With the coming of the annual AAUW Kitchen Tour in Beaver this Saturday, Sept. 24, I thought I’d give you an inside look at my very own kitchen. Prepare to be blown away…

I call myself a proud Beaver Countian. Other than my four years in college, and the following two when I lived up in Moon, I’ve lived here in the county pretty much my entire life (Brighton Twp., 21 years; Bridgewater, 8 years; Beaver, 6+ years). Lately, though, I’ve been wondering: How much do I really know about the…

This past Monday, as a last hurrah of summer, we decided to take the kiddos to Pittsburgh’s legendary Kennywood Park. We were fortunate to get some discounted tickets from a friend, and we chose a Monday so we could avoid the normally large weekend crowds. When I was a little kid, Kennywood was a magical place of rides and…

It was time for my annual check-up, so I made the hour-plus drive to my dermatologist, who I’ve been told is one of the best in the business. I’ve been making this drive for years now, ever since having a “dangerous” mole removed from somewhere on my epidermis. (Use your imagination.) It’s not something I…

Recently I’d grown bored with my usual running routine and started looking for a new challenge. I thought about signing up for another marathon, but then I remembered how awful marathons are and therefore decided against it. Then it came to me: I’ll start training and try to break my old high school time for the 400m! Yep…

It’s a never-ending battle. Just when you think you have them beat, they magically reappear. And in greater numbers. The thing I want to know is…where in the heck are they coming from? Ever since we got back from our little mini-vacation to Maine last week, we’ve been at war with legions of fruit flies…

15 days. 8 states. 2 kids. 1 car. Whose idea was this anyway? Actually, our annual family road-trip turned out to be another amazing adventure. This year we decided to tour the great American southeast, heading out from Beaver, Pa., through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Along the way we encountered grumpy…

I’d been itching to camping, especially after our two-week, epic family road-trip. After all that time cramped together in the Hyundai and hotel rooms, I was really longing for some quiet time out in the woods. So when my good friend Brian invited me up to his spacious, secluded property for an impromptu campout, I jumped at…

Ah, summertime… The long, warm days! The weekend BBQs! The kids coming inside to tattle on each other every five minutes and argue about who gets which lightsaber! I admit it. I was so looking forward to the end of the school year. I was tired of making lunches. I was tired of helping with homework. Mostly I was just…

We were in a hurry. Cass didn’t know I had a meeting at the church, and she and Boogs were out running errands with the car. So I told The Animal to shut off his video game and we took off out the back door, got on our bikes, and pedaled toward the rectory. The little guy was keeping…