Are you sister of poster with tax welfare issues

PS - about my sister sm [2008-12-03]
Diagnosed at Thanksgiving, chemo for Christmas, dead by Easter. No symptoms. Don't let it happen to you. I care about you. Give yourself the best holiday gift ever (not to mention the people you would leave behind who love you).

As women, I think we all tend to have issues with our MILs... [2008-11-26]
No one is ever good enough for their sons, kind of thing--lol

what about the transportation issues [2008-11-26]
I agree, it is so much easier on the days that the kids are busy with afterschool activities and sports. But my question is: How do you sign kids up for activities when you work all day? How do they get there? And how do they get home? She is too old for daycare and too young to hang out with kids who drive. LOL. She is in the middle, and as you know it is a difficult age! So what can kids do at 13 when school is closed and no one is available to drive but still stay out of trouble? It's nice when they hang out here but then I get no work done and end up pulling all my hair out.

My sister's kids play video games [2008-11-25]
constantly and have for a decade.They always have to have the latest game. She has 4 kids - 3 are obese and one is overweight. We don I I know my husband has wanted to get one. I have 3 kids and they are all very slender. They aren It's a health issue to me, and also a mental health issue, because they are addictive.

mother-in-law/sister-in-law [2008-11-25]
I am not my mother-in-law She is mellowing a little bit with age, but she and her daughter used to be reallymean to me. The more frail they get, the harder to forgive and forget. Keep my mouth shut and smile is about an A+ for me.It is hard to believe how mean these two women were to me, and how they have really lost their power with age.

Agree with poster below that [2008-11-20]
you need to get out of that situation, especially after reading what you son said. He is being damaged, and I have seen firsthand what that damage can do to you as an adult. Dysfunctional doesn't begin to describe it. Take action ASAP. I wish you the best of luck, I know it isn't easy.

The other poster is correct.... [2008-11-19]
I think it was on What Not To Wear or one of those shows where I heard if you have that problem it is because the cup size is not big enough for you. With that size naturally I wouldnpush up because those have a lot of extra padding to give the push. Maybe go to a store in the mall and talk to them. Surely they will have a suggestion for your size and style interest. Doesn't mean you have to buy it there, just get the idea and then go to Target or someplace and buy what you want a little less expensive.

I made this diaper wreath for my sister-in-law [2008-10-28]
very easy to do

I went in 1975, with my sister who had already seen it. [2008-10-28]
the scary surprises were just about to happen. Like when the guy was diving next to the rowboat, and the guys's head bobbed into view inside. I think my sister's reaction to that freaked me out even more than the movie did! If you watch it on TV now, you can tell it was a rubber shark (named 'Bruce'!) But Steven Spielberg was so good at creating the FEAR, long before you ever saw what it was you were supposed to be afraid of, that by the time you finally saw Bruce, you TOTALLY believed he was real.

Poster below is right -- this Saturday [2008-10-27]
Nov 1, before you go to bed, set your clocks back 1 hour. Spring forward, Fall back. Happy Halloween!!!

My sister does. [2008-10-24]
I figure I have to go to the grocery store for fresh veg and fruts once a week or so anyway so I just buy what I need. My sister likes to buy in bulk and picks up extra when at a warehouse store and keeps it in the freezer. She says the milk is just fine after. I'm sure we have drank it too and had no idea. She goes through about 5 gallons a week with her family.

I saw that in the latimes. the poster didn't take that. [2008-10-18]
nm

above poster is not shellly I am [2008-10-17]
I sign my name to my posts. I actually signed off and left to make dinner. that was not me

Agree with this poster, you cannot let [2008-10-17]
this slide. Also, if he is posting pictures on the Internet, in certain parts of the country schools monitor this and they can and have taken action against the student. You need to be firm on this and definitely discuss it with his father. So what if your son is devastated by his father's reaction, in the long run it is the best for him.

