avonmom

I am asking for a friend of mine. She was raised in Ohio, but moved to California for work after college. Last year she got pregnant, and during her pregnancy, she and the baby daddy broke up. Since the baby was born 7 months ago, she has only been home once ( around Easter, I think). In an effort to make her life miserable, the baby daddy is now refusing to let her leave the state, even for a few days. Apparently, even for her to leave for a few days, he has to sign off on it. Are there any loopholes to allow her to come home briefly for a family visit?

Ok...I am a SAHM and have been for the last 4.5 years. Almost 5 years ago hubby found a van for me with a bad transmission, I bought it with MY money, and he replaced the tranny. I drove it for 4.5 years, and he did the maintenace on it. Since I stay at home with our 2 special needs kids ( 1 autism/possible bi-polar, 1 speech delay) he of course has paid for all the parts, etc out of his paycheck. Just days before Thanksgiving I was in a minor fender bender that totaled my van. The insurance company paid me $1500 for the van. No sooner had I agreed to that and my husband tells me that I should buy him a non-functional vehicle for $500 and he will put a transmission in a vehicle he owns ( that I cannot even drive b/c it is a manual transmission, and I have never learned to drive one) for me to drive. To make a long story short, I found an acceptable vehicle that he said he could fix the problems on. It is the only functional vehicle we have that fits all 3 kids in. It has required some repairs in the time I have owned it ( about a month), and he has done or paid for all of them.

Last night he finally found a buyer for my wrecked vehicle. He did not let me be a part of setting a price or anything--he basically told me he would take care of the details and that was that. So finally after 2 hours of work, he has the money in hand and comes into the house...so I ask for MY money...and he tells me "no...you dont get any...I did all the work and put parts on cars, etc"...so I tell him I am NOT playing with him and I want my money...so he makes a big show of pulling the money out of his pocket and peeling off $100 for himself and handing me the rest. I told him I wanted ALL of it and he went nuts. Called me all kinds of names and throwing a fit.

The issues are :

1. it was only $500 we got for it

2. I rarely get any money to call my own

3. every time I buy something, even something small, with family funds, I feel like I have to justify buying it. He has in the past had the nerve to ask me "did you buy that with MY money?"

4. He didnt even give me a chance to do something nice for him/us with the money...he just told me that I was lucky if I got ANY of the money since he "earned" it.

was I wrong to feel hurt that he was keeping something that is technically mine? To argue that I should at least get to hold the money before he decided what to do with it...

With the previous version of yahoo messenger I was able to make pc-to-pc calls, and occasionally made them accidently ( I did not have a headset/microphone). About a week ago I downloaded the newest version of messenger ( 10) and now all the control icons for pc-to-pc calls do not show the way they should. However, I can recieve calls. Does anyone else have this issue?

My youngest is going to be 4 in a few weeks. I am having trouble thinking of unique ideas for things to put in the goody bags for his guests. ANy ideas?

This sounds really wierd, but I have been thinking about this for a while...It seems to me that Sheldon has many symptoms of autism. He is very smart, doesn't quite understand social stuff, is very very rigid in routine, seems to have some little OCD type behaviors, etc. Personally, I would say he probably has Aspergers or PDD...

any opinions on this?

My son will be 14 in a few months. He is on the autism spectrum, but fairly mild ( somewhere between PDD and Aspergers). The last few weeks I have noticed some symptoms, but I do not know what to make of them. His appetite has gone down for sure. he just is not hungry in the morning before school, and sometimes cannot finish dinner either. What really bothers me is that he has had headaches routinely this week. He just got new glasses in April, so I do not think it is his vision. Yesterday he came home from school and seemed fine. On his way up to bed he informed me that he had had a stomachache "all day long", and he still had it this morning. I sent him to school anyway since he had no fever or other symptoms. He attends a small charter school for children with behavior problems, and there are only 5 kids in the middle school room with a teacher and an aide. Apparently there have been some issues this week with some of the kids acting out and needing 1-1 attention. Taking this into account, my guess is that it is just stress, maybe the beginings of depression. ANybody have any other ideas?

My 13 year old is on the autism spectrum...I know that obsessions are "normal" for him. My question is, are they also normal for my almost 4 year old son? Lately he wants to play with Lego blocks most of the time ( like his big brother), and has this odd habit of pointing out every trailer hitch he sees as we are driving around...and pointing out 2 models of car: a mustang and an HHR. I think it is just normal preschooler stuff and he will grow out of it, hubby thinks it is developmentally significant. He thinks that our 4 year old is destined to be diagnosed on the spectrum in the next few years. The 4 year old has been in speech for almost 2 years now, and just started his second year of special needs preschool. To me, if he was going to be on the autism spectrum, would someone (other than hubby) not have noticed some flags by now? His speech therapist has a 15 year old with autism also...

