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Struggling to make and keep friends in a new city

Dear Annie: I have a friend, “Donna,” who lives in another state. We’ve been friends for three years. Due to past trauma of being cheated on, I have trust issues, not just in relationships but friendships as well. I’ve damaged and even lost a few friends because of these issues. Donna is an introvert and doesn’t want to talk all the time. I’m more extroverted. When she says she can’t or doesn’t want to talk, I have doubts about our friendship and it causes fights between us. It hurts because I know she’s a true friend, but I struggle to bring myself to trust her ...

Shampoo your paintbrushes

Dear Heloise: When I wash my paintbrushes after painting, I “shampoo” them with a dish detergent, then “condition” them using a hair conditioner. Afterward, I rinse them really well and let them dry. I’ve been using the same brushes for years. -- Jan Nelson, via email ANOTHER LID- OPENING HACK Dear Heloise: Another great way to open stubborn jars is to use an auto oil filter wrench. It adjusts to many different sized lids; however, make sure to do it over the sink. If it takes too much force, you’ll end up splashing pickle juice everywhere. But that pesky lid will ...

Town Talk

The top priority of the Street Department is to maintain the integrity of the street and alley pavements to ensure they are in a safe and usable condition and to ensure proper drainage for storm runoff. As the weather warms and the snow melts the first maintenance activity, we perform is Crack filling. A year or two after a street pavement is constructed, the freeze / thaw cycle of the seasons plus the load of the vehicles driving on it, causes cracks to form about every 40 feet or at the same distance apart as the width of the street. These cracks, if left open to the environment ...

Swamped school secretary struggles with overbearing parents

Dear Annie: I am a school secretary. Parents often call in with issues regarding their children. Some are very personal including health, family issues, abuse, neglect, behavior, etc. Many parents go into FULL detail as to what is happening. In these circumstances, I am not the person who can assist them. Instead, I refer them to a counselor, principal, nurse or teacher. I don’t blame them; they probably do not know where to start and they are struggling. However, it puts me in an awkward situation as I really do not need to know so much about these students/individuals or take up ...

Solar eclipse disrupted by clouds a disappointment

For the past few weeks I’d had high hopes for Monday’s solar eclipse, hopes that I could sit outside and watch things darken in the middle of the day. The forecasts over the weekend led me to be doubtful. Monday was supposed to be mostly cloudy, with a good chance for rain later in the afternoon. The peak of our partial eclipse was set for 2 p.m. on Monday. In the late morning the sun was peeking through from time to time. I held out hope. During lunch I noticed clouds thickening. It didn’t qualify as the start of an eclipse. It was just clouds, the kind that appear before a ...

Using kitchen tools in other ways

Dear Heloise: For years, I’ve been using various kitchen tools to help me in the kitchen and do jobs that they weren’t originally designed for. I thought I’d share some of these with you and your readers: -- I use a tea strainer filled with herbs and spices to flavor soups and stews. You just have to remove the strainer before serving. You can also fill a strainer with powdered sugar and use it to sprinkle powdered sugar over pastries such as cakes and muffins. -- I use an old potato masher to separate ground beef and sausage while it’s cooking. -- I use an egg slicer to ...