tension

They're on My Case About Being Unmarried

Hi Karen, I’m going to my family’s home in Ohio for Christmas, and I am dreading it.  I’ll be around a bunch of nosy, judgmental family members that I don’t even like, and they’re going to get on my case about being unmarried.  I hate it!  It happens every year, and...

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Dating The Divorced Man

Dear Karen,  I’ve been dating a wonderful man for over a year now…I just adore him.  He’s (very) recently divorced and has two young kids he sees every other weekend and one night a week. His relationship with his ex is okay – not great, but not awful.  My question is...

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Your Husband, Not Your Mother

Dear Karen,  My husband is not being very understanding about something, and I need your advice.  He is angry with me because of the way my mother is, which is, in HIS opinion, very meddlesome.  How is that my fault?  I love my mother, and we’re very close.  She cares...

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He's Out of Work, You're Out of Patience

Dear Karen,  My partner has been unemployed for a few months now, and has basically moved in with me.  I don’t feel financially strained to have him here, but I'm running out of patience.  I don’t think he is working hard enough to get a job.  I need him to support me...

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Set Him Up To Succeed

Dear Karen,  It’s that time of year again – my husband will invariably get me something I don’t want for Christmas, and ignore what I’ve told him I do want.  Again.  It wasn’t always like this…for the first few years, he tried to listen and to give me what I wanted. ...

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Getting Through The Holiday Headaches

Dear Karen,  An issue arises between my man and me every Christmas.  I come from a family that enjoys the holiday immensely – in all ways.  Christmas is not something my man looks forward to with the same level of excitement that I do; each year, a couple of weeks...

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Getting The Support You Need

 Dear Karen,  I am very frustrated, and I hope you can help me.  My husband has become a lazy S.O.B., and seems perfectly content to let me work like a dog.  When he gets home from work, he spends all his time playing on his stupid Xbox, when it should be perfectly...

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Managing and Eliminating Resentment

 Dear Karen,   My parner is such an idiot!  I give and give and give, and he shows no appreciation for the sacrifices I’m making so that we can be together (we live about 2 hours apart, and I drive to his house every weekend).  He just expects me to be there, at his...

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Let’s Talk About Money

Dear Karen, My husband and I can talk about anything - except money.  No matter what I do or how good my intentions are at the start of the conversation, by the end we're arguing and the tension lasts for days after.  There are a lot of money issues we need to discuss...

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