Things haven't changed much from Medieval times, have they? Women in trouble still look to a man as the answer because the man has $ and also promises emotional support. Well, it's still true. Section 8 housing waitlists can be years long, welfare is too little and too sporadic and that nursing job is way off on the horizon. Unless Prince Charming is within view, she is kinda screwed. The only other option is to be really relentless about finding good free counseling that can hook her up with some funding sources which are, sadly, few and far between these days. I would start at the financial aid office of the nursing school and the Career Center. They will try to blow you off but keep coming back until they help you.

Most towns do have those restrictions but somehow they get out of them. I think that the town directors are like "sure, they will bring in so much money in taxes that we should let them do what they want" grr. i just read in the paper this morning that our town is just one step closer to putting a stupid Wall-greens (you know what those are!) in the place of an old stage coach in. but the inn needs some repair, so it should be knocked down. Or at least that is what the town says. However they are going to put a little memorial plaque next to the new store to show where the inn was. great, that will more than make up for it. I am just so disappointed i can't even describe it. I know that the person who owned the site had to sell it as they didn't have money to upkeep it but I still can't believe they will knock it down. how sad. I am waiting for the day when someone knocks on my door and asks me to tear down my house because it needs some repairs or because it looks so much different than everyone else's house. I have wrote the town historical society like 20 times asking about my house and about research (our house may have been built around or before 1850) Our town isn't much older than that. You think they would care but they don't seem to care at all. how sad. What scares me the most is that my husband and I have put so much care into our house and I am afraid if we move someday that someone will just tear it down. -renee

I cringe as I type this. I haven't left because I keep holding out hope he will wake up and start really loving them. This doesn't happen every single night and like I said, He is better- cringe- it just feels forced to me. Reading what I am typing sounds so crazy. I see why some women are so confused. Thank you, guys. I am going to an attorney tomorrow. I already saw one last week. this is the push I need. So I am not crazy. This is not normal "strict" behavior. Having said this,

Rosie: When I was growing up, my mother made me clean my room, help with the cooking, clean the kitchen after dinner and other miscellaneous chores (my mother didn't work). I did not however, mow the grass, scrub the floors, do the grocery shopping, wash the families (6 of us) laundry, help the others with their homework, pay the bills, plant the garden (although I did help weed and pick the vegetables), maintanin the cars and other household appliances. My mother worked very hard at home raising 4 kids while my father worked 12 hours, 7 days a week at Fords to provide for the family. I also went to school and got very good grades, participated in the band and played softball in the summer. At the time, I thought she was the meanest mother in the world, but when I got married at 20, I found out that I had no problem keeping a house, working full time, going to school at night and eventually having children. I was capable of doing all this because my mother prepared me for adulthood. I am very gratefully for that now. Take my stepdaughter for example. I entered her life when she was 15 (she is now 18). She lived with her mother for a few months in the beginning, but decided she preferred to live with her dad and I (and my boys)full time. She did not assist me in any way with anything to do with the house, but was very demanding about being driven here and there and asking for money as if it grew on trees. I asked for her help ie: taking her own dishes off the table and putting them in the dishwasher, etc, and she said she shouldn't have to do that because her mother made her do those things when she was 4 years old. This seemed to be a common excuse which her father and grandmother (who lived with them for 4 years) says did not happen. I didn't want to be a b**chy stepmother , so I didn't press the issue. She was getting good grades in school and was a cheerleader so I figured her time was better spent on those activities. Big mistake!!! She is now 18 and can't even make it out of bed for a 10:00 class at college. She has been late for work many times because she "just slept in" (I can't believe they haven't fired her). Her claim now is that she is 18 and is legally an adult and we cannot ask her to do anything. She began college in September and has now dropped out because she cannot balance, work (20 hrs wk), school 4 classes and socializing with her friends. She demands to be treated like an adult,but was never made to accept any responsibility, so she doesn't know how to act like an adult. I firmly believe that if she had been made to be a part of the family and take responsibility for helping in the running of the household, she would be better prepared for "adulthood". So now we have a disrespectful, inconsiderate, lazy 18 year old in our house that causes a terrible disruption to the rest of the family. How am I supposed to teach my boys how to be proper, respectful, considerate young men when they have an example just the opposite in the household? We have now thrown away $2500.00 in college tuition (which we can't afford) and she has forfeited a $2500.00 MEAP scholarship. What a waste!!! But let's not forget, she has lots of time to socialize with her friends now!!!!! That is really going to get her far in life. Kids need to know that life is not easy and having them help around the house is not going to cause them any harm.