ArcaMax

DEAR ABBY: I need help! I am a 50-plus-year-old, married, well-educated woman. I am also a kleptomaniac and I'm not proud of it. It started a few years back when I accidentally left an item in my shopping cart. Since then, I have found it easy to take things -- shoes, makeup, jewelry, clothing.

I am out of control. I know it's wrong. I tell ...Read more

I just happen to be reading my own book (titled "Single File," for those of you who haven't done the same) and find myself lingering at the section "Be good to Yourself." This is an issue dear to my heart because to this day, the stereotype lingers of the unmarried as utterly selfish and navel-watching. To be sure, there's much unraveling of ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: Retired licensed psychotherapist specializing in children and families here. With regard to "Out-of-Control Toddler," the parent struggling with a toddler who has started hitting, there is now much empirical evidence to suggest that the "gentle parenting" that your advice reflects is ineffectual, especially for toddlers and ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: To prevent party guests from driving impaired, I came up with a fun game using a $21 breathalyzer I bought online. I call it "Have I Had Too Many?"

Guests who are at, or even close to, the legal limit get a prize -- a free ride home!

Everything was going great until one guest tested at well over twice the legal limit, but ...Read more

Dear Annie: Every summer, my husband "Jake" and I spend a week at his parents' lake house in Wisconsin. It's a beautiful spot -- right on the water, with pine trees, hummingbirds and a little dock where Jake used to fish as a kid. When we first started dating, I actually looked forward to these trips. I imagined quiet mornings with coffee by ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 48-year-old woman. When I was 17, I hooked up with this guy who was part of my friend group. I knew he had a crush on me, so I decided to have sex with him in his car. It meant nothing to me, but everything to him.

He has tried to reach me over the years. If I was married, he was single. After my first husband died, I did meet ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: My 12-year-old daughter is going through a phase where she feels like she has to match everything her friends do, what they wear, what they eat, the shows they watch, the hobbies they're into, etc. She constantly compares herself to them and puts so much pressure on herself to fit in, to the point where she won't even try ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is your opinion on handkerchiefs? I prefer them to tissues.

I have seen brides, at weddings that cost thousands of dollars, crying into wadded-up tissues. If they really find it so disgusting to reuse a soiled handkerchief, they could invest a few dollars in a multi-pack and get a fresh one each time. Also, I believe ...Read more

Dear Annie: My younger sister and I used to be incredibly close. We talked every day, shared everything and supported each other through some of the hardest times in our lives, including the loss of our mom. But over the past two years, she has pulled away, and I feel like I do not even know her anymore.

It started when she began dating her ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I am a mother of three girls, 25, 21 and about to be 15. My youngest has always lived with me. Her father and I separated when she was 1. They always had a good relationship. Over the last couple of years, after he moved to another state and married, our co-parenting relationship has changed for the worse.

My youngest has always ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: My apartment lease ends in late July, and a few of my roommates have already moved out. While I appreciate that they cleaned out their individual rooms nicely, they left a ton of their unwanted belongings scattered throughout the common areas, and they abandoned random kitchen items, food and things they clearly didn't want to ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I remember growing up, when we had visitors who were new to our house, my mother would give them the "grand tour." I now do that with all of my first-time visitors.

I have, however, noticed that nobody else does this when I am a first-time visitor -- making my initial query about the bathroom a little awkward.

Did people ...Read more

Dear Annie: I've been in a long marriage. In the early years, we had happy times, but things have changed. For a while now, I've been enduring emotional, psychological and verbal abuse from my husband. He often makes humiliating comments about me in front of others. When I try to call him out, he says I'm too sensitive or claims he was just ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I have hemifacial spasm (HFS), a relatively rare disorder characterized by random and uncontrollable spasms on one side of the face. HFS can sometimes be alleviated through surgery and/or treated with Botox injections. HFS makes social contact challenging when the face contorts for no apparent reason, sometimes with accompanying ...Read more