SUDOKU
Fun by the Numbers
Like puzzles? Then you’ll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test! Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!
CLUES ACROSS
1. Tropical Asian plant
5. Yankees’ slugger Judge
10. Helps to preserve food
12. Plant disease
14. One who predicts
16. Equally
18. Burundian franc
19. Pouch
20. Arizona city
22. Surround
23. Hard, heavy timber
25. Witnessed
26. They __
27. French river
28. A way to drink
30. Small constellation
31. Peruse a written work
33. Type of hound
35. Plant of the goosefoot
family
37. Evade or escape
38. A way to confine
40. Volcanic crater
41. Weekday
42. Women’s service organization (abbr.)
44. Local area network
45. Sensory receptor
48. Posted
50. Tibetan pastry
52. Licensed for Wall Street
53. Very willing
55. Golf score
56. Consume
57. Touchdown
58. Tends to remind
63. In a way, smoothed
65. Poke holes in the ground
66. Herbaceous plants
67. Taiwanese river
CLUES DOWN
1. Body art
2. Boxing’s GOAT
3. Film for posterity (abbr.)
4. Prayer
5. Calculating machine
6. Keyboard key
7. Outburst
8. Man-eating giants
9. New Hampshire
10. Type of sword
11. Counting
13. Pants style
15. Political action committee
17. U.S. government legislative branch
18. Civil Rights Act component
21. Contractors take one
23. Spanish soldier
24. A person’s brother or sister
27. Expressed pleasure
29. Song of praise
32. Shock treatment
34. Patti Hearst’s captors
35. Counteract
36. Goes over again
39. Popular Dodge truck
40. Male adult
43. A part of a river where the current is very fast
44. Rope used to lasso
46. Become less intense
47. Subway rodent
49. Lead alloy
51. Japanese honorific title
54. Advise someone
59. Famous NYC museum
60. Ocean
61. Cathode-ray tube
62. Cologne
64. It starts with these two
Do you see yourself as victim or victor?
This life provides challenges for all of us. They can be beyond difficult. And unexpected. And unfair. Your marriage ends unexpectedly. Your spouse dies. You lose your job.
You lose a parent or a sibling. Your best friend finds a new best friend. An accident upends your life. You struggle with infertility. You have chronic pain. You struggle with your health.
Your doctor diagnoses you with the ‘C’ word.
And so on and so on and on and on.
It can be disheartening. Especially if you see it that way.
Life often sets us up to be the victim.
Circumstances go against what we’d hoped. Luck isn’t on our side. We lose
more than we win. The rules seem to change. People who should be loyal are not. Others who should be kind are cruel.
The world is cruel. At face value, it is disheartening.
Oh heck, at any level it is disheartening.
Life can be a bully sometimes – often times.
Life will beat you up and spit you out, without remorse. Without caring about how you feel or how crushed your spirit might be.
To heck with you. What does any of it matter, anyway?
When you are the most downtrodden, when people and the world have cut you to your quick, when it seems everyone who should be supporting you has turned their back against you, when you want to stay in bed, under the covers all day long because facing the world seems like facing razor blades, remember one thing:
The world may see you as a victim. You may feel like the victim. But:
You do not have to be the victim. You are not the victim.
Although the role of victim feels like it should be the default for much of life’s foibles, it is not. And perhaps the most telling
word in that last sentence is “role.”
You do not have to play the role of victim – despite what your circumstances might imply.
You do not have to accept the role of victim, and if you can sort of grasp this, you can change the whole mentality.
From victim to victor. It is yours for the taking.
Make lemonade out of lemons – we’ve all heard the phrase, and sometimes it’s a benefit to incorporate such colloquialisms into real life.
Much like making lemonade, this process is pretty simple. I’ve already alluded to the fact the default is that of victim. But you are not the default! You are unique and one in a million. One in a billion!
What makes you think you are the default? Don’t sell yourself short. You can take a loss and make it a win. You take a liability and make it an asset. You take lemons and make limonchello. (Bypassing lemonade, because you are way beyond that!)
