You may have heard of the “burnt toast theory.” If you haven’t yet (or need a quick refresher), the idea is this: If you burned your toast while making breakfast, you need to spend another five or 10 minutes making a new piece. That extra time might be annoying and cause you to run late, but it may actually be saving you from something ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- She knew she had to go even though she couldn’t imagine moving somewhere else.

Maria Merritt has lived in El Sereno the better part of 30 years. Her little home on Poplar Boulevard served as the beacon in a turbulent life that led her to solid ground. She raised her four kids there, had a well-paid job and a spell of normal ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. -- None of Andrew Boisen’s initial options for commuting from his home in Tarpon Springs to Pinellas Technical College looked pretty.

Boisen has a disability that prevents him from driving a car. He could hop on the county’s fixed-route bus system — but the ride would require 30 minutes of walking and a bus transfer, lasting ...Read more

I attend a spirituality group for an hour every week that holds loving kindness as its anchor.

During the hour, we read the poetry of such luminaries as Mary Oliver and John O'Donohue. We meditate, and we talk about the ways we find to extend loving kindness to ourselves and others.

The dozen or so gentle-spirited members of this group also ...Read more

Q. My ex and I have been apart for six years. Our son is 9 and we share his time equally. For years we got along OK, but her boyfriend moved in last year and now she tapes all the exchanges. It upsets our son, and it upsets me. Today I received a notification that she is taking me back to court to revise the parenting plan we have had for six ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I am a kindergarten teacher with a challenging class. I have done PD with you, and the strategies and procedures that I have learned have pretty much made it so that I never have to worry about students’ behavior: They will either use positive behaviors or they will learn to use them next time because I use Delayed ...Read more

We have just done a school pick-up; 14-year-old twins and their 12-year-old sister are in the car with us. In a unanimous decision, we head directly to Chick-fil-A because some days the main thing you get at school is hungry. Very, very hungry.

We ordered and are seated with waffle fries and ice cream, checking off vegetables and dairy for the ...Read more

When you’re retired, you don’t live in the fast lane. In fact, my wife, Sue, and I are on the side of the road with a flat tire. The trade-off is that you can’t get fired from a job you don’t have.

Still, there has been great concern by a certain prominent person about how certain subordinate but no less important people spend their ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- MiMi Gravley works full-time, as a community relations liaison at Strawberry Mansion High in Philadelphia. She’s also a full-time college student and juggles raising her own kids and making ends meet.

Gravley is smart and motivated; she wanted to earn a college degree, but life and bills got in the way. She left college once ...Read more

A few months ago I wrote a column called "Let Loose the Chartreuse." This is my go-to color to make all companions or combinations literally "POP WITH PIZZAZZ"! In that column I dabbled here and there with some of my favorites, both new and old selections.

There is one I didn’t mention as it really deserves its own column; it offers a ...Read more

With Americans regularly scrolling, buying and selling online, there are more ways than ever for fraudsters to steal your hard-earned money.

The latest Bankrate Financial Fraud Survey reveals that about 1 in 3 U.S. adults (34%) have experienced financial fraud or a scam in the past 12 months, since January 2024. Among them, nearly 2 in 5 (37%) ...Read more

CHICAGO -- On a recent rainy morning in Chicago’s Loop, a group of visually impaired students made their way along a sidewalk, sweeping their white canes back and forth to feel curbs and planters. They stopped at a corner to listen. A CTA train roared overhead. Cars rushed in front of them. They waited. When they could hear the traffic move ...Read more

As a dating coach, I often get questions ranging from the early stages of dating—messaging on the apps, texting, date planning—to the early stages of a relationship.

Here are a few from this past week:

Question: Dated for 6 months; he broke it off and said that the timing wasn't right but hopes one day it will. Was it genuine?

Answer: I ...Read more

Whether you were forced out of the workforce due to downsizing, a recession or other reasons, you might’ve retired thinking you were done with work for good. But unretirement might change that, whether it’s because you need the money, you miss the social engagement or some other reason entirely.

You don’t have to stop working at some ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I've been with my boyfriend for eight months, and overall, things are great. He's kind, funny and a dedicated teacher. The issue? When he's not working, he's gaming — sometimes six or seven hours a night. I don’t mind that he has a hobby, but it bugs me that he devotes nearly all of his free time to it. I don’t want to be the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The oak trees saved the blue house on East Calaveras Street. Seriina Covarrubias was sure of it.

When she had returned after the Eaton fire, much of the Altadena neighborhood was in ruins. Homes and the nearby shops on North Fair Oaks had been destroyed. Her garage and her prized garden were demolished. Her house had been filled ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

I teach fourth grade. I have a student who always loses the papers that he’s supposed to have in spite of the fact that students have color-coded folders for each subject and were taught at the beginning of the year to put every paper in a folder, and to not have loose papers in their desks. He is doing this intentionally...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The goat had a resigned look in her eyes as the rancher pressed her udder and aimed a stream of milk into a tall cup. Sunrise needled through the misty air. The smell of manure was almost tactile. A foam emerged as the shooting milk churned with a powdery mixture at the cup’s bottom: instant coffee, granulated sugar, cinnamon ...Read more

I dashed into our Walmart to pick up a few greeting cards and noticed huge glass cases lining both sides of a nearby aisle.

My first thought was they had locked up hunting guns, but this Walmart doesn’t sell firearms anymore. Then I thought maybe they locked up power tools like big box hardware stores do. Wrong again.

The merchandise locked ...Read more

Q. My ex and I were together for nine years. We had two children, now 6 and 8. I cheated on him. I met someone at work, and we started a relationship. I know it was wrong, but it happened, and I left. Since that day he has been completely irrational, and he has become someone I don’t know. He posts insane accusations on social media. He stalks...Read more