Lifestyle

FICTION

I never wanted a boy. Seriously, when I was pregnant with Reagan, everyone would say, “oh, I hope you have a boy, so you have one of each.” While I was mainly praying for happy and healthy, I was secretly praying for another girl. I knew girls – I mean, I am one. I had all sisters, and I already had a baby girl. I was elated when they told me that Reagan was a girl as well.

Dear Answer Angel Ellen: When I get my hair done, my stylist uses a round brush that has hair in the bristles from other clients. Granted, the clients’ hair is ALWAYS shampooed when they use the brush for blow-drying, but it’s been bothering me. What do you think?

Katie Porter serves a very specific, very recognizable need in our cultural imagination. Like Larry David, Beyoncé and Batman, she plays the righteous truth-teller we only become in the safety of our cars and showers, when no else one is there and our blood pressure is spiking. When she goes viral — weekly, it seems — there’s often satisfying squirm attached: A three-term House Democrat, representing Orange County, California, Porter has made her reputation from social-media snippets of congressional hearings in which she scrawls stats across a whiteboard while asking pointed, easy-to-comprehend questions of executives and government officials who are not used to being publicly challenged. She asked the CEO of JPMorgan Chase why he makes $31 million a year yet can’t explain his employees’ financial struggles. She questioned pharmaceutical CEOs why prices go up if medicines don’t improve. She revealed that a White House-appointed head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could not explain how an annual interest rate works.

As May arrives, we start moving into the warmer part of the year. Hot days are blissfully cool when air conditioners are running full swing. But what do you do when the thermostat stops working and starts to climb unexpectedly? Few household problems are as disheartening and uncomfortable as a blown-out air conditioner. It can be dangerous if you have small children, older people, or those with chronic illnesses in the home. Here’s a list of what to do when the air conditioning stops working.

Q. I just asked my girlfriend to marry me. We’ve been together for three years and have lived together for two. I have a son from a previous relationship who absolutely adores my fiancé. He is 5, and his mother and I share equal custody. For some reason, my ex does not want our son to participate in the wedding. My son is very upset. I’m pushing to elope. What’s good ex-etiquette?

Here is today’s trivia challenge: What modern figure was famously described by his wife as “an encyclopedia of useless information”?

PHILADELPHIA — The corseted dresses and topcoats of “La bohème” ooze poor, mid-19th century Paris bohemian.

The worst of the pandemic has subsided, countries are accessible again and airlines expect decent profits now that business and leisure travel has returned. Why, then, are fares still so high?

I’m fortunate to have three generations of women from the same family on my team, and I’m thrilled to introduce them to you today.