview, and will make it easier for us to help with the arrangement.

I am so sorry I didn't see this post back when. I didn't really join KT at that time maybe. I am so happy your daughter has progressed well. I hope she will continue with her exercises to get the extension & flexion she wants. Anyway, I had this type of ACL surgery in 1991 by a very talented surgeon in Jackson WY. He had been a US Ski Team doctor and I had every confidence in him doing the surgery rather than going home to an unknown surgeon. I was 43 at the time. I was back to running 6 months later and have had no problems since. Tore my other ACL 5 years ago and had a cadaver replacement. That knee also had some arthritis. Hasn't been quite as smooth regarding flexion; extension is fine. And I still am running (3 half marathons last year).