Sweet T

My children's baptisms are creeping up sooner than I expected and now it's crunch time. I have 4 boys, 10, 9, 4, and 1 years old.

We're getting them baptized all at once.

In our family it's tradition to give a gift to the child being baptized as well as giving a gift to the godparents.

I'm in search of a modern gift I could give each godparent. Something personal yet practical. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I'm trying not to get too upset about this since it is only just a sport and just for the kids.j

My son was in U8 soccer in the fall and it was pretty much beginner basic. The children on all the teams were on the same level of progression, the players didn't really know exactly what to do with passing and positions, the coaches rotated the children, goals weren't necessarily kept but awarded with the cheer of the parents it was like I said very basic, teaching them to have fun and to sort of get the concept.

Now my son is in U8 spring soccer and it is a traveling team. The first practice began the same way his fall season did. Drilling and the fundamentals. Yesterday was the 5th game we had been to against another township and yesterday was sort of the last straw for me. Although my son is not the greatest player because you can sort of weed out who's been playing since they were 3 or 4 on the team, my son does know how to play. Since the start of the season my son has not been favored at all to play and it seems as if the coach went from teaching the kids the fundamentals of soccer to lets win, win, score and win overnight.

Yesterday was his 5th game and also the 4th game in a row where he had only played once in the entire hour of the game and for only 5 minutes. there are in total 12 kids on his team and being the mom that I am of course I am sitting across the field watching my son sit on the bench so I of course notice how many times each kid was played and in total every child on the team was rotated to play more than 5 times except the natural players who were basically kept in play and my son (only played once).

This isn't the first time though, this is the 4th time in a row.

I was furious. for many reasons being that,

we paid for spring soccer and it wasn't a pretty penny, we drove an hour from our home to attend this game, and most importantly - my son. He loves soccer, he's been to soccer camp and has played soccer for 2 years now and like I said, although he's not the best kid on the team we put him on the team because he asked if he could play again this year.

I dont want to over react which is why I sat quietly for 5 games but now I'm at my wits end with this last game. How do I even approach the coach with this problem....

For about 5 months now I have had nothing but headaches with my car. But just to let everyone know I have always kept up with the maintenance on the vehicle, the oil is changed every 3,000 miles and any time the vehicle is due for any type of service, I make sure it's done. I treat the car almost better than I do my children.. not true but pretty darn close. The car is seldom driven, driven for pleasure, probably about 30 miles a week. between the both of us, me and the fiancee.

Than the headache started. The car started to have trouble shifting into gear, mostly shifting into 2nd from 1st. and even popping out of 3rd. I am aware of the 3rd gear popping out problems the 8th generation si's been notorious for. I don't necessarily think it's this cars issue though.

I feel like I literally had to force the knob out of 1st and into 2nd, and then to 3rd, but into 4th and 5th smooth as butter. I drove around for less than a week before I took it into to be check out...rode with the technician..what do you effing know. the car stopped doing it! My technician told me everything looked good though under the hood, told me there was nothing he could do and that his best advice was to keep driving it until it got worse and than bring it in.

So I drove my car out of the garage all pissed off b/c of course it would stop with the shifting issues on the day it was checked out by the professional. And the car shifted for me fine for about 2 months and than it started again, so doing as I was instructed, driving until it got worse.. i believe the car is worse.

Before I take it in does anyone have a clue on what it is.

Car will not shift into any gears at all when engine is on. The only way I can get the car to move is if I shut the engine off, put it in gear, and turn the car on. It will shift from 1st to 6th, unless I come to a full stop. At a full stop the only option I have is to shut the car off, put it in gear, start the car, and go. It will absolutely not go into lower gears.

and this is the freaky part.

30 mins ago, the car would not start, engine would turn but not catch. Put the car in 1st and 2nd would not start, finally started for me in 3rd... Only 3 blocks away from my house, praying I would make it home to call triple a, crossing my fingers I wouldn't hit a stop light, I coast into my driveway.. Just to find out the car is shifting into all gears very smoothly! Goes into all gears without problems, can now start the car in neutral and drive it normal

What the F is going on.

Note: distinct smell coming from car, almost like burnt wires.. not burnt clutch I know what that smells like. any ideas?

My boyfriend of 2 ½ years finally proposed to me. Prior to him asking me we had on several occasions went ring shopping a while back just so that he could get an idea of what I liked and preferred. So I tried on a lot of rings, voiced the type of cut I liked, talked about how I didnt like all the extra rings that surrounded the main ring, the color etc etc the jewelers took down my name and preference and that was that.

He did surprise me when he asked me, I didnt think he was going to ask anytime soon. I am soo excited and happy he asked me to marry him and of course accepted. The ring is beautiful, but looking at it further it is everything I didnt want in a ring. Im a simple kind of girl, I just want a ring with 1 diamond, or even 1 main diamond with 2 smaller diamonds on each side. That was it. He got me such a complicated ring that is far from simple. Its got tons of diamonds that surround not 1 or 2 or 3 but 4 main diamonds and than even more diamonds that surround them. And for weeks I tried sooooooo hard to deal with the ring and make myself like it because it came from him. But I cant bring myself to enjoy it :o( and I feel awful because I dislike the ring. Its so hard because a ring is something u have to wear forever and I thought that was the entire point of ring shopping so you can pick out what you like.

I need to know what I should do to move on from this. I know that its just a ring and its minuscule to the love I have for my boyfriend. Why cant I move past the ring. Am I being selfish, should I just learn to deal with the ring. Sigh........ please give me some insight. .

So I had been married once before and we had a court wedding. nothing special. went in and out. that was 8 years ago. I am divorced now and am in a serious relationship with another man.

I am 27 years old, will be 28 this year. I have always dreamt of having my dream wedding, dress, church, ceremony all of it. which i wouldnt mind to do with him....

Problem is. Im not close with my family at all. they live in nebraska and I live in Jersey. they are scared of flying and a wedding is not a big deal to them so they wont come if I do get married. he comes from a huge family that all reside in the area and have accepted me so I am grateful to be a part of a family thats close. but now Im just torn... I dont want to have a church wedding and have my side be almost empty, his side full. :o(

I want to have a wedding still and we were thinking maybe we can just get married in hawaii (his brother lives in hawaii) and come back to the us and legalize it in court.. and celebrate with a huge reception after.

So I am playing the image in my head (although I have always wanted a fairy tale wedding) how can I come close to it given the circumstances.... what would/should i do.

I am 27 years old. Just found out I need orthodontic work which will cost roughly $6000. I have dental insurance which is extremely good, only problem is they dont cover orthodontic treatment for adults, only children!!! which is sooooo aggrivating cause personally I think it shouldnt matter how old you are, you pay for dental coverage you should get some kind of coverage.

Anyways, my dental insurance doesnt cover anything b/c Im an adult.

I live in New Jersey. I cant afford to do the in house financing options some of the orthodontic offices offer, I dont want to sign up for a credit card to cover my work. I just want to know if there is legitimate orthodontic insurance out there someone can vouche for.. any help would be greatly appreciated.