Chris J.

My husband is not social and doesn't have guy friends anymore. He does get some interaction with family and a regular sports commitment.

On the other hand, I am more social and would like to have couple friends that we could do things with occasionally, and sometimes include kids too. He does much better once people get to know him, but sometimes puts off an "unapproachable" vibe. Some of my old friends do couple things with each other, but never invite us together, plus they don't live very close anymore.

Do you think we have a chance? I would really like us to have a few couples to socialize and develop friendships with.

I am agnostic and used to take my kids to a methodist church. We stopped going, but my kids want to go back. I feel like a bit of a hypocrite going there since I am not sure I am a believer, so I was looking into alternatives.

Please give me your experiences.

We just did a scratch off and won 5,000. Then we turned over the card and it expired 8 days ago. Do we have any chance to claim this prize?

Thanks!

i am at the end of my rope. i am considering separation. i am sure i would have done this long ago if not for our two kids, aged 5 and 9.

i am typically a positive person and feel i have a lot to offer. but, i have about had it w/ my husband.

he has been home w/ our kids for about 8 years. the agreement was that he would return to work when our daughter got to first grade, which is this coming fall. now he is balking at going back as agreed. we need him to work and get some benefits, since mine are soo expensive due to being self employed. i really don't care what he does, as long as he gets a regular job.

i work full time, own my own business and bring home a nice salary. it is enough to pay for a nice house. he has access to cash and credit cards as he wishes and does not go crazy using them.

hubby is supposed to keep the house (fairly) clean, laundry and watch kids when they are not in school. basically, he does the bare minimum in all aspects. the house is perpetually a disaster except that maybe the kitchen stays kind of clean. he barely attends to the kids, and in my opinion wastes valuable time on himself that he could be spending w/ kids when they are young and want to be w/ their parents.

he's just lazy. there are times when i work from home and he just does not do much at all. if he works for 2 hours, he feels that is enough and goes to watch tv or sleep. this is not once in a while, this is on and on, for years now. he does go through "spurts" when he is busy, but mostly i feel so taken advantage of that i work hard, support us financially and take the lead on parenting. I suspect the "resting" happens most days of the week.

our son comes home from school about 2 hours before i do and hubby is supposed to ensure his homework is done or mostly done before i get home. well, our son is now in 4th grade and this still barely happens. son has adhd and needs extra support and directing to stay focused, but hubby thinks he should just be able to tell him and it will be done. i swear it's like ground hog's day. i come home from work, ask about homework, look at it and it's not even close to done most days.

smoking--hubby promised to stop before we were married 13 years ago--still has not. makes attempts but never follows through. this is a major problem for me. i honestly never would have pursued a relationship w a smoker and i believed him when he said he'd quite.

sleeping--hubby stays up way too late and is a royal pain about waking up in the morning. i only ask he gets up at 8 on weekdays, which is 30 mins before kids leave for school. most days, i have to drag his *** out of bed. this again, has been going on for years. i feel so disrepected and frustrated that he just won't get up on his own. i do let him sleep on weekends in hopes that he wil get up like the rest of society and be productive.

short fuse-- his temper is very short. he cannot speak about anything except the weather w/o raising his voice. he has no patience for the kids and often times raises his voice and cusses at them. i hate this. no child should be talked to this way, and should not know every curse word in the book before they enter school like ours did. not to mention how disrepectful he comes off to me and the kids.

back to sleeping-because of his staying up late and not wanting to wake up, he hardly ever sleeps in our bed. at least i think this is his reason--so that he will not get awakened when i get up and get ready for work. this makes me feel lonely and unwanted. and sex, forget about it, hardly ever happens anymore.

tv--wathches tv contantly. from after dinner to at least 12 or 1 every weeknight. he disappears to his cave and watches tv. on weekends, forget about it. unless the kids have an activity, or i make him, he favors watching tv again, only he easily does 12 hours plus each time and only resurfaces to eat something.

selfish--i just think he is innately selfish. the other day there was a car stuck in the snow outside of our house, and he refused to go out and help them. same thing w/ when my parents came to visit. i would think most "normal" people would get up and help them unload their bags without being asked. but, i had to "make" him do it. this is how he has been. has to be asked to do things i would think are normal/good neighbor things to do.

friends--he has none. he says he does not need any. i have friends but wish we had some couples to do things w/. i fear the large reason we don't is that he comes off as unapproachable. again, he says he does not care and want any.

basically, i have lost all respect for him. i know he loves the kids and i think me. I love him too. but, i don't think he cares about anything and defintiely is not invovled in this marriage. I feel like roomates at best.

