TheSunNews.com: Coasting

Hot toys | I want that!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:59 EST

Whether it's this year's must-have item, one of the classics or the best selection to brighten the holiday for a child less fortunate, the seasonal pursuit for the perfect toy has begun.

On a hunt for that elusive toy that tops your child's wish list for Santa Claus?

"Out of stock" doesn't have to mean out of luck for something else special.

Budget woes are turnoff for rest stops

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

That old adage "No rest for the weary" could have been coined with Mark and Barbara Van Art in mind.

Driving from their home in Glendora, N.J., to North Carolina, the Van Arts wanted to stop at a rest area on Interstate 85 in Virginia, but it was closed because of state budget cuts. Exiting the highway, they headed for a fast food restaurant - only to discover that it was the same one they had stopped at during an earlier trip and found dirty. It was back to the highway in search of a rest area.

"Rest areas are definitely cleaner," Barbara Van Art said, as they stood by their car and talked at the N.C. Welcome Center, near the border with Virginia.

50-plus crowd finds love on Web

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

Jerry Reiser married his high school sweetheart. But that ended after 14 years. A softball umpire introduced him to his second wife. That, too, ended in divorce. Then two years ago, Reiser -- now 58 -- decided he wanted another long-term relationship -- but found singles dances weren't cutting it. He turned to online dating. Reiser quickly received more than 70 matches. He dated a handful of women from the online roster, but only one stood out -- Debbie Kuzma.

More than a year and a half after the two met, they were married.

"We're on the same page mentally, physically," Jerry Reiser said. "Everything is perfect."

'Biggest Loser' trainer shares tips

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

Grandma's pie, stuffing with bacon and ladle after ladle of rich gravy -- clearly this is the perfect time of year for a reminder on healthy eating.

Bob Harper, trainer from the NBC show "The Biggest Loser," has teamed up with the nonprofit Grain Foods Foundation to promote a balanced approach to nutrition and health.

Here are some tips from Harper:

Hosting brings holiday happiness

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

Sharing your home over the holidays is what the season is all about, but it can also be trying, especially if you're busy and unable to be the most attentive host. Here are some easy tricks, from Woman's Day magazine, to make sure your houseguests are as comfortable in your home as you are -- or even more so -- without feeling like you have to go overboard.

1. Test-drive the guest room. Sleep in the bed yourself for a night. (You'll be surprised.) Now, make the room more comfortable: Fix the drafty windows, get an alarm clock that actually works, and replace the weird blanket.

2. Create space. This is the part people forget: Guests need ample shelf space in the bedroom, bathroom and front hallway for their suitcases and stuff.

Christmas budget is gift to self

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

Creating a budget for your Christmas gift shopping isn't as difficult as it sounds. The hard part is actually sitting down and doing the work.

Some tips before we look at the actual process. First, don't be afraid to make changes to the budget as you go: Just avoid making changes at the store because you can't resist that perfect and expensive gift. Second, hang on to a copy of your budget for next year.

1. Use a spreadsheet

Eat, shop, explore Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

From Greektown to Chinatown, from the Polish Triangle to Pakistani restaurants on Devon Avenue, Chicago has a wealth of diverse ethnic neighborhoods to explore.

Chicago is known as a city of neighborhoods, and Patricia Sullivan, manager of the city's Chicago Neighborhood Tours program, said visitors need to leave the tourist-heavy Loop and Michigan Avenue areas to really see the different ethnic and cultural corners of the city.

"They're distinct, and they're beautiful," Sullivan said. "The architecture is different, as are the restaurants and the stores. It's really a melting pot."

Know your own strength with pop-out car parts

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

Dear Tom and Ray | My wife's 90-year-old aunt recently allowed us to take her 1995 Dodge Caravan with 55,000 miles. She said it needed to be driven, as she hadn't driven it in more than 17 months. Since we have received this vehicle, interior parts have been falling off of it at a rapid clip. I'll spare you the many details, but the one I really need to fix quickly involves the power rear side-vent windows. They both opened fine, but then the right side one quit working with the window in the open position. I believe the switch is bad or a wire has come loose on it. I need to get into the overhead console but cannot figure out how to remove it. Does it just snap into place, or is it connected by hidden screws? - Albert

Ray | It just snaps in and out, Albert. But it only comes out with a fair use of force.

Tom | So, add "overhead console bezel" to the list of interior parts you need to pick up at the junkyard so you'll have a replacement ready when you break the bezel on this one.

Best-Sellers

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:59 EST

Best-Sellers

HARDBACK FICTION

1. FORD COUNTY

Palin's memoir a mostly tame affair

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

There should be a feeling of palpable glee running through Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life": Now, finally, she gets to talk, unfiltered and unedited.

This is, after all, a politician convinced that the media twists her words, who says she's been parodied and mocked by establishment elites, and who complains she was muzzled by her own party.

