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The Summer Vacations In Us Page

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Latest Summer Vacations In Us News

How they're spending their summer vacation - TMCnet

Aug 15, 2010 (Independent Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- As U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., takes questions from a room packed with voters at the county library here, he perks ...

Michelle Obama, Daughter Vacation In Spain - ClickOnDetroit.com

MARBELLA, Spain -- Security was tight at the posh Hotel Villa Padierna in southern Spain as Michelle Obama and her 9-year-old daughter Sasha arrived for a summer vacation in a motorcade. President Barack Obama ...

Michelle Obama's Martha's Vineyard family vacation may spark Immigration debate (SLIDESHOW) - Examiner

Martha's Vineyard , a summer retreat for the rich and powerful uses more then 4,000 Brazilians to make sure things run smoothly , some of them may help out around the Obama families Martha's Vineyard bucolic Blue Heron ...

Michelle Obama, Sasha begin vacation at Spanish resort - Washington Times

MARBELLA, Spain (AP) — Security was tight at the posh Hotel Villa Padierna in southern Spain as Michelle Obama and her 9-year-old daughter Sasha arrived for a summer vacation in a motorcade. President Obama ...

Gas pump prices may rise slightly - Buffalo News

Motorists heading out for back-to-school shopping trips or a late-summer vacation will pay a few cents more for a gallon of gas this weekend. Pump prices rose this week because of a rally in oil, yet they aren ...

Michelle Obama’s Spanish vacation draws critics - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

WASHINGTON — As the economy endures high unemployment and a jittery stock market, President Barack Obama has preached sacrifice and fiscal discipline. But the pictures coming out of a sunsplashed Spanish ...

House takes break from summer vacation to debate jobs bill - KTNV

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A week into their summer break, members of the House are about to return to Capitol Hill to take up a $26 billion jobs bill. The House is being called back into session on Tuesday to vote on the ...

Scenes From The 2010 Obama Summer Vacations - CNBC

President Barack Obama and daughter Sasha swim at Alligator Point in Panama City Beach, Fla., Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010. The President traveled to Panama City Beach with First Lady Michelle Obama and Sasha to ...

Weekend pump prices up a few cents - Rutland Herald

'Vacation Your Way' With Affordable San Antonio, TX Resort Package This Summer - msnbc.com

New, exciting and unforgettable! The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa is all that and so much more. Undeniably one of the finest San Antonio luxury resorts, guests can experience all the excitement of ...

Open Question: Where is the best place to study in the US ?

I'm Japanese girl. I wanna study English in the US next summer vacation. but where is the best place to study in ? Does anyone know ? Do you have any good place you recommend me ? sorry my English is poor... more

Open Question: Is the 1st Chapter of My story good ?

ok i know the grammer is awful but i want an opinion about the story its self. Chapter 1 As her alarm clock went off Natasha woke up for her 1st day of school. She and her best friend Sophia where so excited. It was their 8th grade year. While, on the bus the two girls where talking about their schedules “OMG” said Natasha “I can’t believe we have all our classes together!!” “I know.” said Sophia. The two girls had been friends ever since Sophia (aka Sophie) had moved to their school back in the 2nd grade. When they arrived at school they saw their other friends in the bleachers, “Natasha! Sophie!” said Kaylee “Hurry up and get over here!!” “We’re Coming.” said Sophie. When they finally got to Kaylee the girls began talking about their summer vacations: Natasha went to Orlando, Sophie went to Colorado, and Kaylee went to Gatlinburg When, the bell rang at 7:55. The girls headed to their first periods. Sadly, Kaylee had no classes with Sophie and Natasha except for lunch, so Kaylee sat in her 1st period all alone with no friends. She knew everyone in the class, but that didn’t make her friends with them, and on top of all of that, Chloe the most popular girl in the school was in her class. Kaylee always wanted to be the popular girl, her best friends where pretty darn popular themselves, but they couldn’t stand Chloe. “Natasha was smart, stylish and a great sense of humor, and just a great personality. Sophia was smart, athletic, and had an amazing singing voice.” She thought to herself “and im just frumpy short Kaylee.” She didn’t even know why they wanted to be her friend. When lunch finally came the girls found their usual spot and began chatting. When there was a break in the conversation Kaylee decided to ask her friends why they couldn’t stand Chloe, because she didn’t know, but she didn’t know how to bring it up so she just came out with it, “Why do yall not like Chloe?” she said it so fast she didn’t here herself say it. “Umm long story-,” said Sophie, “-don’t want to talk about it” added Natasha. “Why not?” She pestered for more information. “Because we don’t wanna talk about it!” they said together. “If you where really our friend you wouldn’t keep bugging us.” “ What was that about ?” asked Anthony , the girls best guy friend. He was one year younger than them. “Kaylee is buggin us about the Chloe thing.” “ Kaylee please don’t bother them with that” he said. “SO EVEN HE KNOWS!!” screamed Kaylee. “ AND YOU WONT TELL ME!!” Natsha was getting fed up with her and tried to be nice “ Kaylee we have been friends with him longer. He was there with us when we went through all that. We met you last year and all of that happened back in the 5th grade.” she said it very calm and considerate. Well kaylee had enough and stormed away. “ Do you want me to talk to her ?“Anthony asked. “Only if you want to.” said Sophie “ I will , cause you girls are like the sisters I never had.” He said. “Awe!!” said the girls together!! “We love you” “ love yall 2”he said. Lunch ended and the three headed to the rest of their classes. The first say of school went great except for the first half of lunch, but they where excited for a new year. more

Open Question: So my husband hasn't got partial custody?

However he wants to be in his daughter's life we just recently moved from 4 hours away to be near her. She is 7 we've visited twice a year and he's paid in over 1600 in child support since May of 2009. The last couple months we've struggled so he's paid $20 and $30 dollars when he could and then we just spent over $250 dollars on her for school and stuff like that. The mother and step father agreed on notarized paper that we could get her 1-2 times a month but since we've moved down we've only got her once and we moved here at the beginning of June. They are not following through with the agreement and she tries to let the step father run everything. If we went to court with the notarized paper that we agreed to once or twice a month you think that would help us get partial custody? We don't want to take her by no means at all she's in a good home where she is but we just wanna be able to get her at least twice a month and maybe one week out of each months of summer vacation like one week and then one weekend per month. I was just wondering if I could get some opinions on this situation. The mother keeps claiming the step father can't adjust to this etc they just got married in June; they lived together for almost 2 years now my husband was in his daughters life alot from 2005 to the beginning of 2008 thats when the mother got with the step father. The first year of his daughters life the mother was with the step father then before he left her and tried to put my husbands daughter off as his and not let my husband be involved at all. Things were fine when we lived the 4 hours away and just visited but since we've moved to be near her it's been nothing but drama about the whole situation :(Also we don't want legal joint custody we just want joint physical custodyYea the child support was court ordered, thats how we got the total amount for the past year that he's paid in was through the court child support system more

Open Question: Yahoo cancels comments after Obama gets 89,000 negative ones on his latest vacation article?

Damn funny!!! All the article was about was Obama's summer reading list and his Martha's Vinyard vacation, but the negative comments just rolled in, and they shut down the comments section! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100820/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama;_ylt=AvXYRYExLz99qCT9SR7PWjas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNkdTB0aHU2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwODIwL3VzX29iYW1hBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMTAEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNvbnZhY2F0aW9ub2I-#mwpphu-post-form more

Open Question: What are good topics for a school's "statistics team"?

Good day everyone... Last year, we started a statistics team where students were asked (once every other week) to go around and ask other students about a certain topic. Here are some of those topics: - Where did you spend your summer vacation? - What team do you cheer for in UEFA Champions League? - What is your favorite TV show / TV channel? - What is your future career? And what job will you never consider? - What team do you expect to win the FIFA world cup? - School's favorite pet. Now, I'm in Europe (not US), so I can't use any NBA, or NFL ideas ;) I would really appreciate more topic ideas... Thanks in advance more

Resolved Question: Basking in triumph, Obamao takes vacation. Mission accomplished?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100820/ap_on_re_us/us_obama Obama ventures out to Vineyard bookstore "The Gulf oil leak is plugged. The last combat troops are out of Iraq. And Congress is on its own summer break. "Still, doubts remain about the strength of the U.S. economy, and Obama tried to tamp them down before his 10-day vacation on Martha's Vineyard. He called on lawmakers to pass a small business aid package when they return next month. "A majority of senators are in favor of the bill and yet the obstruction continues," he said before departing the White House on Thursday. "It's obstruction that stands in the way of small business owners getting the loans and the tax cuts that they need to prosper. It's obstruction that defies common sense." "With that final jab at Republicans, he traded his suit coat and tie for an open collar, flew up to this island playground and settled into the 30-acre Blue Heron Farm, where the first family stayed last year." Well ISN'T THAT SPECIAL. He said everything but "Mission accomplished!" What planet do the liberals live on? How did they get their own alternate reality? Are these drug induced delusions? more

Open Question: Should I email again to see if I offended by negotiating?

