ask karenR



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I have gone from younggrandma to just yg. Now,
I am using my real name.
I don't think anyone who knows me will have trouble figuring out who that is!


I have been gone a while dealing with things in my own life. I am back now to help once again. Do not expect answers from me that just tell you what you want to hear. Life is to short for nonsense. :)
Website: advicenators forum
E-mail: karenrickel@gmail.com
Gender: Female
Location: KANSAS
Occupation: Homemaker,EMT, ER worker, Medical assistant
Member Since: March 4, 2005
Answers: 10132
Last Update: July 29, 2022
Visitors: 576481


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My mom gave me a pair of earrings a while ago. I wore them all the time and I loved them. The problem is, I lost one of them somewhere in school. It was a total accident and it must have came off while I was running/playing sports. I have still have one of them, but I don't know whether to tell my mom. I have alot of other earrings and the lost earring is probably already stolen. Should I just let it go or fess up to my mom? If they were expensive, I would be in deep trouble. Also, my mom would think I was very irresponsible and wouldn't trust me with anything anymore. (link)
Things like that happen. It wasn't your fault or anything. You can tell her if you want to. If they were yours though, it probably really doesn't matter if you keep it to yourself. :)


My uncle (and cousins) are feeling great depression. A few months ago my aunt died. Since then many things have been going downhill from there. He forgets to pick up my cousins from various acivities and hasn't been feeding them for the past few days. My older cousins (from my aunt's first marrige) have taken taken the the ones closer to my age to their apartment for a few days (I am not sure if they are back home yet). My dad went down there for the weekend to help things out but I'm not sure how much of a difference this will make. This is because I found out today my uncle has lost his job. This means it is even harder for him to surrport his kids. We were inviting the children to spend the summer up here (we still are) but now we are woried they are going to move up here. It is not that we don't want them here is is that it is hard to move your whole live to a new state a such an age they are.

Now my question is what can I do to help? Is there any advice I could have my parents give to my uncle (it would be weird taking advice from his niece)? Intelligent answers only. If y@ typ3 lyk th!$ don't answer. THank you. (link)
I am sure they are all feeling really bad right now. Your uncle probably isn't used to doing all those household things. When he does them now it probably reminds him of your aunt. It takes some people longer than others to get over missing someone you love. I really don't know what you can do to help. If the cousins come for the summer you can help keep them entertained, and be a shoulder for them to cry on. If your uncle has a lot of this stuff on his mind, they may be feeling a little left out and sad. With luck your uncle will find a new job soon and his life and theirs will get back to normal. :)


hi well my mom has been using some drug for maybe a couple years, but i dont know what it is but i know for a fact she is. she'll stay in the bathroom for a long time and doesnt stop sniffing after or whatever and acts really weird, doesnt go to bed that night and like picks at her hair and shit and freaks out when i walk in and i love my mom and i hate the rest of my family, my sister is the biggest bitch and she is so mean to my mom and everyone.. whats my mom using? i cant help but being sad and today i was out with her and my sister called and said tell mom shes a disgrace and i want her to go back to the lake ( our house in nh where my mom goes when my sister or dads mean) and she hungup so i called back and said she was real tough and to tell her herself, so she told my mom on the phone and she was so sad.. and my mom dropped me off and started crying and said shed be back in a little... shes not home and now my dad asked wut happened and i didnt really hear but my sister said something about my mom and stuff was everywhere in the bathroom near the sink.. thanks=/ (link)
I just answered your question kinda. If I can help with anything else though, please let me know okay? Maybe she went to the lake? I wish you didn't have to be so worried.


