My friend Cheryl had friends coming to town for a visit, and they were going to stay overnight. “I took a look around my house,” she said. “This place is a mess!” 

She was exaggerating—her place is never a mess. But I totally got it. When “company is coming,” as people used to say, all of a sudden ...

I was almost 12, and I desperately wanted a new bike. I was still riding the single-speed Raleigh I’d gotten when I was 8. “It’s dorky,” I told my dad. Complaining didn’t work.

By the end of the summer, I had my new bike. Even better, I had bought it myself—with money I earned. In the process, I fe...

Meet Christine. As the daughter of one of my best friends, I had the privilege of watching her grow up. Among other accomplishments, Christine became a top seller of Girl Scout Cookies. She won awards for selling more cookies than anyone else in her troop and her Service Unit. In fact, she became on...

I’d like to introduce you to Paul and Cassie Moorhead, owners of Budget Blinds of Federal Way, Washington. Steve and I recently met Paul when we ordered new blinds for several areas of our house, then decided to order blinds for the rest of the house, and then opted to throw in some window treatment...