Telling It Like It Is

Are parents obligated to pay college tuition for their kids to attend college? Should parents pay for college or should college students be responsible for paying college related expenses including tuition, with or without their parents help? The question of who pays for college continues to be a controversial (sometimes heated) debate between kids planning to attend college, and their parents.

Parents, are you responsible for paying your kids college education or not? If parents are supposed to pay for college, how much should parents pay towards tuition, books, housing costs, transportation, gas, insurance, food, clothing, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses for college? Where do parents draw the line between helping kids attend college and not jeopardizing their savings and retirement accounts? To say that your retirement plans are more important than your children’s college funds is putting it mildly.
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When planning a modern wedding, who pays for what? In decades past, because of the old tradition of dowry, the bride’s family traditionally paid for most or all the wedding costs. “Traditionally”, around the 17th or 18th century, the brides mother and/or father would pay for everything needed for the wedding and reception, including the venue (location of wedding/reception), bridal gown, music, flowers, venue, food, bar costs, gratuities and anything else. Then they also give a generous wedding gift to the happy newly married couple. However, times have changed.

Nowadays, it is very common for the bride and groom to pay for all or most wedding expenses themselves, or to more evenly split the wedding related expenses among both sets of parents. Why have the traditional rules of who pays for what in weddings changed, and how should engaged couples, parents and families deal with the more modern view of wedding etiquette in relation to the wedding budget and the question of who will be paying for the cost of the wedding?
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A lot has been said about how contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette “reality tv” shows on ABC have to sign a contract, but very few people have been able to actually read the “shocking” contract themselves. Now you can. Reality Steve has talked at great length about the crazy contract, and how the heavy editing causes some contestants to be given “bad edits”, where they are made out to be and are treated like villains on and off the show.

Rozlyn Papa got a very bad edit during her stint on The Bachelor with Jake Pavelka “On The Wings of Love”, where claims were made that she and a producer had a shocking sexual affair or “inappropriate relationship”. Didn’t happen. What may be good for boosting ratings and viewership for the show hasn’t been good for Rozlyn’s reputation.
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Reality Steve has done it again with his Bachelor spoilers! This one is a doozy! Reality Steve’s blog is reporting that not only are Jake Pavelka and Bachelor “winner” Vienna Girardi still together, but they are actually ENGAGED and planning on getting married! Jake proposed to Vienna. Are you shocked? Whether or not the engagement will last, or if a wedding will actually take place, is anyone’s guess.

Every Bachelor fan knows that Tenley and Vienna are the final two contestants on The Bachelor “On The Wings of Love” hit show and who Jake chooses to be his wife. The “After the Final Rose” shindig was taped last Sunday, February 21st in Los Angeles.
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I have been a Skype user for a long time now, keeping in contact with friends and family living in the U.S and abroad. One of my family members lives in Spain, and having Skype to at least instant message or chat while on different time zones has been great. Email only does so much, but Skype is better. While instant messaging with Skype helps keep me closely connected with family and friends who don’t live nearby, instant messaging on Skype isn’t enough for me anymore.

I’ve known about webcams for Skype but hadn’t taken the time to learn how to use Skype with a webcam, and I needed to find out more about choosing a good webcam to use with Skype. I’ve heard there is a way to use a digital camera with Skype too, but using Skype on my home computer with a webcam is all that matters to me at this point.
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Are you stuck in a rut in your relationship with your husband or wife? Are you ready to get out of the rut you’re in and put some fire back into your marriage? Is your marriage lacking emotional intimacy, where you feel like your marriage to your spouse has become routine and boring? Are you in a sex starved marriage? Do you ever ask yourself “how do I get out of a rut in my relationship with my partner or spouse?”

If you’ve been feeling sad or depressed that your marriage seems to have become a boring, monotonous routine lifestyle that never changes, it probably means you are stuck in a rut. A relationship rut. It’s time you get out of the rut you’re in, spice things up a bit and reestablish intimacy, friendship, fun and sex in your marriage.
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Every year, as our wedding anniversary approaches, we always check to find what the anniversary gift timetables show as being the traditional and modern anniversary gifts for each year. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on January 25, 2010 and according to the tables and charts, the traditional gift idea is wool or copper.

The modern anniversary gift for a seventh anniversary is desk sets. Hmm, seems as though the traditional anniversary gifts would be somewhat more romantic. The idea of giving or getting a desk set as an alternative anniversary gift didn’t appeal to either one of us.
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Spoilers alert! Bachelor fans out there want to know if Ali is going to return to The Bachelor, fight for Jake Pavelka’s heart and actually be the “winner” on this 14th season of The Bachelor in a major reality tv coup de jour? Not so fast. Sure, sure, ABC has a promo circulating with Ali making a phone call to Jake saying she wants to come back to the show. Is Ali returning to The Bachelor this season? No.

Not gonna happen. Reality Steve, our sarcastic and snarky reality tv blogger at www.realitysteve.com sure knows how to tell a great story about the Bachelor goings on, doesn’t he? Reality Steve (Steve Carbone) makes clear on his blog that Ali, just like all the other Bachelor contestants, are under contract to say and do what they’re told to do while they’re on The Bachelor and thereafter.
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Our favorite snarky and sarcastic reality tv blog-master Reality Steve has Bachelor producers in a dither because of Steve’s bachelor spoilers. Reality Steve, aka Steve Carbone, just might need to watch out for the Israeli secret service to come knocking on his door, according to an interview executive producer Mike Fleiss had with EW. Really ABC? I just bet that Reality Steve is shaking in his Texas boots right about now. Not likely.

While Bachelor producers are going about their business of preparing for the upcoming wedding of Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney, to be aired on March 8, producers of The Bachelor aren’t too happy with Steve Carbone and the oh-so-fabulous spoilers on Reality Steve’s blog.

Reality Steve’s blog updates comes complete with some of the best, if not THE best, Bachelor episode recaps and spoilers on the web. Sarcasm, wit and snarkiness flows freely on Steve’s blog and his fans love it! ABC knows it too and Hollywood Insider interviewed Bachelor producer Mike Fleiss about the impact Reality Steve and his blog is having on the hit reality show.

Part of ABC’s problem with Reality Steve is that he accurately revealed the shocking details of how Jason Mesnick would propose to Melissa Rycroft and then dump her for Molly on national television before the After the Final Rose special aired. The fact that Steve has revealed on his blog a number of great spoilers, who the Final 4 would be and who would “win” Jake Pavelka’s heart at the final rose ceremony, should give viewers and fans reason to believe Reality Steve is right. Again.
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What is the best way to flirt with a teenage girl you like, without coming on too strong, if you are a teenage boy? Sometimes teenage guys say stupid things to girls and end up regretting it, especially if the dumb thing said leads the girl to slap the guy in the face.

Young guys in the process of becoming a man sometimes learn valuable lessons the hard way, and learning what things not to say to a girl they like or have a crush should rank very high on the list of learning “how to talk to girls”.

A young, 17-year-old teenage guy contacted me the other day, telling me the story of meeting a teenage girl at a dance that he took a liking to. Unfortunately for him, this young lady didn’t appreciate his attempts to make conversation because of his comments about her “healthy body”.

In other words, this girl was “hot”. Classic hourglass figure, big bust, narrow waist and nice, shapely hips and legs. Get the full picture? He liked her body and wanted this girl to know he liked her (and her body). A lot.
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