Sulking won’t help rekindle romance with wife

Advertisement

Advertise with us

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My new wife from up north says she’s crazy about me, but I’m not sure.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/02/2026 (199 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My new wife from up north says she’s crazy about me, but I’m not sure.

We first met online, and then she and I got together in a very big way and quickly tied the knot in November. I’d had enough lonely-guy fever and told her she didn’t even have to work if she didn’t want to.

Then, right after Christmas, two of her female friends from her hometown asked if they could stay in our extra bedroom until they found jobs in Winnipeg.

I couldn’t stand the thought of them living with us for very long, so I got them jobs right away at the business I work at. Now I’m waiting for my wife to help them move out of our place.

To be honest, I’m fed up with my generous wife putting all her energy into these old friends and their problems. What about me?

My wife says I’m jealous of them and grumpy and hard to please. She’s right about one thing — I really don’t like these two staying here and having to be quiet when we have sex or a disagreement.

Please help me get rid of them, fast.

— Four’s a Crowd, The Maples

Dear Four’s a Crowd: Give those annoying girlfriends of hers some competition when it comes to spending leisure time with your wife.

Start by taking your mate out on dates to concerts, plays, movies and sporting events, as well as fun dinners with other couples. Plan things out together and circle all the dates on a big calendar.

It’s also time you rebuilt your own fun life with your male friends. Once you get married, it’s not smart to completely stop being socially independent.

For a healthy relationship, both you and your wife need time with friends on your own.

During the week, there are lots of fun sports or recreational activities you could sign up for. A little exercise is great for improving mental health.

The main thing is, don’t simply focus on the negative and wish for everything to somehow get back to the way it once was. That’s a dead end.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I know my work colleague is having an affair with a co-worker, but I don’t think she’s aware I know.

I also know who the guy is and where they go hide out in our building and where they go after work.

Do I have to keep my mouth shut?

I haven’t even told my best friend at work yet.

— Bustin’ to Tell, Weston

Dear Bustin’: Well, you’ve already told me and my readers, so that’s probably enough.

Pretend to yourself that you don’t know and don’t care. You getting involved here is not in anyone’s best interest. If things end badly for this couple, you don’t want to be part of spreading the rumours about them that may have contributed to the problem.

By the way, if these lovebirds do come out of the woodwork and announce anything, do your best to look oh-so-surprised.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.

Maureen Scurfield

Maureen Scurfield
Advice columnist

Maureen Scurfield writes the Miss Lonelyhearts advice column.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Running a clothing company keeps mom of five girls in stitches

David Sanderson  8 minute read Preview

Running a clothing company keeps mom of five girls in stitches

David Sanderson  8 minute read Friday, Nov. 20, 2020

Andrée-Anne Généreux, mother of identical, four-year-old triplets, has grown used to being peppered with questions whenever passersby spot her and the girls ambling through their River Heights neighbourhood.

Do triplets run in the family, they openly wonder? How long was her pregnancy? Was she big?

Not that she’s aware, though both of her in-laws do have twin siblings; 34 weeks and three days, “but hey, who’s counting?”; and, “Are you freaking kidding me? I was huge,” she responds with a laugh, each and every time.

More and more, however, comments directed her way are along the lines of, “Where did the girls get those gorgeous dresses?” or “That jumper! You have to tell me who makes it.”

Read
Friday, Nov. 20, 2020

No end in sight to Ottawa’s pandemic spending

Temur Durrani 8 minute read Preview

No end in sight to Ottawa’s pandemic spending

Temur Durrani 8 minute read Monday, Nov. 30, 2020

A crucial caveat expected in Monday's fiscal statement from Ottawa failed to manifest: there is no end in sight to federal spending amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Canada stares down a nearly $400-billion, record-high deficit for 2020, the Liberal government plans to spend up to $100 billion over the next three years, along with a further $25.1 billion in immediate measures to support workers and businesses affected by the novel coronavirus.

That's not all.

In a long-awaited speech from the House of Commons, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not provide a spending cap to draw any red lines around the limit to which the feds will continue funnelling toward an economic recovery she acknowledged is still well-off the horizon.

