u/Carinyosa99

Before my mom moved up here to Maryland from 4 hours away in Virginia, she had a pretty good life in an apartment where she could walk down the hall and see her friends. She was pretty independent and was driving herself where she needed to go and despite being more introverted, she was fairly outgoing. Her health took a dive and she ended up with diabetes, neuropathy, arthritis, breast cancer, kidney problems, and vertigo issues that caused her to fall. One time she collapsed in the middle of thenight and wasn't found until 36-48 hours later (because not even she knows when it happened - she has no recollection). That was right in the prime of covid and she ended up becoming more recluse and she used online shopping and QVC/HSN as her friends and shopped and shopped and shopped for completely unnecessary items. She ended up becoming a hoarder, albeit a quite organized one, and when it came time to pack things up, it was a nightmare because there were boxes upon boxes of unopened items. I think I filled 8-10 of the extra large Depends boxes with brand new in the wrapper Lands End clothing. She fought tooth and nail when we said she can't bring all that up because the mini apartment my brother had built in his house did not have the space for all of the things she wanted.

In the end, she had one last hospitalization down in VA and we had to do a rush move up here (this was in the works for 3 years). She has been in her mini apartment for nearly a year, but now she's getting back to some of those shopping habits. She's recluse again here because she can't drive and she also is constantly cold so she doesn't want to go to the main part of the house because it's 70 while she has her place at 78 degrees. My brother and SIL say a package comes nearly every day for her. While she had lived her before (she moved in 2008) nearly all her former friends have since passed or moved away. Only one friend is still here, but they don't really do much.

I can't have my mom become a hoarder again - my brother doesn't want to have all that stuff in the house. Whenever we talk about things with her, if she doesn't agree, she gets very defensive and beligerent and I can't handle that. Meanwhile, I'm the one taking her to her gazillion doctor appointments and I spend hours with her each time but I don't know what to say. I really think my mom needs some kind of counseling, but she says she feels OK and doesn't need to talk to anyone. She is on an antidepressant though, which is prescribed through her primary doctor.

I don't know how to handle this or if I should since it's not even my house. Help?

EDIT: I have ruled out Frontier because I just don't feel confident that it will be a good experience for this particular trip. Perhaps I'll consider them if I ever do a direct flight, but after reading about how strict they are with their rules and the possibility that my bags might not make it, I can't chance it. I haven't seen my in-laws in 8 years and this could potentially be the last time I see them. It's too important.

Thank you everyone!

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I haven't yet had enough coffee and I'm on information overload looking up airfares for my family's upcoming trip to Arizona. I'm trying to find the best flight options for our family of three from the DC area to Phoenix and it's looking like it's best to fly out on one airline and fly back on Frontier. NOTE: I have never flown on Frontier in my life.

My question is: Is it OK that one of us gets an UpFront Plus ticket and the remaining two get Premium tickets? We want the UpFront Plus because I'm pretty sure we're going to need to have two checked bags and they're free with that ticket (and I know they have a lower weight limit). If we do this, I believe the UpFront Plus ticketholder can choose a seat in Premium so all three of us could still sit together.

I'm just wanting to be sure that this is doable because I don't want to keep pursuing fare searches assuming I'm right if I'm actually wrong.

I've been looking for flights for my family to fly from the East Coast to Arizona this summer and prices are obviously quite high for a variety of reasons (summer travel, oil prices, too close of a date). I've looked mostly at American and Southwest because I'd read that Frontier could cost just as much or even more than the major airlines once you add up the fees.

Well, the tickets we're looking at for those bigger airlines are quite expensive and I decided to do a quick check with Frontier and I could get a Business Bundle ticket for just a few dollars more than the sardine can seats in economy on the other airlines.

I've never flown Frontier and I've almost exclusively flown Southwest for the past 25 years but with all their changes, I have no loyalties to them so I'm open to this change but change does make me nervous.

EDIT: I realize I made an error calling it Business Class - it's referred to as Business Bundle on the Frontier site and I thought it meant Business Class.