I agree with the other poster. [2008-10-16]
Unless its a kid that you know has been in trouble before, I wouldn't assume anything. My son is not a teenager yet but he says things that he just says because he thinks someone else will think its funny or cool...not because he is doing it or agrees. I also have 3 older nephews, in and just beyond teenage years, and they do the same thing. Two are great kids, they say things but clearly do not participate. Being the aunt they tell a lot more with honesty than they do to the parents. The other...well is just irresponsible. I think he says a lot to keep up with people too but wouldn't put anything past him if peer pressure is involved. Just his personality and demeanor says a lot. If you sit down with a teenager and talk to them as if they are adult you would be surprised some times at the things they will tell you in honesty.

addressing trust issues... [2008-10-04]
I am so sorry you don't trust pitbulls. If you owned one you would feel differently.

I disagree with the other poster [2008-09-30]
While forgiveness is divine, forgetting is just plain dumb. I would not let this incident go by without discussing it with the mother of the daughter as well as the teacher and the school principal. Personal space or not, that girl had no right to put her hands on your son. She was not defending herself. She was not in harms If she gets away with this now, it will only continue. In public school, this kind of thing would be handled by suspension of the girl. Boy or girl, big or small, every child has the right to feel safe in school. That See to it that this private school enforces it. Only you can make them accountable. I realize how angry you must be right now, but hopefully by posting this and sleeping on it tonight, you

My sister's (now ex)husband kicked her - sm [2008-09-29]
pregnant golden retriever in the stomach repeatedly because he'd had an argument with my sister. Then he went off to work, as usual. My sister didn't waste a single minute. As soon as he left, she called in sick to work, drove to the city, hired an attorney, and filed for divorce. She also put a lien on a bunch of building materials he was about to receive, because she knew how much $ all that was worth. Then she went to the hardware store. By the time he came home that evening, the dog was safely inside a house whose locks had all been changed, his other truck in the driveway had been towed away to an undisclosed location, and all of his personal belongings were sitting out at the curb. Oh. And since he had also hit HER, she had filed a restraining order against him. She got half the house, which the judge forced him to sell, even though he built it with his own hands, and was on a PRIME piece of property. She made sure EVERYBODY IN TOWN knew what had happened, and people stopped hiring him to do construction work. He finally had to move out of state. Just goes to show, you shouldn't kick your wife's dog.

I'd give to to my sister [2008-09-28]
She is in serious financial debt.

ME TOO! My sister and I both feel the same. SM [2008-09-26]
Not to sound tacky, but theone reason I would like to have someone is for financial security and to maybe have a home of my own. I can I got so tired of the games, the waiting for phone calls, the issue of whether or not to trust after I have been burned so many times by cheaters, ect. I learned a long time ago there is one way not to lose the game. . DON I know that sounds grim, but I have come to value myself and to not settle for something less than what I deserve.

I never have, but my sister did. She didn't - sm [2008-09-16]
have remorse about it because (a) the (ex)-boyfriend that got her pregnant was a creep and she didn and (b) in order to stay in school. She had just started college, which our dad, a very strict, authoritarian sort of person with old-fashioned values, was paying for 100%. She knew that without a doubt, if he had found out she'd gotten pregnant (and he was a Catholic - compounding the problem!), that he would have pulled the plug on her college-funding and kicked her out of the house. That would have ruined the rest of her life. As a result of being able to have an AB on-request, and without my parents' knowledge, she was able to finish her education and get a Master's Degree in Education. She went on to become a fine teacher who got all sorts of awards for her innovative teaching ideas. Later, she changed careers and now works in the healthcare industry in the area of aging well. Without her education, she would be working a low-paying job, and possibly even made the mistake of marrying the good-for-nothing boyfriend, just to keep a roof over her head. Anyway, that's HER story. Everyone's situation, reasons for doing what they do, and feelings about it afterward are different. Just going through with the birth of the child & putting it up for adoption doesn't necessarily guarantee it a good home, either. Especially if it doesn't happen to be a Caucasian child with no health problems, which is what not all, but most, people want. Other people have ABs because the remorse they say they would feel for that is less than what they would feel if they actually delivered, and saw, the child, and then had to give it up. Anyway, everything in life has a price, there are always decisions to make. You made the decision you had to make at the time, so I hope that in time your sadness dissipates. If you had to do it over again NOW, then of course you probably wouldn't. But this is now and that was then, so please try not to feel too sad about the past. Now that you do have children, I'd be willing to bet that you're loving them even more, and taking care of them even better, than you might have if you hadn't had to part with your first pregnancy. So in a way, your first child's legacy lives on in the lives you're providing for your existing children now. And that's what matters most in the end.