I would love to have Thomas's mom and Beetlemilk weigh in on this one :)

OK...I have posted this before, but I feel the need to re-post and try to make it a little clearer.

My friend "J" has 2 special needs kids, and "A" has been their respite provider for the last 7 years. "A" has practically been a member of the family for many years...she gives the kids medical treatments, cooks for the family, drives the kids to tutoring, etc. COnsidering this relationship, J has a habit of sending A to the grocery or to Wal-mart to buy specific things for the kids. She hands A her personal CC to pay for the items.

So J has been having marital issues, some about money ( who doesn't?), but she and her hubby decide to separate finances last month. In the process they look closely at CC bills and discover an alarming pattern: every time A is sent to wal-mart there is a charge for the $20 ( or whatever amount) in items J sent her for, then a few minutes later there is a $100. Every time A is sent to the grocery there is a charge for the groceries, then a few minutes later a charge for $50. The stores pulled receipts and told J what they were for....things that J never saw. It was apparent that A was making purchases for personal use. J fired A and called the police. In the course of the investigation it was discovered that there was more than $5,000 in purchases over 2 years or more.

I have done the research in Ohio...that would be considered felony 4 theft. The punishment is 6-18 months in Jail and a fine of "up to $5,000". My question is this...what is the likely sentence? Is there a chance that this woman will get away with a small fine and no jail time? What are the chances that J will recover any of the money. The CC company is trying to say they do not have to refund any of the money since J handed A her CC.

My friend recently found out that the respite provider for her 2 special needs boys was committing credit card fraud against her. After she had worked for my friend for a few years, my friend trusted her enough to send her to the store to buy things for the kids...and she gave the provider her personal CC to pay for the things. The provider brought home reciepts for the things she bought.

Fast forward like 7 years. My friend was having marital issues, some surrounding money. As a result they decided to seperate thier finances. During this they discovered that the provider had been making additional purchases with the CC every time it was handed to her. Last month was over $900 in prepaid CC purchased just minutes after a legitimate purchase. There were also some gift cards purchased too. Needless to say they were positive it was the provider and fired her. The theft was reported to the police. Upon questioning by the police the provider admitted that she had been committing the fraud for 2 years. The damage so far is in excess of $5,000...but could be much more. It is possible my friend has been being robbed the whole 7 years.

My question is this...What kind of punishment can my friend expect this woman to get? I know it is classified as a felony 4 theft, and *can* be punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and 6-18 months in jail. Is there any chance she will get the maximum? Is there any chance she will get off with a small fine and losing her provider number and no jail time?

My friend recently found out that an employee of hers ( who has been with her for 9 years) has been committing credit card fraud against her for a while now. last month alone she has found more than $900 worth of unauthorized charges on her credit card. She is currently working with her credit card company and some chain stores to discover the depth of the issue. The police are involved, and she WILL be pressing charges. The question we have is this: the police are planning on picking the thief up for questioning in the next few days, can she refuse to go to the station for questioning? If she does, will they arrest her? After they question her, is there a chance that they will immediately arrest her? The employee was immediately fired, and my friend has not talked to her since...so as far as we know, the thief is not sure that my friend even involved the police.

a few months ago you posted a great answer to someones question about the difference between PDD and Aspergers. I looked at it and loved it, but did not get a chance to print it out. When I read it I realized that my oldest is literally 1/2 PDD and 1/2 Aspergers Now I want to show it to some of my other (local) mommy friends.

Ok for the last day or so someone seems to be stalking me online and giving me a TD within seconds of my answering a question...anyone wanna confess? if so, explain yourself.

It just boggles my mind when I see a question that goes something like " my period was 2 days early...could I be pregnant?" and " usually my period is 7 days and heavy, but this time it was only 6 days...could I be pregnant?" OR my personal fave " I lost my virignity 4 days ago and we used a condom and ever since then I have been throwing up and my boobs are soar...could I be pregnant?"

It just seems to me that every little cramp and burp and discharge is blamed on a possible pregnancy. I have had 3 children. With none of them has my period come early and that been a symptom of pregnancy. I currently have a really wonky cycle, but only recently tested ( even though I was fairly certain it was going to be negative). My last "regular" period was

in late april. In mid may I had a pelvic exam and then the first day of my period in (late) May I put in a nuvaring ( I was just starting it). About 12-18 hours later my period was done. In June I did not even spot--all I had was a few pink spots on the TP after I peed. Just as a precautionary measure I took a test over the weekend, and it was negative.

are we so uneducated as a nation that our female children have no clue how thier body functions?

