Mommy

I have a friend who switched to solar power in their house, and with the savings, the panels were paid for in less than 5 years. Are there any examples where going green actually costs more? Or, in most cases, will using green alternatives actually save you money in the end (planting your own garden, driving an electric vehicle, solar power, etc)?

People do realize what non-renewable means, right? That there is a finite amount and the Earth will eventually run out of them. Sure, it might not happen in our lifetime, but even the most conservative reports on the subject say that it will happen within the next few generations.

I've been taking chia seeds for about a month now on a daily basis, and my boyfriend and I have both noticed that my breasts seem heavier and fuller. They have also recently been a little painful. I've searched online but can't seem to find any information on it, but this has been the only change in my diet recently. Does anyone know if chia seeds have been linked to breast growth? Just to clarify...I have not gained any weight recently and I am not pregnant.

I never had an issue at all with this as a teen, but now that I'm getting up there in age, I have an issue. What are the best solutions for adult acne and aging? I've been using arbonne for a while, and it just makes me break out even more.

I had a really rough time over the last few days, and I had someone come through for me in a really big way. He's always there for me. Just wondering if anyone knows any songs with some good lyrics about this.

This could be kind of a long one, but here goes.

All of this involves my roommate, her ex boyfriend, and my closest guy friend (who I used to have a major thing for). While my roommate and her ex were dating, she was constantly jealous of our relationship with each other, to the point where she would tell me not to say certain things around her, she actually asked him if we were sleeping together, and she would shoot daggers out of her eyes if him and I ever talked about hanging out together. In reality, it was really obvious that her and her ex weren't compatible. Only him and I were only ever friends, and nothing came even close to crossing any sort of line. We never even flirted with each other.

Well, they broke up about a month and a half ago. She dumped him. Then she asked me to never speak to him, which I thought was bogus because we had become friends, and, all things considered, their break-up wasn't terrible.

Recently, she has started sleeping with my closest guy friend. I used to have a major crush on him! Like, to the point where she said she would never do anything with him -- date him, sleep with him, etc. I'm over that, but this week, they treated me with an ultimate level of disrespect. I spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights out and I was out late working on Wednesday night. I called her on my way home to see if we needed any groceries. She told me NOTHING on the phone about him being over. So, I got home to discover him there. And, to top things off, about 5 minutes after I crawled into bed for the night, I hear them having sex in her room. They had had every opportunity to have sex when I wasn't at home, but to me, it felt as if they purposely waited until I was in the room next to them so that I would have to hear it.

Well, I was fed up with her, first for breaking the girlfriend code, then for being as inconsiderate as she was on Wednesday night, so yesterday, I texted her ex to catch up. We decided to go out for some drinks on Monday night. There was some definite flirting going on in the texts, but I only want to be friends with him (she's dirty and they have slept together, so I don't want to end up with some STI). Should I maybe just duck out on our Monday night? Or just invite out some other friends so it's not just the 2 of us? I don't want him to think it's a date.

PS...I am DONE with my roommate and my business partner as friends (meaning that I'm looking to move out and dumping him as a partner for our next project...he isn't willing to invest any capital in the business to keep it going anyways, because "I'm the money and he's the work"...well, I suppose I'll take my money and find cheaper labour then). Aside from Wednesday night, there have been a number of other occasions where they have both taken advantage of me to the point where I feel manipulated, used, and just plain disrespected by both of them.

If you were buying a newly renovated home, would you care which was in there (specifically in the bathrooms and entryway)? Would you be willing to pay more for a house that had ceramic tile? The house is in the 200,000-250,000 price range in a "transition" neighbourhood.

I have a guy friend who I used to be seeing. Things never worked out, so we decided to be just friends, and we have gotten along great. Lately, he has been going through a really rough time, and I have been helping him out as much as I can.

He has a girlfriend who lives in another city, and comes down to visit on the weekends. She gets insanely jealous of our relationship with each other, to the point where she seriously believes that he's cheating on her with me, and that I am the cause of any problems in their relationship. In the meantime, he is getting incredibly irritated with her accusations, to the point where he is ready to break up with her over them and I can't help but feel that my presence is the cause of all of their problems. I don't know what exactly he has been telling her about us, but I really feel like the "other girl" at this point. I have tried to take a step back and let them be, but he says that he needs me right now, and that I'm one of the only people he can talk to. What should I do?

This is just a fun question. If there was one piece of relationship advice you could share with someone, regardless of the situation that they are in, what would it me?

Mine would be that if you are thinking of ending a relationship, and you can't see yourself breathing a sigh of relief and being happy over it all being over, there might be something left there to fight for.