So we have a condo we rent for vacations. It's a great place and the owners are fairly personable. I had told her in my first email we had a lower budget this year due to a home purchase, and that we were coming off season to save money. She quoted me a price by email and it was the same as what it is in the summer, even though we were asking for October when the rates everywhere else on the island were lower. I wrote back, thanking her for the rate she offered, and explaining that we missed the family summer trip to save money in fall. Typically where we're going you can stay almost double the time in the fall for the same price as half the time in the summer. We'd have to cut our vacation in half to stay at the rate she quoted. So I told her in order for us to go this year, we'd have to stay at another place, unless she wanted to meet our budget. A lot of those condos just sit empty in the fall. I told her it was a one time request, and I respected it if she couldn't do it, and hoped to stay there again in the future. She never responded at all. My husband thinks it's rude after all the years we've stayed that she can't just write back and say "no". I'm worried it was too big of a request and I've ruined the relationship by asking. Although, I'm in business and clients sometimes ask me for deals. I have never ignored their requests, and have just said no if I didn't want to do it. I find it odd she wouldn't respond at all. Should I follow up with another email or call? Should I just forget it? more

Open Question: How will making our kids spend more and more hours in school improve anything if they aren't learning?

According to some sources, kids in the US spend over 1100 hours in school, more than kids in a lot of Asian countries and European countries. Now Obama wants to raise the amount of hours kid spend in school and make the school day longer because according to him it will help the kids learn more. But how does that do anything? I mean our kids are not learning ANYTHING while they are in school, their days are being wasted because of teachers that can't control a class and class clowns that ruin the day for everyone, they are products of an egregious public education system, most schools get money and they spend it on newer basketball courts and better football fields rather than newer books and better labs, and the US is the only country where high schools take sports seriously, in Europe if you want to play a sport you have to play at a local club, you come to school to study. Am I the only one that think Quality matters a lot more than quantity? Also here are my sources http://blogs.greatschools.org/greatschoolsblog/2010/08/the-case-against-summer-vacation-fact-or-fiction.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/30/leave_them_kids_alone_98515.html http://lubbockonline.com/stories/100909/edi_502831211.shtml more

Open Question: Is it a bad idea to invite my nephews half siblings (of whom are no relation to me) over to our house?? ((BAD)?

My nephew Jordan is 8. He has a 5 year old sister, and a 2.5 year old brother. Jordan is related to me by blood, but his siblings that live at home with him have different fathers, so theres no blood relation. (BTW his dad is my brother). Jordan lives about an hour and half away from all of the family here, so he visits mostly during the Summer/Holidays...and ocassionally throughout the school year on weekends. Our faces are becoming more familiar with Jordan's siblings, and they're beginning to call my parents Grandpa/etc. Its actually really cute and we dont mind. Last time my dad traveled to pick up Jordan, the 5 year old sis was just hangin out with Jordan and "Grandpa" in the truck until it was time to go. A conversation piece came up between me and my dad about how maybe we should offer to have Jordans sister Brook to visit out of town with us. The mom trusts our family completely, and FYI, Brook, the 5 year old girl's father/family neglect to spend time with her/help financially. Would it be bad if we offered to have her come up "For the weekend"? Im trying to predict the future, im just wondering b/c if she has fun, which we would make sure she did, and she would be with her big bro the whole time, she would want to return EVERY time...and then all of a sudden, we're taking on a kid that has absolutely no relation to us. Its also not like we're all ... super duper friendly with the mom of the kids either, its mostly a 'friendly business exchange' between Jordan all his life...with concerns/etc....but we're friendly. Also it would be fine for the weekend to have the girl up...but what if we're going on vacation....?? Like next Summer I promise Jordan if he got good grades i'd take him to Lego Land...So am I opening up a can worms?? Would she have to go EVERYWHERE?? EVERYTIME???? more

Open Question: Should i keep hoping that i'll be in a relationship with this girl?

So, I've been knowing this wonderful girl for a year now, we met at school. As time passed, we became best friends, inseparable. She's been a relationship with another guy ever since we met. I've always had feelings for her, but I was mature and responsible enough to know how far our relationship can go: 'just friends'. about 2months ago, things changed a lot. Her boyfriend maybe wasn't being the nice person she fell in love with, they were having regular fights, until she once said 'i think I'm single', tore out his picture out of her purse and I was the agony uncle for her. the day after, we went out and shortly we told each other what we felt about us. this kept on for about 3 weeks, I was in the seventh heaven with her, BUT she never lost contact with her bf. Like 2 weeks ago, she told me she wanted to save her relationship with her bf, and that she will love me still. Man, that was one heartbreaker. I never felt so ill, unhappy and unneeded in my life. it really felt like the end of the world. We kept talking to each other, all this happened in summer by the way. up till last week, she came back from a family vacation, she was texting me all the way and saying how badly she was missing me. She brought me souvenirs and hugged me like she never hugged before when she got back. The last few days, we've been meeting regularly and going out as if nothing ever happened. I must say I was shocked when she kissed me, on the lips, just days after saying it's over. Oh an that wasn't some two second kiss either. Anyway, she's still with this guy, still with the same problems and I really don't know what to do! I love her madly, so does she, but she never seems to break up for good with him. I'm 19, and I do have a conscience. whenever we chat about us, there's always the element of 'maybe one day'.... and she does know that she has no future with her bf. I did try to forget her as a 'girlfriend' and to be 'just friends', I simply can't! there's no other girl like her and there's no other girl that will ever mean anywhere close to what she means to me! What would you do? I really can't take this anymore, I don't know what to do :( help! :'( more

Open Question: L & G, please help with this girl; :(((((?

ok i guess this will be a lil bit long but please read. so this gilr and i used to be roommates in the college. she's lesbian, but i was ok with that. we made friends pretty soon and got along very well. well, then she started coming on me, it got REALLy unbearable, so i changed rooms. anyway she continued that cuz we were on the same campus. ok so i thought everything would calm down when i returned to my country for summer vacation. but two weeks later she called me on the phone and said she was in my counrty. since my country is not gay friendly she avoided public "shows" (like she did it in the us), but wrote me emails of threatening content, saying "ok one day you'll b back in the us and ull see." last week i returned to the college. today in the changing room when nobody was around she came in, pushed me onto the floor tried to kiss me. and all the time saying things like "just close your eyes and pretend im a guy, i'll be rough, you like testosterone, dont you?" and things like that. i was crying and my frined came around and pulled her from me. what do i do? i dont want to go to poice, we were frineds once, so i dont know.omg my hands were trembling when i was writing that. i feel so bad.@ Hanna, im armenian. from Armenia. :))) more

Open Question: I was about to break up with him last night..but idk if my reasoning was childish?.we love each other 2 much 2?

Me and my bf are 18. Okay, So my last night was me and my bf's 3rd month annivarsary. We were up all night talking on the phone..nothing new lol. We are both currently long distance. Only been for about a month and a half. We wont be long distance for long. I just summer vacationed away from him with my family. But, I leave back for school in another month. So i will see him again then. Yesterday he was over some of his guyfriend's house and they were having guy talk and he told me about how they were telling him stories of how their girlfriends all did them wrong and how my bf is gonna soon find out that he cant trust girls...and while he was telling me these things i could sense he was sad and worried. So i assured him that he could trust me. He knows he can but what his friends were saying naturally had got to him just a little bit. my boyfriend is a really extremely sweet generous guy. He treats me like a queen especially since i'm the only woman in his life. His mother died when he was ten so he moved to live with his grandma whom treats him bad.He has a half sister but they do not live in the same state and they are not close. But, my bf is very respectful! He never touches me inappropriately or make me do things that i am not comfortable with. We are both virgins and he never once attempted to have sex with me. Even when its just him and I at his house late at night with no supervision. He doesnt ever cross the line. And i really cherish that about him. Considering other guys i have dated and how they werent that self disciplined. But, after we hit our 2month relationship mark he started to sarcastically make sexual remarks every now and then. He does it in as playful way though and never REALLY is extreme..but it still is something i notice. ..I know he is a guy and he has desires but we already discussed how we will wait for each other. Which is something I love about him. There is no pressure. THE PROBLEM Anyway, we have this everynight ritual where before one of us get tired (its always me and never him) He is always sad when i say i want to go to bed and he admits that he never wants to get off the phone with me and sometimes he's like 30more mins k babe? or 10more mins please babe? and then i'd be like okay and after 30 or 10 more mins we both would say our "I love yous" and "Goodnight sweeties" e.t.c. and get off the phone. There were exactly two times where he just flat out said bye and hung up and i became pissed off because when he does that he is intentionally trying to piss me off. He does that because he's mad that I'm getting off the phone and he doesnt want to. He knows that, that is not the way we do things. So, knowing that im mad he would call right back in hopes of me answering so that he can appologize. But the first time he did this i answered and was like "its okay, just dont do it again". The second time he did I didnt answer his calls For a whole DAY!. He kept calling and he left atleast 6 messages that night all in a 1hour time span apologizing and crying saying he's stupid and that he loves and misses me so much and that he really wanted me to answer the phone. I eventually did and he was sooo hurt. He sounded so depressed and he kept saying sorry and that he doesnt want to lose me. I accepted his apology and he was like it wouldnt happen again....well it did. Last night on our 3rd month annivarsary. He didnt want to get off the phone but i was tired and when i told him that i wanted to go to bed he said really fast " w/e love you bye" and hung up! I was pissed and when he tried to call back I ignored his calls and he left like 5messages. I eventually answered (because I just hate to hurt him : ( bad habit of mine i know) but he appologized and we both said goodnight.. MY QUESTION should this make me want to end our relationship? Should we take a break? Am i over reacting? How can i make him regret that he did this? We love each other so much but how can i put him in his place? I appreciate everyone for reading this, I know its long and you guys are all angels for helping me understand and or resolve this problem.Thanks so much! more

Voting Question: I don't know how I feel anymore help?