Some adopted kids have a lot of issues [2008-09-16]
I had a friend who adopted 2 kids and she said you had to walk a fine line between making their birth mother a saint who selflessly gave them up, or a villain who didn't want them. Unfortunately a lot of these kids think of their mother in one of those two categories. So they find themselves longing for the childhood they didn't have (if they think she was a saint) or struggle with feelings of worthlessness (if they think she didn't want them.) Personally, I think it is a noble and selfless thing to give up a child who you know you cannot raise and I admire you. I'm sure it was not an easy thing to do. Hopefully your child will find a way to resolve their own issues because they have put you in an untenable position.

I agree with the poster below [2008-09-01]
Just because he is your future son-in-law doesn't mean he owes you anything. It sounds to me like you want to cause problems between him and your daughter because of this when you say you think she should have talked to him. This is between you and him. You asked for help, he told you what he could offer, take it or leave it. It sounds to me like he made the comment about not having things placed or set up because he expects that you would want that. I certainly don't know your relationship with him or your daughter and do believe there are always 2 sides to every story and feel like we didn't get the second side to this story. I don't say any of this to make you feel bad in any way. Your situation reminds me of my own mother. Except that she will do whatever she can to get things resolved before asking either of her son-in-law's to help and they are more than willing to do anything for her...she just knows that they work full-time, have a family, and life is hectic. When she does ask something she asks them directly (not through the daughter) and asks for bare minimum - she usually gets much more than that on the son-in-law's own accord not because he is obligated.

P.S. Before anyone calls me a bad mother or blames me for any of his issues, my other two children [2008-08-26]
xx

Yes, my sister does it, and [2008-08-23]
it's quite fascinating (and addicting, apparently). She has traveled from AZ to VT and also WI to check headstones. If you go to her Facebook page, she actually has photos of family trees or something - I haven't clicked on them yet. I just saw them today.

Yeah. My dad had one lung removed because of [2008-12-04]
and my sister said that when he was in his hospital room, my mom (who always smokes) and my aunt (who rarely smoked... ever...) were puffing away, in his room!

Backaches and mattresses - sm [2008-12-04]
My husband wakes up with a backache every morning. He does have some back issues but our mattress could be contributing to his problem. Too many choices re mattesses, so would like to know if anyone has an opinion as to what type to try. Thank you.

My husband and I both smoke! [2008-12-03]
This January we have decided will be it. It is no longer socially acceptable. My excuse has always been that I am afraid to gain a lot of weight. My brother quit after 15 years (early 30s) and he used Chantix. He was a 3-pack a day smoker. Let me tell you, he is so much better. No coughing. After 6 years of trying to have a baby and failing in vitro; they have just had a baby this November. They both smoked/him worse. They are now both nonsmokers for over a year, have gained weight, but have such a blessing. He swears it was the smoking that caused the infertility. This pregnancy was the natural way and she We are all elated. I am especially proud of him and feel like such a wimp to continue to smoke knowing it is killing me. It makes me feel inferior to others. Thank God my brother is an encouraging soul and not one of those horrible ex-smokers who just won't let up or are worse than just plain nonsmokers. To the OP: These poster above is absolutely correct. My brother will vouge that everything in life is better now that he is a nonsmoker (i He says the Chantix worked and he is by no means a pill-taker at all. To the OP again: If you You are worth it! You can still smoke the first week on Chantix, but then the cravings will disappear. Believe me, I also enjoy the cigarette especially after eating but smoke a lot more when I I I hate the habit, but I love the cigarettes. See what I mean? It Whaddya say? E-mail me! To the Poster Above: Thank you for your kind comments as you've also just made me decide that quitting is the best and only option at this point. I had an aunt that died of ovarian cancer and never smoked or drank a day in her life. She was thin, always health conscious. Not all cancers including lung come from smoking. Keep that in mind as you strive to quit.

