That was confusing me too. I've lived in Central Illinois my whole life. The liquor store is where you go if you want knowledgeble staff and/or a pricy or obscure liquor, beer or wine. I can also get Girl Scout cookies there at the right time of the year because the owner's daughter is a scout. Pretty much anywhere…

I buy my wine for cooking and baking at Target in a box. It stays fresh and its cheap, but the quality is good enough for what I'm using it for. I do drink wine though. My favorite ones are from a local winery(August Hill). They have an awesome raspberry one in the summer.

You can buy alcohol pretty much anywhere in Illinois. I can get everything from beer to wine to the hard stuff at WalMart, CVS, grocery stores, gas stations, and of course liquor stores too. My county has one of, if not the, highest number of bars per capita in the state too.

I have a friend like you. She came in very handy when I recently moved from a large 4 bedroom Victorian into a small 3 bedroom one story.

There's a Boy Scout Troop in my area that takes old books for recycling. It's better than the dumpster if you can find one in your area.

I'm a librarian, with kids at 3 different reading levels(board book, picture book, and upper elementary/YA), who does storytelling and historical lectures on the side. I put the board books on the bottom shelf in the living room and in the the kids' bedrooms. Picture books go above the board books and in the kids'…

I can't speak for anyone else, and I chose not to have an abortion, but I will share my story. I have PTSD from a horrible experience with my first pregnancy and delivery. Symptoms were manageable with my second pregnancy until I was diagnosed with preeclampsia again at the very end of it. My third pregnancy was a…

I have long, thick, curly hair. I find a long cut so much easier as a mom of three than a short "mom cut" ever would be. My curls would be out of control and I'd have to style my hair every day. Now I can just finger comb the unruly curls into a ponytail or messy bun and be on my way.

I only use shampoo 1-3 times a week, otherwise I just wet it or leave it dry. I have long, thick, curly hair though. I need my natural oils to tame the frizz. My curl defining lotion only does so much, especially if I don't want my curls to be crunchy. Wetting the hair a little just reactivates the product without…

I shower after I exercise or at least every other day. But, I have thick curly hair, so unless I sweat a lot(dance class, running when it's not below zero outside), I only wash my hair 1-3 times a week. If I wash it more, my natural oils get stripped from my hair and I get frizz instead of curls. If I know I'm gonna…

Wish I could afford one. Supporting myself and 3 kids(2 still in diapers/pull-ups) without any child support leaves me with about $10 right before each paycheck. And i make to much money to get the free legal help in my state of course. At least I found a house to rent that I could afford and got out. Unfortunately…

I was told by the police, domestic violence shelters and the DA in my area, that verbal abuse was only considered domestic violence if he was threatening physical harm, and verbal abuse is not necessarily yelling. Unfortunately my husband is the scarily calm and manipulative abuser, which is much harder to document…

I concur with FatLyn, they were faking it. It's easy to fake a picture or a holiday meal or two. It's not so easy to fake it with your closest friends though.

Well, I told my husband(verbally and emotionally abusive, and severely underemployed) I wanted a divorce in May. He refused to move out of the house, so I finally found a rental house the first week in December. I moved the kids and I out when my youngest was 2 weeks old. He's 8 weeks old now, and because I usually…

I have an iPhone, so between Siri and autocorrect, I usually only use LOL and emoji/emoticons. The rest of my texts are complete words and sentences. With a couple friends I rarely even use LOL and type Bwahahahaha!! instead. Because usually they make me literally laugh out loud so LOL doesn't seem like enough.

My mom had that happen. My dad was diabetic, so there was always a lot of diet soda in the house. My mom rarely drinks soda, and never drinks diet(unless its Fresca with vodka). There was an old case of Diet Coke in the laundry that exploded about 2 years after my dad died. My mom didn't even realize the case was…

Unless one parent is abusive in some way. Then you need to fight like hell for full custody. I wish the courts recognized verbal and emotional abuse as domestic violence, because they can be even more damaging than physical abuse.

There's a problem even with that. My husband and I are separated. We have 3 children together. Because of finances, I have no idea how long it will take before we even begin the process of an actual divorce. He is basically unemployed and I am in that income bracket that is a no man's land. I can support my kids and…

I hope you went. You shouldn't be in the dust at that pace. The group I run with does interval training. They always walk back to the slowest runner during the walk intervals. My pace before I got pregnant in March was about 13 minutes for a mile and my runs were in the 3-6 mile range. I went for my first post baby…

In my state(I'm currently in the middle of divorcing my husband and one of my good friends is a family law attorney), the standard is that the parent who has primary physical custody(whether it's 60/40 or 90/10 or somewhere in between) pays child support based on the number of children. It is based on a percentage of…