hi well my mom has been using some drug for maybe a couple years, but i dont know what it is but i know for a fact she is. she'll stay in the bathroom for a long time and doesnt stop sniffing after or whatever and acts really weird, doesnt go to bed that night and like picks at her hair and shit and freaks out when i walk in and i love my mom and i hate the rest of my family, my sister is the biggest bitch and she is so mean to my mom and everyone.. whats my mom using? i cant help but being sad and today i was out with her and my sister called and said tell mom shes a disgrace and i want her to go back to the lake ( our house in nh where my mom goes when my sister or dads mean) and she hungup so i called back and said she was real tough and to tell her herself, so she told my mom on the phone and she was so sad.. and my mom dropped me off and started crying and said shed be back in a little... shes not home and now my dad asked wut happened and i didnt really hear but my sister said something about my mom and stuff was everywhere in the bathroom near the sink.. thanks=/ (link)
She could be on any number of things.What it is for sure doesn't really matter.She really needs to get help. Have you asked her to do it for you? If not then do. She might not, but you never know. Other than that there isn't a lot you can do. She is an adult and unless she gets arrested for something, or goes on her own she will probably won't get the help she needs. :)


Ok sorry that this is long but please don't pass over it I really need help.
My parents aren't divorced but they both cheat on each other they basically both get with anything that moves of the opposite sex. My dad is always drunk and is very abusive. My mom isn't physically abusive but she just tells me that I'm a waste of life and that she wishes she never had me and that I'm such a huge mistake and bla, bla, bla but her boyfriend Tom hits me all the time and even rapes me sometimes. I've gone to the police before and they took my parents side because to everyone else they look like such nice people. But at night they're druggies and alcoholics. I even went to social sevices they put me in a home for a week where I started cutting and then they put me right back with them! Lately I met a guy who uses drugs and I've been going out with him. And we were using and did some things and now I'm pregnant and I don't know what to do. He was arrested for possesion so I can't go to him. I can't go to my parents. I really don't have any friends who aren't stoners and all they care about is how they're going to get their next fix. I don't know what to do. I've already tried killing myself and it didn't work. I'm soo scared I don't know what to do. I was going to run away but I know that I'll just end up somewhere where there's drugs and I'm really trying to stop. What can I do about all of this? Please help me (link)
Your age mattered to me because I wanted to know if you could make it out on your own. When you reach, I think it's 16 you can get emancipation papers that makes you legally an adult. Parents are no longer responsible and you can live in your own place. You are a little young for that unfortunatley.

I think that since you are pregnant, you should contact social services again. They will be able to get you medical care and all that. Hopefully help get you in detox or something. Drugs can hurt your baby and make life hell for it. I don't think you want that. They need to get you out of the enviroment you are in. Look at you, you are becoming like your parents. You have even become involved with one of them. You don't have to live like they do. Learn from it. Go get some aid from social services. Stay away from your family and stay away from the boyfriend and get your shit together girl. If you don't your life is never going to be any better than it is right now. 15 years from now it will be your son or daughter writing about his/her family. Don't fall into that trap. Climb out kicking and screaming! Talk to them,(social services) see what they can do for you, then I'd really like it if you dropped a note in my inbox and told me what happened.Ask them about emancipation too. I don't know what the legal age is for it. Being pregnant you may be able to do it. Just be sure to let them know you don't want your baby brought up in your current enviroment. :)


I'm 15, female and I have been dating my bf for almost a month now. I am a cutter but none of my friends know about it. My bf and I were talking about one of our friends being a cutter and he asked me if I was. I lied to him and told him I wasn't. Now I feel terrible about lying to him. I afraid of how he will react if I tell him. Do you think I should tell him the truth?
(link)
I think you need to get some help and stop cutting. Then, you won't need to lie about it. I think it's important for you to be truthful in your relationship. Something made him ask you the question so he may already have a feeling that you are anyway. :)


Ok, so my ex and I broke up and I really want him back but my cousin said he was cheating on me. But I trust him. but even if we did get back together I wouldn't be able to see him until sometime after june cuz we got in trouble. And his sister that i go to school with said hes been cutting his arm cuz hes not happy. So if hes not happy and hes not mad at me should I ask him back out and what would he say (link)
I think it is okay to try it again. IF you discuss the problem that led to the break-up and you get it resolved first. Good luck, give him a call. :)


I have had my heart broken alot. Since my ex (which was ended about 9 months or more ago) I still haven't moved on. Now I have someone I really like that likes me. I want to be with him I am just scared I will be hurt again.. Should I trust him?