Just sharing sm [2008-12-03]
My sis was 59, had tried to quit several times, but every time something stressful happened, she would smoke again. I canYou have Stage IV so keep smoking, what I care about you. Please stop! There are no excuses. My sister would not accept my tough love, I hope you do. I don't have any idea who you are but I will beg you to stop. No excuses.Use lollipops, cinnamon sticks, ice cubes, Nicorette, something to keep your mouth busy but smoking. You'll feel better, smell better, look better. Treat yourself to a manicure or something each week you make it.

loss [2008-12-03]
My sister-in-law died at 52 of lung cancer with brain mets. She had neck pain for five years before and thought it was from a car accident, but it was the tumor. Christmas was her favorite holiday. My husband quit smoking on her birthday for motivation.

i've gone out on the deck a few times, [2008-12-02]
but like the other poster, find it inconvenient. I have several items to drag along, and have to secure laptop so pets don't knock it over. Only do it on the nicest days when i can stay out there several hours and make it worth the trouble. i am very used to (and like) having everything at my fingertips in my office.

Why don't you just hang out with [2008-12-01]
your older sister that you enjoy being with? Simple as that. Nobody is forcing you to feed your sister You probably just want to get along with everybody which isn Just don You sound like a very nice person but maybe too nice to your sisters and they take advantage of you. Remember, nice guys finish last and start getting a little tougher. Don It sounds like you worry too much about what your sisters think of you. Go a week without talking to them and see if your self-esteem improves. Your sisters sound very toxic. Good-luck and let us all know how you are doing.

I agree with Stardust and Deb...... [2008-12-01]
your sisters are toxic and you need to let them go. Even though they are family, there is no reason why you have to put up with that crap. When people take away your happiness knowingly, it is time to let go. It sounds as though you have done all you could and things obviously are not going to get better. Keep your relationship with your older sister but cut ties with the others. I have an aunt who is like that. Unfortunately she is 80 so because of that, I try to suck it up but it is so hard. If she were younger, I would have cut all communication long ago. She is abusive, insults me at every chance, etc. Funny how I am the only one who calls her every two days and goes up to see her all the time. When I call or go up, it is very stressful. I know what you are dealing with and no one should have to feel inadequate at the expense of another person.

I remember. [2008-11-30]
My parents used to take us downtown once a year to shop and look at the display windows. Then we would eat at one of the department stores. Dad would take half the kids and mom would take the other half so we could all buy for each other. I remember one year when I was about 6 I was with my dad and my sister and I saw this beautiful red coat I wanted to get mom. We took it up to the counter and my dad told us to give the lady our money. Between us we had 35 cents. We gave it to her and she wrapped it up for us. My dad still tells that story today, how we bought mom a coat for 35 cents. We never did see him give the saleslady the rest of the money, and it was sweet how she played along.

I still love giving gifts and have a solution with my family. sm [2008-11-30]
We all buy gifts for our parents (there are 4 of us, all married) but we wrap them all in the same paper and they are from everyone. That way, if someone is having a tough year, then it still looks even. Over the years, all of us have had a year that extra money just was not there during 1st babies, 1st homes, high gas prices, unexpected bills, lay-offs, new jobs etc. This way, our parents don't know who did what and they can't turn them down or worry about one family when they don't want to share with them their troubles. We treat the kids similarly. We all buy for all the kids (7 total) but no set limit. Some years, when having a good financial year, they get big presents, some years they don't. They all get to open at least 5 presents (counting Grandma and Grandpa) and we torture them until after dinner before they can open gifts! There have been years of Dollar Store gifts and years of video games. We all look for things during the year that we can give to all equally. Last year, I found pajama bottoms at Old Navy for $2 in the summer and bought a pair for everyone, including the adults. One year, my sister got them all Uno decks which were $3 each because that's all she could do and they are still the favorite gift and go everywhere. Uno tournaments, using all the cards are a family tradition and we make up different rules all the time! I am fortunate to be in a good position the last few yeas and have bought more extravagant presents. Not to show anyone up, but because I can. Not to make up for the very lean years, which were many, but because it is easy for me to do right now. We don't have jealousy and I don't expect anything in return because if I need something or want something, I usually buy it for myself. I just like to give gifts and can, and everyone is fine with that. But I have to tell you, my best gifts from the others are from years when there was no money and have now become tradition ... strawberry jam from my SIL, fudge from my brother. Christmas is what you make it. We are loud and loving and crazy and if we exchanged soup cans, the kids would still love it. It is what you make of it and how fun you make it for them.

family secrets [2008-11-30]
My mother blackmails my sister that she will tell her secrets to her new husband. If you love your husband, let it go and if you refuse to let it go, make sure you consider the source as more trustworthy than your husband before you bring it up.

