Mrs. Madrid

For the past 2 years I've taken a "girls trip" to the Bahamas with friends. I'm a hard working mom/wife and I think I deserve a few days away to relax with my friends. My husband trusts me completely but for some reason disapproves of these "girls trips". He knows my girlfriends that I go with but he thinks that when you're married you should do everything together. I disagree & feel like even though we're married we should still have our own things that we enjoy doing on our own. I've made the decision to go on previous trips without consulting him first which he didn't appreciate but he eventually got over it. I'm a grown woman & shouldn't need to ask my husband permission to do anything; at least that's how I feel it should be. So after this years trip back in May he basically told me "no more girls trips". I agreed since we're planning a big family trip next summer.

My girlfriends came to me this weekend and convinced me to go on next years trip to Europe in April to visit some friends we have there. I've never been and immediately said of course I wanted to go. Well through a not so conspicuous post on Facebook by a friend my husband found out about our plans and is barely speaking to me. He's furious that I would plan another trip without asking him after we agreed that I wouldn't do it again. I can see his point but at the same time, I really wish he would just let me have some time with my friends without giving me the third degree. He's even threatened to leave now and I don't know what to do? My girlfriend has already bought tickets for us (which weren't cheap) so the money's already been spent. I feel like I can't back out now because of this but I feel like him throwing away our relationship over this is a bit ridiculous. Is he overreacting or am I completely wrong here?

Our kids are older (13 & 14) so it's not like I'm leaving babies at home & we both make a good living so me going doesn't put our finances at risk. I'm just at a loss right now & need some advice. If you have negative comments, please keep them to yourself, just looking for some insightful perspective. Thanks.

My husband & I got pre-qualified for a home loan through a broker but when the time came to submit and process our loan we got denied. There were a couple different reasons given but mainly affordability was their biggest issue even though we had a substantial down payment and decent credit. Our realtor advised that we use the direct lender that she works with since according to her they can get around certain issues that a broker can't. We gave all of our personal info to the direct lender and they were able to get a DU approval but final approval from the underwriter will take a couple of days.

I'm really skeptical at this point since we were turned down elsewhere but the direct lender said they were willing and able to take the loan pending the underwriters approval. Has anyone else had the experience of being denied by a broker but approved by a direct lender? I know every case is different and each transaction has it's own set of "issues" but we found the PERFECT house and now that we're in escrow we're scrambling to secure financing after we thought we wouldn't have a problem. We're going to be devastated if this deal doesn't work out. Any thought, ideas, personal experience with this same scenario would be helpful. Thanks!

My son is 11 and wears a size 3.5 in boys. He needs metal cleats for a travel ball team he's going to be playing on but I can't find metal cleats anywhere in small sizes. All the metal cleats I've seen in the stores are men sizes that start at around size 7. Does anyone know if anyone (Nike, Mizuno, Reebok etc.) even makes metal cleats in youth sizes? I've searched online to no avail. Please help!

My sis got pregnant right after I got engaged and my whole engagement I've had to share the attention with her being pregnant. She got married last September and ALL the attention was on her as it should be. Well now it's my turn and nobody seems to understand. My fiance' and I decided not to have kids at our wedding but my sister seems to think she is the exception to the rule. My mom even went so far as to tell my fiance' and I that she is paying for the wedding therefore it doesn't matter if we want the baby there or not, SHE wants the baby there and that's that.

My mom and my sis want to show the baby off to our family and friends and I just feel like my wedding isn't the time or place. The wedding is about my fiance' and I, not my sister and her new baby. We are both hurt that they can't respect our wishes and my wedding is next weekend. Am I wrong in asking my sis to leave the baby at home?

There is a beautiful chapel/church in my neighborhood that I would love to be married in. However, I just found out that it is a Latter Day Saints church (mormon). I know their religious beliefs are very strict and I am not sure if they would allow anyone outside of their faith to use their church for a wedding of another religion. I am currently a member of a non-denominational Christian church.