This is kind of a long story, but I was friends with this guy back when I was a teenager. We talked to each other about everything. We did holidays with each others' families. He was even there for me when my dad passed away. One day we ended up sleeping together, and we continued on this way until I ended up meeting the guy who I would eventually marry. The guy that I ended up marrying was very jealous of our relationship, and at the time, as a not-so-bright 19-year-old, I ended up ditching my friend for my then-boyfriend, even though I was completely in love with him. At the time, I thought I wasn't good enough for him and that nothing would come out of it.

Well, 8 years later, my marriage has gone down the tubes, and I have started talking to my friend again. Nothing has changed, and I still have really strong feelings for him. I'm afraid that if I tell him the truth, I'll lose him for good this time, but I'm being tortured by it to the point that I believe that the reason why neither of us has found a meaningful relationship is because we were supposed to be with each other this entire time (I don't believe in soulmates, but if I did, he would be "the one"). So, do I tell him and risk it all? Or do I just continue on torturing myself to keep him in my life?

I've been seeing this guy for quite a while (since July) and he has started to tell me that he loves me when we are sleeping together. So far I've just ignored it. Does this mean that he actually thinks he loves me, or is it more of a heat of the moment thing? I don't want to bring it up with him, because I don't want to scare him away.

If so, how do you get it back?

I was in an relationship with someone for 8 years, and he made it pretty clear that he was embarassed of the "quirky" parts of me. Like, when I would make random comments, my "sick" humour...those types of things. He would always tell me how I should learn to keep my mouth shut and how I had embarassed him. (yeah, the relationship was a little emotionally abusive).

Anyways, I feel like I've gotten so BORING because of it! Like, I used to be this cool, fun, quirky girl, and now the only conversations that I'm comfortable carrying on are the very basic, almost "small-talk" types of things. I see glimmers of me again, mainly when I'm really really tired and operating purely on caffeine.

Basically, I guess it's been 8 years, and maturity could have kicked in at some point, but I like the pre-relationship me better. When you change yourself to make someone happy, is it even possible to get "you" back again?

The last time I was really in the dating game was when I was 18, and now, it's almost 9 years later, and I'm totally confused. There are all of these different "relationship" statuses - friends with benefits, seeing each other, dating, boyfriend/girlfriend, etc etc. Oh, and of course, there is the whole exclusive/non-exclusive thing too!

So, anyways, a little bit of elaboration. I met someone back in July. He was a friend of a friend. The first night that we met, we just kind of parted ways, but then we met up again a week later, and he walked me home, got my number, and called me for a date a few days later. So, we went on a few dates (I think it was 3 or 4) then one night, I was going out with some friends and invited him along. He came and brought a couple of his friends, and we slept together for the first time. Then he freaked and said he didn't really want to be in a relationship yet. I agreed and we decided to keep seeing each other. This was about 3 weeks after we met.

So, anyways, we went on a couple of more dates, then one morning, I got a text from him saying that he had "slipped up" and made out with another girl after the bar. And I texted him back and said that I thought we were just seeing each other, it wasn't a big deal, but if he thought it was, then maybe we needed to talk (btw...it really wasn't a big deal, because I haven't been treating it like an exclusive thing and have done the same thing...just didn't think I had to tell him about it). So, he let me know that there wasn't anything to talk about as long as we were still on the same page.

So, anyways, now it's a couple of months later. We don't really go on "dates" anymore. Instead, we usually end up making plans to hang out at my place or hang out with friends or whatever. We've had a couple of more "not in a relationship" talks in the meantime. He tells me that he likes me, and he likes where things are going, but that he doesn't want anything serious right now, and I'm in the same place, but I feel like we're falling apart, because we have to keep solidifying this. Like, I'll say or do something or he will that suddenly makes the other think "relationship." Are we kidding ourselves? I know that I'm the only person he's seeing, but I'm not ready to commit to that yet if he doesn't want to commit to a relationship. And when I meet his friends, he introduces me as his "friend who is more than a friend." Honestly, he's a great guy, and I know that I want more with him, but I'm afraid that if I tell him that, he'll freak out again, and I'll lose him completely. Have we just screwed this up beyond being anything more than we are right now?

I've been talking to a guy who was a really close friend back when I was in my late teens. We never actually called ourselves "dating" but we did everything that 2 people who were dating would do, both physically and non-physically. He became my first love, but when my met who would eventually become my ex husband, he (my now ex-husband) was uncomfortable with our friendship (for obvious reasons).

Anyways, we met up for the first time this week after not seeing each other in years, and absolutely nothing has changed, basically leaving us to pick up where things left off. And I've realized that my feelings for him haven't changed either. But I don't know if this is even possible. After so long and not seeing each other, could I still be in love with him? And should I tell him?