I just need to VENT and see what you all think...Beware...this is long...sm [2008-11-30]
I have tried twice to tell this story but deleted it both times because the story is just too long so I will be as short as I can. I have a bunch of ROTTEN TO THE CORE sisters.My sisters are just about the worst people I have ever met in my whole 43 years on this planet. There is one who is especially bad and I just told my other sister that if she ever dies, to please not call me as I won I come from a very large family with 5 sisters and 1 brother with my brother being the oldest. He is not involved. He sort ofleft the family years ago because he couldn They did terrible things to him after his divorce. We rarely see him now.I am considered a scumbag and a loser because my husband and I don We don We don We can We love our children with everything in our souls. They have made fun of me and my husband and insulted us to our faces.My husband and I have a difficult marriage as he is tough to get along with so they hate my husband My sistershave all gone out to dinner without inviting me. I have found out because of someone They have made threats and sent rumors flying throughout the family, without me knowing, about calling DCYF on me. I heard that one too from a slip of the tongue. I cried for 2 hours in the shower that day. They talk about everyone and I mean everyone badly. They have awell known reputation ina couple of our towns here for being mean horrible girls. They are about as fake and phony as a person can get. Sweet and all smiles to your face and when you turn around, they stick that knife in as far as they can get it in. They have what they have in their lives because of what someone has given them. My sister had her property given to her by her in-laws. It is worth about $1,000,000. My other sister had land given to her by her husbandto lessen their mortage burden so now they owe almost nothing on their $500,000 house. They think they are fabulous people. They think they are the cat In the past years when we were all talking and I would be invited to a holiday, I was not spoken to at all the whole time I was there. I am a venter and I always have been so if my husband and I are fighting, I will always go to my older sister (one up from me) and vent and vent until I can She gets on the phone the second I leave and tells every person in my family what is going on. They in turn judge me and my husband, make their threats, and so on. This is also happening to my oldest sister and her partner (she is in a gay relationship but was always dating a man and was married twice) and my sister The three of us, me, my sister and her partner, and my sister We get along well. We are happy with each other. We don Whatever happens in each other lives, we just accept it and don I now attend holidays at my sister I don I don The sisters (I like to call them the Witches of Eastwick) all attend holidays with each other up at my sister The three of us are not invited. My older sister has a son. Several yeas ago, my sister and her partner had a terrible fight with him. He went to the witches and told them a bunch of lies and now they have pretty much shunned her and her daughter and me too because we still talk to her.I have a sister, who is involved in all of this, that I speak to on a regular basis. She is close to my kids or at least my oldest son. She pretty much ignores my other two children and they tell me, It She is the one who has spread rumors about me in the family trying to get everyone to call DCYF on me. I heard this too by a slip of the tongue from another sister a few years back. I tend to be a forgiving person so I quietly forgave her for this without her ever knowing that I knew what she was trying to do. Now that they are all inviited to the holidays up to my sister They are extremely fat just like her. These holiday trips up north are usually kept quiet and I only know about it the day before they are leaving to go, which is when she inevitably asks me to come feed her f******g cats. This is how Iknow that a big party is going on up at the cabin and once again only the chosen selected few are going. This is usually for 3 or 4 days and they get fed twice a day so I have to goto her house twice a day. Sometimes I have to give them medication and the last time she asked me, I even had to soak her sick cat She lives about 20 minutes away from me. This girl would NEVER, NEVER, EVER do this for me. My husband and I took our children on a cruise 3 years ago and we have a cat and I never asked her to do this for me as I know she would have laughed in my face. I have been feeding her cats for years now when she goes away. Keep in mind though that she was in the select chosen few to be invited up to the cabin. I was not as I am considered trash in the family. I am SICK AND TIRED of feeding this girl My sister who invites everyone to go is a mean, horrible, sadistic, vicious, backstabbing wretched b***h. No one will say anything to her like, Gee Pat, where is everyone else? Didn They could care less. All they know is that THEY were invited. Anyway, I am sorry this is so long. I cananymore. I have been thinking of this all day all weekend long. I am really to the point where I just don I am goingto tell my fat a** b***h sister to fnd another way to get her cats fed because I She is just using me and believe me when I tell you, she enjoys it. She is verydiabolical. She loves it that I am not invited and she and her husband are.She even questions me and counts the cat food cans to make sure that I came on all of the days they were gone. These people have balls of brass and I have had ENOUGH.I am just sitting and waiting patiently for the next time she says, Oh, we Can you come and feed the cats? I just canNo. I can I will never feed your cats again! Find some other sucker to do it! I believe that they are severely narcissistic people and this is nothing to take lightly.These types of people are very destructive. Do any of you have family members like this and what do you do about them? How do you stop them from making you feelsad, lonely, excluded andless than you are or deserve? I think it is time for me to cut all ties with them. I just can

