Daily Life

For more than a decade, I’ve traveled the same route between northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, first as the parent of a college prospect, and most recently, as a newbie grand-mère. I’ve often remarked that one does not need to steer the wheel between here and there; the road is so straight. So, last Sunday…

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? If so, how often do you achieve those resolutions or even remember at year’s end what they were? Here are seven tips to help you set your New Year’s resolutions and also set yourself up for success in achieving them. 1. Take stock of the previous year. What goals had you…

Disclaimer: This is not a paid advertisement for Cozi. I have not received any incentive from Cozi to write this guide. I simply wish to share this info with you, because I wish Cozi had existed 20 years ago, when my kids were small and our house was crazy. For a few years now, we’ve…

I’ve been called many things in my life, opinionated, obstinate, spoiled, stuck-up, and a few others, but I’ve never been called dishonest, that I know of. Well, actually, there was one time I was accused of being dishonest. That was when a high-school English teacher, Mrs. Pek, gave me a failing grade for my short…

Ever go at your yard with gusto and create an overwhelming mound of twigs and leaves? If you want to get rid of that debris with your weekly trash pick-up in Millcreek Township (Pennsylvania), you have to bundle the sticks neatly in four-foot long parcels, and you must place all of your leaves in large,…

A couple of days ago, I shared my experience at the composting workshop with you. The workshop didn’t just cover composting, though. We also learned about a program called RecyclErie that every area business should look into. It’s free, and it can help reduce trash-hauling expenses for businesses, including restaurants. Did you know that 80% of the trash generated…

Composting is actually not cool. It is warm when done right, but you get what I mean. Did you know that two-thirds of everything we throw away is compostable? That’s what Don Blakesley, Erie County Recycling Coordinator, says. In Erie County (Pennsylvania) today, on average, each person generates 3,400 lbs. of trash per year. Want…

As cold as it was in January for our first session in the Erie Ambassador program’s Spring 2014 course, the temperature climbed to the opposite end of the thermometer for the last. Erie reached a high of 88 degrees yesterday as we gathered at Boston’s restaurant to hear about tourism in Erie County. We learned that our hometown is gaining recognition…

The seventh session of the Erie Ambassador program found us in a conference room the Erie Intermodal Transportation Center to learn about planned development for the bayfront and downtown areas. We heard from Brian Weber, of the Weber, Murphy, Fox architectural firm, Nick Scott, Jr. from Scott Enterprises, and John Buchna of the Erie Downtown Partnership. We learned about Scott…

After being teased with a few days of almost-springlike weather, the snow found us again on the evening of the last Erie Ambassador Program session. When we climbed the steps to the Richard S. Wasielewski Water Treatment Plant, a few flakes of snow were falling from the twilight sky, and by the time we exited, a blanket of…