I am 17 years old right now. I am stuck in a situation where i am dealing with my sexuality right now. I have this one best friend who is a guy and he is really nice to me and I am really comfortable around him and i can tell him anything and i am starting to fall in love with him. I have known him for about 5 years now. We dated before a long Time ago but we decided to stay friends because i think we rushed into the relationship to much. but nothing happened between us we didn't kiss or anything. I know he still has feelings for me now and i think i am starting to have feelings for him too. I like being around him. Then I think about my other best friend who is a girl we had summer school together and we would talk to each other every day. We have known each other for about 6 years now. I can trust her and talk to her about anything. I recently gave her a bracelet i made so in case we didn't see each other in high school as much during the year she would have something to remember me by. I remember how she would always laugh and put her head on my shoulder and she would always sit close to me. We would talk and laugh and flirt with each other. But then she might not be into me the way i am into her because i noticed once when she was going to write something on my paper but i didn't want her to so i put my hand on her hand and she was like ew your holding my hand. Then another time when we watched a movie and 2 girls kissed she covered her eyes. But for some reason i really like her personality and i started for fall in love with her. Now that she is away on vacation all i can think about is her she barely goes on facebook. I don't know what to do anymore. I like my guy best friend and girl best friend. I cant stop thinking about both of them. What should i do?Im a girl btw more

Voting Question: Where is a good place to vacation?

I live in central Indiana and I am on an extremely tight budget. There will be a total of 5 of us. Two adults and three children ages 13, 8 and 7. We didn't get to do much over the summer so I was hoping to be able to go on a decent little weekend vacation that is cheap and close. Any suggestions? more

Voting Question: My "friend" is pissing me off?

ok. This is a long story. About 3 years ago, me and this girl, let's call her S, met and became instant best friends. We were always together and we were like sisters. In about march of 2010, she started changing. As in she started liking all of the things she knew I hated. And that she told me she hated. We kind of stopped talking for 4months, and then we were speaking to each other again. I found out she was is in a long distance relationship with a guy that both of us used to hate. They got together over the phone during the beginning of the summer when she went away until aug. 19th. They claim they are 'in love'. *he is 2 years older than her and they have not seen each other the whole relationship so far. So anyways, I tried being his friend for her sake, and I found out that he kind of likes(ed) me,but he was still "in love' with her. I knew she really liked him so I kept my mouth shut. We were all getting along pretty well (me and her bf were hanging out because he lives in my neighbourhood) and we both would text S because she is still on vacation. Then me and S' bf had a ht. It has nothing to do with S though. All of the sudden S is pissed at me and won't speak with me all because her bf is mad at me. I found out that she has been telling him 'we don't need her' and it seriously Pisses me off because it seems that as soon as she gets in a relationship she just blows off her friends. I hate it. She is sooo clingy with him too because she does everything he says and she said she goes onto his fb all the time and pretends she's him and updates his statices and I think it's weird. Her bf says her clingyness is cute. I know it's not really my business but it just gets me soooo mad! What do I do? And no I don't like her bf that way. more

Voting Question: should I just forget about him or not?

this guy in my school... he's very popular with the ladies and a big showoff and a bit of a player... has had a lot of girlfriends and always dumps them and moves onto the next one.. I never took much notice til he started showing an interest in me and flirting with me a lot, and I think he tried to ask me out one time but I didn't quite pick up on it and left him hanging probably feeling rejected, so a few days later I made up for it by asking him out by email just to go out 'some time' and gave my number. he said yeah that would be cool and that was that, neither of us ever brought it up again.... though he did use my number to text me sometimes just to chat smalltalk and in school just talked to me as normal. at the end of the school year I sent another message to him 'when are we gonna go out?' and he said he had no idea because he had been so busy studying for tests... I thought after he came back from his vacation he would contact me but he didnt and I made the first move again trying to make conversation on facebook chat but he didnt ask me out so I left it like that. saw him in this thing we both go to twice after that and the first time he seemed uncomfortable to be around me and afraid to talk to me. then the following week it was fine because I was more over him and we interacted as normal and it was ok. one month later without any contact and out of the blue he starts a conversation with me on facebook says 'where have you been all summer' and I just kind of cut him short with disinterested answers and ended the conversation pretty fast. So what the hell is going on, is he interested in me or not? If he tries to ask me out when I see him again should I turn him down? I'm so confused. more

Resolved Question: Do you think that it's 'selfish' to have a private renewal of vows?

Me and my husband we're married at the court house almost 10 years ago. Only our immediate families we're there as our witnesses. We had a nice wedding planned, but his deployment was moved up 7 months in advance. Between his military obligations, the births of our children, deployments, my work schedule, school (me & our children), there never seemed to be the 'right' time. When our kids go to my brothers house for 2 weeks next summer, we're going to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. While were down there, we're going to have the religious wedding that weve always wanted. We've never taken a vacation just for ourselves, and were looking forward to it. My husband posted a blurb on his facebook about us going to The US Virgin Islands, next year for our 10th wedding anniversary. About 2 hours later,his mother & sister called and yelled at him for not inviting them to go. My husband calmly told them that this vacation is for US. Not for family and friends to tag along. My family is cool with it. BUT his family is the type that if you go somewhere extraordinary, they have to tag along.. no matter what?! Then they told him that we were being 'selfish' for wanting to keep our renewal of vows private. I don't think it's selfish. They were there on our wedding day at the court house. They were there during what was suppose to be our honeymoon. So this time is for us. Do any of you all think that it's 'selfish' to have a private renewal of vows?We were going to go to Cabo, but changed our minds. Were going to the US Virgin Island instead... sorry for the confusion. more

Open Question: What is a good place to stay near Niagara Falls?

My family and I are planning on traveling to Niagara Falls next summer (Canadian side) for vacation and we're trying to scope out a place to stay and a loose itinerary, so any interesting activities in the area that you know of would be appreciated as well. :) There would probably be six of us driving up in one or two vehicles and a friend of mine who lives in Canada may come down and stay with us, too. We're looking for a place that's not insanely expensive, but not crawling with roaches and 500 miles from the falls, either. We'd be open to renting a decently priced condo or staying in a motel (and possibly renting two rooms, if need be). It would also be nice for the place to allow us to keep a small dog in the room with us, because my cousin has a pug who would be tagging along. He's well trained and all that jazz. Internet connection is a must! If I think of anything else that didn't transfer from my mental list, I'll edit this, but for now I think that's all. Thanks in advance to anyone who can be even a little bit of a help!! more

Resolved Question: my relationship is a joke?

I got pregnant about 9 years ago so we got married. we divorced 2.5 years ago and reconciled. then he cheated on me and i threw him out. i couldn't afford daycare on my wages and he never worked. i still love his sorry butt. so he moved in with me basically for child care but he says he loves me. he thinks we have a real relationship, but i don't know if he rally believes it either. i kinda stopped caring. i found a condom in his wallet today which he swears innocence to (yeah, right.). we get along, but its just a twisted game. i talk to guys, but don't do anything. i know when he's up to no good, but just choose to ignore it. neither one of us can afford to live alone. so we play this stupid game, like we believe each others bullshit and act like we're in a relationship but its just a sick joke. i guess i'm happy like this, but i am lonely. i make too much money to get assistance, but not enough to afford a household and child care. why do we keep pretending? i kinda bothers me that he's with other women, but it doesn't bother me like it should. i really don't have a choice until my son is old enough to stay home alone after school and during summer vacation. he swears he loves me and i'm sure on some level he does, we've been together (with a few breakups) for 10 years. opinions, please.I have a child support order, but he just won't work, never has, never will.TO LOVE: yeah, I know. we do need to grow up.TO HSY454: I checked the resources, I make too much money for any help, but I can barely pay the bills I have.TO GERRI: you have a great point. My son will be 8 in February. But here, it is still illegal to leave him home alone, and I took the man back right before summer break cause the daycare wanted 155 per week and I dont have it.He gets away with not working becuase I don't press it with child support. What good does it do me if he's in jail? My son wont have a dad and I wont have a babysitter. I have no family left besides my son and my ex-husband. more

Voting Question: Do you think there is something wrong with my family?

