Lifestyles category, Page 144
Living with Children: Mindfulness parenting
I am often asked how long I intend to keep this up, as in writing this column, writing books and speaking on childrearing and family matters. My answer: As long as they keep it up; “it” being the utter nonsense that emanates and has been emanating from the mental health...
Ring in the new year with a (proper) glass or 2 of bubbly
In just two days, we can kiss 2019 goodbye and put a lip lock on 2020. Many of us look forward to ushering out the old year, and raising a toast as the new one arrives. If your plans include enjoying a glass of sparkling wine, you want to be...
Travel tip: Keep your car winter-ready with salt, shaving cream
Slow down, increase following distance, steer into a skid — everyone knows these winter driving rules. Here are a few perhaps lesser-known tips from “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” for staying safe when you’re on the road in cold and snow: • To prevent snow and ice from sticking, gently rub...
Bummed about a Christmas gift card? Sheetz offers trade-ins
Holiday gift cards can offer fun outings, restaurant meals, shopping excursions to one’s favorite places. Or, they can leave the recipient confused or even disappointed. Sheetz is among companies offering a gift card exchange program, giving patrons the chance to trade in unwanted/unused gift cards for Sheetz products including food...
Fiber arts groups knit community along with cozy creationsVideo
About a decade ago, we started hearing about hipsters resurrecting retro items like typewriters, record players and flannel shirts, along with those perpetual favorite pastimes of grannies everywhere — knitting and crocheting. Google “hipster knit hat,” and up pop pages of images, descriptions, patterns and knit-it-yourself kits for sale. But...
Bobby Flay’s Eggplant Bolognese is meatless but hearty
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay believes his new cookbook, “Bobby at Home,” is his most important book to date. That’s because it’s a collection of his favorite recipes, the ones he is likely to serve family and friends when he’s at home. As well as being a chef and restaurateur, Flay...
Learn to grow the adorable fairy washboard
Among the most popular houseplants today is the fairy washboard (Haworthia limifolia). This compact succulent plant stays small, making it a great choice for a windowsill, desk or bedside table. The plant reaches about 4 inches in height and width. Its ease of care is another endearing factor, along with...
Handmade Arcade Winter Market debuts in Market Square
Handmade Arcade will extend the holiday shopping season, hosting its first open-air market in the Peoples Gas Holiday Market site in Pittsburgh’s Market Square. The winter market will be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 28-31. The holiday market closed for the season on Dec. 23. According to Handmade...
Advice to first-time gardeners: Think small, find your spot
Another growing season is building momentum with the arrival of the 2020 seed catalogs, and gardeners are drafting plans for new harvests. There’s such a thing as being too enthusiastic, though, especially among novices. Beginners can achieve their best planting results by thinking small. “Starting too large is the most...
Plant these for an interesting garden all year long
What is a gardener to do during the gray days of winter? For many of us, it’s all about planning. This is the perfect time to scout around for plants that provide winter interest to the landscape. Put them on your list of things to get in the ground this...
Scale a common pest of fiddle leaf figs, other houseplants
Question: Help! I have a fiddle leaf fig in my front window that I adore. It has tiny bumps all over the stems and the floor beneath the plant is sticky. I did an internet search, and I believe I have an issue with scale insects. What can be done...
You may have to give more personal data to get personal loan
Would you feel comfortable disclosing your bank account information on a personal loan application? What about your work history? Your college major? That’s what it could take to borrow money from some loan companies that consider alternative data — which can be anything that isn’t in your credit report —...
Starbucks plans Pittsburgh-area pop-up parties, free drinks
Starbucks will make the holiday week’s celebrations a little sweeter, with more than 1,000 pop-up parties planned at select stores across the nation, including in the Pittsburgh region. According to the coffee purveyor, the pop-ups are set 1 to 2 p.m. Dec. 27-31 at more than 200 stores each day....
Ring in 2020 at Highmark First Night PittsburghVideo
Cheryl Capezzuti creates fun. The Brighton Heights resident makes larger-than-life puppets. Those puppets will dance their way from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, along Penn Avenue and through the Cultural District during the the Highmark First Night Pittsburgh parade at 8 p.m. Dec. 31 Culminating with the city’s “Countdown...
Frosted cranberries are edible jewels
’Tis the season for sparkles! These cranberries are so festive decked out in their sugar-coated crunchy goodness. They’re like little edible jewels. They’re the perfect sparkling garnish to a just about any holiday dish. Try them skewered on top of a glass of champagne or place them on top of...
Spice up that cup of hot chocolate
Winter has arrived, and that means it’s time to break out your fuzziest slippers, coziest sweater and snuggle up to a piping hot mug of hot chocolate for a few guilt-free hours of Netflix. But no matter whether you use a homemade recipe or open a packet of the powdery...
Top Tips From the Wine Cellar: 2020 brings bubbly celebrations, proposed tariffs
The upcoming New Year celebrations once again bring festive spirits and fun opportunities to share and enjoy delicious wines with friends. But this year also brings a more alarming moment for wine drinkers. Time is of the essence to oppose the possible January 2020 imposition of devastating 100% import tariffs...
TribLIVE Taste Test: Impossible Whopper and Beyond BurgerVideo
Many a grillmaster bristles at the mere notion of putting a plant-based patty over their cherished charcoal. But with the rise of not just vegetarian burgers but now meat substitutes, the TribLIVE Taste Test team had to go and find out whether the new wave of plant-based meat analogs could...
Outer Banks island split by Hurricane Dorian is reformingVideo
Campers and surf anglers have had a hard time accessing the popular North Core Banks — known as Portsmouth Island — since it was cut into pieces by Hurricane Dorian in September. But the sea has been restoring the island and has stitched the pieces back together to create a...
Sheetz brewing up free coffee for Christmas, New Year’sVideo
Whether bleary-eyed from traveling, over indulging or staying up late, coffee might be in order on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve/Day. Sheetz is again offering customers a free cup of fresh brew over the holidays. Customers can claim the coffee on the house from 12 a.m. Dec. 25 until...
Got an air fryer for the holidays? Here’s what to make first
If you got an air fryer this holiday season, you’re in for a treat. These $60 to $250 machines have been the next best way to get dinner on the table (after the Instant Pot, of course) for two years now, and its fans are more like devotees, spreading the...
Out & About: Art center’s annual holiday sale ends with a party
It was last call for holiday gift shopping Dec. 19 in the Greensburg Art Center. The center offered a discount on items remaining in The Art of GIFTing, the center’s annual show and sale of artwork, artisanal home wares and accessories perfect for wrapping up and tucking under the tree....
Out & About: Westmoreland Symphony brings it ‘Home for the Holidays’Video
Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra’s annual “Home for the Holidays” program is always a special treat. This year’s concert, held Dec. 21 in Greensburg’s Palace Theatre, featured the usual — the orchestra, a guest soloist and a choir of area high school students — along with an extra special element: a world...
Out & About: Museum brunch and tour benefits Westmoreland food bank
Here are a few random statistics about the Westmoreland County Food Bank: • In 2017, more than 9 million pounds of food were distributed. • In 2018, more than 7,000 households were fed, and 7,000 volunteers put in about 100,000 hours of work. (That’s the equivalent of 48 fulltime positions,...
Out & About: Administrators’ group honors volunteer of the year
Members of the Westmoreland Association of Volunteer Administrators gathered Dec. 19 at Ferrante’s Lakeview in Hempfield for their annual meeting and holiday luncheon. The festivities included recognizing Joy Klohonatz of Greensburg as WAVA Volunteer of the Year. Klohonatz is a relationship marketing specialist with SendOutCards, an online greeting card creation...