Things used to be really really easy between us, but it's been 8 years! I have no idea what to say, do, wear, anything! And we've gone from "hang out" to "see a movie" to "hang out." (yes, I know the connotation of "hang out"...that's kind of par for the course for us).

I think that what I'm nervous about is the fact that we had gotten to the point where it was do or die before, and I killed it by getting together with someone else, and I've always regretted it. And now I'm thinking worried that I'll be disappointed if things aren't the same, but nervous for what will happen if things are. So, I guess my real question is, can there still be something there this many years later? I know I've changed a lot, but he hasn't. And what would be proper protocol? Do I hug him? Kiss him? Sit by him on the couch or on a separate one? I feel like a school girl right now and I'm fricking 26 years old! SO nervous!!! And even worse, if I'm "seeing" someone right now, but we haven't really seen each other for a week, he's barely talked to me, and he keeps saying "let's take this day by day" do I have any reason to feel guilty about this?

Guys, do you prefer girls with short or long hair, or does it not matter? I always thought it was long, but, I don't know...maybe I look better with short hair, because I get a lot more male attention now...like, more than any girl would ever need! lol....I never got this with longer hair. What is it about a short-haired girl that is attractive?

I've been seeing someone for a couple of months now who has been diagnosed and is being treated for depression and anxiety. It seems as though, with us, when things are going good, they are great, but then they always take a bad turn. And I can never trace it back to a specific action or something that I said. It's just, like, all of a sudden, he will say "we need to take this slow" or he'll just stop calling/texting/wanting to see me for days on end. We are really compatible personality wise, and we have a ton of fun when we are together. And, honestly, I am as comfortable with him as with some people that I have known for years, but he is SO all over the place when it comes to some things that I'm just not sure.

I guess my real question is, can this be a symptom of depression and anxiety? I mean, it's obvious, right? Huge mood swings...but it's almost like he turns commitment phobic or something. Is that normal? Also, is it bad for someone who is pretty emotionally stable (I have gone through rough patches, but no worse than anyone else I know...and I'm, literally, the person that my friends count on to be stable for them) to try to make it work with someone who has a mental illness that she doesn't understand? Or am I the kind of person that he needs because I'm stable?

I've been seeing someone for a few weeks now. We have been on 5 official dates and hung out a couple of times beyond this. We talked a couple of weeks ago about where we were at, what was going on, etc. At the time, I thought it was pretty clear that we had decided that we are seeing each other, but just casually for now.

Well, this weekend, I got a text from him (actually a series of texts) explaining how he had been out at the bar on the weekend and had kissed another girl. He was very apologetic, and thought that I would be upset about it. In all honesty, since we've been seeing each other, I have been on dates with another guy and we have made out a couple of times, because I was assuming that me and the guy I'm seeing are non-exclusive and I was free to do my own thing (basically, single).

I'm thinking that if he feels that he needs to apologize about kissing another girl, that he's at a different point than I am at in this relationship right now. The question is, how exactly do I address this? Do I be honest about the other guy to help alieve some of his guilt? I sent him a text back that said not to worry too much about it and that I think we need to talk, but I don't know what to do! In all honesty, I really like him, and I would like to have a more serious relationship with him, but I've been giving him his space because I thought that's what he wanted. Help!!!

I recently split from my husband. When I was with him I was what you could call typical soccer mom, but I was really depressed.

In the last few months, I have made a disaster of my entire life! On the days when I have my kid, I'm the same as I was before. Typical soccer mom. But on the days when I don't, I have made such a mess of my life I don't even know what to do anymore! I have been sleeping with random people, shopping so much that I have spent almost all of the money I got in the separation, drinking and partying daily (when my kid isn't around), doing drugs (again, when my kid isn't around). And to top it all off, I struggled with an eating disorder for years and thought that I had finally kicked it, but I have been bingeing and purging at least once or twice daily. I feel like my whole life is in this downward spiral right now, and I don't know what to do! The problem is, I was so controlled by him that now I feel like this freedom is almost overwhelming! And I don't like being by myself, so I feel like if I have any alone time I need to fill it up with someone or something.

Has anyone else who has gone through a separation gone through this? Should I be getting some professional counseling, or is this just a phase?

Is there any secret to having a friends with benefits relationship remain strictly sex and nothing else? I am having a huge issue with this right now, because the guy that I am hooking up with is someone that I could totally see myself with in other ways. Do I need to dump the relationship before I get romantically involved, should I hang onto it and hide my feelings, or should I let him know how I feel?