SKOKIE, Ill., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Our refrigerator finally gave up the ghost the night before Thanksgiving. The timing was perfect. Black Friday, here we come.

SKOKIE, Ill., Nov. 29 (UPI) -- My friend from Texas set forth her plan: She would pay for both of our admissions and classes at the big quilt and sewing fair in the Chicago area in November and I, in turn, would drive her from and to the airport, provide room and board at my house, and pack sack lunches and dinners.

SKOKIE, Ill., Nov. 23 (UPI) -- I am much richer and have much more for which to be thankful this Thanksgiving than last year.

SKOKIE, Ill. (UPI) Nov. 16 -- We all have favorite ways of giving back or paying forward.

I love solitude. I throw my voice down deep, try in vain to be sultry, and intone Greta Garbo's famously misquoted line from Grand Hotel, "I vant to be alone." I cherish the times I can read uninterrupted or think undisturbed.

Fred is still at his contractor's position, which has been extended through December of next year pending his company's approval of the budget.

For all my writing experience, journalism's a new genre for me, as I barely recall my stint first as a feature writer and then a news editor on my high school newspaper.

Job update: No teaching job. So here's my State of the (condem)Nation:

Despite all the interest in my friend's birthday party, this has to be the last time I indulge in such frivolity; next week, back to talking about my job situation.