CHICAGO -- Luis Alejandro Calvo Velasquez meticulously wrapped silver wire around itself, winding pieces together until a small figurine slowly took shape. What starts as wire in his hands will end as a white calavera, a small skeleton figurine used during the holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, to honor deceased loved ones.

His ...Read more

Today’s questions are all from women in the early stages of dating:

Question: He’s 40, not 38. And he used his middle name in his profile. Told me on the first date. Important for his job to keep low profile. OK?

Answer: Are you asking me to tell you that it's OK that somebody lied about their age by two years and then gave you the excuse ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I’m (27F) told pretty often that I’m out of most guys’ league, looks-wise. The guy I’m dating (36M) is a great person, but he’s not conventionally attractive, and he can’t stop pointing that out. I want to be clear I’m genuinely into him — I’m attracted to him, tell him constantly, and mean it. But whenever we’re ...Read more

MIAMI — Life in Florida was unbearable before the widespread adoption of two life-changing pieces of technology: air conditioning and mosquito control.

And while screen doors and a healthy (or, in hindsight, not-so-healthy) dose of DDT might have done the trick in the 1950s, nowadays, the war on skeeters has entered a new front. Here, the ...Read more

The scenario often unfolds like this: Medical researchers investigate a frequently used drug and report that it’s less effective for older patients than previously thought, or that its risks outweigh its benefits in older adults. More studies follow, confirming those findings.

After a few years, medical associations revise their guidelines, ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Ron Pitelka was 23 when he took his first boulder home from work.

Pitelka was on a construction site in Chicago’s southwest suburbs when workers dug up an egg-shaped limestone rock about 5 feet wide. He’d just gotten his first dump truck, which he used to cart the 10,000-pound boulder away.

Over the past two decades, the 45-year...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I've read your book, and I have a question about student jobs. Is it a bad idea to make sure every student has some kind of job? I want each of them to have the opportunity to "prove" that they are responsible by keeping their job. Also, can some students have more than one job?

Answer: There are three main reasons for ...Read more

Q: My ex wants us to celebrate our daughter's birthday together every year because she says it's better for our daughter. We don't fight in front of her, but being together is uncomfortable and I'm sure she can feel it. I'd rather have separate celebrations. Does putting the kids first mean we have to celebrate together? What’s good ex-...Read more

When a technician pronounced our refrigerator’s ice maker beyond repair two years ago, he bowed his head, marked the event with a moment of silence, then handed us an outrageous repair bill.

Not going down to defeat, or life without ice, we went out and bought two plastic ice cube trays. Making our own ice was such a throwback to the past ...Read more

My eyes aren’t what they used to be. In fact, they used to be martini olives. Those were the days!

The sad fact is that I can’t find anything anymore. I don’t just mean small things, like a screwdriver (the tool, not vodka and orange juice, which are in the liquor cabinet and the refrigerator, respectively). I mean big things.

Like my ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- The appeal of Kwik Trip depends on why you’re stopping.

It can be a convenient place to refuel both your vehicle and cravings, or provide cheap meals on the go. It can also be an oasis in a food desert, stocking everything from bananas to meatloaf, and a manageable shopping experience for those weary of super-sized supermarkets...Read more

Kwik Trip is in the business of selling gasoline, about as dull a commodity as they come. Yet the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based chain has turned the banal task of refueling into the driver’s equivalent of must-see TV. Kwik Trip has earned the title of Country’s Best Gas Station Brand seven years running, and cultivated an unlikely cult ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- As a kid, Kristen Mueller spent her summers playing baseball with friends at a park a couple of blocks away. In high school, she was a three-sport varsity athlete and later played hockey for her college team.

But if her kids join today’s hyper-organized youth sports culture, they will be expected to get serious, not dabble. ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Mary Kate Reilly’s after-work routine is familiar and comforting. Her 50-minute commute ends at her childhood home in Tinley Park, Illinois, where her mom is waiting when she walks in; she shares a meal and relaxes with her parents afterward as they watch reality TV.

It’s a living situation the 23-year-old did not exactly ...Read more

For several years, Nicole Straight and Patricia Wood, who lived across the street from each other in Sausalito, California, were more neighbors than friends, exchanging sociable greetings and occasionally having coffee.

Then, last October, Wood took a fall, broke her neck, and spent three months in rehabilitation. When she returned to the house...Read more

Love at first sight was the feeling many had last year when new plants were being evaluated. This group included botanical gardens, university trials, garden writers, and even growers who might put the plant in production. The plant I am referring to is Surefire Cascade Red begonia.

Like the name suggests it is a "surefire" winner. As it showed...Read more

Dear Anna,

My girlfriend and I recently celebrated our second anniversary. I tried to make it special. I surprised her by booking a little cabin upstate she’d been eyeing for months, planned the whole weekend and cooked her favorite meal from scratch the first night. It wasn’t cheap, but I wanted to do it.

A few days later, she told me I �...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- For decades scientists and researchers have been vexed by a sound emanating from cats. Not a call of the wild, a roar or a hiss. No, multiple academics have attempted to decipher the meaning behind the mightily adorable meow of the domestic house cat.

Cats, it turns out, are conversationalists. And good news for cat parents: ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Dating is hard. And complicating matters, was it possible my cat could be seen as, if not an outright red flag, a deterrent?

Cats come with stigmas. Everyone knows the outdated and offensive characterization of a cat lady — a stereotype conjuring images of solitude, eccentricities and probably cartons of ice cream.

But cat ...Read more