Our situation is similar to jakabedy. When DH and I met, I was 40 and had been working in my career for 5 years. I owned my own townhouse and two cars. He was recently out of law school. Then his career did better than mine, but that dropped off thanks to the economy. I changed jobs to move here with him. After a couple of years my current job went from a 12-month to 9-month academic year, which sounds good but I also lost 25% of my pay along with it--not so good. So, now he is doing a little better than I am, but the botttom may drop out again. We are not sure if this is a bubble or not. He would also like to go out on his own, but feels leaving isn't going to happen right since they are doing better. We are still nowhere near where we were when we got married 6 years ago. I am fortunate this year I've got some summer salary for research. But, we feel we can't plan anything like a vacation because the economy may go south again. I think for at least the next 5-10 years we will be living like this. Luckily, we have a modest house, and my student loans will be paid off this year, but we are going to need a new furnance/AC in the near future. We are keeping it maintained, but its days are numbered. But I know several women with advanced degrees with their DH in a lesser paying career: PhD in Engineering with a minister, MD with a social worker, attorney with grad student/SAHD. Most women I know work and there are very few SAHM's. I do worry about my students, where are they going to go after graduation and what kind of student debt they will have to carry. This is going to have a huge impact on the economy. BTW, I am very clear with my students that we are still paying loans at our ages and what that means as far as how we live. Here is a link that might be useful: student debt

"When we built our house and I was choosing paint colors I must have seemed agitated because at one point dh said "let's just paint everything white" and I shut up real fast and didn't consult him again! Fast forward 5 years and the one room I did paint off white I decided to paint a color. He said " No! You'll paint it some yucky green!" Huh? He has many times said how nice my decorating is and is very proud when he gets compliments on the house. Not that he had much to do with any of it!" When DH and I started dating, he had a new build. All the walls were white and he liked it that way. I started having him watch decorating shows while we were building another house. Thought that Matt and Sherri would be a gentle introduction and then moved on to some of the before and after shows. Now, if I haven't finished painting a room, he'll ask "When are we getting rid of these white walls?" :)

I love both of my MILs. My first DH died when he was 45. He was my best friend and a marvelous husband and father. My first MIL stopped talking to me when I remarried but I kept pursuing a relationship with her because of my children. After five years or so she came around and has been part of our lives since. I just visited with her today at the nursing home she is in to make arrangements for her getting her hair done and arranging with her care takers to have her ready to join us for Thanksgiving. She is no longer able to ambulate but my DSIL will be able to get her into their car and fit her wheelchair in and when they get to our house there will be enough young men there to get her in the house. My newest DMIL & DFIL, (18 years with my DH compared to 22 years with my first DH) will also be there as always. They all get along well and my DH knows I will do the same for his parents if they have to go into assisted or skilled nursing care. I count my blessings that I have had the honor of two sets of in laws. WTBS, my son can be a real stinker at the holidays but at least he still comes!

Bestyears, I was keeping it vague because discussing dog training methods can be equal to politics! Try telling some of the militant rescue groups that you will be using a different training method than the one they strictly follow ... you will never get a dog from them! Here are two articles from two opposite theories that gives you an idea of how they think. 1) https://positively.com/victorias-blog/balanced-dog-training-theres-nothing-balanced-about-it/ 2) https://www.nitrocanine.com/blog/2015/06/12/in-defense-of-balanced-training/ With my rescue I started out with a purely positive trainer. It worked great in the house and yard as the dog is very food motivated ... BUT outside none of the training made a difference. Critters and the chase were a much higher reward than anything I could offer. I even tried carrying filet mignon! I was being dragged around town by a crazy dog ... even with the easy-walk harness the positive trainer told me to buy. The dog just walked sideways and pushed into the harness. The last straw was when on a walk the dog nearly knocked me, and my father, to the ground when trying to get a squirrel. I had to kick the dog to stop her lunging and get us untangled (my Dad also had our smaller dog on leash). I looked for a different approach and found "balanced" training. The trainer I found is slightly different from #2 above in that they do use food rewards. Happy to message you a link to the training program website and the actual trainer I used. We now go on off leash hikes and I get stopped regularly by people who comment on her behavior and level of training. I got so many questions that I started carrying business cards for the trainer!! One of those people actually contacted and used my trainer, even thought she isn't local. Do your research and choose the trainer and method that best works for you and your dog. The best method will most likely be a combination of several different ones.