you sound like me - [2008-11-29]
for the past couple of years, I have said, let's forget the gifts and just spend the day together at my mom's house -- but oh no, that would be horrible if we did not buy presents. This year, my sister's husband lost his job and now it's automatic, we are not going to be buying gifts. I always wonder, why is it that one person in the family always seems to make the decisions for everybody else?

What size is this? [2008-11-28]
Mysister-in-lawweighs about 300 pounds and is about 5 feet, 6 inches tall. I would like to buy her a nice pull over, but I do not know her size and I don Does anyone out there know what size this would be. I am guessing at the weight compared to my husbandwhich I already know. What I saw Lane Bryant was closing some stores, but are there any other good stores?

Older folks sometimes lose it before they really lose it sm [2008-11-27]
It sounds like she having some issues with money and thought processes. Four potatoes and three sweet potatoes? She has lost touch with reality. I don't mean this in an unkind way. I think she didn't stop the think or plan the budget around this. Perhaps she has lost the ability to properly plan on some level. This makes no sense. In my family, food at grammatoo expensive and started using shavings of naphtha soap. She started saving little soap slivers and making new bars of soap with them. She stopped buying shampoo unless it was in the markdowns at the grocery store. She started using a baggie for her vacuum cleaner bag. You get the picture here. The interesting thing is that truly, that gramma never fully lost it. We considered this idiosyncratic and went on. She kept the rest of her faculties, but had these odd ways of saving money. My other gramma who never did any of these things did, in fact, suffer from profound dementia the last 10 years of her life. Of course, that set of grandparents had the issue the other way. Toilet paper: Bought in bulk 6 cases at a time. Find a salad dressing you like, buy a couple of cases. You never did want to tell them you liked a certain food, paper product or soap something because if you did, along would come a few cases of it! We all do something when we get older. Help her out so she isn't embarrassed by this!

Holidays are hard [2008-11-26]
My parents were divorced so my sister and I spent many years shuffling between two houses. When we each got married and had our own families the situation got even more complex. My parents are now deceased and my sister and I are estranged (even though we live in the same town), so in some ways life has gotten simpler. I still get very emotional and depressed around the holidays because of my dysfunctional childhood and negative expectations, but I don't have as much guilt and stress anymore. My husband's parents and family are back in our hometown 600 miles away, and for the last few years he's gone back there for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas with our youngest child. I don't begrudge him that because his folks are elderly and I don't want him to have any regrets later. I can't go with him because we have a lot of animals to take care of, and frankly, I'm really comfortable just hanging out at home with them anyway. We have adult kids too, and two grandchildren, and I encourage all of them to live their lives without the burden of guilt and feelings of obligation. If they can come by and have dinner or visit that's great, and if not BIG DEAL. Honestly, it's just a day. Things got easier for us when we realized we didn't necessarily have to celebrate a holiday on the exact day it was scheduled. I really understand your not wanting to let your mom down, and I would feel the same way. Your husband is a big boy and has made a choice, so that's on him, not you. He's probably being a bit immature and stubborn on this one. I hope you'll extend the invitation to your husband one more time, then go to your mom's and enjoy yourself whether he comes along or not.