We're looking at flights going from the East Coast to Arizona this summer and my husband didn't think about actually going on this trip until recently. We know that the costs will be high, and I'm freaking out a bit. I know Frontier has lower costs but they nickel and dime you for everything else that it sometimes costs more than the other airlines after everything so I wasn't even considering them.

However, I've looked at how much it will cost with American and Southwest and then I saw a flight on Frontier where we could go with their Business Bundle for about the same price as the other two airlines but in regular economy, it perked my interest because that would make the traveling more comfortable.

So...should I spend my time looking at flights with Frontier? I know there are a lot of negative opinions that I think mainly surround costs, but since this would be Business Class, all those fees are in the ticket price and we're willing to pay it.

I follow a bunch of these deal sites on social media and even on their direct websites and often see clothing deals posted, but I almost never see any kind of plus size options. I was wondering if there are any sites out there that share more options that will fit people like me. I follow a lot of big accounts for shopping deals and some of them NEVER have plus size clothing ever and people have even asked them to do so (because some of these sites even have plus size women working for them).

For reference, I'm in the US.

I've never taken my son to the Shady Grove ER when he has had emergency health issues, but yesterday evening, my brother and SIL took my 9 yo nephew there. He has oral fixations and so puts a lot of things in his mouth. Yesterday, he apparently put a fishing weight in his mouth and he ended up swallowing it. They called the pediatrician's office and they said to go to the ER right away.

The reason for the concern was not just because he swallowed a foreign object but the fishing weight contains LEAD. Shady Grove didn't seem to be concerned about that fact at all, despite the fact that poison control told my brother that it was something to be very concerned about. They didn't even have an actual doctor see my nephew. They also didn't do any bloodwork for lead. All they did was do an X-ray to confirm where it was and they just sent him home telling them to give him Miralax.

Using her better judgment, my SIL took him to Suburban and they were quite concerned and they did bloodwork. Thankfully, the object is now out of his stomach and in his intestines but it could get stuck. This is not a small object - it's about 1" x 1/4". When my son was about 6 years old, he swallowed a quarter and that was no fun and took nearly a week to come out. But you can't wait this long for something with lead in it.

EDIT: Obviously, people may have had good experiences, but if anything involves lead, I wouldn't trust them. Their ER has been good to me personally, but I won't trust my kid there at all.

I am obviously plus size since I'm in this group - about an 18/20 depending on the clothing. I also have lipedema so my legs all the way down to my ankles re larger than normal (I call them tree trunk legs). I don't expose my legs at all as a result. I am a bit of a recluse - don't go out too much at all and I don't have a job outside of the home so I wear a lot of "house only" clothes.

We are taking a family trip to Arizona this summer (I know, I know) to visit the in laws whom we haven't seen in 7-8 years since we live on the East Coast. It's me, my husband, my teen, and then our oldest adult son, his wife, and their 3 girls. We'll all be staying at my MIL's house so that means I'm going to have to wear regular clothes every day.

Most of my clothes are old - a lot either don't fit me anymore or I don't like them anymore. The only items I think I could take and feel comfortable in are 2 pairs of more lightweight jeans (my other 2 pairs are too heavy for Arizona), one pair of palazzo pants, and two pairs of knit "athleisureware" pants (also not the most ideal and they're way too casual). As far as tops, I have some t-shirt that I constantly wear but very few nicer tops that fit me right. I prefer tops that cover most of my hips and flowy tops would be best in Arizona. I don't like exposing too much arm either because I suspect I have lipedema in my upper arms as well.

So...knowing all this....where would you suggest that I shop where I can get most bang for my buck AND it's decent quality. I prefer onlne shopping or only going to one physical store. I have other health issues that make it harder for me to go from place to place so I hate shopping. Also, I'm always worried about cost since we're lower income. I don't want to back out of this trip because it could very much be the last time I go and my in laws have never come out here. For the record, I'm 54 and I don't care too much about trends, but I don't want to look frumpy.

Anyone want to be my personal shopper? LOL