Jennifer D

I was going to buy my almost 5 year old son the Fisher Price Smart Cycle for xmas. I have read horrible reviews and no longer want to purchase it for him. I need some ideas for a 5 year old boy in the 100 dollar range. He already has a leapster explorer from last year. I prefer things that are good quality and dont have really small peices. Any suggestions? Thank You

Our three year old Boston Terrier sheds like crazy. To the point where your clothes are covered in hair after just holding him for a few seconds. I have fed him Taste of the Wild dog food for over a year now and this has not made a difference. His coat is beautiful and shiny, but he still sheds like mad. His skin appears to be very healthy, and he never scratches. When I brush him no hair comes out. He has been to the vet and has no health issues. Any ideas or suggestions? Is this breed supposed to shed this much?

I provide childcare 50 hours a week for two children from the same family. In my contract it states that I am to be notified as soon as possible about any late arrivals. Well this is the third time now in the last few weeks that this family has been a no call no show for two hours. I am rewriting the contract to state that if I do not hear from them 30 minutes after the contracted expected arrival time, and they do not show up, that they will need to assume that I have made other plans for my day and to find a alternate at their expense. They will still be expected to pay that days rate.

I am finding the need to do this because they showed up again this morning two hours late with no call and I had already made other plans and was expected to cancel and stay home. I was told that they "forgot" to call me.

Does 30 minutes seem fair? I have looked in sample contracts online and most of them say if you are late at ALL with no phone call I may not be available for that day. I would at least like to give them 30 minutes. Opinions please

I bought a used couch form a very nice family I know. I of course rented a rug doctor and shampooed it before using it. One of the decorative pillows smells like armpit body odor on the corner (must have been the one that someone put under their arm). Febreeze has not worked, any ideas for me to try??

I have just started watching a little boy who is 4 and a half years old. According to Mom he is potty trained. He is having accidents everyday, sometimes numerous times a day. I have been taking him to the bathroom every 20 minutes and trying to get him to go pee now that this has become a issue. Sometime he goes, sometimes he doesnt. He knows where the bathroom is, it is always open and close to where we are. He is okay with going in there and goes in alot by himself, so I know he is not afraid to go in alone.

I have been working with him for weeks but he is continuing to have accidents, and they always happen on my carpet. He will just start peeing and just stand there, with no attempt to make it to the restroom. My concern is that he is peeing all over my carpets and it is very unsanitary and will start to smell.....and it is just gross. I have talked to his mother and she acts kinda clueless about it and does not offer any suggestions. I have a feeling that she is not telling me something. My question is this........ Is it wrong of me to ask her if she could please put him in some training underwear or pull ups until this issue is resolved? I am more than willing to work with him and have patience, but I cannot have him peeing all over the carpet. I have three other children in the house and I cant have them sitting, or walking in these messes. I dont think I am out of line in asking this because I feel a daycare would do the same. In fact they may even ask for him not to come back until he is potty trained. I am not doing that, I am trying to help. Suggestions and opinions please. Thank You

I have already asked a few question but I have one more. If I am providing childcare and switch to a weekly rate to hold a full time spot, what do I do if the child doesnt come for a whole week and it is not planned. If you have read my other questions you know what I am talking about. To sum it up for those of you who havent read them , I am dealing with a situation here. The child who i care for has not come much latley due to the father not having to work. I have lost 50% of my pay in the last three weeks. You all told me to inforce a weekly rate policy instead of daily rate, and that this will help. But what if the child doesnt come for a whole week? How will I work that out. Like for example, last week and the week before he only came three days instead of four. This week he has not come at all. Weekly rate would have covered me the last two weeks but what about this week? And the mom of the child keeps telling me that she hopes the dad finds work soon, so who knows when he will go back. He is a union iron worker so apparently there may be times when he is out of work for days or weeks, but she said it doesnt happen often. A few days here and there fine, weekly rate will cover me, but what do i do when its a week or longer?? Any thoughts??

