lifestyle

Q: We can't afford a wedding at a hall, so we're having an at-home wedding. What should we know?

OK, I asked for it. I needed a costume to wear to a big wing-ding Halloween party where my husband is going to be the bass player in the band. So I asked you to send me your ideas.

And boy, did you ever, bless your little helpful hearts. In fact, you are still sending them. Even as I write this, e-mails keep arriving like the steady drip of a faucet at 4 a.m.

Should we love our children unconditionally? Of course.

Can we do that and discipline them, too?

For many folks that answer is apparently "no."

One of the most damaging behaviors in any personal or business relationship is verbal abuse. Luckily, it may also be one of the easiest patterns to change.

This is one of the cases where it helps to look into the past and see if there is anything in your history that allowed this bad habit to fester.

Welcome to "House Quest," the real-life text-based adventure game. Press "return" to begin.

You are sitting in the kitchen. You see a pile of unwashed laundry, a pile of unwashed dishes and a television. The gutters also need cleaning. Obvious exits are south, east and west.

Turn on television.

Q: I want to buy pre-made invites, but I want to make response and direction cards myself to save some money. Is it OK if they don't look exactly the same as the invites?

When you grow up in a small town, you get to know and be known by most everybody who lives there, distant kin and incarcerated cousins alike.

But if you leave that town to live your life anyplace outside of "God's Country," coming back to visit can be daunting.

There is life after divorce, or at least there should be, according to "Mid-Life Divorce" author Jim Duzak.

He believes that one of the biggest mistakes people make is that they go after the next relationship with the drive of a Formula One racer and scare off any new potential partners.

When I was a kid, I used to color rocks and sell them door-to-door. I usually did pretty well with that. Sometimes I would concoct knickknacks with yarn and hawk those, too. And when it came to selling Girl Scout cookies, I was the champ three years running.

But a fundraiser for my school? Such a thing was unknown.

I think I chose the wrong career.

There are thousands of business books out there, strategies to get you hired, keep you employed, manage your associates and close the deal. It's a tremendous industry, one I would love to join. Unfortunately, my idea for a corporate strategy guide would be a pretty hard sell.