I am a 14 year old boy starting highschool and its been a while that i have felt like there is something wrong with my family. I have a brother age 12 a dad age 46 and a mom i think 43 or 44 idk, all together (no devoce or anything) and 3 dogs. Probably stating middle school (6th grade) i have felt like they wernt the same i dont know if its alywas been like this and im just getting old enough to see it or it it just stated happening. I want to start off with my brother and I. For years my brother and i where kinda half and half some times we got along and sometimes we didnt like i always wanted to play and have fun with him and he did noughting but watch tv so i always tried making him laugh poking him acting retarded etc.... not being mean but whenever i started getting the giggles he thought i was laughing at him and told my mom then sheed yell at me and i was always getting in trouble because he always told on me for retarded things that i did. one time me and him where on the couch and he had a plate of chips and the dog was siffing them and i called him over i knew he would knock over the chips but i didnt what to be mean i wanted my brother to get kinda "happymad" then wrestle or something and the dog climed over my brother and knocked the chips on the floor i though it was funny but he flipped and started screaming i dont know why and the dog is just going to eat the chips off the floor anyway then i offered to get him some new chips and he just goes and tells my mom again and she always makes a scene and made me whipe the entire couch down. then today my family got into a agument and me and my brother came into my room and i told my brother just egnor them and i told him that dad might want us to get ice cream because thats what he said he was going to do after dinner and i told my brother just say you dont want any and hes like WHY!!!!! and i said jeese fatty with a smile and he gets up and yells god so loud and slams his door and i was thinking to my self what the hell lol and me and my friends joke about weight all the time and eating and being fat when no one is and no one even cares. so i try to make him open the door and he wouldnt so i dont know what his problem is. to me it seems like he is always lazy and wants me to do all the work and wants my mom to kiss his ass which she does. and really stupid things like if i by accident step on his shoe or something he yells god!!!! really loud GOD JOEY!! AHAHAH i think he does it just to get my moms attention. but now i wana talk about my mom. My mom and i always always fight. she thinks i dont respect her because i am taller that her and bigger shes liike 5-2 and im 5-10. She always punishes me more than my brother and takes his side always and looks at him as a little kid. so im going to give you a few examples. one day during this summer we went to chicago to visit my moms sister and the day befor that i asked my dad if my mom was going to stay or leave he siad idk and must have asked my mom so then she comes screaming to me WHY DID YOU TELL DAD I ALWAYS LEAVE WHEN WE GO ON VACATION!!!! i said i didnt so we had to sit down as a family and my mom said my dad is trying to break my mom and i up and it was a long night and befor that we were watching tv my dad was drunk and fed the dog. (this dog is a police dog and my mom doesnt want people feading him cause he will get fat) and so guess what she did knot give two shits about my dad feeding the dog a fudge stick so i get my like a piece of somthing and fed the puppy and she just went off and she was pissed. i started yelling back because i saw her look at my dad while he was feeding the dog but thinks its ok to yell at me for the same thing. so i told her im not taking this crap you try to give me and my dad gets ups and trys to grab me and so help me god i was about to hit him in the drunk ass face if he was going to take my mom side or try to grab me. im not a violent person am im not crazy im just not going to take that bull when it just happended and i just saw it and she tries to deny it. so i ended up leaving the house and going on a walk after my dad said just forget about it. thats anouther think i dont like he just gives up and sais fine. so i left and started walking on my regulat jogging route and just wanted to get some fresh air and so he drives up and makes me getin and talk. so i didnt talk to him at all and we drove home. then we had to talk as a family agian. That night i started thinking. it seems like whatever my brother and i like they take away. first it was eating by the tv. that lasted a year. now he could not care less. after the tv it was bed time. now he does not care after betime it was keeping the door shup on my room cause our puppy always pees and litterly eates whatever is in my room. so i shut my door and he said the dogs are apart of our family too and so i respect it like all the other rules they make but then my brother decied to push the bounds. more

Voting Question: I guess I'm kinda worried,but I'm not sure.I really need some help?

Ok this might be a really long story,but if you could please please read all of it because I really need people's help with this situation!!I need to include everything so you know how I can deal with this! So I'm 15.I'm going into 10th grade,and school is starting in about 3 weeks!There is this girl I became friends with (Caroline) in 8th grade.We were really good friends.We had alot in common.We liked the same music,movie's,t.v shows and our family life was really similar.We both had step dads,our mom's had never married and were the same age when we were born ect...but I always had 1 thing about her I disliked!Her personality!!She would curse ALOT and do things that would make me feel awkward.Sometimes (most of the time) when I was at her house she would lift her top to the neighbours really quickly.It made me feel awkward and embarrassed!If I told her how I felt about it she would say "it's only a bit of fun". We became friends through what we liked most and that was animals.We went on this school trip at the start of 8th grade and we sat together on the bus.We talked about how similar our family's were and how we both loved animals.She seemed really nice that day.While I got to know her a bit more,I realized what she was really like.For the whole year of 8th grade,I continued to be her friend.That was a bit of a mistake. In April of 8th grade she got the two of us into trouble with the school.If you know me you would know that the last thing I want to do is get into trouble of any kind,no matter what it is!Here is how it happend:I was friends with another two girls in my grade.I think Caroline was jelouse of them being my friend,so her and one of the other girls would fight using MSN!!Caroline made up a fake conversation between her and that girl (I only realised later that summer it was fake).It had nasty things written about me sent from the other girl.One day I was at Carolines house.She had 2 MSN accounts.She gave me the password to one (I have no idea why).She told the other girl that she gave me the password to her MSN account.She never told her what one.I NEVER used her account.One day after our S.P.H.E class the teacher kept us back.She said that the other girl kept EVERY concersation she had with "us" and gave it to the teacher.This was on the last day of school and we were getting out easter vacation that day.We had 2 weeks off,and it was the worst 2 weeks ever.When we got back,I went to the teacher privatly and told her how Caroline gave me the password and never told the other girl what account.She said "I had an idea you had nothing to do with it".My mom came in and sorted everything out! During that summer I told Caroline I no longer wanted to be her friend.She didnt take it good.She said stuff like "my moms going to ring your mom".I was thinking "how will that help".After what happend in school I knew my mom didnt want me to be her friend,but she was never too keen on Caroline.I only found that out when I told her I didnt want to be Caroline's friend! In 9th grade I did become her friend again.But it was more of an on and off friendship.My mom thought I was never her friend after I broke it off with her,and I feel really bad about it.She had other friends aswell.I would hang out with them sometimes,but not all the time.In febuary they had a big fight and they all decided not to be her friend again.I became friends with those girls,and Caroline hated it.She made me choose between her or them.I choose them.Since that she started writing nasty things on the desk about 1 of those girls.Everyday they were in the princeples office because of it,and the other girl would get the blame.Since Im in carolines class and not theres I saw caroline write on a desk during a class.It was lunch time and we went back to see what she hd written.It wasent nice.Another day went by and they were called the the office again.Then I was called!I was freaking out!The prinsepal asked "had I seen anyone write on a desk" I said "ya I saw caoline write on a desk" and I told her what it said.The other girl said I saw her write on the desk and she was just comfirming it! What Im worried about is that this will carry on this school year.Im really going to focus this year and I dont want this happening again.She had sent me a text 4 weeks ago.My mom had a baby boy and named it Ollie afater my dead step grandfather.She sent me a text "Ollie that was the name of my rat haha" she's saying I lied about the desks,but I didint and she said Im getting involved in a fight thats not mine,but there is no fight.I really dont want to be getting into trouble this year or any year.How do I deal with it??How will I get through it.One of my friends is friends with her again,and its really hard for us! Sorry this is a long storry but this is everything that happend! more

Resolved Question: What is your opinion about the Obamas going to the Gulf for a "vacation"?

Do you think this trip to the Gulf is an attempt to do damage control over the highly criticized trip to Spain and is just a PR stunt? Some people are going to answer that she's a private citizen and can travel wherever she wants to. However, she's not a private citizen. She's the First Lady of the United States. What are your opinions on the Obamas and the decisions they're making during a Recession that many of us are still struggling through. Thanks. President Obama is taking his family to Florida's Gulf Coast this weekend in what the White House is billing as a show of support for the region's struggling businesses after the BP oil spill. The president, First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia are scheduled to travel Saturday to Panama City, a popular tourist spot that has seen a huge drop in visitors this summer after tar balls from the oil spill washed ashore. Last month, the first lady traveled to the city in a bid to boost visitor traffic, calling the beaches there "pristine." "Everybody should come!" she urged. But the First Family won't actually spend much time in the region. According to the White House, the Obamas will spend roughly 27 hours on the ground in Panama City -- far less than they have on other vacation jaunts this summer. All told, this will be the seventh vacation that the first lady has taken this summer. Last week, Michelle Obama came under fire for a four-day trip she took to Spain with Sasha and several friends. The White House has said she took the trip to comfort a grieving friend. more

Open Question: What's with my subtle guy friend?

I'm just so confused. I have a friend, we've know each other for 9 months and he has been my crush when I met him. During those times, he's been acting so gentle and kind towards me, somehow special. Then summer came and we've been texting each other most of the time since we're both on vacation but as time passed my infatuation faded, so that time I just regard him as my simple friend. So now, it's been three months since this school year started and we're classmates. When the school year started, he's been acting normally towards me, like simple acquaintances/friends. We were assigned on seats far from each other but later on, he asked our Adviser to transfer him to the seat behind mine. We started to be closer to each other and our friendship grew. So we became more close and until now. Almost always together and happy, making fun most of the time and cooperating in school works together. We are FRIENDS. But from time to time, he tends to be sweet, the sweetness not a normal friend would give you. [He's not sweet to his friends and our classmates.] He always show some care, gentleness and concern towards me in front of all our classmates and friends. Through his acts, he seem to want to tell everybody that there's something in him for me. The entire first three months and until now, he's been showing things like that to me. Last week by his request, we exchanged coins and he said that those would be our lucky charm. It's always on his pocket whenever we are at school. Our school we'll be having a trip soon and 2 days ago we've been excitedly talking about it then he said that the two of us should be together on that trip. --> " It will only be the two of us on one ferris wheel balloon/area. We'll be sitting beside each other on the roller coaster ride and we'll held hands on the ice skating rink. " [He said that in a half kidding and half serious tone, so i don't know if its true !! :( ] BTW, we both excel in school so we understand each others' time and tasks. We are senior students and the two of us is on a high-rank position in school which forbids us to have a boyfriend/girlfriend that is a junior or senior student. That's our sacrifice to be on that position, school rule ! ugh :| So what's with him ? I'm so confused :( Help please. What's with him and what should I do ? Thanks ! more

Resolved Question: Am I right in grounding my son to the motel room during our vacation?

