This is what I recommend Stressed do regarding his obviously adulterous wife. Lawyer up asap! Get a bull-dog of a lawyer and tell wifey that you are going to keep the house and the kids and that she can get packing, pronto!
Man, do not let her waltz out of there with your children! She will no doubt move in with her lover-boy and there will your kids be, no doubt neglected while she carries on with her stud.
Forgiveness is nice when the guilty party owns up to their stuff, but your wife has owned up to nothing and is playing you for a weak, wuss of a man. Do not allow her to put you in a position of weakness. It is time you man up and drop this gal and focus on taking care of your children and yourself. Let her have the stud muffin and you get on with your life. Your kids need you to be strong now. I wish you all the best. Hang tough!

I can understand why Ditched in Montreal is upset, but I wanted to comment on her friend's behaviour. My husband and I are the same way. Just not as rude. Lots of times friends will invite us over or to go out and at the time, while we are talking abut it, it sounds like a great idea and we agree. But we are homebodies too. We do not have children, but we have four dogs, a cat, a ferret and four tanks of fish, all of which require much care and maintenance. when it gets closer to the event, we start hemming and hawing and the we decide it will be more trouble than it is worth. We start thinking that the dogs need to be fed and let out, the tanks need to be cleaned, etc and basically that we would rather not go out. Lots of people enjoy going out, to restaurants,bars, etc. We don't. We don't even go on vacation. Our joy in life is our home and our pets and inevitably, we end up staying home. Like I said, it always seems like a good idea at the time, but we usually end up staying home. If we do go out, we either end up leaving early or wishing we hadn't left in the first place. Sounds boring to most people, but it is how we choose to live our lives. GRanted, we should just say no at the time, but when we do change our minds, we do call early enough to not be considered rude. Just another view point.

I stopped trying to entertain because of repeatedly being stood up at the last minute by "friends" who decide they'd rather be doing something else. The Annies are out to lunch on this one.

Hosts and hostesses are human beings too, and their time and resources have value. When a host goes to the trouble of buying the ingredients, cleaning the house, preparing a meal that falls within the guests' dietary, medical, and religious constraints, and getting everything ready, she deserves a heck of a lot better than "Sorry! Found something better to do!" I've been left with far too many concert tickets, play tickets, game tickets, and uneaten dinners. I've sat alone at far too many empty tables to have an ounce of sympathy for people who believe their "social anxiety" or other excuse du jour entitles them to treat their friends like free take-out restaurants or treat dispensers. Particularly not when they're perfectly capable of shopping, going to work, going on a vacation, and doing things that true agorophobes cannot. Most of this vaunted "social anxiety" isn't real, it's just a cop-out designed to allow the excuse maker to continue to enjoy the social benefits of being a reliable human being without having to put forth the effort of doing so. To equate massive self-absorption and laziness with social anxiety really hurts people who truly do suffer from a social anxiety disorder.

Everyone has emergencies sometimes, and occasionally people just space out. But for the most part, a commitment is a commitment. For anything short of illness or a family emergency, there's no excuse to accept an invitation, let a friend go to a lot of expense and inconvenience on your behalf, and then stand them up. It's extremely inconsiderate, and anyone who treats a friend with that little consideration can generally expect to lose that friend.

Linda-- I agree totally. Writer 1 has waited too long already!
Judie-- Please, please spare those who are trying to reach out to you the trouble.
You prefer your pets' company to humans'. So face up. You will be devoid of human
friends and your pets will die before you do. Is this the future you want for yourself?
If so, please don't accept any more invitations.