Dear Annie: When I was 4 years old, my father went to work one day and my mother’s “friend” came to visit us. We had a nice lunch; her friend showed me how he could make smoke rings with his cigarettes and could pull a quarter out of my ear. He bounced me on his knee and was so much fun. ...

Dear Heloise: I read the letter someone sent you recently about saving water while brushing your teeth. It was a good idea, but there’s an even better one. Until I was about 14 or 15, we only had a bathtub. Dad finally put in a shower and a water softener. When I would let the water run ...

Dear Heloise: Friends often call to tell me that they are closeby and want to drop by for a visit. Somehow my house always seems to be messy when they call. How can I get things in order quickly before the guests arrive? -- Terry D., Waukesha, Wisconsin Terry, take a look at your house from ...

Dear Annie: I’m knee-deep in a demanding job, and I absolutely love it. The problem is, I can tell my health is slipping. I’m not getting a lot of sleep, I rarely have time to hit the gym, and my meals usually consist of fast or frozen food due to time constraints. My body is starting to ...

Dear Heloise: I’m responding to Katharine B.’s letter about nail-biting that ran in a recent column. I used to bite my nails, too, so what I did was get “acrylic nails.” You can’t bite through those things! Then I tried “gel” nails, and you can’t really bite though them ...

Dear Annie: I want everyone to keep their germs to themselves. I am carefully training my children to avoid any contact with dirty hands or saliva when handling communal food. Unfortunately, few people in my world share my view. My mother and mother-in-law routinely share their germs while ...