Some of you may have seen my other questions...I grounded my 14-year-old son for the entire summer for failing math. We arrived in the black hills/ badlands area in South Dakota today, and we're staying here for a week. I decided to let my son come, but he's going to be grounded to the motel room the whole time we're here. I didn't trust him at home for a whole week and I was worried that a baby sitter might not be able to keep him under a control, plus I think this is more of a punishment since he had to come all the way here just to sit in a hotel room all week. He's been looking forward to this vacation since we started planning it in February. I'm worried about keeping him under control, though. We're going to be gone all day each day, hiking, sightseeing and the like. He's not allowed to watch TV, so I'll be bringing the remote with us whenever we;re gone. My laptop will be in the room but its password protected so he wont be able to use it. He won't have any books, either, and we'll be taking all the key cards so if he does leave the hotel room he won't be able to get back in. Do you think we'll be able to keep him under control? I think I may ask the concierges to check by the room each hour, to make sure he's behaving and hasn't escaped. Also, when we get back each day, we're going to tell him about all the fun things we did throughout the day. I feel it's necessarty to add to the punishment as much as possible so he'll get the message and learn his lesson. My wife thinks I'm being to harsh and that I should un-ground him for the vacation! I can;t believe she wants to let him off liek this! What do you think? I s this an appropriate punishment?? more

Resolved Question: If American students spend more hours in school than students from any other country, why make the day longer?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Students+in+the+U.S.+spend+1146+instructional+hours&btnG=Google+Search Read any of those sources, students in the US spend more instructional hours in school than kids in any other country, why does Obama want to extend the school day and cut summer vacation then? more

Voting Question: i'm 15 and my life have too much problems and i could use helping ?

hi all my name is Sanad (i know it's weird) i'm 15 and my life is mess not for me but for my surrounding people like my uncle and aunt's forget all that and focus on this main problem i would like to solve please first at the start of the summer my cousin the daughter of my aunt M was getting married in a foreign country and we couldnt make the wedding so we sent her a 100 $ among a gift wth her parents 2 weeks before the wedding surprisingly she seent us a message telling us that she is not honored that we are her relatives and her parents are mad at us and then every problem just kept coming with my second aunt MA. that have problem's with her husband and comes to our home every summer after a fight with her husband and to see my grandma who lives with us (she is really old and don't recognize me sometimes and doesn't know anything about the problem's) when she came this week to visit us their was a problem of some kind while we were on vacation out town while my uncle and my grandma where at our home . here is the main point the problem is mysterious and everyone is saying his own story and there was an argument and my uncle just left the home and said he doesn't want to live with us anymore ( he said that because he was mad ) and now my father is upset and cried 10 times today and my grandma just keeps asking about my uncle and we can't tell her he will not come to home because i think she will die before we even finish telling her now my uncle is just 40 km away and doesn't want to talk with us and i know that by tommorow things will get better but i need a way to convince my parents and my uncle to make up so please just help me make the day better and make my father happy along with my uncle and my grandma soplease help me and don't forget that i'm 15 and that my grandma can't live away from all of us and she can't even go to the bathroom alone!!! so we can't just buy them a house more

Voting Question: Calling all Girls!! What is she doing?

Ill try to make this story as short as possible even though its over 3 years. We are both 16 and are gonna be Juniors in Highschool. so we met in 8th grade became friends but didnt really talk after 8th grade. Around Christmas of our Freshman year we talked alot and then in Febuary i asked her out. we went out for like a week cuz her parents found out and said she had to wait till she was 16 to date. so we had just done a in school thing for about 3-4 months. Then school let out and i was on Vacation and she was trying to make me jealous or something and pissed me off and i just called her out and we didnt talk until the last month of summer. that last month we went to football games together and it really seemed like she liked me so i started to like her again. Sophomore year started and about a week in i saw her in the hall and she completely ignored me and flirted with a guy (this guy became her boyfriend for the school year) and i just gave up on her for the rest of the year and never spoke a word for her the whole entire school year. Even though we saw eachother in the hall we never spoke a word. we make eye contact and quickly look away. Then about a month ago she sent me a 5 page text saying how pissed she was that we stopped txting and how she wanted to be friends. so we became friends and now we cant stop texting eachother. she works behind my house at the community pool and when i go (rarely i do go) we usually talk for 3 hours and then when one of us has to go we txt afterwards. One day i was playing online monopoly and she was having a sleepover and she played with me until 3am durring her sleep over. and she says she wants to play me more. she always asks me how i am, she claims that its just a convo starter but idk cuz she has asked me it 10times in the past 5 days. Now my friend had found out about her and her boyfriend broke up a month ago and asked her stuff about him. she said she still loves him and stuff. and he asked the guy and he said he was over her. I do like her so i was planning on makin a move when she gets over her ex. BUT another problem is that her grandma who lives with her was just told she has cancer. What should i do? wait a little longer to ask her out?? what is she doing? does she like me? thanks for reading and answering :) more

Resolved Question: I need to lose wight before my boyfriend comes home! HELP ME?!?

Don't suggest dietary supplements or anything like that. I just want to eat less and exercise a whole lot more, but don't know if my plan will work in three months. Please read it and tell me what you think!!! ****** My boyfriend comes back from overseas with his family, in three month. He's been gone since May and during the first month, it was really tough on us and being all down and depressed I started eating a lot. I've gained near 15-20 pounds during summer vacation, but want to lose it all before he comes back!!! It's not only for him though, I'm sick of regretting what I've done to my body. EXERCISE: I plan on exercising with the work-out video: Tae-Bo Advanced everyday. - this gets me sweating and my body really feels the burn, so it's good. I've done it for the past week and am already feeling better about myself. - I also swim a few laps in the pool each morning because really, my weight went to my arms and thighs, =( So swimming really works, I hope. ____ DIET After my swim, I grab a yogurt or a fruit and my coffee (no sugar or creamer, black), and head off to work. For lunch I'll have either a tuna-sandwich (i'm vegetarian), or some type of meatless soup. With a fruit. For dinner.. that's what I'm not sure about. ____________ Is Tae-bo and swimming a few laps everyday, enough exercise? What should I have for dinner that wont put exercising to waste? Also, should I add a protein bar or anything else? Make ANY other suggestions PLEASE!! I need this to work@Ada, Tuna is not a vegetable, but considered to be meat-less by many of us, veg-heads.I never said it was a vegetable. more

Voting Question: Should I call him out?

I've been with my boyfriend a year now and, to be honest, I'm the guy in the relationship. He's the one that likes to talk about our "future together" and all the sappy stuff, while I'm just trying to get into law school. That being said, we're both in college, and right now he's home for a few weeks for summer vacation while I'm taking summer classes and interning, and we both decided that, since we've pretty much been inseparable since we met, it would be good for us to have some space during this time. Not take a break--he insisted that he didn't want us to see other people which, of course, I was fine with, considering that I love him and I'm quite happy with him. He just needed some time to get back in touch with himself after the small dose of freshman identity crisis he's been dealing with, and I'm not really the clingy type so I was fine with it. The problem is, for the past week I've called to talk to him and he's been busy and promised to call me back later, then hasn't. Today I told him that if he didn't want to talk, that was fine, he just needed to tell me, and he insisted that he did, but, once again, I didn't hear back from him. How do I handle this? Do I wait a few days until he gets back in town to confront him about it, or do I call him out via text? I want him to have his space, but this is really freaking annoying and I don't understand what his deal is. more

Resolved Question: how can i end our friendship without hurting her?

i was best friends with a couple of girls in the beginning of last school year, and we got along fine for a while. then one of the girls(i'll call her alice, though that's not her real name) started acting mean and bratty. she started getting in fights with the rest of us and refused to apologize, then would shrug things off and act like she was best friends again. the rest of us got sick of it, and then we left for summer vacation. school is starting soon and i don't want to be friends with her anymore, but i don't know how to. i'm not good at shunning people, and i've given her many chances before. how can i end our friendship without hurting her too much? more

Voting Question: Calling all girls!! What is she doing?

Resolved Question: Long Distance Relationship?

My girlfriend got into nursing school at Johns Hopkins University, so she is moving away. I'm a freshmen in college and she is a junior in college. I live in the midwest and I'll have to fly to see her. I can afford the trips pretty easily because JHU is in maryland and tickets are pretty cheap. I'm applying to the college myself and might get in next year. Obviously, there is a possibility that I won't get in, but I do stand a pretty good chance because I am a 4.0 student and I volunteer a lot. The problem is that we have to make it work through the year. I'll see her in about 2 1/2 months, in October. She is also spending her christmas vacation with me. And will be living with me all next summer. If I can't get into Johns Hopkins, I'll get into another college in the area. This isn't one of those simple relationships that I can just end because of the distance. I love her so much. She means the world to me and it hurts to not be with her, but it would destroy the both of us if we broke up because of the distance. She feels exactly the same and tells me so constantly. She says she doesn't want to be with anyone else and I feel the same. I'll do anything to travel the distance to see her, I know we won't be with each other all the time though. Don't tell me to end it. I'm NOT asking if it will work. I'm asking HOW to make it work?Thank You to the first two answers :) I do love her, more than anyone. more

Voting Question: Need a vacation, don't know what to do?

