Dear Queenie,
I love to have people visit me in my house, but I hate it when they track in mud and sand and whatever on their shoes and I have a big mess to clean up.
Queenie, is it okay to ask them to take off their shoes before they come in?—Neat Nelly
Dear Nelly,
It is okay to ask, especially if you give them slippers to wear inside.
However, it would be much easier if you have big doormats both outside and inside your front door so they have plenty of chance to wipe off their shoes before they come in. And try to keep the path leading up to your door as clean as possible.
Dear Queenie,
My mother and I were always close when I was growing up, but when my boyfriend and I started getting really close she started trying to break us up. When we got married she didn’t come to our wedding and now she refuses to come to our house to see me, because she says I chose him instead of her.
Queenie, why should I have to choose between my mother and my husband?—Caught in the middle
Dear Caught,
You should not have to make such a choice. Your mother’s jealousy is clouding her thinking (or preventing her from thinking at all!).
Try to stay in touch with her, invite her to your home occasionally, and keep hoping that eventually she will miss you enough to do so. Meanwhile, can’t you visit your mother in her home once in a while?
Dear Queenie,
My husband and I have 2 children who will both graduate from different schools on the same day.
Queenie, how do we decide which graduation to attend?—Undecided parents
Dear Parents,
Perhaps you could go to one graduation first, early, and arrive late at the other. Or you could attend one and your husband the other (you might have to draw straws to decide which one of you goes to which event).
Talk it over with your children and let them help you decide what to do.
Dear Queenie,
My boyfriend and I have been dating for several months now. Sometimes he hugs me and we hold hands while we are watching TV, but up to now he has never kissed me.
Queenie, how do I find out if he wants to kiss me and how do I let him know it’s okay?—Confused girlfriend
Dear Girlfriend,
The next time you are holding hands or saying “Goodbye” feel free to ask him if he wants to kiss you – or to kiss him. That should settle the matter one way or the other.
Dear Queenie,
My husband likes to be naked in the house all the time, even when he is cooking or doing the dishes. I’m afraid someone might see him like that, but if I say anything he just tells me if I don’t like it not to look at him.
Queenie, is this kind of thing normal?—Worried wife
Dear Wife,
Apparently it is normal for your husband. As long as he cannot be seen through the windows or when someone comes to your door, I see no problem.
If necessary, put curtains or blinds on the windows, and cover him up before answering a knock on the door.
And be sure to thank him when he cooks and/or does the dishes, while having some therapeutic supplies handy in case he spills something too hot on a tender part of his anatomy.
