Buying a home doesn’t deliver the instant gratification you’re accustomed to in today’s e-commerce world. There’s no “Buy Now” button for real estate — the process requires a number of steps and a lot of patience.

And even after you find the perfect place, you’ll still need to do more waiting: The average time to buy a house, ...Read more

ATLANTA -- During the Halloween-themed Boo at the Zoo Atlanta festivities in late October, kids played Panda Plinko for prizes and gleefully posed with a person dressed as a panda. The Panda Pagoda gift shop sold stacks of stuffed pandas for $25.

But actual giant pandas were no longer there. Lun Lun and Yang Yang had returned to China two weeks...Read more

“How can I write in my online dating profile to attract the type of person I’m looking for?”

This is a question I get, in some form or another, from clients almost daily. In their mind, they have a target partner. Let’s say this “target” is a man in his 60s, well-educated, with grown children, and lives in Philadelphia. Or maybe ...Read more

Ellen O'Brian hadn't bought a candy-filled advent calendar in years, but when she saw the festive cardboard box with little numbered panels in her local natural foods store, she couldn't resist.

"It's put out by a chocolate maker called Divine, and it's dark chocolate for the dark time of the year," said O'Brian, founder of the Center for ...Read more

Q.My husband recently died. We were married for almost 50 years. He was married prior to our life together and he always told me they divorced because she did not want children. We went on to have three wonderful daughters. His passing was expected, but a terrible blow. I recently received a letter from the funeral home saying that his ex-wife ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

During COVID, you put out a video called Real-World Workshop on YouTube that showed parents how to manage chores and homework/virtual work at home. It worked really well for my three kids for years. Power struggles about work were gone just like you promised. BUT… now it doesn’t work at all for my middle and youngest (12...Read more

CHICAGO — With a wave of her bangled brown fingertips to the melody of flutes and chimes, artist, theologian and academic Tricia Hersey enchanted a crowd into a dreamlike state of rest at Semicolon Books on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

“The systems can’t have you,” Hersey said into the microphone, reading mantras while leading the ...Read more

I had an identity crisis yesterday. It was the fourth one this week. Online accounts keep questioning if it's really me.

I have the same thought a lot of mornings when I look in the mirror.

The bank insisted I confirm my identity before I could access our account -- all because I made one teeny tiny typo entering the passcode. Flustered and in...Read more

If you’re looking to make cash back on your purchases, you might be amazed at the number of categories that qualify for putting money back into your pocket. By using the right cash-back app, you could receive money back from grocery shopping, buying gas and dining out.

It’s not just everyday expenses that offer you money back. You can earn ...Read more

Whenever I pull a prank, which generally involves my grandchildren, whose maturity level is way above mine, I think outside the box.

This is a wise strategy because I can’t fit inside the box. And even if I could, the air supply to my brain would be cut off and I’d be even more immature, which admittedly would make me a better prankster.

...Read more

CHICAGO -- Camille Billie said when she first moved to Chicago from her reservation in Wisconsin in 2018 to start studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she felt “lost and overstimulated coming from Oneida Nation.”

Through school, she found and signed up for the Native American Student Association and, from there, was able ...Read more

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Standing in the dim light of Las Palmas, the Palm Springs micro-brewery and go-to gathering spot for young locals in the low desert, floral designer Sesar Orozco found himself in a circle of friends, some of whom he knew would be there that night, others who just happened to show up.

Rey Romero, the co-owner of the ...Read more

Dear Anna,

My fiancee and I have been together for three years, and I thought everything was great. Last night, however, during dinner, she brought up something that completely blindsided me: the idea of us each having a "pass" to sleep with someone else before the wedding. She said it would be healthy for our relationship and help us start our...Read more

SEATTLE — Dagmawi Haile-Leul left the King County Jail on foot, carrying his belongings in a plastic bag, trying to keep his legal paperwork from getting soaked in the October rain.

He was released later in the day than expected and by the time he arrived at Africatown Community Land Trust's Benu Community Home — the only shelter in Seattle...Read more

CHICAGO — Tim Norris’ 16 chickens enjoy free rein in his Irving Park neighborhood backyard when he lets them out of their coop in the morning. A few perch on chairs or the fence on his porch, others meander through the Joe-Pye weed plants and a rooster named Buffy plops himself in a hole for a dust bath.

While the group tends to stick ...Read more

The Garden Guy has been part of a lot of coleus trials over the years, but I don’t remember seeing one like ColorBlaze Mini Me Chartreuse, which will be making its debut in 2025. I gave it casual mention in a column recently, but I am certain it deserves its own column. Hopefully you will see why.

First off it is an electrifying color of ...Read more

“Should sex with one person mean you stop going on dates with other people?”

This is a question someone asked me recently. In my line of work as a dating coach, things come up in all areas of the early dating process—how to use the apps efficiently, what to do/say on a first date, when/what to text, how to build connection and chemistry, ...Read more

Q. My husband’s 8-year-old daughter has a birthday this weekend and she decided she would like to take a few friends to the movies and then out for frozen yogurt around the corner from our home. My husband and his ex-wife plan to take her and I was not invited. What’s good ex-etiquette?

A. Let’s clarify something first. Your husband’s ...Read more

Three of our elementary-school grands have a new landline phone sitting in their family room. They called us multiple times the first week it was installed, each time saying, "Hello, Watson?"

No, they didn't. Each time a soft voice cautiously said, "Hello, Grandma?"

The poor things were apprehensive. A handset that rests in a base alongside a ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kirk Nelson walked outside recently to check on the honeybees he’d been tending for about six years, and got a stark surprise.

One of the two colonies in his backyard in Orono, Minnesota, had buzzed out of its hive — the queen, workers and drones alike — leaving nothing behind but honey.

“We had been out in the hive two ...Read more