If you tell your kids that Santa Claus is real [2008-11-26]
I don nephew are 5 mos. old) it if they find out you lied there will be consequences and other remarks like that. We were talking the other day and without even thinking we were talking about how Uncle Joey usually dresses as Santa but this year we might want to ask his son to take over and our friends child heard our discussion. Well, she got so mad because we were insensitive to her daughter and we don Come to find out that her kids all think Santa is real. The oldest is 17, well, I So I wondered if she is lying to her children by telling them santa claus is real?

You can put up with just about anything for a few hours! sm [2008-11-26]
Does he realize how much it means to you that he and you spend Thanksgiving together? I would pullout all the stops here. Tell him it is just for a few hours, can he not put up with them for a few hours out of an entire year? He might also like some reassurance you are not going to let your sister cuss him out again and get away with it (if that is what happened last time). I really would emphasize how much you want him to go to be with you if nothing else. Then if all else fails, yes I am saying this, use the crying card. I am pulling for you!!!

just go, forget this child play and really, really enjoy ---- [2008-11-26]
yourself without him. He'll change his tune. If you allow this behavior and kiss pratt for it - you'll have to do that whatever and whenever the whim suits him. agree with other poster - he he can't put himself aside for a couple of hours for your sake and the sake of the whole family...then it is he the problem.

Oh YES they are all like that LOL [2008-11-26]
Or at least I am sure the majority are. I have less of a bad time with my 13-year-old than I did my 18-year-old when she was that age, but we still butt heads at times. I have been honest with her that I do not trust her friends, but we agreed until SHE gives me a reason not to trust HER, then I will back off a little. She likes the older boys (like her mother did) and that worries me, but she has a good head on her shoulders and most times understands the limitations I give her. Thankfully most of her friends started doing stupid stuff long ago and she watched and learned from them (not to mention her older sister :)! Its a tough road, feel free to email me privately if you ever need an ear to bend.

Depends on who's bringing the desserts. [2008-11-26]
In my family some of us are cooks and some aren So it depends on who brings what. If it If Ibringing dessert, I usually make the pies.I have a sister who does not cook, so she always buys them. BUT she buys really good ones from local pie shop.For the first time, this year my 12 yo niece has been put in charge of dessert for Thanksgiving, with my SIL overseeing it. She I P.S. I do have a pumpkin pie stashed here at the house for later tomorrow night though!

Anyone else have The Food Poisoning Relative [2008-11-26]
My sister-in-law has very long artificial nails which accumulate a lot of rawmeat underneath them when she cooks I always get the crud. I try to warn the kids when she cooks breakfast to stick to the cold cereal!

This all comes down to the parents [2008-11-25]
I think those women are making a big mistake. I love my sister and nephew, don But he is like that 7 yo and it drives me crazy. BUT my sister and BIL are to blame, I feel. He gets a toy every time they He gets a new toy if he My sister feels guilty if he likes something and she doesn They buy him major video games just because, instead of reserving these things for birthdays or Christmas. They will go out and buy him a $200 item in the middle of the week and when I ask what the occasion is? Nothing, we just thought he'd like it! He is well behaved and they don Yes, it Growing up when we would talk, my sister had definite opinions about what she would and would not do when she had children, and this is not how she felt back then. But he doesn In my opinion, they Just my opinion.

D and Jane [2008-11-25]
I was so surprised to see D and Jane books in our local book store this past weekend. I didn't think they were still in print. When I told my daughter about them she looked at me like I had two heads! LOL. I didn't realize I couldn't type out D???. I couldn't even use the ! in it like the poster above.

What do you do when your husband...sm [2008-11-25]
wont My parents got a divorce this year. My mom told my dad he could come and visit and eat and see us kids. Well my husband has said if he is going to come then I won I really want to spend thanksgiving with my husband but I can She has helped me too much. She does so much for me. More than anyone. So I am going. He said he don He also doesn So he won If my mother and us kids can tolerate my dad why can