( all misspellings in this Q are on purpose...)

I am on nuvaring for the second time in about 3 years. I was on it for about 18 months, and my cycle got all messed up, so I went off it for a while to let my cycle straighten out. When I was on it the first time after about a year I started skipping periods, then having really heavy periods the next month.

This time I went to the doctor mid may and she did a pelvic exam and prescribed the nuvaring for me. I had been using condoms for a year, and my cycle was pretty regular. 2 weeks later I started my period and put in the ring for the first time like the instructions say to. Within about 12 hours my period stopped. I figured it was the hormones getting into my system, and brushed it off. We did have unprotected sex during the month b/c the doctor said that if I put in the ring the first day of my period, we would be covered. This month I took out the ring on the day I was supposed to. Over the week that it was out I had some cramping, but no bleeding...then the day I put in the new ring I did not even have enough bleeding to be described as spotting. It was literally just a few drops of blood on the TP when I wiped.

even though I am only 34 I am thinking maybe I might be going into perimenopause. I looked it up and I have several symptoms...the funky periods, digestive issues, trouble sleeping, being irritable, growing funky chin hairs and stuff like that...

anybody have this kind of experience? I doubt pregnancy is a concern, as I have no other symptoms, but I will test if I get some or miss another period.

I have been trying to find some unusual craft items to sell at craft shows an flea markets. I am looking for things that do not cost me much money to make, but people will pay decent money for. So far I have had good luck with crochet key rings that can hold a lip balm or a Bic lighter. I just found the instructions for making small zipper pouches and lunch bags out of left over caprisun pouches. How much would you pay for these items? Any other items you would like to see made?

I have had my van for 4 years now. It just hit 200,000 miles about 4 weeks ago. Within 50 miles my serpentine belt broke into shreds. we replaced it but still heard noises. My husband replaced it and removed a guard near it thinking that the guard was bumping the water pump and it was cutting it. It drove fine for a few weeks, then today it shredded while I was driving.

this is a recent development. he has been potty trained for 6+ months now, but for the past 3 weeks or so he walks around all day with his hands down his pants ( think Al Bundy from married...with children). My feeling is that he has discovered that he has a penis and that it feels good when he touches it, and that the phase will pass. We just gently tell him to get his hands out of his pants. Has anyone else had a little boy go through this? My 13 year old boy did not do this.

my 3.5 year old has been playing games on my laptop computer for like 4 months now. The last 3 people ( including someone from early intervention) that I told this to were totally amazed. One lady has a son who is 1 week younger than my son.

My son cannot turn the computer on yet, but he can:

open an internet explorer screen

use the drop down menu to find the correct site

pick a game and play it

he has also been known to pull up an instant messenger screen from the bottom toolbar and send an IM to one of my friends with his name in it. He also recognizes Yahoo and Facebook and that they are favorite sites of mine.

My question is...is this totally wierd? Is he like some sort of savant when it comes to this?

OK, so here is the situation...

on monday I went and had a crown done. I was in minimal discomfort, but motrin took care of it. wednesday I went back to the same dentist to have some fillings done. I had multiple novacain shots including one practically in my jaw and one on the roof of my mouth. the entire left side of my mouth was numb. wednesday night when the novacain wore off my mouth still felt odd. sort of like when you scald your mouth on hot coffee. thursday afternoon it STILL felt odd and things did not taste right. I called the dentist and they had no clue what was going on.I did go for coffee, but the lady only heated it to 120 degrees instead of 160 degrees. Friday morning I felt something on the roof of my mouth and as I rubbed it lightly, little bits of tissue fell off onto my finger. I called the dentist and went in for them to check it and the dentist said I had a burn on the roof of my mouth.

I know that SOMETHING they did on wednesday burned me, but I am not sure WHAT. My best guess is that it is either the oil of clove they put in a bleeding tooth, or the little infrared heater thing they set fillings with. ANy clue which one it could have been? I did have a very strong, very nasty taste in my mouth as soon as I got out of the chair, but they said it would go away.

my 9 year old daughter claims to have trouble sleeping at night. last night was a typical night. I put her to bed between 8 and 830 at night. she was down no less than 4-6 times by 930 for water and trips to the bathroom. if it was not one of those it was "daddy...come sit with me til I go to sleep". By 10pm I told her that she was getting spanked if she came down again to tell me that she could not sleep. Someone told me that she uses melatonin with all 4 of her kids to help them sleep, but I cannot get ahold of her for the doses. Today I bought a bottle of 300mcg tablets. Do you think one will be enough? she weighs about 60 pounds.