My boyfriend and I have been together for nearly 5 years. I love him to death and WE have an almost-perfect relationship. Even after all this time, we still care as much about each other as we did in our "honeymoon" phase. In fact, if it weren't for his 13 year old daughter, we would never so much as argue with each other. BUT ... His daughter lives with us, and I'm convinced she was Veruca Salt in a past life! It's not new--he has custody, so she's pretty much always been around. You'd think that, after all this time, I'd be used to her ... Nope. Not even close. In fact, recently I've been experiencing more and more days where I no longer want to get out of bed and no longer want to LEAVE work, in fear of having to hear her voice. Every time she opens her mouth, I just want to stick my foot in there. (I'd like to stick it in some other places, as well.)

The evil one - If it was legal to punch a kid in the face, I would have broken her nose 100 times by now. (For the record, I've never laid a finger on this kid, but a girl can dream ...) She's been a spoiled brat for as long as I've known her ... One of those kids that even my own friends and family talked behind my back about. Initially, I was embarrassed to be seen in public with her--now, I enjoy the craptalk! Feels good to know it's not just ME who thinks this way.

The enabler - We live in a suburb. We're not rich people, but we live more comfortably than some, thanks in large part to my boyfriend's job, which just recently took a HUGE hit. He and I are the same in the sense that we both had less than adequate childhoods. (If we wanted an iPhone, we put it on our Xmas list and PRAYED our parents could save up enough money in time to buy it.) The difference is, it taught ME to appreciate the value in saving for things I really want/need. HE is the complete opposite of frugal and will pay top dollar for anything, figuring 'he gets what he pays for.' So, when Daddy's Little Girl HAD had a working phone that wasn't up-to-par with her friends' and wanted a $400 phone instead, AND I said "Don't do it!" ... she got the phone ... When I brought her home a working, but used desktop computer from work to put in her room so she'd have something to do homework on, dad forked out the money for a new laptop. He justifies these buys by saying, "Now we have another thing to take away when she acts up." Makes me want to puke all over myself. Now, we're hurting for money (I never thought I'd say this, but THANK FREAKING GOD!!!!!!!!!!!) and it pisses me off that all of those expensive buys could have been sitting in a savings account for a rainy day.

The mooch - I've never had a direct problem with my stepdaughter's mom. She lives upstate--which is probably why--so I don't have to see her very often. In fact, whenever we meet her to "make the drop", she's nice--cool, even. (Not that I'd hang out with her.) HOWEVER ... A) She, apparently, has no idea what causes pregnancy. She works as a PART-TIME waitress to support her 3 (not 4 ... she has 4, but her idea of paying child support for my SD is paying her monthly phone bill ... which sh............(to be continued)