So the summer is winding down, as a stay at home mom, been trying to keep my two boys, 11 and 2 year olds, busy with activities and enjoying the summer, but feel totally drained and tired. Husband has been working, then took a few days off here and there to spend some time with us, as well as his son that is visiting who is 11 years old. Then I also have in laws that came to visit, but they are cool and we love them. But we also have a little nephew visiting who is 4 years old, so imagine a house full of 4 boys ranging in ages, and one is on the Autistic spectrum, and one has ADD, although I suspect the 4 year old has ADD as well, but we're not sure.....I really feel like I want to go away by myself I feel so drained and tired trying to keep an eye on these guys, who also fight on a regular basis. So the question is, should I disappear with my two boys and visit my family out of town to take a break? What if I committed to something else a while back? I don't know what to do so totally drained........ more

Voting Question: Calling all girls! what is she doing?

Voting Question: Do Taurus men return after disappearing for almost 3 months?

I am a 50 year old Taurus female who has been involved in a long distance relationship (?) with a 48 year old Taurus male for a little over one year. I still consider the relationship "new" in a way because we have only gotten together 5 times ( 3.5 hours apart), and have mostly texted and emailed in between. We work opposite schedules which makes it even harder - he works very long hours and all night, every other weekend - I work 9-5 weekdays. The last time we were together was about 4 months ago, I went to his city and his place..it was very nice, and i could tell he had gone to a lot of work to get ready for me to stay with him - told me what he had done to clean, arrange furniture, etc. and he cooked for me for the first time - it was touching and thoughtful. He has 2 sides...can seem very simple, but also hard to read! He is guarded, was dumped in his last relationship...seems very eager to have me with him and is very affectionate and sensual and considerate when we are together. He has told me he really likes me, and that I make him feel good....told me in November that he wanted things to progress between us. I felt closer to him this last visit...and it was HE who said the next morning before I left, that he hoped it wouldn't be 4 months again, and that maybe i could come on a weekend when he's working and stay there..and that maybe we could go on a vacation together this summer. He watched me drive away and looked maybe a little sad. We texted all the next month, and he was more endearing than ever...said we missed each other..I mentioned going there again, he said he would love that, and asked me how soon I would want to. I couldn't that weekend, but a week later suggested the upcoming weekend...he didn't reply, but has done that before...seems to not respond if it's NOT a good weekend for him, rather than TELL me, sometimes. So the weekend came and went and Monday morning I texted and said it was fine the weekend didn't work, but not sure why he didn;'t let me know. he wrote from work that night telling me he was sorry, had a lot he was dealing with including legal issues and work...I thanked him for letting me know. we texted for a week after that, he was again very affectionate in his texts, and i mentioned the next weekend to get together. he didn't reply right away, and instead of waiting and giving him time to process it....it was Friday and i needed to plan...so I called and left a msg asking him if he would let me know one way or the other. when I didn;t hear, I texted him the next morning that I was hurt he didn;t let me know one way or the other. I haven;t heard from him since then.... IS IT A COINCIDENCE that he hasn't responded - possibly whatever is going on with him he can't/doesn't want to tell me about - or did he feel pushed by me and has backed off?? I am very sad, I miss him greatly, and I am baffled! WHen I asked him wouldn't he want to be with someone who lives closer to him, he said very emphatically that no, there is no one where he lives, and he is a one woman at a time man! I have tried a few texts to ask if he is ok, I have left 2 voicemails on his phone over the last 3 months, and I have backed off for several weeks also. IS IT THE DISTANCE??? He has told me that if he doesn't want to be with me he will tell me. He is very direct at times, to the point of being blunt, and i respect that about him and have asked him to be direct now and let me know why I haven;t heard from him. All of you who love and have experience with Taurus men - I NEED your feedback!!! He and i have such a nice connection - are very sensual and playful with each other, and genuinely like each other, and i too want to see where it can go. I need to know WHY THE SILENCE????He has also said that when he's in a relationship he likes to be with the person all the time when not working. He's mentioned 2x to me that maybe sometime I can stay with him on a weekend when he's working (he works all night)...but then said something about trust...so I know it takes a long time for them to trust someone - also he was dumped for another guy his last relationship... more

Resolved Question: Do we have enough to get custody of child? AGAIN?

My husband is going for custody of his son. He will be 10 the day after the hearing. He originally started the process of trying to get custody of his son because his mom was wanting to move to another state. She did NOT file the intent to relocate with the courts or notify him with a certified letter as is required by the state of Indiana. In Indiana the person with intent to move is required to prove it's in the best intrests of the child to move to the other state. Her reason for moving is because she is moving in with another man. She had a new job, but the way it sounds it was a part time job which wouldn't be "bettering herself". She just met this man in March and was divorced in February (not from my husband, a different man) So far, we've found her public intox, her OWI, her ex husbands OWI, her new boyfriends OWI, criminal conversion, check deception. Also, her new boyfriend has been sued by everyone and their brother.... this would prove the new man has little money and also, not "bettering" their lives. My husband and I have NO criminal records what so ever. She also had the police called on her because she was leaving the child home alone. The child is NOT responsible enough to be home alone, he can't make himself pbj sandwich. Only eats snacks all day, this was admitted to us by the child. Sex offenders live all around the area.... looked this up on the Indiana Sex Offender Registry. When police arrived mom happened to be home and lied to officer, officer told her if he got called out again, their would be more consequences. Right now mom lives in duplex apartment with no ac, so child is NOT allowed outside of home when she's not home, but there's no ac!! Child has been at his grandmothers house for at minimum of 6 weeks this summer and dads house 3 weeks. Mom was told that she was to offer child to dad if she couldn't care for him. She didn't. Mom hasn't seen child MOST of the summer because she has no daycare..... left him home alone when he was with her. She also told dad that because the police were called on her and she had no sitter, she had to take child to grandma... didn't offer to dad, that dad had to drive the 2.5 hours to pick the kid up from grandma... or not get him. She wouldn't meet him. This states that she won't drive to meet him if allowed to move to another state. Dad has always provided child with new shoes for school, new clothes throughout the year. Takes child on great family vacations. Includes child in everything family does. Mom does NOTHING!! (But drink) Dad lives in a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath home with living room, family room, game room in GREAT school district. Kids in dads custody only missed 3 days of school last year, child in question in mom's custody missed 12 (just the second semester!!) If mom asked dad to do something, dad ALWAYS did it. Child is ALWAYS first in dads eyes. What do you think? BTW... I have a huge paper trail to verify EVERYTHING!!We have a lawyer!! AND... you DO NOT pay child support if you have custody, we are going for custody. Quit answering questions just to get points.and we already pay support which she uses on beer and cigarrettes.READ!! I said we have a LAWYER!! He's a GOOD one!! HIGHLY recommended. It's NOT about the money, we really don't have one. She used to have a nice house and a nice life till she cheated on her ex husband and threw it all away. She makes more then I do, she just drinks her life away and doesn't think about her son.If she moves him to the other state, she is moving him away from his three siblings here, one of which is one of his best friends. So we have that going for us too. He loves his brothers and he NEVER wants to leave us to go back to her. Always makes me feel terrible taking him back to her. BUT... I tell him she misses him and wants to see him too.I know lots of fathers who have custody of their children so I am sorry, I don't believe that mothers always win. Your story is also hard to believe. Sorry! more

Resolved Question: What should I get my supervisor?

I work in an office with like 5 people in it. We have a Director, Assistant Director, and 3 secretaries. We have a lot of fun in this office, parties every week almost, we are like friends. We all bring cookies or cakes all the times (not the directors just the secretaries and they are on vacation anyway). Well anyway, one the secretaries, who is my supervisor (because I took a work study job during the last 2 semesters in this office at a university and I became an employee for just the summer but I'm going back to my work study job here in 2 weeks, she is my supervisor because she hired me so that is what I consider her still, but anyway), she went shopping today during her lunch break and bought us all, me and another secretary, some jewelry pieces from this "vintage store" but it's really not but that is what its considered. Anyway, she got me earrings because I love earrings and jewelry in general. Now what should I get her as a return gift? She is 53 years old and very "Lucille Ball" like. We are all very fashionable here in our office. We wear different clothes that no one thinks that one would wear (like I use an eye patch as a head band with the patch on the side though and I added a few feathers to make it fashionable). So what should I get her? She spent $9 so nothing extravagant. Thank you!!She looks like her and you know how Lucille Ball is clumsy in her shows, she is exactly like her, thats why we love her! She doesn't have any pets and she cannot eat a lot of chocolate but those are nice ideas. We could take her to lunch but we cannot leave the office because it is only us 3.We always gift each other. I'm just running out of ideas. more

Resolved Question: Do we have enough to get custody of child?

