Articles

Mocktails for moms-to-be: Drinks to enjoy while pregnant

FARGO - Last summer, I lamented the loss of libations. Pregnant through the dog days of summer, I couldn’t enjoy my favorite warm-weather cocktails.

• Refreshing...

Thursday Review: AeroPress brews up delicious coffee quickly

FARGO – I’ve always been a drip coffee kind of girl. It’s a simple process: Line coffeemaker with filter. Scoop grounds. Pour water. Press button.

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• The AeroPress

More than a fever: Peggy Lee to be remembered this weekend at tributes, museum opening

FARGO - It was 1998 when Kate Stevenson, a singer and language professor at Jamestown College, first looked into the life of Peggy Lee. Like many others who research the famed North Dakota native, Lee (born Norma Deloris Egstrom) got under her skin.

• www.peggylee.com
• Kate Stevenson of Jamestown, N.D., holds a 1983 poster of “Peg”
• Eriksmoen: Peggy Lee’s soft singing became her signature style

Meet Mrs. M: Widow of Iraqi man who assisted US troops finds peace in America

FARGO - Generous spirits across the Red River Valley were taken with the story of “Mrs. M,” the Iraqi widow whose husband was killed by Saddam Hussein loyalists after he aided North Dakota National Guard troops.

• Fatima Al-Kaabi and her four of her children
• Fatima Al-Kaabi sits in a conversational English class

Mother who led daughter on grand adventures does same for grandkids

VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Nearly every memory Trina Shanenko has of her childhood includes her mother, Jill Lonski.

• Trina Shanenko says her mom sacrificed her career to care for her and her siblings

Toddler and preschoolers can help you around the house, and learn independence doing so

FARGO - Tidying up and other household chores can feel like a futile exercise when there’s a toddler around. Each chore accomplished is quickly undone by messy hands. That’s if the parent can focus long enough to finish the task in the first place amid childcare demands.

• Chores for preschoolers and toddlers
• Lydia Frueh and her brother James
• Lydia gives James a good dusting

Favorite Things: Richards’ favorites for babies

They say all babies do is eat, sleep and poop, especially those first few months. Here’s a look at my favorite baby products, which not coincidentally, have a lot to do with eating, sleeping and pooping.

• Teething tablets
• Boudreaux’s Butt Paste

Chic on the cheap: Local woman enjoys thrill of the hunt for fashionable items

FARGO - After appraising her outfit, Jane Millikan’s friends often ask her skeptically, “Now you didn’t get that secondhand, did you?” “If I kind of smile, that means I did,” says Millikan, who’s been dubbed by her friends the “queen of secondhand shopping.”

• Jane Millikan’s tips for saving money by shopping secondhand
• Chic on the cheap
• Jane says her friends call her the “queen of secondhand shopping”

Richards: Spending challenge an eye-opener

I watched the cash register total creep upward as I fingered through the dollar bills in my envelope. The coupons I clutched in my hand brought the bill down enough that my cash covered the final total.

• Sherri Richards' parenting blog
• Sherri Richards

Thursday review | Comfy, cozy kid’s seat: Seat liner turns stroller into luxury ride for baby

I’ve always been a bit intrigued by those foam mattress commercials that promise it’s like sleeping on a cloud. Now there’s a baby product that turns your existing stroller into a comfy cloud-like ride.

• Eight-month-old Owen relaxes on the seat pad

Columns

Parenting Perspectives: Slow down, sweet toddler

‘Mommy, please I have fruit snack?” my 2-year-old daughter asked me so sweetly the other morning. It was 7 a.m. “No, honey, you can’t have fruit snacks before breakfast,” I told her.

Parenting Perspectives: Movie’s mom confessions hit home

It’s a good thing movie theaters are dark, because I’m not sure the trio of single girls next to me would have understood the tears flowing down my face while watching “Sex and the City 2.”

• Charlotte and Miranda

Parenting Perspectives: Stroll a little slower

My daughter, Eve, and I went for a walk last week on one of those cloudless, warm mornings that finally felt like spring.

Parenting Perspectives: Cocky mother humbled by 2-year-old’s behavior

Compared with some other 2-year-olds, my daughter tends to be pretty well-behaved.

Parenting Perspectives: Who knew toddler’s day planner could fill up so quickly?

My daughter’s not quite 2, but already she knows the days of the week.

Retail employees share Black Friday war stories

The day after Thanksgiving, Colleen Flynn-Odney simply tells new Target employees to stand back and watch.

• Shopping at Walmart
• Shopping at Bath & Body Works
• Monitoring checkout traffic
• Stores hope basics will lure in customers
• Q&A: A closer look at Black Friday

Parenting Perspectives: Baby is a target for uncouth comments

I was grabbing a carton of milk from the cooler at Cash Wise earlier this month when the gray-haired woman stormed over to me.

Parenting Perspectives: Facebook friend(s): ‘We’re pregnant’

Forget post-World War II. I’m living in a baby boom now.

Richards: Mothers too often go on an unnecessary guilt trip

When women begin the journey into motherhood, we inevitably book a concurrent voyage: the guilt trip.

Parenting: Mom’s on a mission for baby bargains

My mom taught me to be frugal by clipping coupons and shopping at the Nearly Nu thrift store. I once watched her successfully bargain with a department store clerk to get the previous week’s sale price on a pair of shoes.