Life is hard. I understand that. I know it firsthand.
But I also know that hard can be overcome and the only way to overcome it is through your own mindset. Other people can define you as the victim, they will see you as the victim. But it is up to you – and only you –as to how you decide to see yourself.
What is a victor? A conqueror. A winner. Someone who ends up on top. Someone who deserves
a word of congratulations.
Someone who does not let the world define them, but chooses to define themselves.
I also believe any victor has overcome adversaries and difficulties – battles even, because you can’t be a victor without conflict and struggles. It is those very struggles – and overcoming them, one breath at a time – that allow you to redefine yourself: from victim to victor.
It isn’t easy. But I will tell you one thing for certain. It is most definitely worth it.
Jill Pertler is an awardwinning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook.
Rock Valley Publishing is seeking freelance reporters and photographers to produce local news and photos for your hometown newspaper. Weekly stories and photos needed for Machesney Park, Loves Park, Rockton, Roscoe, Pecatonica, Winnebago, Stillman Valley and Byron. Writing and reporting experience a plus. Work from home as an independent contractor with no in-office requirement. PLEASE EMAIL RESUME TO: mbradley@rvpublishing.com
LARGE LIVE PUBLIC AUCTION
SATURDAY, FEB. 22 • RUNNING TWO RINGS!
Lunch by: Moni • 9 A.M. • Comfort Station Available
LOCATION: Boone Co. Fairgrounds, 8847 IL Rt. 76, Belvidere, IL 61008.
VEHICLE, COINS, STAMPS, JEWELRY, PURSES, ANTIQUES, COLLECTIBLES, HOUSEHOLD, YARD, TOOLS & MISC.
VEHICLE TO BE SOLD AT 11 A.M. SHARP! 2012 MERCEDES-BENZ C300, 43,400 MILES – SHARP CAR!
OWNERS: J. Hill, T. DeSantel, B. Backe, K. Albano Estate.
TERMS: See website.
LEE AUCTION SERVICE Belvidere, IL 61008 - Cell # 815-988-0249
AUCTIONEER: LYLE LEE, IL State License #440.000200 / WI #2863-52
CLERKS & CASHIERS: LEE AUCTION SERVICE
Visit our website at www.leeauctionservice.com for terms and check out AuctionLook.com or AuctionZip.com for pictures and more
Page 2 puzzle answers
Top Tree Service LLC
Part-Time
Advertising Sales Representative
We are currently seeking a
and
clients in our Belvidere market. If you like a
environment and enjoy a
this is the opportunity for you! For immediate consideration send resume /job history to: Vicki Vanderwerff, Director of Advertising Email: vicki@southernlakesnewspapers.com Fax: (262) 725-6844
Announcements
CLASSIFIED IN-COLUMN ADS cannot be credited or refunded after the ad has been placed. Ads canceled before deadline will be removed from the paper as a service to our customers, but no credit or refund will be issued to your account.
DISCLAIMER NOTICE This publication does not knowingly accept fraudulent or deceptive advertising. Readers are cautioned to thoroughly investigate all ads, especially those asking for money in advance.
Burial Needs
7 CEMETERY PLOTS Willing to sell as a group or individually. Located at Roselawn Memory Gardens 3045 WI-67, Lake Geneva, WI 53147. This is a private sale. Contact Randy, the seller at randy@slpublishers.com.
Misc. For Sale
DOG HOUSES FOR SALE Made to Order. 9435 Wright Ave. Machesney Park IL. Call Paul 815-633-7753.
Wanted to Buy
I BUY OLD STEREO EQUIPMENT Vacuum Tubes & Testers, Large & Small Speakers, Records. Rick 815-871-2538.
Other Real Estate
PUBLISHER’S NOTICE All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familiar/ status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. To complain of discrimination call HUD toll-free at 1-900-669-9777. The toll-free tele phone number for the hearing impaired is 1-800927-9275. EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY
Campers and RVs