He is a wonderful guy and really gorgeous. I am just afraid to give my heart to someone again and then it be handed back broken. (link)
Yes you should try and trust him. I know its tough to do it again but if you want to find a guy to love you just have to. Will you be hurt again? Maybe, depending on you age, probably even. It is a risk you have to take though. One of hundreds you'll take in a lifetime! Go for it. :)


I am very good friends with this guy and have been interested in him for a while. Last summer he started watching me and other people would tell me that he was doing this it has progressed to a mutual flirting as well he has told me that if anyone would notice what I wear it would be him. He told to call him if I need anything or ever just want to talk and has told me that he would be offended if I needed help and didnt ask him because he wants to be there for me. He gets upset if he feels people misuse me or if they make comments that arent called for. Does he like me and if so why hasnt he asked me out?
(link)
Call him and ask! Say...I have this friend, I think he likes me, but he never asks me out. What should I do!!! I'd be curious to know the answer myself! Good luck, give him a call. :)


This may be a little long, sorry.

I've been with my boyfriend [we are both 18] for almost three years. Ever since he started college, he began experimenting with pills. I honestly don't like people who mess around with drugs, and I've told him that I don't want him poppin pills. He told me he likes the feeling, and that he isn't going to stop until he wants to, whether or not I like it, and if it bothers me that much, that he wont tell me when he does it.

I'm not saying that I want to leave him or anything, but I don't like the fact that he hasn't put my feelings into consideration. He gets mad at me when I get mad at him, and I can't stand that. I'm not the one doing anything wrong, unless caring about him and his health is wrong.

I really don't know how to go about this situation, because it does make me very upset. When he goes to parties, I tend to wonder if he's doing drugs [pills] and I get mad. It's not like I can ask him either, because really, it doesn't make a difference, and I know that, and because he even said it himself, he's not going to tell me when he does it.

Now I feel that there is lack in communication and trust. between him and I. Am I being overprotective? He had said to me before, "watch when you go to college, you'll see how the world is really like, and you're going to experiment in a lot of different things." [I will be attending college this fall] But I know that I wouldn't do drugs because I live in a big city, where drugs are put out in the open, and I haven't tried anything besides weed. Besides, I absolutely HATE people who pop pills.

With that also being said, I'm beginning to feel a type of way because he is one of those people. I don't hate him though and I don't want to end a three year relationship with him just because he is taking pills. I just don't know what to do or say to him anymore.

Please help. Any advice is welcomed. Thank you. (link)
You aren't ending a 3 year relationship, he is. It sounds to me like he is really into the pills and they are a really growing in popularity as the drug of choice these days. Have no doubt that it is drug abuse.They can kill you just as dead as any other form of drug. Since the effects aren't immediate in most cases they could be even more deadly and easier to OD on.

I think you have every right to be upset. I think I would be telling his parents. He is 18 and there may not be much they can say...they can however stop paying for him to go to school.

The sad fact is, the more he gets into the pill popping, the less he is going to care what you do or say. You may be getting a little of that attitude now. I really doubt that you could have enough influence on him to get him to stop. That isn't your fault,it is just a drug abusers mentality. I hate to say it to you, but until he gets his life back on track I think you need to look elsewhere for a boyfriend. He is going to get worse until he stops, and that could take years. That is a very long time for someone to wait on another, regardless of how much they may love them. Do what feels right to you...thats just my opinion ( I have worked in medical field),for what its worth. Good luck. :)


Hey my girlfriend broke up with me like 3 weeks ago but i still love her so much she came over my friends house last night with my friends X and we had like 30 ppl there and she knew all of them but she only talked to me i still love her with all my heart but i dont know what to do should i ask her back out??

