Have a problem? Maybe the twins can help. Contact Kerry and Jacqueline  at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or write to TWICE THE ADVICE, Bay Currents, 2966 Avenue U, Suite 108, Brooklyn, NY 11229

Dear Twins:

My husband and I are long-time best friends with another couple since high school actually, right through college, and now they have two children and we have three.  They invite our entire family quite often over for dinner, and of course, we reciprocate in kind.  The difference is that we have taught our children to have table manners, and you'd think their kids were raised in a barn.

Dear Twins,

I'm a 17-year-old female senior in high school, and I have a miserable home life. I love my mom, but after my dad passed away three years ago, we both were pretty lost because we loved him so much. But my mom met a man 18 months ago and married him a year ago, and he has made MY life horrible since he's moved in. He screams at me for nothing, punishes me for nothing, won't let me go out with my friends, and when I do, he makes my friends come in first and questions all of them about what we are doing and where we are going. And then he'll only allow me out until 10 p.m. on weekends! It's humiliating! When I speak to my mom about it, she just says to be patient, and that's because she's afraid of him. I hate this man! I'm seriously thinking of running away. He never talks to me, and he'd never listen to me. I can't imagine why my mom married him.

-- Forced Out

Dear Twins,

After many years, I have finally found the woman of my dreams, and I want to marry her and spend the rest of my life with her. However... she is profoundly allergic to animals, and I have a 5-year-old German Shepherd that is like a child to me whom I also love with all my heart (animal lovers would understand), My fiancé can't be anywhere near my dog. I don't know what to do. Please don't say get rid of the dog -- there has to be some arrangement whereby I can have both of them. Is that asking too much?

-- In Love with Both

Dear Twins,

I have a girlfriend that I’m crazy about, and I hope to marry when I get out of college. (I am 19 now and so is she.) My problem is that I think she might be getting a bit controlling, and I want to nip it in the bud before it gets out of control, without hurting her feelings. For instance, she always wants to pick out the type of clothes I should wear, which at first I didn't mind because she had good taste, and I had no taste.

But now she talks about when we get married, she'll select the furniture, the house, the car, etc. When I suggest we do it as a couple, she just laughs at me as if I'm a fool. She even wants to pick out the place where we'll go on our honeymoon! I need to have a say in all of this. If it's this bad now, what will it be like after we're married? She's really a nice, loving person, but she has a way of taking over everything!

-- Silent in Salem

Dear Twins,

My husband and I have been married for only eight8 months, and we went together for four years before that, and I have always trusted him completely. He works in a job that often requires him doing overtime several nights a week. Last night he came home late, and I'm sure I smelled perfume on his shirt - and the week before I noticed the same perfume on his shirt - and it is not mine. I didn't say anything to him about it, but I am sick over it. What should I do? I'm so worried that he is seeing another woman. I'm thinking of following him, and feel terrible about it.

-- Worried in Wilmington

Dear Twins,

My wife and I have been married for just over a year, and engaged for two years prior to that. She has always been the most loving, sweet, attentive wife a man could ever want, and I've tried to reciprocate in kind. That is, until about four months ago, when she turned stone cold, and I mean into ice. From the minute I come home she's either in a bad mood or she gives me the silent treatment. When I ask her what's wrong, her usual answer is "whatever," and then she walks away from me. I don't know what I've done to make her turn on me this way, or if there is someone else. How can I get her to at least communicate with me? I don't want to leave her because I still love her so much.

-- Heartsick in Hamilton