I had posted a question yesterday about how the child I care for during the day has barely come in the last month, and I have lost ALOT of my imcome. I was told by everyone to make a contract and make them pay a weekly rate. This sounds good to me, but how do I present this to someone I have already made a verbal agreement with over xx amount of dollars a day. I cannot continue to get paid that way anymore, I am making no money. They have already called off on me three days this week, and it looks like I may not have him at all for the remainder of the week. I have a lady that wants me to care for her two children and she will pay me a flat weekly rate reguardless of wether her children are here or not. I do not want to watch anymore than two children, and hers would make three. I am holding this spot open and turning down others, but I am not getting paid for their spot. We have no written contract, and i would like to change to a flat rate. How do I go about changing to a weekly rate now after we already decided how I would get paid. I never thought this would be a issue. Should I just put in a two week notice and take the other kids?

here is my question from yesterday

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Atc3U...

I recently have decided to open my home to caring for a child. I care for a infant right now, along with my own little ones. I made the decision to do this to bring in extra income. My problem is that in the last two months of watching him, I am always getting called and told that his dad doesnt have to work the next day so he wont be comming. I would say that out of all the time I have been watching him, there was only a handful of weeks where he actually came all the days he was supposed too. In the last three weeks I have lost 40% of my income. I really enjoy watching this little one and like the family, but I am not making any money here. I feel like I have only worked a few months and am already laid off. Would it be wrong of me to start looking for other children to watch? What would you do in this situation?

My three year old boy who is the third child in our family of four kids, told me today that he didnt want me at his birthday party tomorrow. He has been having major attitude problem latley and he has been rude and mean to everyone in our household even our pets.He has also been very mouthy. My older kids were never like this. My two year old is now starting to model this negative behavior. We had a very nice morning finger painting and coloring and had a nice lunch. While I was cleaning up he walked up to me for no apparent reason and told me he didnt want me at his party. I told him fine that if i dont come neither will his cake since I have to go get it. He told me to drop it off and leave. I asked him if thats what he really wants and he said yes. I have never done anything to make him feel this way. He is not a spoiled brat, he gets plenty of attention and has a very good life. I am a stay at home mom and I am with him all day, so he is not lacking from my attention. What could his problem be? Is this normal? Should I still give him a party and presents or should i cancel it to teach him a lesson? Not sure what the right thing to do here is. Any ideas?

My husband has noticed more and more that I pull away from him when he tries to kiss me while intimate. He is a smoker and smokes about a pack a day. Even if he showers, and brushes his teeth three times I can still smell and taste it. The smoke sticks to the throat, sinuses and lungs, so brushing only eliminates some of the smell. I am not a smoker, so it is a major turn off to me and makes me want to gag. He says if i love him I should just deal with it. I do not agree. He wouldn't kiss me or do certain things to me if I tasted or smelled bad, but I dont have that issue. How do we comprimise, cause right now I just dont like making out with him and he is offended. He always says if something comes between our relationship in anyway that it is a problem and has to be stopped, but he wont quit, and expects me to stop behaviors that bother him.

About two months ago out basement started to smell really really bad. It smelled like rodent or cat pee. Well we have no cats, and our dogs will not go in our basement. We found that the smell was comming from one corner of our basement and the smell was up in the corner. Finally now that it has snowed we have rabbit tracks and frozen rabbit pee in that very corner outside.We have set traps to catch the rabiit but now......the smell!! How do we get rid of this smell in our basement. It has come in through our foundation and smells so bad. We have tried fabreeze, lysol, candles, and natures miricle up in the rafters in that corner. We have also dumped bottles of bleach along that corner of the foundation outside, and the smell just wont go away. Some days smell worse than others. It is so bad sometimes that we cant even go down there. Any suggenestions?

I have a boston terrier male that is almost three years old. We have had him since last march. He has never ever had issues with having accidents in the house. Now that it is getting very cold outside, he is pooping and peeing in our house. We just spent ALOT of money finishing our basement over the summer, and now he is sneaking down there and peeing and pooping cause he doesnt wanna go out in the cold. When I try to put him outside he just stands there and will not go down the steps even if I go out with him. So i have started crating him and now he just goes in the crate. I have tried to get him a sweater and boots and it makes no difference. He just hates the cold, but I CANNOT have him using my house as a restroom. My house is starting to reek like dog urine!!! I have no idea what to do about this?? I know bostons are sensitive to temperature, but this is rediculous. I have toddlers so using pee pads by the door are not a option, and that is just gross anyways! I also have a english mastiff and she has no issues going outside, so wtf is his problem? He will be finding a new home if he doesnt quit. Any ideas anyone??

