Dear Abby: My home just isn’t a comfort retailer, regardless of what my neighbor thinks

• “Overwhelmed in Ohio” seeks recommendation on coping with a brand new, intrusive neighbor continually asking for objects.
• “In a Dilemma in Pennsylvania” asks learn how to deal with her husband’s brother relationship his previous one-night stand.
• A 17-year-old within the West worries about his thumb-sucking behavior being uncovered in faculty.

DEAR ABBY: I moved into my house 4 months in the past. While my sister, her son and I had been transferring issues in, my new next-door neighbor launched herself. She has since change into intrusive. I’m an introvert, and she or he knocks on my door wanting every little thing from plastic baggage to cigarettes and alcohol. Every day since I moved right here, she has been asking for one thing. She got here six occasions yesterday. I’d wish to be her buddy, however she takes and I give. I’m drained. Help, please. — OVERWHELMED IN OHIO

DEAR OVERWHELMED: A approach to repair this may be to inform your neighbor the reality. Tell her you wish to be a thoughtful neighbor, however you aren’t a comfort retailer and don’t want to be disturbed every day. Then, when she comes round asking for cigarettes, liquor or plastic baggage (that are choking our landfills and our waterways), inform her you might be recent out — and repeat it as needed. If she persists, focus on it with the administration of your house constructing.

DEAR ABBY: My brother-in-law is at present in a relationship with a lady who was intimate with my husband a few years earlier than we married. It was a one-night factor, however now she is with my BIL and goes to be at household features. I’m afraid it’s going to be awkward, and I’m not comfy. My husband is supportive of no matter I select to do. The remainder of the household has no situation with it as a result of, after all, it’s not their situation. I would like recommendation. — IN A DILEMMA IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR DILEMMA: This just isn’t a dilemma except you select to make it one. A one-night stand just isn’t a relationship, and the girl just isn’t a trigger for concern. What occurred between them as soon as, a few years in the past earlier than your marriage, shouldn’t be a menace to you or your relationship together with your husband’s household. If anybody is tasteless sufficient to deliver it up, deal with it with humor or say you don’t want to focus on it. Then act like the woman you might be and be cordial.

DEAR ABBY: I’m a 17-year-old man, and I nonetheless suck my thumb, although I do it largely once I’m in mattress. I’m going to varsity subsequent 12 months, and I’m nervous I would get outed by a roommate if I’m caught. Is my behavior that uncommon, and do you may have any recommendation on learn how to cease it? It’s like an dependancy. — EMBARRASSSED IN THE WEST

DEAR EMBARRASSSED: You will not be alone in having this drawback. In the previous, I’ve heard from different adults who suck their thumbs. Comfort your self with the thought that it’s not an dependancy and never all that uncommon. Stress has been identified to trigger individuals to suck their thumbs. One approach to discourage the behavior could be to maintain your self from changing into overly drained. Another could be to coat your thumbs with a bad-tasting substance. (Search on-line or ask your pharmacist to suggest one thing.) That, coupled with the concern of being ridiculed, might do the trick.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also called Jeanne Phillips, and was based by her mom, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.