Horoscopes

Aries (March 21-April 19): Most days you get somewhere by doing the hard things first, while your energy is fresh. Today it’s the opposite. You’ll need to coax yourself along. Ease yourself into it by taking on the next small step. Taurus (April 20-May 20): Know many things; teach one thing. Your editing skills will be as important as — if not more important than — your ability to get one message across. You’ll be a godsend to an eager student. Gemini (May 21-June 21): You’ve access to many creative people. Let them inspire you, but don’t hand the work over to them. Trust your own creative instincts and skills. You’ll enjoy the outcome better when it’s entwined in your own learning process. Cancer (June 22-July 22): Your mind can be an unreliable ally. Instead of jumping to your defense, it sometimes trips you up instead. That’s OK. Minds can be trained, and it’s easy to do so because your heart is the right place. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22): You’ve been known to write things down, keep receipts, refer to a calendar and more — habits that could use some tuning up now. These systems allow you to offload certain mental functions, freeing your brain up for what you really need it to do. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You aim to spend less time on mundane things so that you can spend time more creatively. Oddly, the mundane things may bring all the inspiration and rewards you were missing. It’s the approach that matters, not the task. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): A large number of the things you’ve ever thought or experienced are still in your memory banks or have been moved to an ancillary storage space somewhere in your body. It will be useful to trust that you know what you know. Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21): You are on an adventure, a true co-creation, and the options multiply with each person you add to the team. Just make sure that everyone has a defined role and something key to do. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The brilliant circumstances won’t be designed out of wishes and built out of expert plans. They will be discovered through trial and error or settled upon because they work well toward a desired end. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): There will be much meandering before the idea. Even then it may not be a good one. It will need to be tested. So be patient with your day. Listen to people. Take the time to relate. Don’t be in a hurry to get anywhere. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Hesitation projects the wrong image. The good news is that you don’t have to worry so much about making the wrong decision; most of your inclinations will work. So just make (SET ITAL)any(END ITAL) decision, and do it quickly. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20): In all things there’s a kind of cost-benefit analysis that’s at the heart of finding satisfaction. All that’s required is that you work until it’s more or less good enough, reaching a kind of equilibrium between effort and benefit.

To write to Holiday Mathis, visit www.creators.com/ author/holiday-mathis and click “Contact.” DEAR ABBY » I think my stepdaughter “Caroline” has an unhealthy relationship with my husband. Caroline calls him several times a day and gets tattoos just like his. When she got a boob job, she wanted to show him. She doesn’t talk to me much, although I have tried to be close to her.

Caroline knows I don’t approve of the way she gets money. She has a job at a local store, but wants things she can’t afford, so she sleeps with men for money. Her dad seems fine with it.

They seem to have a closeness that he doesn’t share with me. We are fine until she gets involved. She does things to keep her dad doing things for her so he doesn’t have time for me. What should I do? I’ve talked to him about this, but he thinks I’m crazy. — Disgusted stepmom in

Georgia

DEAR STEPMOM » You are not crazy. Your husband and his daughter have a relationship it would be an understatement to call “inappropriate.”

Caroline appears to be unusually emotionally dependent upon her father. That she would show him her newly acquired “boobs” may seem strange, but it’s not shocking to me. Many women who get implants show them off to anyone who will look until the novelty wears off.

What I do find appalling is a father who would approve of his daughter prostituting herself. What does Caroline’s mother think of all this? If she’s living, she must be beside herself. If she’s dead, she must be spinning in her grave.

Frankly, I’m not sure what you should “do.” If it were me, I’d remove myself from the equation.

DEAR ABBY » Can you be stalked by your spouse? My husband checks my phone for messages, checks the mileage in my car, opens all the mail and listens in on all my phone conversations. If I’m late from work, I call to let him know, but he returns my call to make sure I am where I said I was.

He accuses strange cars that drive down our street of belonging to my boyfriends. He even went into the exam room with me while I was having a physical. The doctor asked him to leave for my privacy.

He says this shows his “concern” for me. I’m being smothered. Please help.

— Stalked by spouse

DEAR STALKED » What your husband is doing is not a demonstration of concern for you. All the checking and accusations that there are other men in your life are symptoms of his insatiable insecurity and his need to possess and control you.

His behavior is not normal. He is sick, and he could possibly be dangerous. Please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline and talk to a counselor. The toll-free phone number is 800-799-7233. You may need to create an escape plan, and someone there can help you do it.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www. DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

To receive a collection of Abby’s most memorable — and most frequently requested — poems and essays, send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby — Keepers Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. Shipping and handling are included in the price.