I rate high if its good (link)
Yes I think you should. You do need to think about changing...or at least discussing the reason for your break-up beforehand so it doesn't become a problem again. Other than that, I see nothing stoppping you from trying it again. Good luck! :)


ok so im homeschooled... and next year i'll be going into 9th grade. I'm still deciding if i should keep homeschooling or go back to public. All my fiends want me to go back. I want to too but then i have two places i wanna be at.. I love being homeschooled and all but i feel like im missing the socializing... so im not sure which i should go to...
what do you think?
plz help i needa know!
i rate (link)
I think homeschooling is great. I have a friend who did it for awhile, but like you her boys missed the social aspect of going to school every day. I think if you miss it, then you should return for awhile and see how it goes. You really do need the social contact when you get to be a teenager. If it doesn't work out for you then you can always change back later. Good luck! :)


I really need some help i am so confussed. Okay well me and this guy started messing around and he ended up cheating on his girlfriend with me then they ended up breaking up. We've been hanging out for two months and we have done everything. And now he tells me that he just wants to keep it as friends and nothing more cuz he wants to hang out with other girls and keep his options open. But really he is like going places and hanging out with these girls that r ho's. But he still trys 2 talk 2 me and everything and i duno if i should talk 2 him and let it all go n 4get about it or shut him outta my life completly. But what he is going to et from these others girls is nothing that he couldn't get from me so i mean whats up with him? He say's he single and he has his whole life, but i kno he still got feelings for me what should i do? (link)
Just stay friends. And no benefits either, don't even go there. No benefits unless he is dating you exclusivley. Ever! If he can get it for free he will. It is a guy thing. So is the need to do every female they can get their hands on. Let him get over the "need" and maybe he will come back to you someday. In the meantime---no benefits! :)


well i have this boyfriend named mike and this best friend named brittany. lately brittany has been flirting with mike but mike of course has not been flirting back. she has started lightly hitting him and he would just look at her funny. she even says stuff like "say hi to mikey for me" i don't want to lose her as a best friend and i really really like my boyfriend. and when me and mike hug she starts trying to say i'm cold let me get in the middle. and when we all sit down she like throws mike up and tells him to sit next to her so she could be in the middle. in the middle of me and him! help (link)
You need to tell her to back off. If she doesn't then you need to tell her to get lost completley. If she is more his friend than yours (kinda confused about that, sorry) then HE needs to be telling her these things. She is jealous of one of you, and it will cause problems if you don't stop it now. :)


Ok heres whats going on...I am 9 weeks and 1 day pregnant and my boyfriend who lives with me just got a new job today...well the job that he has is like washing horses and doing stuff around a farm...well he just got home and said that the guy who he has started working for wants him to go out of town to vagrinia and me and my boyfriend which are engaged live in georgia...well they would go out of town for the whole week and my boyfriend would only be home for the weekends, and I dont know what to do I mean I want him to have a job and everything but I dont want him to be that far away from me...because what if something happens...I would only be able to see him 3 days every week untill the baby is born and he might keep the job...well I wanted to know what yall think I should do...I know I'll miss him so much and I dont know what to tell him about if he should go or not..so if anyone can help me with this I will rate high..thanks..bye (link)
I think if this is going to be a permenent thing...the working in Viginia, then maybe he should look around down there for a place for you two to live. You need to be together. It may be hard leaving family and friends, but your future is with him. :)


