I had my nose shaved down once. The doctor did a %#@&#! poor job. I could post before and after pictures and you would notice almost no difference. Luckily Debra Messing has a similar facial profile - prominent nose and chin - and she's managed to make it work for her. Besides, B. thinks I'm beautifil.

Hmmmm, this is really turning more into a Relationship appropriate thread, isn't it?

_Sky, let's see, he's a social worker, I work in the medical field. He works M-F 7:30-4:30, but has his beeper on at all times in case of emergency phone calls. I work M-F days but am sort of on call during the weekends, if I choose to be.

Our faith/beliefs are both Earth based. No worries over conflicting Chreaster celebrations. Besides, the more I'm around him, the more I'm rethinking my belief system. Paganism was the first thing I discovered that fit me, but I have a really hard time with it because there are still holidays to be celebrated and rituals to be performed, and the "if it harm none, do as you will" rede. He's a Daoist - everything is about creating balance in your life. So I can still be a kind-hearted soul one day and a raving ***** the next.

I don't have any friends here. My H moved me up here and wouldn't let me make any friends of my own. They all had to be mutual ones, and of course they were people that I wouldn't have anything to do with on my own. I've met one sister and her husband, and six of his friends (well, one of those was a wife of a friend and she can't stand B., so not exactly what you'd call a friend). So far, so good.

We both want to live in the country. He wants like 20 acres, put the house in the middle so there aren't neighbors all around, fence the entire plot, and let the animals run free. We both want solitude but not total isolation.

Haven't gotten around to the bills thing yet. Every paycheck, I pay what's due within that two-week time frame. A good chunk of my bills are taken out of my checking account automatically now, since I occasionally space off paying things on time. His house and acreage is on the market to be sold as commercial property. Once he sells that, he'll have the mortgage paid off, all of his debt, his ex's divorce settlement paid in full, and still have some money left over to buy a chunk of land and start building his dream home.

Just from personal observation, money gets spent on things that bring happiness (well, our version of happiness) - food, animals, time with friends and family, books, music, and movies, outdoor activities. He doesn't have a huge entertainment system, except when he had his X-Box and games stolen by some kids at a party that his daughter threw, insurance paid for a new one, so he upgraded to X-Box 360. He plays occasionally, and in moderation. He doesn't have, or have to have, the newest and best of everything.

We did have two misunderstandings on Friday. I got to his place a few minutes before he got home. He was acting kind of odd when I got there, like he was afraid to come near me. Turns out he'd had a beer just before he drove home because he'd had such a stressful day. He'd had to spend most of the afternoon in prison with a soon-to-be-released mom. Well, his ex would have turned that one beer into a HUGE argument, so he was on edge that I was going to do the same thing. I could tell something was wrong and asked him. He knows I'm sensitive about alcohol and how my ex used it, so he was extra nervous. We worked that one out.

Then we went to play poker with some of his friends. Well, I was hanging outside with the guys while we were waiting for everyone else to get there, and the wives were holed up in the house. I didn't want to play because, one, I was feeling a little sick. My stomach was bothering me from the newly restarted Wellbutrin and too much caffeine during the day. Two, I'm absolutely CLUELESS about poker and I hate feeling like everyone has to make special accommodations and hold my hand and walk me through everything, when they could have a lot more fun without me complicating things. So I just sat at the table and talked with everyone instead.

Four hours later, when the game was nowhere near being done and I was really tired, I went in B.s Explorer and laid down with a life vest for a pillow and tried to get some rest. Then the mosquitos started buzzing around my head. After an hour or so of that, I got up and walked back by the table. No one even noticed I'd come back. So I slink back to the car. I instantly went in to thinking "Oh, yeah, just great. They'll all getting drunk off their asses and next thing I know B.'s going to be telling me what a stupid, selfish ***** I am for MAKING him give up something he likes just to make me happy."

Another hour or so in the car and by now it's 1:30 a.m.. I go BACK to the table again. B's got three times the chips he had the last time I walked over there so the end of the game was REALLY nowhere in sight. I was sick of being there, I was bored, I was feeling ignored, I was tired, my stomach didn't feel well, the women had long since fallen asleep in the house with their kids. I unhooked Cinder from her tie-out spot and said "I don't know how, but I'm going home." and turned around.

By this time he figured out something was wrong so he came to talk to me. I'd told him if he'd just warned me it was going to possibly be an all nighter, I could have prepared myself mentally for it, or I could have chosen to just not go. And the beer factor was freaking me out. I was just waiting for the ridicule to start in.

If I could drink and get stupid like everyone else, it would be a lot easier, but I don't handle alcohol well, so I'm always left watching everyone else get to the point where they can be as idiotic as they want and say whatever they want and no one will care or even remember by the next day. I don't have that luxury. It's not that I don't want to relax and have half a dozen drinks with everyone else over the course of the night. It's that I would ruin every relationship within a matter of hours and possibly end up suicidal.

B. had told me that he doesn't like getting drunk, doesn't like the feel of it, but just seeing that beer can in front of him nonstop, even though he was really just sipping it, set off all kinds of triggers.

Anyway, long story shortened a bit, we worked it out. At least we've both reached a point in our lives where we can only stand not saying what's really bothering us for so long before we just come right out and say it, instead of trying to make the disagreement about something else.

His 19-y/o daughter is kind of being ...... difficult. He's dated over the course of this past year, but no one that ever hung out with him with the girls around, so she's all weirded out by it even though she says she likes me.

We went paddling yesterday. She had two friends along. His sister and brother-in-law were there, some other friends were supposed to come but then couldn't, and then there was me and B. OK, a dozen other people could have been there and it would have been fine, but because her dad had his GIRLFRIEND along, she was irritated with him. We get home after being gone for 5 hours and we're all hungry. B. goes to the store to pick up steaks and veggies. Daughter's up in her room doing stuff. I start helping B. cut up the veggies. Dinner's ready, we sit down and eat, have nice conversation, enjoy really good food, daughter even smiles a few times. A couple hours later, B. tells me that his daughter told him she's uncomfortable with me cooking and eating with them and being in the house so much. She's an absolute ***** to him in the morning if I've stayed over.


She likes me and likes that her dad has someone to hang out with, but she wants us to slow everything down to her comfort level. Thank goodness she goes back to college in nine days. He's getting irritated with her too.

At least I can understand. My daughter is cool with the whole thing, but my son is holding back for some reason. B. had asked me if it was OK to take him fly fishing, because I'd told him his dad was "eventually" going to take him. In Tony-speak, eventually means "ain't gonna happen, never, ever." Tony said it was OK if our son got the chance to go before he could take him, but when I told our son what his dad said he got all "Nooo, I'm not going to do that." Which I found odd because just a few days earlier he was asking all kinds of questions, so I thought he was interested in getting to go.

On Friday, before we went to his friend's house, he took me to one of his fishing spots. He made a special long lead for Cinder so she had like 40 feet to run and I could still keep control of her. She was having a blast running through the tall grass and jumping in the water. He didn't even do the "shhhh, you're going to scare the fish." He goes "nah, fish don't scare that easily, that's just something parents say to their kids so they'll shut up for a while." hahahahahaha His first fish he caught, he had trouble getting the hook out and took too long. When he tossed it back in, it didn't swim away. He goes "%#@&#!" whips his shoes and socks off and jumps in the water to give it fish CPR. He tried for no less than 5 minutes to revive it. Finally he realized he couldn't save it and just said "well, the raccoons have to eat too." It was just so.....I don't know..... sweet isn't the word. It gave me a really good look into his character and his convictions. He does what he says. He doesn't just talk the talk.

The psychic reading went really well, BTW.