Oh, shit, Suzi. I have no advice; I just hate seeing you all raw when you should be bubbling over with happiness.

I'd go with a "gee, guess there was a misunderstanding..." tone with K-Bug's tickets.

As far as the other... sighhhh. Ass.

I hope this doesn't seem nosy, but I'm curious if you had previously suspected this. I think I'm asking because I had never picked it up from you before, although you seem fairly comfortable with it.

No worries, Stephanie. Yeah, I had some niggling suspicions for a long while. His speech patterns (echolalia and some gibberish that he still uses on occasion) as well as his social deficits made me suspect. I've been mentally preparing myself for this--especially since I had to withdraw him from preschool. I've tried not to panic. I've been talking to a lot of people and getting O into the therapy program he's in has shown me that he can make fast progress with intervention.

The kids he's in group therapy with are mildly ASD so it's less worrisome for me to see them and to see Owen interact with them on so many levels. I'm a lot less frightened of the "A" word. It's not like there will be a scarlet letter on O. We'll just have some hurdles to get past to see him achieve his potential.

PDD is Pervasive Development Disorder. A sort of catch all catagory for kids with social development delays but who may not be autistic.

I read this far, assembling many witty and insightful comments in my head but I'm still sleep deprived and the only thing I can remember now I've got to the posting box is: wouldn't The Muslim Slutbombs be a great name for a band?

Ok - one of my tenants is acting shifty.

We scheduled the water department to come out and inspect for leaks because our bills have running really high. The meters are located in her apartment.

She is refusing us entry because she just "can't" and "it's personal".

Now, she totally has the right to refuse us entry - we didn't notify her because we forgot the meters were in there. I get that. But A) she hasn't paid her rent this month and B) she was totally acting shifty. She didn't say, "You didn't give me notice I don't have to let you in." I'd totally understand, end of story, reschedule water guy. But instead she was VERY evasive and some guy in the background is saying, "No. Just tell them you can't. Tell them no."

Bet this guy moved in and she doesn't want us to know cause that breaks her lease.

Sox, sounds good. We'll have car but don't know the city too well.

Our appointment is at 10. But we've been told that our part could take a couple hours, could take all day, could take a couple hours followed by a break and then another couple hours. We've already decided to stay overnight.

She's just buying time, Aimee, right? You guys have a legal right to enter with advance notice. She may be in trouble, anyway.

Oh, Suzi, what a pain! I hope you can get K-Bug's trip worked out to better benefit her visit goals.

wouldn't The Muslim Slutbombs be a great name for a band?

If you want EVERYONE to send you death threats.

I have been trying to let K-Bug handle the trip arrangements. I mean, she is 17 and this has to do with college. I need to step back and let her deal at some point, right. But this feels like a mix between "Thank you for the iPod, but I wanted the black one not the white one" and "Thanks for doing this, but you didn't do this the way I wanted even though the trip is supposed to be all about me and my college aspirations."

Blarg. I need to win the lottery. But to do that I have to play. Darn it.

I'd totally understand, end of story, reschedule water guy.

How much notice do you have to give her? Because I'd give her notice now of the rescheduled water dude and then give her the minimum notice for you/the landlord to go inspect.

Yeah, I had some niggling suspicions for a long while.

I think moms just know somehow. I mean, after all, no one spends more time with them than you.

The therapy sounds like it's doing a lot of good and it sounds like O is doing well.