Erin B

I'm a 20 years old female and in Roanoke Virginia. I do not have a drivers license, but I've had my learners permit for several months and am planning to schedule my driving test as soon as possible. Before I take my driving test, however, I need to figure out and work my budget around insurance. I have a few questions.

1) Is it possible, and if so is it worth it, to get insurance before I take my driving test?

2) I know it's a dice roll, especially since I haven't purchased the car yet, but any guess on what I'll be paying for insurance on, say, a 2002-2006 Honda Civic (Assuming I can find one that doesn't have any stupid mods on it) or a Toyota Corolla in the same age range? (Yes, I know large age range, but that's what I'm looking at) I will be paying for this car outright. I will not be making any payments on it.

3) My mother has a horrendous driving record (she's totaled 3 cars in the past two years). Will that effect my rate, even though I am not going on her plan, we are not in the same state, and she did not teach me to drive? Will my father's clean driving record (not so much as a parking ticket since 1973) benefit me?

4) Speaking of my parents, will I need to get ahold of their driving records?

5) How long does it take for insurance to become active and legal?

I've never had a yeast infection before, but I certain that I do now. Rather than head to a doctor ($150 minimum) I went to the store, and bought an OTC treatment. Reading through the directions I saw in bold and all caps "DO NOT USE IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH A YEAST INFECTION BY A DOCTOR."

I really don't have $150 bucks to spend on heading to a doctor, but my health insurance doesn't cover regular doctors visits, and there are no free clinics or anything around here, so I'd be stuck going somewhere expensive. Is it safe to just try the treatment anyways?

I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder a little over a year ago, but it's remained untreated, because I can't afford to do anything. I have no health insurance, and can't afford medication or therapy. I also can't afford to keep having these attacks during work or school, and they're becoming more frequent. I'm a college student, currently. Right now, between the fact that I'm on a payment plan for my tuition, and keeping my rent paid and food on the table, I can barely make ends meet.

Does anyone have any tips or advice on how to prevent or control panic and anxiety attacks?

My aunt adopted a baby several years ago. Recently I was browsing her facebook page, and found an argument in which someone asked for my aunts advice, the advice was given, and then told my aunt that she was wrong, and that her opinion wasn't relevant because she wasn't a real parent, because she had adopted, instead of giving birth.

My aunts deleted the conversation now, so I can't copy and paste it, but that's not the point anyways.

Mostly, I just want to know what other people think, or whether any other adoptive parents have been through this. I'm not going to get involved or anything. This is just my curiosity spinning out of control.

Note: My parents have been divorced since I was a toddler.

When I was a little kid, my mother opened another bank account and each week we went down and deposited $20 into the account. It was in her name, but she always told me the account was my college fund

Eventually we got out of the habit of going there each week, and until recently I had forgotten the account existed. A few days ago I was talking with my father about how hard it was finding a job, and how I was starting to get nervous because my next money payment (I've got my college tuition on a month-by-month plan because I didn't have the money all up front) was coming. He told me that I'd find one eventually, but in the meantime not to worry too much. I had that old college fund to help me out. Turns out, he had asked my mother for the account information many years ago and had been putting money in it this whole time, however, since the account wasn't in his name, they wouldn't give him a balance. According to him, he had put in over $30,000.

I then mentioned it to my mother, who said she had taken the money out and closed the account years ago.

Now I'm angry. I tried to ignore it, but it's still bothering me. If she took out all the money she put in, that's fine. That was her money to begin with. But she also took out my father's $30,000+. Again, is she for some reason didn't want me to have it, than that's fine. But she should have at least given it to him! He just lost his house and his job, and my mom wouldn't even let him store some stuff in the corner of he empty and unused garage, but she has no problem taking HUGE SUMS of money from him?

I know technically, legally, he gave her the money when he put it into an account with her name on it. My mother pointed this out when I told her that I was angry about it. She told me that it was stupid to be angry at her. That if I wanted to be angry I should blame him for being stupid enough to put the money in her account....

Parents, I'm asking you, as you're.... well...parents and my parents are the issue here. (Plus I like you guys better than the folks in the "Family" section which was my other option)

Am I right to be angry with my mother? Every time I talk to her she makes me question if what I'm thinking or feeling is right.... makes me feel like I'm always wrong.....it's driving me crazy.

I can't handle my mother anymore. She's an alcoholic, and absolutely insane (at least when she's drunk. Which is more than half the time)

She has lost custody of my sisters (ages 11 and 13 currently) several times, but as their father isn't in the picture, my aunt cant afford to take my sisters, and my mother has no contact with the rest of my family, they have been put in foster care. After a few months, they give my sisters back, because the system is over-crowded. They wont let my sisters live with me, because I'm under 21.

