I don't get the hype over the author James Patterson. I could never get into his style, although I love that genre. I tried to read one of his books on vacation last week and I couldn't even get through it!

I feel for you, OP--my MIL is a hoarder and she gave me a bunch of stuff she "saved" from DH's childhood. You know what a lot of it was? Crossword puzzle books that had all the puzzles done in them. I mean, who saves that stuff?? She also still has DH's high chair. You know, just in case anyone needs it in the future....cleaning out their house when they die is going to be a fricking nightmare.

Client decides to just.. .stop keeping records! "Payroll? What payroll? Hahahaha! I just pay them the gross, I don't calculate payroll! I mean why would I, right? I have YOU to clean up my mess!" Next client sends me three.... count-em, THREE... thumb drives that are supposed to have time sensitive data that are actually blank. Next client has decided that my name is 'babe' or worse, 'foxy lady'. Oh and online quickbooks? Yeah, THAT can go eat a dick.

I don't really know what to do in my situation. I was a SAHM for a few years before I got injured. Now, due to the injury, I am disabled. Since my ex and I have split, I tried to get disability, but they said I didn't make enough points. I worked under the table for a few years before becoming a SAHM, so it's been 9 years since I've been on the books. Has anyone gone through this/have any advice? Please..no "should've done this or that" stuff. I can't change the past. Right now I'm living off child support and alimony, but my ex holds that over my head to treat me like crap.

There are entire books written on the subject, but even a wikipedia search will define it for you: traumatic bonding is: "a strong emotional attachment between an abused person and his or her abuser, formed as a result of the cycle of violence." It's very much an addiction. This is similar to what the other poster was mentioning below - oh, so simply don't eat so much to lose weight? It's the same in traumatic relationships. It's not simply about "don't let this happen." Give me a fucking break. You think someone "LET" abuse happen? You think abuse is always that obvious? It's not. It's often covert. These people are very often master manipulators who engage in cycles of reward and punishment with their victims and literally anyone can and will be fooled by them. If you manage, against great odds, to leave one of these bastards, you are likely to repeat the same bond with someone else UNLESS you break the trauma bond. You're still victim blaming to say "don't let this happen."

You are also referring to the American employers that use undocumented people as workers and pay them off the books right? And you mean the homeowners that also employ the cheap, but quality labor for their home improvements right? Not all undocumented people are the only ones breaking the laws. We round up the "illegals" from the construction sites and prosecute/deport them but god forbid we punish employers for shady business practices. Has anyone stopped to think that we make it easy for people to come here? We give them a reason, we give them jobs!

I've been working so hard on writing two books and I asked my husband to proofread them for me. He helped me fix some grammatical errors (he's an English teacher) and then he hugged me and told me I'm amazing. He's the best. Life is so different now that I'm married to someone who loves and supports me.

My ex is a slimeball. I left him for many reasons, including lack of sex/attention/consideration, pathological liar,always "throwing me under the bus",selfish, killing us financially, bad temper, ruined our family..etc..I tried marriage workbooks, counseling..everything to help us, but he didn't care to try. So I left, I moved on, been with a man for 3.5yrs. Ex just told me he's going to start counseling in a couple weeks and hope to fix himself so I'll take him back. He has a GF! And I don't want him, I've made it very clear it's over many times. I told him counseling isn't going to help if all you're going to do is lie to the person. He couldn't tell the truth to save his life. To make me feel bad, he said "well, thanks for the support". Sorry, not sorry. He'll never change. I hope for our childs sake he gets his act together.

I always found that this site was much better than Truu, in that it seemed people here (except for a few) were really supportive and encouraging of one another. Maybe I was wrong. I read a lot of books on philosophy, theology, quantum theory, history, etc., and felt comfortable sharing some interesting information I've learned. I would never expect people to agree or even believe the things I shared, but I'm saddened that I was insulted and called "cuckoo" and other things. I'd get nicer responses if I talked about my addiction issues, abusive husband, financial problems, health issues, terrible job, crazy relatives and unruly kids - but I don't have any of those issues. "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it." ~Aristotle "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." ~Shakespeare

Things I love about my life: Living 10 minutes from the beach and being able to go pretty much year-round, my fun, well-paying job and awesome colleague/laid-back boss, four fabulous sisters and one wonderful brother, my nieces and nephews who are very cool, talented people, my wonderful father, my cute cats, working at a library where I get tons of free galley proofs of new books, my yard, sunshine, trees, that I am free of Hepatitis C as of last week, ID TV, Family Guy via On Demand, so much, just so much. This was an awesome idea to do this - I feel really grateful looking at this list. Thank you! :)