Lifestyle

CHICAGO — After digging into the phenomenal grilled octopus skewers at Sueños for my most recent restaurant review, I paused briefly and thought to myself, “Wow, I’ve been eating a lot of octopus lately.”

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Theme parks across the United States are gaining an unwanted reputation for teen brawls and hot-headed melees following a surge in fights over the past two years that threatens to brand the family-friendly playgrounds as unsafe havens of violence, chaos and panic.

The mother of a 5-year-old girl tells her to dress for school. The child replies, insolence abounding, “No! I don’t want to, and I’m not going to!” Mom tells her if she doesn’t dress, she will go to school in her pajamas. The child dresses. And that’s the end of it. Or is it?

When strangers ask if I’m the guy from the newspaper, I’ve always joked that no one else would want to be me.

Stain resistance, slip-resistance, comfort, support, durability — nurses have a bevy of reasons for needing quality shoes to do their best when on the job. That is why nurse.org asked its online community of more than 133,000 nurses to recommend their favorite shoes.

Dear Answer Angel Ellen: I am perplexed why huge false eyelashes are all the rage right now, especially with the younger set, including my own 15-year-old, who is beautiful without them. I especially see the young athletes wearing these huge lashes when they are playing basketball, running races, etc., and you would think they would be annoying. I’ve often wondered what would happen if they accidentally lost one during a game. Would the coach say, “Hold on, gotta find the lashes”?! I hate to say this, but it really isn’t an attractive look for anyone, at least in my opinion. Not everyone needs to be a Kardashian, thank God. And I thought 10-inch nails were bad! What is your take on this?

Mika Suzuki is a directionless, 35-year-old Japanese woman with a big secret: She gave her daughter up for adoption at 19.

Q. My husband and I have been married for three years. He and I both had sons about the same age from a previous marriage and now we have a daughter who is almost 2. His son is quite a handful. We see him every other weekend for a night or two. He doesn’t feel like part of our family, and I often forget to include him in casual conversation. This upsets my husband, and we get in terrible fights — but how can you care for a child who only comes to your home every two weeks? What’s good ex-etiquette?

With their customers shopping for a more normal back-to-college experience this fall, two complementary retailers — The Container Store and online furniture and décor retailer Dormify — decided to partner for the season.

If you look on the internet, you’ll find plenty of recipes for ranch-flavored Ritz crackers. Save yourself the trouble, and buy these Ritz Toasted Chips Ranch Crackers. Though the toasted nature of them makes them lighter and crisper than a Ritz cracker, the creamy ranch flavor combines savory onion and garlic paired with garden herbs.