I am nearly 20, and moved out not long after I turned 18 (days after the first time she lost custody.) Before that, I had been the main caregiver to my sisters. They both consider me more of a mother than they consider our actual mother. I moved out because I couldn't stand my mother, and since my sisters didn't need me to be there, I wanted to get out. At the time, I had no idea they'd be moving back in only a little while later.

Even after all this time out of the house, I still get phone calls, where my mother blames me for one thing or another. It's my fault she got arrested for drinking and driving. It's my fault her kitchen is a mess. It's my fault that she lost custody again. It's my fault that she drinks.

I've had enough. I want to cut her out of my life, at least until she stops being so... frustrating. But I have seen the way she gets when she's offended. Spewing all sorts of bad things, mostly lies. I've caught her in some really ridiculous ones before. My sisters are still fairly gullible, which I suppose is my fault. I oftentimes protected them from my mothers lies. They don't trust her to take care of them, but they still take her word as fact.

I'm scared. I know my sisters love me, but I also have seen the stake my mother drove in their relationship with their father. They wont even speak to him now, because of my mother and her lies.

I love my sisters. I don't know what to do.

Yes, this question is just for fun. I used to do a lot of people watching, simply because I had nothing else to do at the time (messed up class schedule first semester of college. Had a break that was not long enough to pick up more time at work, but longer than it took me to do homework. Lived too far away from campus to want to go home) During the middle of the day, most of the people who are out are parents with young children.

I want to know the best thing you've seen STRANGERS do/say with/to their children in public. Something unbelievably amusing, or touching, or just generally great.

I also want to know what the worst thing you've ever seen STRANGERS do with their children. Wondering why I've got strangers capitalized? Because I want to make it clear that I'm not asking what YOU have done, or what your friends have done, but rather what people you do not know have done.

About a year ago I moved in with my fiance. Since then if I complain about ANYTHING being wrong with my body, she asks if I'm pregnant. I've always been clumsy, and sometimes on the phone with her I would walk around, and occasionally walk into something. If I said "ouch" or gasped, or made any sort of reference to it, she would say "Are you pregnant? I used to be clumsy when I was pregnant. Are you sure you're not pregnant? You're too young to be pregnant."

If I have a headache, she tells me that's a common symptom of pregnancy. I get stress-induced nightmares (particularly around exam time, as I'm also a college student) but apparently nightmares are also a common sign of pregnancy, nevermind that I've gotten stress-nightmares most of my life. We've now moved into her house (we used to live 800 miles away. I transferred schools so that I could be nearer my family, and fiance graduated) and it's even worse.

Last night my mother was sick. I stayed up until 3am taking care of her, and then crashed on the couch, too tired to even go up the stairs to my own room. This morning she woke me up at 6, because she needed something and was still feeling crappy. She had me running around for two hours and I didn't even have a chance to grab a cup of coffee. She noticed I looked tired, and asked me about it. I answered "Yeah, I am tired" and her response was "Is it because you're pregnant? I really am not ready to be a grandmother" No mom. I've had three hours of freaking sleep and I'm also currently on my period, which usually makes me a little sleepy in general, and also makes me even more sure that I'm not pregnant. Will you get off my case?

Anyways, anyone have any advice on how to get my mother to believe I'm not pregnant?

My local college has an off-campus branch at a local mall. Its closer to my home so I take classes there mostly, and when I'm not in class, I hang out in the food court. Unfortunately, I see a lot of examples of parents that make me angry. It's not just things I disagree with, but generally "bad" parenting, bordering on abusive in many cases.

This frightens me terribly, but I'm not sure what to do. I know that confronting them and correcting them is rude offensive, and embarrassing. I know that you can't call Child Protective Services on someone unless you know who you're reporting. But I feel the need to do something, because this is ridiculous. Here are a few examples of what I see EVERY DAY.

I have seen a mother intentionally knock her child down, and while he cried she laughed and said "I love this thing" in reference to the child leash he was on which she used to pull him down. Her child had been walking calmly beside her at the time.

I have seen a toddler wandering around unattended. When I noticed him walking alone, I looked for a parent, but not one was there. I decided to keep an eye on him until someone else got him. He walked out into the parking lot, so I went to get him. When I walked back into the food court, I carried him around, looking for his mother. When she finally found me, she yelled at me about touching other peoples children. When I explain the situation she told me to leave before she called the cops, and that I had no right to challenge her authority about her son.

I've watched a young teenage (13/14/15ish) girl receive a text message. Her father shouted "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO CHANGE THAT GODDAMN SOUND?" Her tone was just a beep; I would assume the default for the phone. He took the phone from her and smashed it on the ground, and stomped on it a few times. This was followed by a shouting match in which i found out that this girl had a job, and paid her own phone bill, had bought her phone, and paid her father $100 a month in rent, which considering her age, was a lot. He called her selfish and yelled that if she wanted a new phone she'd have to "get off her *** and buy it herself"

I've seen mothers who scream at their infants for crying, or at their clearly unsteady just-learning-how-to walk toddlers for falling down and "touching the dirty floor like the piece of filth that you are."

