Went through the same thing with my DH daugther. but she was 6 or 7ish at the time. Its understandable. She feels now she is competeing with you and is expressing it like a 13 year old. Dont let it bother you. Always keep open communication with her and your bf. Dotn think too far like having kids now. Keep dating and live together , take it one day at a time. More important. You and your Bf have to be on the same page and stick to your relationship. His daughter does not dictate your time or how you date your bf. You are the adult.You are in control with your BF. Let him speak to his daughter, let him keep at it with her. You keep your cool and at her age, the teen years she is also going through alot of emotions. Give her space and give her time. If she acts out during vacation let her father deal with it. Dont let it get you down. When she acts like a baby, then leave her with her dad to deal with and you get out and enjoy yourself. You make sure you show her that her behaviour is not nice and that it wont get your down. She wants to behalf nasty then she will have to deal with the consequences. My SD doesn have text messaging and i wouldn't accept it either between me and her. Just gives her power and i do not let her have any since now adays she is being rude. She's a teen:) Thats how they are. Deosnt matter if they are biokids or stepkids or adopted kids...its the age! But it doesn't mean you have to put up with it. Stand your ground and you keep telling her how you feel. BUT if she gets a rise out of you being hurt then you ignore her tactics and say its a wonderful day and your are soooo happy. :) There will be many games , and many ups and downs..i'm sure she does like you . She just needs to adjust and really understand that she doesn't have to be threatened by you. This is what it is. She feels that now that her dad has someone, he wont be as close with her even though the times of seeing her haven't changed. Over time you will prove yourself with your actions and words. Be friends but if she resists..don't force it. you can only be friends with her...not her mother. So if she doesn't want to be friends with you..its ok. I told my SD...if she doesn't want to be friends that's fine with me. I have alot of friends. But you be respectful towards antoher human being..if not..the door is there. Swing both ways..I dont care who you are related to.

I just loved the box car chilren when i was a kid. i know you asked for series, but Holes and how to eat fried worms are both great books to read. if she likes a mystery, 'The Cat who....' books might not be too far beyond her reach. I read the original Tarzan books at that age and was captivated. as well as nacy drew and the hardy boys. also the series about budding astronauts "Tom ???" after that i slid into Narnia, and then the lord of the rings. Horatio Hornblower would be great, (but O'brian's Master and Commander series was a heavy, but wonderful read for me this past year) I also remember a series about a boy named henry, he as always in trouble(or was it a Homer?) diggerb

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).