My husband is going for custody of his son. He will be 10 the day after the hearing. He originally started the process of trying to get custody of his son because his mom was wanting to move to another state. She did NOT file the intent to relocate with the courts or notify him with a certified letter as is required by the state of Indiana. In Indiana the person with intent to move is required to prove it's in the best intrests of the child to move to the other state. Her reason for moving is because she is moving in with another man. She had a new job, but the way it sounds it was a part time job which wouldn't be "bettering herself". She just met this man in March and was divorced in February (not from my husband, a different man) So far, we've found her public intox, her OWI, her ex husbands OWI, her new boyfriends OWI, criminal conversion, check deception. Also, her new boyfriend has been sued by everyone and their brother.... this would prove the new man has little money and also, not "bettering" their lives. My husband and I have NO criminal records what so ever. She also had the police called on her because she was leaving the child home alone. The child is NOT responsible enough to be home alone, he can't make himself pbj sandwich. Only eats snacks all day, this was admitted to us by the child. Sex offenders live all around the area.... looked this up on the Indiana Sex Offender Registry. When police arrived mom happened to be home and lied to officer, officer told her if he got called out again, their would be more consequences. Right now mom lives in duplex apartment with no ac, so child is NOT allowed outside of home when she's not home, but there's no ac!! Child has been at his grandmothers house for at minimum of 6 weeks this summer and dads house 3 weeks. Mom was told that she was to offer child to dad if she couldn't care for him. She didn't. Mom hasn't seen child MOST of the summer because she has no daycare..... left him home alone when he was with her. She also told dad that because the police were called on her and she had no sitter, she had to take child to grandma... didn't offer to dad, that dad had to drive the 2.5 hours to pick the kid up from grandma... or not get him. She wouldn't meet him. This states that she won't drive to meet him if allowed to move to another state. Dad has always provided child with new shoes for school, new clothes throughout the year. Takes child on great family vacations. Includes child in everything family does. Mom does NOTHING!! (But drink) Dad lives in a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath home with living room, family room, game room in GREAT school district. Kids in dads custody only missed 3 days of school last year, child in question in mom's custody missed 12 (just the second semester!!) If mom asked dad to do something, dad ALWAYS did it. Child is ALWAYS first in dads eyes. What do you think?I printed out everything criminal about them from the local court webites. We have text messages from her that my husband saved to email and forwarded to our lawyer. We have each case documented with emails to our lawyer. We have the police report from when the police went to her home, and the police officer who called the local police is coming to court with us. The text messages state the child was with grandma during all the times. Also, text messages of her denying my husband parenting time. These texts cleary state her phone number as the number sending them. We have his permanent records from school to prove his attendance. We have printed EOB's showing the only person to take him to the doctor was us.... we use different doctors. I have overnighted my lawyer the biggest paper trail EVER!! Plus the judge can clearly see she never filed the intent to relocate and we have texts from her stating she's moving there. Seriously, what else could we possibly need? more

Resolved Question: Help!! Im really confused!Would it work out?

We've known each other for 3 years and in 7th grade we were together for all of two weeks when i broke it off because i didnt know what i wanted, what do you expect, i was like 12 or 13. Now our friendship is back to normal and even stronger than ever, we txt every night until midnight or later and he always greets me with "hey gorgeous" or "hey beautiful". My group of friends and I (and him) went to a friends cottage this week and we spent every moment together and it got me wondering whether or not its a good idea to start a relationship with him. I love him to death, not in a brother way though. People mistake us for a couple all the time but we both deny it. I asked him if he ever feels we should be together and he says he does too sometimes and that he thinks we would work. Im really just afraid itll end and we'll take months to be friends again. Its the summer though, so the pressure of being together all day at school isnt there and im considering telling him i think we should date.We have two other friends in our group who have been considering the same thing, maybe we could have double dates and stuff to get used to being together not as friends but as a couple. Give me ur advice please :) Or stories about your relationships with your best guy friends or girl friends. THanks :) PS: What if im in love with our friendship and not him? What if this is coming on cause im not hanging out with a lot of other guys? I guess im just worried of the possibility that im "blinded" by the fact that i want a relationship but hes the one around... then i think that doesnt make sense because i have other guy friends and i dont feel the same for them... ugh, help!! Dont know if this helps, but when i go away on vacation (12 days in March and 3 weeks in july) i miss him terribly and he misses me too. more

Resolved Question: I'm in love with my best friend. What do I do?

We were dating over eleven months. We broke up because of a stupid fight that was all my fault. Realizing I had made a mistake, on my way to her house I stopped to pick up flowers. When I got to her house I got yelled at by her, and told I had to leave both of us in tears on her porch. Needless to say, I didn't even get a chance to show her the flowers-I threw them away when I got home. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she was gone all summer, because she broke up with me the day after I went with her family to pick her up. We wrote letters to each other, and at one point I sent her a care package full of her favorite type of chocolate. She had guy friends who I met, and she swears they could never be more than friends.Maybe something happened she isn't telling me. We broke up two weeks and three days ago. This past weekend my family went on a vacation, but I stayed behind to go on a date and see her perform on stage. My family was not happy, but I was willing to risk it for her. So Friday night we went to the fair. I assumed it would be the two of us, but I soon found out she was bringing her brother and sister (they both like me). It turned out we never got any alone time whatsoever. She spent most of her night with her sister, while I hung out with her brother. Based on body language and flirting she still has feelings for me. I know things would've worked out better if we got to talk in person. Saturday night was her performance. I planned it well, wearing a tie she had made for me, dressing up much beyond my usual, and bringing her a dozen roses. I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I sat alone the whole time. We got talking a little after the performance and she was very happy to see me there, she loved the roses, and that I looked amazing. She said she has to tell me something - and I really thought she was going to admit she loved me and misses me, but instead she says "you're my best friend". We talk every night, just like we did when we were dating. We tell things to each other that we know we could never tell anyone else. But she never talks about how she feels about me. She says she made the wrong decision by dumping me and regrets it. She said she has no interest in dating other guys (or girls). She admits she cares about me a lot. She knows how much I want to be in a relationship with her, but always persists that she just wants to be friends. It just doesn't add up to me. I know her extremely well, and something seems totally wrong but I cant figure it out. I worry about her, and there isn't a second that goes by that I am not thinking of her. The main thing I don't want to do is hurt her, because we are really close even as friends. I have a plan sort of, involving the place we met, because I happen to know she'll be there on the one year anniversary of me originally asking her out-problem is that place is working bingo. If this was a novel, I would run in and kiss her and it would all be better. Or I would take my guitar with me and stand on the bingo floor and sing the song I wrote for her. Maybe I need to be more subtle, but I don't know exactly what to do. Her family usually works bingo too, at the very least her dad. Any suggestions, advice, or general insight into the female mind would be great. Thanks for reading.I talked to her about it last night. I got her to answer why she refuses to give me another chance. It's about her being scared of me, she's scared of something that will never happen again with me. She's also extremely scared of my going off to college even though i am not leaving home. Last year we were both in high school, and I walked her to class, had a class with her, etc. She's worried we wont see each other enough, when i assured her I would make time. She's also told me she doesn't trust me with her heart again yet. She said yet after everything, and admitted she was nowhere near over me. Time is what she needs. She just wants to be friends for a while so I really don't have any choice but to wait for her, because I love her. Thanks for reading. more

Voting Question: My son is grounded for the entire summer for failing math, should he be allowed to come on vacation with us?

Many of you may have seen my other questions...I grounded my 14-year-old son for the entire summer vacation for getting an F in math. He is grounded until school starts up again, which in our district isn't until after labor day. He had to go to summer school and summer school ended last week. He passed with a 95% average, so my wife wanted to un-ground him as a reward. I convinced her not to, because he won't learn a lesson if we let him off early. Good grades should bve expected, not exceptional, and I did tell him he was grounded for the Entire summer, so he won't get the message if we let him off early. He's grounded from everything: No TV, computer, phone, video games ,other electronics, desserts, No going outside or leaving the house, no bedroom door. Anyway, the issue now is that we are going on vacation to the Black Hills/ Badlands area in South Dakota next week. I am wondering if he should be allowed to come? I think not, because he's still grounded and is not allowed to leave the house, but my wife wants to let him come. If he does stay home, however, we'll have to hire a babysitter. I think the best option is to let him come to SD, but forbid him to leave the hotel room while we're there. That way he wouldn't have any fun and he'd stil learn his lesson, plus I think it might be more of a punishment because he had to come all the way to south dakota just to sit in the hotel room all week. What do you think? Should I hire a babysitter and have him stay home? Should I let him come, but ground him to the hotel room the whole time? Or is my wife right that we should let him enjoy the vacation with the rest of the family, at the risk of him not learning a lesson about proper study habits?Caterpillar, I am not going to reward him for getting a good grade. In my house, good grades are expected, not exceptional. Who cares if he did well in summer school, he shouldn't have had to go in the first place and he needs to be punished for failing math in the spring. more

Resolved Question: Points for best answer!!! Should I start dating my best guy friend? Help!!?

Resolved Question: How do i find where someone is buried in Arizona?

I looked all over the internet i could only find sites that i have to pay, but im not giving up. Im looking for my friend he died in May 2006 (after school was on summer vacation) and i have no idea what cemetery he maybe at either, sadly i didnt find out about his death a month after so i didnt get to go to the funeral. Im deeply afraid of going to a cemetery I feel like since i graduated from high school in may 2009 he should of graduated with us and now i just graduated from a career school i dont care if im scared i really want to go see him. I asked around some of my friends who knew him, but alot dont know and most because alot of us didnt find out until later on too. One of my friends said he thinks he was cremated I just want to know for sure i want to find out. Please and thank you more

Resolved Question: Was I not right to ground my son for the entire summer for failing math?