Read
Monday, Nov. 30, 2020

Explaining Canada’s superior employment rate

Wayne Simpson 5 minute read Preview

Explaining Canada’s superior employment rate

Wayne Simpson 5 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Donald Trump regularly makes outrageous claims. Fentanyl was pouring across the northern border from Canada and had to be stopped. Canada is nasty to deal with and has the highest tariffs in the world. Canada needs the U.S. but the U.S. doesn’t need Canada. Canadians want to become the 51st state. And so on.

In the latest trade dispute, after Mark Carney walked away from negotiations, Trump made a new claim that Canada’s unemployment rate was 10 per cent and climbing rapidly. Insofar as the unemployment rate is closely monitored, reported monthly, and given similar attention to the rates of inflation and economic growth, the comment was likely intended to signal Canada’s weakness. It fits Trump’s narrative that Canada needs the U.S. for its livelihood and protection and would be better off more directly under U.S. influence as a 51st state, or perhaps a protectorate like the Philippines or Panama in the past.

Fact checkers quickly reported that Canada’s unemployment rate is really 6.4 per cent for July, not 10 per cent, has fallen from 6.9 per cent in April, and is at its lowest rate since May 2024. Some astute observers pointed out that Canada’s method for the calculation of the unemployment rate leads to a higher rate than the U.S. by about one per cent. Under the American methodology, then, our unemployment rate would be 5.4 per cent, not that far off the U.S. July rate of 4.1 per cent.

Detection of unemployment is less straightforward that might appear, as it is sandwiched between the labour force statuses of employment and inactivity at a particular point in time. The internationally established standard for determination of unemployment is the notion of searching for work — you are unemployed if you do not have paid employment and you are looking for work without success. Surveys have been developed to categorize respondents as employed, unemployed or inactive, including the labour force survey (LFS) in Canada and the current population survey (CPS) in the U.S.

Read
Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

Paper trail

Allison Gillmor closer look 4 minute read Preview

Paper trail

Allison Gillmor closer look 4 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

WHAT IT IS: Copy Paperis a 2014 textile-based piece by Ontario-born, Winnipeg-based artist Kristin Nelson, currently on view at WAG-Qaumajuq as part of the exhibition Terra Cognita/Incognita.

Of the 125 works in the show — which uses historical and contemporary pieces from WAG-Qaumajuq’s permanent collection to explore how artists have represented the landscape over time and across cultures —probably the most attention-getting are the beautiful paintings of Canada’s lakes, plains, forests and mountains.

So, how does this seemingly modest, somewhat enigmatic work connect to Terra Cognita/Incognita’s larger themes?

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: In the middle of the exhibition, an antique desk holds several objects of beauty and utility, and this is where Copy Paper sneaks in, as something both “cognita and incognita,” known and unknown.

Read
2:02 AM CDT

Canada goes young and old for Olympic men's hockey

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Canada goes young and old for Olympic men's hockey

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022

Canada is turning to a mix of youthful exuberance and battle-scarred experience in its quest for Olympic men's hockey gold minus the country's NHL stars.

The 25-man roster announced Tuesday is bookended by 37-year-old Eric Staal and fellow centre Mason McTavish, who turns 19 this weekend, for the upcoming Beijing Games.

"We always talk about playing the Canadian way," head coach Claude Julien said on a video conference call with reporters. "We're a proud country of the way we play the game.

"We're going to be an aggressive team."

Read
Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022

Letters, Sept. 5

7 minute read 2:02 AM CDT

Clearing the air

Re: QDoc patients in middle of billing dispute (Sept. 4)

QDoc has been fortunate to have a genuine partner in the Manitoba government over the past several years. Premier Wab Kinew and Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara have been consistently clear that no Manitoban should go without care because of where they live, and that commitment is exactly why virtual care exists as a permanent, publicly available option today. We built MediNav, the province’s online appointment booking system, together with Manitoba Health, and that same collaborative spirit has helped make more than 350,000 patient visits possible through our platform — many of them evenings, overnights and weekends, reaching rural and underserviced communities that need it most.

We want to be direct with the people who rely on us: QDoc is not going anywhere. We continue to see patients today, and we will keep doing so tomorrow. The issue reported this week is a technical billing matter, not a service disruption, and we are actively working with the province to resolve it quickly, so we can keep growing our capacity to serve Manitobans rather than limiting it.