I do not have a sensitive stomach as far as I know. I can eat spicy and greasy food with no problem. I could sit and drink a ton of Coca Cola or Mountain Dew and have no issues. All I have to do is drink about two ounces of coffee and I am shaking and have a nervous stomach. Yes only a few ounces of coffee make me feel like this, and its not strong coffee either. I add milk and a little sugar. I love drinking coffee but I hate the way it makes me feel. Anyone know what this effect could be from?

English beef roasts were on sale buy one get one free. Great deal. I would like to use one to make beef stew. Is this possible or is it the way wrong cut of meat? I can slow cook or use pressure cooker if i have too. Thanks

My 10 and 8 year old just started back on their adhd meds. They are doing fantasic at home and in school. The only problem we are facing is that they are rebounding at bed time and are awake half the night. I would like to find a natural remedy that can help them sleep. I have tried melatonin and chamonile tea with no luck. Any suggestions?

My 10 and 8 year old just started back on their adhd meds. They are doing fantasic at home and in school. The only problem we are facing is that they are rebounding at bed time and are awake half the night. I would like to find a natural remedy that can help them sleep. I have tried melatonin and chamonile tea with no luck. Any suggestions?

OK, I guess I will make this a little more clear. Last night my husband came home real late. He was not up to no good, and that's not why he was late. I had been up since 5:30am, with our four kids. I spent all day studying for a college exam, cleaning, running errands. When he had gotten home it was after 11pm. He had flirted with me telling me he wanted to make out with me in my new leggings. I asked him if he could please rub my legs and back first, (I have spine issues that cause pain daily in them). So I wasnt just asking for a rub for no reason. It felt so good that I unintentionally dozed off. I didnt even know I had dozed off. I woke to him yelling goodnight to me. I didnt even realize that I had fallen asleep so was a bit confused. I sat right up and was wide awake. Well he is threatening divorce over this. He says that by me accidentally dozing off while getting this rub is like me falling asleep during sex (nothing was sexual about the rub- straight forward leg/back rub). When I woke I was ready to go but he was too pissed.I had every intention of making love to him, why couldnt he have woke me up or made a move on me.We have sex just about every night if not twice a day. He had told me before that if I ever did this again he would divorce me, so i guess now we are divorcing over this. Am I a horrible person for ACCIDENTALLY falling asleep for a few minutes after the day I had? I just dont understand it wasnt intentional, and now I sit here a perfectly good wife finding out my legal rights and persuing the divorce he wants.

Falling asleep on husband?

My husband came home late last night. I had a long day taking care of our 4 kids, cleaning and studying for a important college test. It was around 11pm and, I was kind of achey and had asked him to rub my back and legs. I was so tired that I accidentally dosed off for a few minutes. I didnt even realize i dosed off. We for the most part have sex everynight and had not yet. I woke to my husband yelling goodnight at me and storming off to bed. He has serious issues that I do not undersatnd when I accidentally fall asleep on him. It May happen every four months if that. He has actually threatened divorce over the this. Why cant he just wake me up and make a move or something? Am i stupid to think that this is rediculous?

Ok for one, it was not foreplay. We were still downstairs watching tv. We hadn't made plans to have sex, or were not in the middle of it. He just expects it from me every night no matter what.

also let me add that i didnt promise him anything

Our 6 month old english mastiff puppy has been having a gooey, stringy clear/yellow vaginal discharge for the last few weeks. She is in good health otherwise. She is not showing any signs of illness and it does not seem to be bothering her. It is just strange and we are curious what is going on with her. She is not spayed yet but is scheduled to be in about 3 weeks. Any ideas what this could be?

My husband and I have four children, ages 9,7,3, and 1. We are having issues with both of the little ones being very defiant and causing lots of trouble right now. The little ones for the most part tend to listen to my husband better cause he is huge, loud and scares them. I am a very strict mother but still seem to have trouble getting them to listen to me. My husband works all day and I stay home with the little ones all day. So the odds of them breaking something or causing trouble on my watch is alot greater. When ever they do anything wrong my husband always blames me and starts a fight. He says I was responsible and they were under my watch so it is my fault. If anything ever happens under his watch it is never his fault and they just get in trouble. Does he have the right to blame me for their bad behavior? He only does this when they get in trouble when he is not here. If they get in trouble when we are both home, he doesnt do this. Believe me I am a tough mom and do my best with discipline. WTF is his problem? Am I wrong in saying he is not being fair?