My 14-year-old son was failed math this past spring semester. He got a D at midterms, so I grounded him from everything for the rest of the school year. I thought this would teach him a lesson about proper study habits and take away all his distractions from his studies. However, at the end of the school year, I learned that he got an F in math and would have to attend summer school! I grounded him from everything for the entire summer. He's not allowed out of the house except for summer school, No TV, computer, video games, phone, electronics of any kind. No desserts, no going outside or leaving the house to go anywhere except summer school, unless we accompany him (we've had him come with us to run errands because we don't want him home without supervision, since he's grounded). Also, we removed his bedroom door and took away all his books except for textbooks, a bible, and a dictionary. I do not want him to have fun books to distract him from his studies, and I believe that summer fun is only a reward for doing well in school. I recently asked a question about whether I should cancel the rest of his grounding for passing summer school with a 95% average. My wife thinks I should, I strongly disagree. He shouldv'e gotten that good of a grade the first time around, not in summer school, and what kind of lesson will he learn about good study habits if I let him off early? I got some answers that were supportive, but I got ssome very poisonous answers from very permissive parents who not only think I should un-ground him, but who thought the punishment was extreme in the first place! What do you think? Is grounding over the entire summer vacation an appropriate punishment for earning bad grades, failing classes, or having to attend summer school?Stevie: You see, I don't like to reward children for good grades, because I believe that good grades should be expected, not exceptional. Ever since my children got into middle school, at the end of each semester they would be grounded if they got less than an A. I ground them for 1 week for each B, 2 weeks for each C, and a month for each D. If they fail any classes, then they;ve lost their summer vacation. I also grounded them for bad grades in elementary schhool, but not for as long. My son has always been slacking off in math, so he's often grounded for getting bad grades in math. Wghen he actually failed math this spring semester, that was the last straw and I decided it was time for him to learn a lesson. more

Resolved Question: Is it worth it? Or should I move on? Is she right? Or are we both wrong? WTH?

This all started when I started dating her neighbor when she moved away. (This was her new neighbor, in the new place they lived) I visited both of them on Halloween and we had a great time, or so i thought. When I got home, I found out from one of our mutual friends that she and said mutual friend were trying to make me feel like sh*t about my relationship with her neighbor because she didn't like him. At this point, this boy and I were totally in love with each other. For some reason, i wasn't mad at her when I found this out. It barely bothered me. And then, something happened in December, which caused my mom not to trust her parents anymore. So from then on, it was hard to hang out with her, because my mom didn't always let me go there. But that didn't stop us from calling each other "best friends". In January, my boyfriend broke up with me and I was absolutely devastated. I cried a lot and because she hated my relationship with him, I didn't tell my best friend, but of course, she found out anyway and confronted me. Instead of saying "Are you okay?" or anything that shows concern, she implied that i needed to forget about him and that the relationship wasn't worth it. And of course, thats not what anyone wants to hear after a bad break up. For the next month after that, she barely talked to me, other than in school, which I felt I was being replaced by so many people at once. She wasn't there for me at all and I really needed her. I tried to tell her how I felt, but she got mad at me and then turned the blame on me. In the end, I was the one saying sorry and asking her forgiveness. So a few short months later, I got laryngitis and was home sick for two days with a fever of 101. Things were starting to get better between the two of us and I decided to compose a song for her on my piano. Throughout those two days, I sat in front of my piano and composed a decent piece which I thought she'd love since she plays piano. I posted it on facebook and uploaded it on youtube, and I waited for two weeks. I got comments from so many people. Everyone except her. I went to her house and at the dinner table, I had brought it up and she looked at me like "oh shit, i forgot" expression and then I knew she hadn't bothered to watch the video. She told me she had, and that she doesn't like commenting on things, but she always comments on everything on facebook. She could have even sent me a text to tell me if she liked it, but no. She hardly achknowledged it. And then I went on vacation for a few days and I texted her "Hey, whatcha doin?" and she told me she was watching a movie which we had talked about seeing together a lot lately, and I couldn't believe it. I thought that it'd be the perfect thing to do together, and she blew me off! So eventually, I tried to tell her how i felt again, and she got mad at me. In the end, I was the one saying sorry and again, asking her forgiveness. (I will admit, I was a little harsh, but I wasn't entirely wrong, either) So now, its summer and its still hard to hang out with her. One time, we had a sleepover planned, but because she didn't ask her parents until thirty minutes before i was supposed to be there, they said no and after I got that news, I decided to stay at my neighbors house. And then ten minutes after i made those plans, she called me and said that her parents change their mind. I eventually told her that i made other plans, but initially I had said that my mom didn't want me to go, which was true anyway. Then a few weeks later, we had made plans to go to a movie together, and I told my mom and she didn't want me to go anywhere that night. She wanted me home and there was no changing her mind. So I told my friend and she flipped at me. She was pissed. And therefore, she ignored me for a week. She didn't talk to me until the day before my birthday party, which she told me she wasn't attending because she was going to a concert the night before and wouldn't be able to make it. Now, I knew that if she tried, she'd could've made it. The concert got out around eleven, and she would've been home by midnight at the latest. She's someone who stays up until two, three in the morning and is fine if she wakes up at noon. My party didn't start until three and she couldn't even try to make it. It really hurt that she blew me off like that. But a few days later, we talked about why she was ignoring me and we became sort of close again. And this is when things got really bad. I had invited her, two months prior, before I even had tickets, to see a concert with me a week after my birthday. But if your "best friend" blew off your easily attendable birthday party for a concert that wasn't even the day of, would you want to take them to a concert to see one of your favorite musicians? I didn't want to, so I invited someone elShe moved back home in January, about two weeks before my boyfriend broke up with me. She now lives five minutes away as opposed to seven hours. more

Voting Question: How can I tell him, help please?

While on summer vacation my brother invited a friend to stay with us in our apartment in the beach. One day I was getting in the elevator and he got in at the same time, we were in the 20th floor so the elevator was really slow. While in the elevator he told me there was something he'd always wanted to do and to close my eyes. I closed my eyes and next thing I know we were making out and I we were both really into it. We both like each other and wanna be together but how can we tell my brother? My brother is very protective and thinks of me as a little girl. How can I tell him without him getting mad? more

Resolved Question: MIL tries to control every vacation and holiday- what to do?

My husband's family are always taking vacations together, summer, Christmas, etc. since he was a child. However, every destination, date, and itinerary is controlled by my MIL, and no one is given the opportunity for input. I didn't think much of it until the first vacation I took with them- and that's when I realized that literally EVERYTHING was decided by MIL, and if you did something on your own, you were 'selfish' and 'rude'. (My crime? My H and I went to a flea market while the others went to the mall.) All basic decisions were taken from you- if you wanted to swim at the pool, you had to invite everyone. Just wanted to take it easy for the day? Too bad, MIL already bought you tickets to a 2 hour walking tour of local landmarks. After that, she gave my husband and me an ultimatum- either take these family vacations and follow her rules, or don't come at all. We decided to not go anymore. Of course, this is all pinned on me, but since my H and I are happy with our agreement, it didn't bother me. Here's the problem- every Christmas the family travels to the home of my H's aunt and uncle, whom I have yet to meet. I'd like to meet them, but if we go during Christmas, we will have to check our boundaries and dignity at the door; and if we go at another time, my MIL will be furious and insulted that we chose a time when she wouldn't be there, and will go out of her way to make aunt/uncle guilty for hosting us. This in turn leads to the rest of his family backing her up, or else they'll face her wrath also. She also pulls this stunt when we make plans to visit his grandmother, and she tries to make us feel bad when we spend time with my family instead of spending it with hers. She obviously has control issues, but how should I handle this? more

Resolved Question: Is it legal in Canada to move out for the summer when you're 16?

My friends and I were thinking of moving out of our parents homes for two months next summer and trying to live on our own for a bit. Is this legal? Would a house owner allow us to maybe move into their house and take care of their stuff while they are off on vacation or something? How would I go about this kind of thing if it IS legal? Thank you . more

Resolved Question: So mad at my friends for leaving me out?

So to begin this question, you need to know how I became friends with them. During 8th grade, I had a close group of friends. They were rotten girls. They swore constantly, were rude, immature, and everything else you can think of. I decided that I needed new friends, and found them. They were the exact opposite of my old friends. My old friends put me through hell when I "left" them. But I got through it because I had these new friends. I am going into freshman year soon now. We have been friends all summer long. We are pretty close-knit, and consider each other a group since there's only 5 of us. Except for they have been leaving me out now (as in for the past few days they've been doing lots of stuff together). I have been gone on vacation for 2 weeks and have made it clear that I'm back home. I haven't gotten in any fights witht them, or done/said anything mean. I just saw on facebook that they're going to dinner and movies tonight, and I just feel so crushed. I literally feel like I could explode from anger right now. What should I do/say to them? I don't want to fight with them, but they need to know I'm hurt. Thanks for any thoughtful answers. more

Resolved Question: first family vacation with a toddler?

we plan on taking a first family vacation next spring/summer times. my son will be a toddler, any ideas on a relaxing vacation in the US? we live in IL and would live to drive somewhere but not more than i would say 12 hours drive more