"Going Rogue: An American Life" offers her a chance to answer back, without pesky interference from the likes of Katie Couric or GOP handlers. It is, to steal Nancy Reagan's memoir title, "My Turn."

Girlfriend's request is no small problem

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

D ear Carolyn: I recently started dating somebody new who is considerably taller than I (I'm a guy). It's not news to me that I'm short, and even before we met I'd advised her that it wasn't an issue for me if she was taller, and I hoped it wasn't an issue for her.

Flash-forward 10 dates. We talk, we text, we get along, things, I thought, were going along great until yesterday she says: "I'd really like it if you'd start wearing heels or lifts in your shoes, because the height difference makes me very self-conscious when we're out in public."

Now, I get that everybody's entitled to their preferences, OK, but it really hurt, and to me this would be like my saying to her: "Gee, I like you and all, but you're really flat-chested, so when we go out in public could you wear falsies so everybody else will think you're stacked?"

America: Cut out the need to be cute

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:38 EST

I'm not the only one who has noticed the depressing American obsession with all things "cute" lately. An article in Vanity Fair validated something that I've suspected for a while now: We're on cute overload, and there's no sign that it's going to abate.

The why's could be debated. Maybe it's just an over-correction to national angst over the economy, wars and health care woes that can only be soothed by a singing mop or a stack of money with eyeballs on it. Regardless of why, the article concludes that, "The move toward cuteness has come about partly because the idea of 'edge' has gotten old."

Well, dookie.

Infidelity can be strictly online

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

D ear Abby: My husband and I have been married for many years. We have three happy, successful children and a good life together. I love him dearly.

I recently discovered that he had been spending a lot of time in erotic online chat rooms. He had hundreds of contacts he was speaking with regularly for pleasure. It had escalated to the point that he would have "conversations" with them on the phone or watch them on a webcam.

After I caught him, he promised to stop. I caught him again and threatened to leave him. He's now getting counseling and expects me to get beyond it. I am trying, but I feel betrayed. I feel as though he was unfaithful.

TV Listings

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

Dog gets full Grandma treatment

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

Somehow over the past few years, our smelly, grumpy old West Highland terrier of a dog has found himself a pied-a-terre. (That's French for "second home." I looked it up on the Internet.) Harry still sleeps here at night, but every morning, somewhere around 9:30, my mother-in-law stops by, dangles a leash and takes him down to her house for the day. When she brings him back, right before dinner, he seems annoyed that he has to come home.

Harry suffers from a variety of ailments, one of them being a skin allergy and a recurring fungus infection that makes our house smell like spoiled cold cuts. Harry's allergies have made his hair fall out and his skin turn black in spots.

He's old - we're not sure how old, as we picked him up from a shelter years ago when he was already over the canine hill. The only time he gets up anymore is to rub his rear end on the carpet. I'd stop him, but it's the only pleasure he has left in life.

Carlin autobiography is typically colorful

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

In 1987, when he was 50 years old, George Carlin decided the time had come for an autobiography from the groundbreaking comedian who had famously said "The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television."

Five years later, Carlin was 100 pages along, only up to age 6.So he turned for help to his friend Tony Hendra, the former National Lampoon editor and author of the best-selling memoir "Father Joe."

The pair recorded more than 50 hours of conversations over the next 10 years and were still working on the book's text when Carlin's fifth and final heart attack killed him last year at age 71.

Horoscopes

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:01 EST

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Value successes more than failures. You have a tendency to take the shotgun approach to gaining supporters.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Accept praise with a grain of salt. People may sugarcoat a few things to earn your respect or assistance, but you must face the truth.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Self-aggrandizement can put you in the public eye. You could have difficulty getting others to agree with your opinion of yourself.

Today in History

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:03 EST

On this date:

In 1718, English pirate Edward Teach - better known as "Blackbeard" - was killed during a battle off the Virginia coast.

In 1890, French president Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France.

The dawn of a new moon

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:37 EST

Grand Strand readers still have "Twilight" fever, and it has spiked again with the coming release of the "New Moon," the second movie in the four-part series.

"It's a book we will always have in stock. It's always popular, but we definitely see a peak now with the movie coming out," said Jennifer Curtis, assistant manager at Barnes & Noble in The Market Common.

The "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer took the young-adult demographic by storm over the past four years. In case you don't know, it's the saga of teenager Bella Swan and her immortal beloved, vampire Edward Cullen, and her best friend, the shape-shifting human-wolf, Jacob, who plays a much bigger role in Bella's life beginning in "New Moon."

It's a boy? Some struggle with gender

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:39 EST

My good friend just found out she is pregnant with a boy. It is her first child, and instead of celebrating the good news, she cried during her ultrasound.

That's because she really wanted a girl.

Good mothers are supposed to say they are happy with a boy or a girl, as long as the baby is healthy. But gender disappointment is a very real and heartbreaking issue that affects many pregnant women.