Breaking News

Columns

St. Jude’s Ranch For Children

Dear Readers: Everybody wants to feel safe, encouraged and loved. Sadly, some kids aren’t blessed with an ideal living arrangement; the teenage years especially can be a time of trial and disadvantage. St. Jude’s Ranch for Children is working to make kids’ lives better. Programs include teaching life skills for the 15- to 18-year-old crowd, pregnancy help and new mommy training, help with homelessness (including keeping siblings together) and healing from exploitation, among many others. Education completion assistance, job training and housing support are all available. ...

Discussing Sex Life With Ex Is The Final Straw For Wife

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for 19 years now. A few years back, I came to know about my husband’s platonic relationship with his old girlfriend. She lives in a different state and is married. My husband has long chats with her every day about everything, including our sex life. I confronted him and asked him to end their relationship because knowing that he wants me to do something in bed because his friend does it bothers me a lot. He promised at the time that he wouldn’t talk or chat with her anymore, and I trusted him. A few weeks ago, I discovered that he still chats ...

Paying For A Doctor’s Visit

Today’s Sound Off is about Medical Care: Dear Heloise: I work in a physician’s office, and I am amazed at how many people get angry over a co-pay or refuse to pay a bill because they think medical treatment should be free. It’s not, and running an office is very expensive. First, co-pays are set up by an insurance company or Medicare, not the doctors, and you must pay it if we are to continue to help you. Next, doctors have staff, rent, supplies, mortgages, families to feed and much more. So yes, you are expected to pay your bill or work out some payment arrangement. ...

Couple With Bright Future Get On Each Other’s Nerves

DEAR ABBY: I know every relationship is different, but how do you know when to stop trying and let go? My boyfriend and I have been dating for a year and a half. Lately all we seem to do is fight or upset each other. I don’t want to call it quits, but I’m tired of being angry or sad all the time. We have been trying to fix our relationship for a while now, but nothing seems to stick. We haven’t been able to get professional help due to our financial situation and COVID, but I don’t know what else to do. We have so much potential for having an amazing life and family in the ...

Sing In The New Year

'When I'm feeling down and blue, I close my eyes to be with you.' Funny how that line from a song keeps playing over and over in my head even though I have not heard the song for years. I, like many of you, have experienced the COVID-19 blues. Conversations with friends, family members and co-workers have all turned to the same thought -- we miss each other. We have not blown out birthday candles together or laughed over an anniversary dinner. There was no opportunity to sit across from one another at a picnic table in July. The Friday night out with the girls for shopping and ...

It wouldn’t be Christmas without cookies. Cookie dough has been cut into shapes for thousands of years and several methods have been used to create designs. Molding, pressing, cutting and a combination of these systems have resulted in festive cookies in all kinds of holiday shapes like bells, stars, and trees. The most common method of shaping dough in the United States is the cookie cutter. Other cookie making tools that are popular in Europe include, cookie molds and cookie presses. Cookie cutters, presses and molds are also a favorite collectible in the antiques world. ...