Ask Beth

Hi Beth,
I was invited to a Halloween party, and I don't have time to go out and buy a costume. Do you have any simple, last-minute ideas for making a Halloween costume out of something I might already have at home? I should probably also tell you that I can't sew, but I am really good with a glue gun.
Thanks,
Reily

Hi Reily,
This must be your lucky day because I have an endless repertoire of simple costume ideas. I'll pick my top three to share with you, and then you can decide which best suits your ideal:
--Wear all black. You can even paint your face black. Then, make a line down the center of your body using white or yellow tape. Take a stuffed animal, cut it up, and pour some fake blood on it. Pin the mangled animal to your black outfit. Guess what you are? Road Kill!
--Wear all white. Then, cut a circle out of yellow construction paper. Pin or glue the yellow circle to your chest. Guess what you are? An egg! Wear devil's horns and you can be...ta-dah...a deviled egg!
--Wear a neutral colored shirt. Take mini cereal boxes, empty them, then tape them closed. Stab plastic knives into the boxes, and secure the knives with glue or tape if needed. Pour fake blood onto the boxes and knives, and splatter it onto your shirt. Then, pin the empty cereal boxes all over the shirt. You can also glue pieces of cereal onto your shirt, and use white make up for a milk mustache. Guess what you are? A cereal killer!
Send me a photo, and have a happy, safe Halloween!
Beth

Dear Beth,
I have been in a long-term relationship with a man that doesn't want to get married. The problem is that I do. He's always been honest with me, and from the beginning of our relationship said that he didn't want to ever get married. He was married once before, and it ended badly. I agreed at the time because I hadn't fallen in love with him yet, but now I have. We're both in our 30's now, and I think it's time to make our commitment official. What can I do to make him change his mind about marriage?
Hopeful Bride

Dear Hopeful,
There is nothing you can do to change his mind, but, you can change yours. My momma would say, "Git out now while the gittin' is good." Meaning, you should end this relationship while you are still young enough to remain hopeful of becoming a bride some day. Otherwise, I predict you'll spend the remainder of your birthdays wishing he'd change his mind about marrying you before blowing out the candles on your birthday cake. Not a pretty mental picture.
I had this happen to a friend of mine once. She spent years with a man that said he didn't want to marry her, but she pretended that someday he would. Finally, her hope no longer sprung eternal, and she left him. Within 6 months, he was married, only not to her. Imagine that! All those years she wasted hoping, and wishing, and praying he'd change his mind, only to have him not.
Look at it this way, your companion is being honest with you, if not completely. He says he doesn't want to get married. That's being honest. If he were to say that he doesn't want to marry you, then that would be completely honest. Painful, but true.
Your companion is gettng what he wants from this relationship. Good for him. You are not. Not so good for you. My advice concurs with my mother's--git out of this relationship, and go git what's good for you.
Gotten,
Beth

Beth,
You have to help me. I spilled red wine on my light beige carpet right in the middle of my living room. To make matters worse, it's not really my carpet. I'm just renting this place, and was counting on getting my deposit back when my lease is up. That's not going to happen if I can't get this stain out. What do you think I should do?
A Renter

Renter,
I think you should not plan on getting your deposit back when your lease is up.
Or, I suppose you could try a few of the following tips, but I've never tried them personally, so there's my disclaimer. Usually, anything you try on your carpet for the first time, you'll want to do in a small, inconspicuous area, but I doubt you could do more damage than you already have. That said:
1. You can try hiring a professional carpet cleaner.
2. You can try purchasing Wine Away, a red wine stain remover, from drugstore.com.
3. You can try pouring table salt over the stain. Let it sit overnight, then vacuum. This works best while the stain is still wet.
4. You can try pouring white wine over the red to neutralize the stain. Blot the liquid up with a thick cloth, then follow up with a carpet stain remover.
5. You can try to convince your landlord the stain was there when you moved in, but that would be unbelievable and dishonest.
Try any, or all of the above, to set your carpet free of the wine stain. If your deposit comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was.
Beth