Maybe I just want to be told that I was right, or at least told that I wasn't ENTIRELY wrong.

My mother was an alcoholic. Neglectful mostly, but sometimes she got irrationally angry. I had two sisters, a lot younger than me. I took care of them. I fed them, made sure they bathed, helped with homework, took them to the doctors, put them on the school bus, sometimes picked them up from school. I told them off, or sent them to their rooms when they broke rules. I praised them when they did great things. I went to every school event: every concert, every parents night. I played silly games with them. When my mom got angry at them for something stupid that wasn't their fault, I stepped in and defended them. I even took care of my mom, when she was too 'tired' to get out of bed for dinner, and I brought her back to her room when she was sleepwalking (a weird side effect of her drinking)

I tried to run my house. I almost didn't go to college because they needed me at home. But my father(parents divorced) stepped in, called social services. He wanted me to go to college, to have a life of my own. They told my mom to stop drinking. They told me that I was selfish for not calling them myself. That I was immature, and that I should have "ignored my sisters like any normal teenager would have. If they had shown obvious signs of neglect, we would have been able to help them sooner." Obvious signs? they weren't being neglected. Maybe my mother wasn't paying attention, but I was.

I wasn't trying to be selfish, and I didn't think I was trying to help. But now I just feel guilty. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it hurt them more than it helped. I just.... i need to be told it's okay. I need someone to tell me that I wasn't TOTALLY wrong, even if I was a little wrong. I need... forgiveness I guess. I was insulted by strangers, and now I need a stranger to tell me I'm not worthless. Yes, this post is asking for praise. I really need something positive right now. Sorry to ask. Maybe I am selfish after all....

Okay, so I'm feeling a little lost, and more than a little foolish here.

First of all, this is the first time I've flown anywhere on my own, and I never really paid much attention to what the other people who I was flying with were doing. I just followed along, and showed my ID to the people running security. The other person I'm traveling with has never flown.

Basically, I need a walk through. I don't know what do do about my e-ticket. Do I print out the confirmation email I was sent? When I get to the airport, do I check in at the desk like normal, or is it better to use the little electric kiosk, or something else entirely? Does it not matter? Once I get our boarding pass, I can handle it, but it's getting to that point. Also, how do I check my luggage? I've never had to check anything before. I've always just carried it on, but I need to check a bag this time.

Okay so I just received a check in the mail from my aunt. The check is drawn on Sovereign Bank, which isn't in the area where I live. I know that I could bring it to my bank (bank of america) but my account is overdrawn, and I wonder if they would keep the money to pay off the fees. I need the cash for my rent, so if they keep it, I'm screwed. Would they keep the money? or would they just give it to me? Or is there any way for me to give the check to someone else to cash, even though its written to me?

Specifically I'm looking for:

Historia Natralis (Pliny the Elder)

and any sort of complete collection of the poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus.

The book stores in my area don't have any Latin except the Aeneid, which I own already. My library doesn't have any Latin either.

I have been looking for flights to bring a friend of mine to visit. CheapOAir.com has offered a rate significantly lower than any other website I've looked at. ($190 Round trip vs. $358 Round trip) Before booking the flights I decided to look at some reviews from them to make sure they weren't going to rip me off. All I've managed to find out is that they have bad customer service representatives on the phone. I don't particularly care if they have bad customer service. I just want to be sure that I'm going to get what I pay for, and it will actually be what it's telling me.

When I was an infant I was allergic to disposable diapers, except for a certain type of Pampers that I dont remember the name of. I had huge oozing sores all over from them, regardless of how short a time I had them on, or whether or not I used them. According to my mother I was allergic to the chemicals they use to make the pee congeal.

Anyways, I was just wondering what those chemicals are, if anyone knows?

I was on a walk last night with two friends of mine, walking through the woods. I started to get really lightheaded and dizzy and so we stopped for a minute and I sat down. I've been getting dizzy spells a lot recently, usually accompanied by my heart pounding. But my heart felt fine, i was jusst slightly lightheaded. I put my head in my hands, and covered my eyes. When I looked up because my head felt better everything was really blurry.

It was like trying to see without my glasses on, only i was wearing them. I didnt say anything right away, thinking it was a side effect of my dizziness, but ten minutes later it was still blurry. We kept walking and I was hardly able to see where I was going. A few minutes later my eyes started watering like crazy (which made it even harder to see) We were outside fro about another half an hour, and then after we got home about another half hour past before I could see clearly again.

While going through a time of writers block I kept adding in characters so that I would have soemthing to write about. Now I have too many (9 major, 4 secondary, bunches of others).

I've been told by one of the two people I let read it that its too confusing to have so many. Do you think it would be better for the reader if i had the group of characters split up into a couple of smaller groups, or should I just figure out some way to go back nad change it so that some dont exist anymore?