I am consdiering separation and hope we could amicalbly do it. my major concern is the effect on the kids. do you

We have two bio kids, 5 (girl) and 9 (boy). Are we crazy for wanting to adopt an older child? We are thinking of a kid who is between their ages, or younger.

I understand that most older kids have been through trauma and will have challenges. Our son has some challenges w/ ADHD, but I just don't know what to expect in terms of challenges with adopting an older child. For example, attachment issues and food issues--do these things improve over time? What are the typical things we would encounter?

Do bio and adopted kids blend easily? We have discussed with our children and they are excited about the prospect. (Though we have been honest w/ them about only be in the 'thinking phase").

Advice would be great.

Looking at options for my son, 9.

looking into this for my son, age 9.

i have this kind of annoying neighbor that i don't really care for. she is ok, but basically there are times that i just feel like talking to her, so i have avoided her when we end up at the same event (our kids go to the same school and have been in activities together). she is a busy body and kind of loud which is the opposite of my personality.

i feel really stupid at this point since i think she may know i have ignored her, and need to break the cycle. it is really not that i hate her, but sometimes don't feel like chatting it up. well, now i feel really stuck in this cycle and she is doing the same thing to me. how do i casually break the cycle??

My 9 year old son is sweet, smart and funny. HOWEVER--there are times when his attitude is SO BAD, he is VERY DISRESPECTFUL of me and his dad and sister. It completely disrupts our home life and when we punish him by taking away tv, video games, etc, it seems to have no impact.

His behaviour is better on adhd meds, but the times he is off is horrible.

I guess I am asking does this get better with age or is he always going to be this way? I am hoping maturity and intelligence will help him overcome some things. His dad has some of the same issues, but never got help as a kid. Our son is on meds plus sees a social worker on a regular basis. I am hoping these treatments will have positive impact.

Would love to hear from parents/others with ADHD who have "been there".

Thanks!

I am serious about this, not a joke

I am agnostic, not athiest. I believe there is a creator, but I am just not sure about the whole God thing - it honestly seems to far fetched at times and so much like magic/a fairy tale.

However, I go back and forth. I really do want to believe. I am torn about taking my kids to Sunday School and church. We do go most Sundays but I don't feel that I fit in with a lot of the "regulars" because I have doubts. What do you think?

I have an 8 yo son with ADHD combined type (hyper and inattentive). He's on meds now, and that gets him through school pretty well. He struggles when not on meds with organization, memory, temper, focus and bad attitude! Deep down, he's very smart, outgoing and sweet.

Can someone give me some insight on what to expect over the next 5, 10+ years.

I basically want to know if he will turn out OK.

My kids got these for Christmas after begging for them, and we have ALL been extremely frustrated because they don't really work.

he is almost 9 and we are really close. he's very affeectionate and although he's not acting inappropriate for his age, i hope he doesn't completely stop giving me hugs and kisses

Going to add this to my web site - we are CPAs.

Thanks.

I am a CPA and looking for some support on my own billing rates. I am much less than them, but have low overhead.

I have about 12 years' experience and am on par as far as experience and ability as those from Big 4. (I have worked with many peers from Big 4, on the company side of audits and certain deals). Honestly, I am not being cocky, but I know my abilities.

I am going to propose the owners pay me 100k. They are selling for 20m or slightly more. I have been working with them for more than 3 years and have single-handedly managed the financial part of the deal.

yes, natalie maines has a big mouth, but what she said was not that big of a deal. Not to mention it foreshadowed his >70% diapproval rating which came 5 years later

My friend has had chemo twice already. She sounded upbeat, but it kind of sounds like a last ditch effort - I am worried :(