In a message dated 05/30/2008 6:07:02 AM, jwaite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: << I think > reading the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus helped me > understand our > different ways of looking at the world. That book is a must read for ANY couple!!!!!!! After I read it and kept talking about it to Jim he then read it. We both agreed that it really was on the mark for helping explain the difference in the sexes and how we think/react to each other. >> Once Wade and I were having a discussion about, of all things, MONEY. I was trying to talk about how we had to be more frugal to get to the end of the month and work on our budget. To me it was just a planning discussion to enable us to balance out the end of the month with the beginning of the month. Wade was not at all happy to be talking about it. His idea was to pretend the checking account was a magic well that we went to whenever we needed cash. He finally told me that whenever we talked about paying bills or making a budget, he felt like it was an attack on him for not working hard enough and making enough money. To me, it was no different than what I did when I looked at my book budget for work. I could not spend more than I was getting and if I did not think I had enough money, for sure the school district that did not care one iota. I never considered that the cost heating the house had anything to do with how hard Wade worked to support us. We were no place close to the same page when discussing budget issues. I have told people that one of the most difficult things about being a widow is that when there are more days in the month than there are dollars in the checking account, there is no one else to blame except me. I hate that. LOL Nan-mom to Dom, 24, tri 18 mosaic and bipolar; and Ali, 24, autism, TS, ADHD <BR><BR><BR>**************<BR>Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.<BR> (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)</HTML> Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows www.trisomyonline.org Families Helping Families On-line