okay well, my best friend and i, we just got super close, and well yeah. He has a girlfriend, but before they hooked up I told him i liked him like 3 weeks ago, and things got odd, but then got better. Anyway. So everyday he sits with me when the lunch periods almost over, and we talk, and even though his friends sit at the table right next to us and theyre right there, he wont talk to them and he talks to me. So a couple days ago i went to his house with my friend and he just payed more attention to me. Like when we were playing basketball he passed the ball to me every time and never to her. Then today, he was sitting with me and we were looking at pictures, and we could have been far appart but he leaned in really close. And then my friend dom told him this sixth grader didnt like him anymore, and he's like, okay i dont care im not cheating on my girlfriend, i dont think, and he looked me directly in the eye and we made eye contact and he stared at me for a minute and then some one started talking to us. So then at this assembly thingy, 2 of the people he sits with said something about stabbing him, like joking around, so i told him, and he was like, what nicks not my friend. and so i told nick and hes like, shut up bitch, in a playing way, but i told him anyway, and he was like, Yo, WHAT DID YOU CALL HR? WHAT? and then later today he was like, i would have said something but our reading teacher was right behind us. and i we kept talking and anyway im just wondering if he thinks were more than just friends??


and i have another question. today he had a break down and he was like, i dont have any friends, the only people i have is my girlfriend and you and my other friend, and me and his other friend are REALLY worried that he's going to like kill himself, because when we told him to hold on he said he'd held long enough. What can i do to help him? (link)
You can't do anything if you don't know what the problem is. Find that out and maybe you can be of help.

I think he likes you, I think if he didn't have a girfriend you might have a shot. But, since he does you are second right now. I notice he said the only people he has is his GIRLFRIEND, and you. He put her first. So, continue being a really good friend to him and one day when they are no longer going together, I think you will have a shot at him. :)


How can I get this guy I like in jr.high that is 12-13 to notice me even though he says he does not like me? (link)
12-13 year old guys are a little immature yet. If he says he doesn't like you Then you need to back off for awhile. If you don't he may get mad and hold it against you forever. Just give him time to mature a little more. :)


There's a guy-let's call him Rick. Rick and my brother, Tim, are friends and after Rick found out that i was Tim's little sister (he's a senior and i'm a soph.- "rick" is a junior) he started like yelling hi to me and all that jazz. Today, my brother's other friend asked if i knew Rick and I said yeah, and he said that we should hang out sometime. So here's my question. I'm not sure if this is like a joke or something- like saying hi to your friend's little sister. So my question is, does he like me or is he just messing around?

ps..Soo on saturday i went to the icecream store that I guess he works at and he gave my friend and I free icecream. (link)
He probably likes you. :)


do you think its possible to acctually fall in true love in the 7th grade? i know everyone always says you dont find love until youre older, but i think ive found the perfect person. seriously... if someone asked me to change somethinmg about him, i would say no, he needs no changing. ive gone out with him three times and all three times we broke up for stupid reasons. hes always there for me, and always makes me feel like the smartest, prettiest, most unique person in the planet. he is willing to listen to my views on things, and trys really ard to make me happy. he is artistic, yet hes also a football player. hes really hot but i SWEAR thats not why i love him. well, i think you get my point so ill be quiet now. Tell me what you think! thanks - i rate high unless your response really sucks. (link)
The reason we can't call this true love yet is that the qualitys he has now may not be there in a couple of years. People tend to change as they get older in a lot of ways...depends on what happens to you between now and then. oh, that sounds confusing! Anyway, people do change.Even if we think they are perfect! Your opinions change about things, looks change, how you view the world in general changes. Sometimes its for the better and sometimes two people "grow apart" because of them. In 7th grade you can have what is called puppy love, but true love, it really does come a little later in life. That isn't to say you won't someday fall truly in love with this guy, get married and have kiddies! It is entirely possible that it could happen. Sorry, I'm ramblin' this evening! :)


I really need some help. I didnt really know what category to put this under so i just picked one.

I used to be known as the really hyper girl that was willing to do anything. But now I dont feel that way. I'm usually frowning unstead of smiling. I feel like I'm about to cry all the time! I dont know whats wrong with me at all! Does anyone have any ideas on whats wrong with me or what i can do to be happy again? (link)
Let's call it growing pains for now. It is probably just your hormones getting all weird. If it doesn't go away after awhile, tell your mom about it and talk to your family doctor about it. :)




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