Monday, June 27, 2011
A Montgomeryville woman asks how to deal with a girl who wants to be a friend some of the time.
Dear Lizzie, I know this person who is two-faced, to say the least, and they are part of my circle of friends. This person and I don’t usually get along. We have known each other for years, but there’s always been something between us that keeps us from being closer. I don’t know what the problem is. I could not be friends with her anymore, and it wouldn’t bother me. What’s weird is once she gets some drinks in her, she’s a different person. She talks to me, she connects with me, she pays attention to me. The next day: totally different person. Ignorant, self-centered, rude. She is friends with a lot of my other friends. I don’t see her giving anyone else the cold shoulder. I’ve talked with my friends about it. They see how she is, but …
Monday, June 20, 2011
A 17-year-old questions getting a tattoo in memory of a friend, but she has to deal with her strict father.
Dear Lizzie, I want to get a tattoo, but I’m only 17. A friend of a friend owns a tattoo parlor, and he said he would do it, but only if I have parental permission. I live with my dad and not my mom. My dad is pretty lenient on things, and allows me to make my own choices. I know he hates tattoos, but I know it’s something I want. I won’t regret it. The tattoo I want isn’t gaudy or tacky either. My dad thinks tattoos make people ugly. He probably will be very upset if I do it, but I know he’ll get over it. My tattoo isn’t going to be anywhere that you can see in public. The reason I want to get it is to remember a friend of mine who made some wrong choices in life. What do you think I should do? Is there a good way to approach my dad about…
Monday, June 13, 2011
A concerned friend asks how to intervene with a peer's drug use.
Dear Lizzie, I have a close friend that is addicted to drugs, and I don’t know how to help him. He has been smoking weed and snorting coke for about four years now. His family doesn’t know, and he often hides it from them. The thing about it is it has not affected his personal or professional life. He calls himself a “functioning addict.” It’s nothing to joke about, but when I think about it, he may be right. He made it through high school and is succeeding in college part-time right now. His job doesn’t have drug testing, and as far as I know, he hasn’t fouled up at work. My concern is that he won’t be able to kick his habits. He jokes about being a functional drug user, but is this something he will obsess about his entire life? I’ve …
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
A single mom questions the appropriate time to let her 15-year-old daughter begin dating with friends and one-on-one.
Dear Lizzie, I have a question about when my child is old enough to start group dating and dating alone. I have a daughter that’s 15. She told me how she’s liking boys in her class and how boys like her. She wants to go out to the movies and to the mall with these boys. I don’t know if she wants to date one-on-one yet. When do you think is the right time to let your baby go? I’m sure there is a proper timeline to let them do what they want to do, but how do I ease into it? Scared Single Mom, Lansdale Dear SSM, This is just my advice, but I think 15 is the perfect age for a son or daughter to start group activities with friends. As long as they plan ahead to go to the movies, or to the mall, or out to eat, or to go swimming together, 15 …
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A father wants to divorce his wife, but he has concerns over his daughter's feelings.
Dear Lizzie, I am 40 years old, and I have been married for five years. My wife and I have a beautiful 3-year-old daughter together. Of those five years, three of them have been horrible. I stuck through it for four years, and the last three have been nothing but heartache and misery. I’ve tried to continue and make it work, but I’m at a point where I am so tired and exhausted. The marriage is over. One night, I met a very attractive woman. We went out on a date, but we didn’t do anything. We sat and talked for two hours—nothing physical. My wife found out about it, and I finally came clean, and it solidified the end of my marriage. The worst part is my daughter is stuck in the middle. She spends time away from me with her mother. We …
Monday, May 23, 2011
Five years ago, a stepsister lost her baby in utero and her stepsister sent condolences through email, amidst her own personal struggles and pain
Dear Liz … My stepsister refuses to talk to me. It has been about 5 years now since we last spoke. The reason I got for this – not from her, but from other family members – is because I wasn't there for her during the death of her baby in utero. I did email her my condolences and wished I could be there. Around the same time she lost her father and another family member as well. I know she was hurt, but I really didn't know what to say especially where I was with my life. I was in a failing marriage to a man who had told me on several occasions that I was worthless and that I should kill myself. He said these things in front of our son, which made it worse. Throughout our marriage he would webcam women in chat rooms and meet up for …
Monday, May 16, 2011
A son-in-law wants to confront his wife's mother on her suggestions on how they should raise their children.
Dear Lizzie, I am writing to ask for advice because my mother-in-law is a witch! She meddles in everything, she stops over without calling, and we don’t have kids yet, but she tells us how to raise our children as far as religion and schooling. My wife will not say anything to her mother about how she’s intruding in our life. It should be me and her to discuss what we’re going to do as parents. We should be our own family unit, and we should come first. We are our own family first, and then everyone else is extended family. My mother-in-law acts like top dog, and she comes first beyond everyone. Please help me figure out how to get through to my mother-in-law and wife. - Son-in-Law, Chalfont Dear Son-in-Law, You are 100 percent correct …
Monday, May 9, 2011
A fiancee cheated with an ex-boyfriend, but regretfully ended it. Now, her soon-to-be husband wants the truth.
Hey Lizzie, I have a sticky situation here. I have been dating my girlfriend for over four years. I am 32, she's 29. We have had a great relationship, and in January, I proposed. She said yes, and we have begun to plan our wedding for 2012. A month ago, her ex-boyfriend’s wife contacted me on Facebook. She informed me that my fiancée and her husband had been seeing each other in late January through March of this year. She and her husband were splitting, and she wanted me to know, because she thought it was "the right thing to do." I was really upset by this news. I wanted to calm myself down before I did anything rash. I didn't speak about it to my fiancée. I did some snooping when she left her laptop on. I found emails that had ended …
Monday, May 2, 2011
When you hook up with a co-worker, it can lead to bad situations.
Dear Lizzie, I work with a woman, and we have somewhat of a past. We hooked up a couple times outside of work, but we never got serious. I thought we mutually ended the affair. Recently, she has been sexually harassing me at work. It is often very subtle, and no other co-workers know about what happened. Most of the time I am uncomfortable with it all. I have told her to knock it off, but she must think I’m not serious about it. Even outside of work, she continues to do this stuff. The last thing I want to do is file a sexual harassment case and make the whole thing public. What should I do? - Harassed, Reading Dear Harassed, First and foremost, you need to take matters into your own hands. This means speaking directly to this woman. The…
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Here are our five best stories from the past week. Did you check them out?
1. Actress Elizabeth Berkley, famous for playing Jessie Spano on “Saved by the Bell” and starring in the NC-17-rated “Showgirls,” made a quiet appearance at North Penn High School last Tuesday to hold two workshops with female students focusing on self-esteem issues. The event was organized by District Attorney Risa Ferman and Montgomeryville-Lansdale Patch had the exclusive story. 2. In three days, on May 4, Patch sites nationwide bring a new blog feature. Local bloggers will have their local Patch site as a new forum for whatever they wish to talk about, be it local politics or national fashion. We are currently looking for bloggers, and you can check out more details here. 3. After a controversial “Dear Lizzie…” column two weeks ago, …
Lucky Perrita
9:18 am on Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Dear Becca, Why not try a fake tattoo version of the tattoo you want, and see if you in fact really want that tattoo. I agree that tattoo art can be very expressive and creative, however, it is permanent. So, wear and re-apply a fake tattoo and see if you a)like how it looks, and b)if it is something you really want. You could even try a Henna tattoo design of what you want if you want to go the … more ›