So apparently my cats threw some kind of unholy fit that included flinging a couch cushion heavier than the two of them put together to the floor and somehow unlocking the arm frame of my sofa.

Considering the chaos that our youngsters can manage, I'm not surprised. Vlad knocks over chairs regularly.

Amych, so sorry about the job. I too, thought you were still freelancing.

Matt- Holy Moses! Did your cats invite their friends?

Great,my company just acknowledged that I did indeed submit a request to transfer funds from one HSA to the new and they botched it but will sort it out. In the meantime, almost $1500 of my money is inaccessible. But at least I know they got the damned thing. Not like the acknowledged it when submitted.

God I hate the way health insurance works in this country.

So, these days I mostly hang out in Boxed Set, but I have a question for the hivemind...

...my 10-year-old wants an email account (technically she has one which we set up when we gave her her first Kindle, but she doesn't have the password) and access to sites she's technically too young for. E.g. she wants a Wattpad account so she can post fanfic and comment on what she's already reading. Tonight's commute home was all, "Lots of kids my age post," and "I just want a VOICE" (very dramatically).

On the one hand, she's bright and net-savvy for her age, and I like the idea of letting her post fanfic because it will encourage her to write. (Writing is her academic weakness, relatively speaking.) But 10 is SO very young, and she's nowhere near as precocious socially and emotionally as she is intellectually.

So...5th graders online. Pros? Cons? Is everyone else actually doing it and I'm the fuddy-duddy mom?

My 13 year old does not have email.

I was online when I was 11, but "online" was different then, and I don't think my parents really knew or understood everything I was doing.

Question for the cat-knowledgeable: Finn and new kitty are still getting along, hanging out, playing, and generally being buds, but Finn is still barely eating. Is that normal, given the disruption in his routine?

Yeah, we're leaning away from letting her for another few years yet. If I could find a good forum with just upper elementary and middle school kids it might be another matter.

Anne, I might call the vet just to be sure, but if he's distracted by the new playmate in a good way, as long as he's actually eating something, I'd just keep an eye on it and maybe bring out the kitty crack food for just him in a closed off room with just you & him. If he likes human attention while eating. I feed Loki and Pumpkin out of the same dish and I swear she must live on air thanks to the Hoover that is Loki, but what they need vs what they eat is...variable.

Thank you, sara. I can't help worrying about the guy. He's eating maybe about a fourth of what he normally eats, but he's not hiding, and he wants to be around the other cat.