
5 minute read
Illinois American Water is supporting young artists through the company’s annual art contest Water Keeps Life Flowing, which illustrates the importance of reliable, safe water service. Through the contest, third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students draw a picture and write a sentence about what water service means to them. To help spark creativity, teachers explain how important water service is for public health, food, daily chores, firefighting, manufacturing and more.
Local winners are:
Grayson S., fourth-grader, St. Ambrose School in Godfrey
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Justyce G., fifth-grader, East Elementary School in Alton
YOUR
@DaveRamsey
Help your New Year’s resolutions stick
DEAR DAVE: I thought I was going to get control of my money and make a lot of other positive changes in my life this year, but very few of the things I wanted to accomplish happened. I started strong, and began with serious intentions, but somewhere along the way I lost focus. Can you give me some advice for making and sticking to my resolutions in 2022? -- Isaac DEAR ISAAC: Lots of people make big promises with the best intentions on December 31st. It seems everyone comes up with a laundry list of New Year’s resolutions, but research shows very few people actually achieve their goals.
If you’re ready — and I mean really ready — to reset your life and succeed with your
New Year’s resolutions, here are a few simple, proven steps that’ll help.
First, write down your top goal. Pick the resolution that means the most to you and write it down. You’re more likely to succeed if you can focus on a single goal, and you have a greater chance of achieving it if you write it down — on paper, on purpose. And make sure the resolution you choose is very important to you. Writing down a goal just because it’s what someone else is doing, or because it sounds like a good idea, isn’t good enough. If your goal isn’t yours, it won’t happen. Second, set benchmarks.
Beth Matthews, vice president of operations for Illinois American Water, said she is encouraged by the “creativity shown by Illinois American Water’s young customers.
“We appreciate the
Let’s say you want to pay off your credit cards before July. You need to make that goal measurable throughout the year by setting benchmarks. If you owe $5,000 on your credit cards and want to pay them off in six months, you need to pay about $833 towards them every month. Write your benchmark down beneath your goal, and make a plan for how you’re going to get it done.
Three, find an accountability partner. A great accountability partner isn’t afraid to ask how your goals are coming along, and they’ll call you on it when you’re slacking. If you set a financial goal, a good accountability partner educators who share this learning opportunity with their students,” Matthews said. “They are helping to mold our future environmental and water service leaders.
“This art contest helps our young customers understand the importance of water service in a creative way, by bringing together art and science. We are excited about the submissions which demonstrate the isn’t going to be the friend who always asks you to go shopping. Studies have shown that having a strong accountability partner increases the likelihood of achieving a goal dramatically. importance of water service and protecting precious water resources. The future looks bright in the hands of our young customers.”

And finally, make sure you reward yourself along the way. It’s tough to stay motivated when hitting your goal takes a while. Lots of folks start out at full speed, only to see the momentum disappear over time. You might treat yourself to a night at the movies when you’ve paid off the first $1,000 on your credit cards, or maybe a nice, new shirt when you’ve paid off half the card.
The 22 winners chosen by Illinois American Water earned their classroom a $100 donation, which can be used for supplies or a classroom celebration. The winning artwork can be viewed on Illinois American Water’s Facebook page. 3

Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we think it will, Isaac. Our priorities can change, and our goals may change, too. If that’s why you didn’t make your resolutions happen this year, that’s fine. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s too late to change and improve your life! 3
Dave Ramsey is a seventime #1 national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of The Ramsey Show, which airs 1-3pm weekdays on WBGZ 107.1FM / 1570AM
Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives.

Puzzle Solutions
Atlantic
10. A number that is only divisible by itself and 1

Flashback
1. Karen Chandler, in 1952. However, it was Mel Carter’s 1965 cover that topped the charts, spending 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
2. The Tymes, in 1975. The song was a hit in the U.K. while not getting much notice in the U.S. -- until it was discovered by Carolina beach shag dancers and became a popular staple.
3. None. “Down in the Boondocks,” however, reached No. 1 in Canada.
4. The Go-Go’s, the only female group to write their own material and play their own instruments.
5. “Doctor, My Eyes,” by Jackson Browne in 1972. The song was written with a third verse that wasn’t recorded but can be found on bootleg copies of the demo.
Strange But True
By Lucie Winborne
• In Germany, you are allowed to drive your car naked, but not get out of it naked.
• A high-school principal once disciplined a student by making him sit in the basement while reading the U.S. Constitution. The punishment must have taken effect, because said student (who also memorized parts of the document) was Thurgood Marshall, who grew up to become the first Black Supreme Court justice.
• Male orb-weaver spiders give back rubs to their mates so they don’t get eaten.
• “Mbuki-mvuki” is a Bantu word for the irresistible urge to strip off your clothes while dancing.
• In 2002, Saddam Hussein’s campaign theme song for re-election was Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”
• For a single day in August 1998 and another in October 2018, Topeka, Kansas, renamed itself “ToPikachu” to mark the release of different Pokemon games.
• Pule, the world’s rarest cheese, is made from donkey milk, something that was widely believed impossible since the liquid doesn’t coagulate. However, Serbian cheesemaker Slobodan Simic discovered a solution and now sells his cheese for over $500 per pound.
• MLB pitcher Turk Wendell, “baseball’s favorite oddball,” would not only brush his teeth every inning, but at the start of same, would turn
Homes



and wave to the center fielder and wait for him to wave back before proceeding.
• There are more English speakers in China than in the United States.
• In 2008, PETA requested Ben & Jerry’s use breastmilk instead of cow’s milk to make ice cream. This was unanimously rejected by Ben & Jerry’s and La Leche League International.
• Sixty-five percent of test subjects had the urge to yawn after reading about yawning.
• From 1746 until 1996, English law considered bagpipes not as a musical instrument, but a weapon of war, used to “instill courage in soldiers and put the fear of God into the enemy.”
• The kitchen dishwasher was invented by a politician’s socialite wife who was fed up with servants breaking her expensive dishes.
• Author Roger Highfield’s 1999 book “The Physics of Christmas: From the Aerodynamics of Reindeer to the Thermodynamics of Turkey” detailed a darker side to Rudolph’s famously red nose -- not alcoholism, but some kind of parasitic infection. 3