After meeting with six licensed and insured pool contractors, we have selected the firm we want to build our dream in-ground concrete pool. What happens after the contracts are signed? ...more

January 12, 2008

I've gone back to an old-fashioned approach to make sure I get things done. Several months ago, I purchased a large, white erasable board with a stand and set it up in my office. At the beginning of each week, I list all the things I need to do for my job and my personal life. Like many people, I have an electronic organizer, but I needed something larger. I wanted something I couldn't ignore, misplace or lose under piles of folders and papers. The white board was just the thing. Making a list - a giant one - has made the difference in ensuring I complete certain tasks. ...more

January 6, 2008

Paper piles. Old bills. Clothing left lying around. These are a few of Jackie Grizzard's organizational pet peeves. ...more

January 5, 2008

Heavy equipment finished the first week of tearing down the structure that will be replaced by a mammoth Ikea furniture store. ...more

December 14, 2007

When I was a child, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. I have vivid memories of sprinting from house to house trying to fill my pillowcase with loot before my dad reined me in. Afterward, my siblings and I would dump our candy into piles and begin sorting and trading for favorites. ...more

October 26, 2007

Activist Karen Wagner sees trouble in the piles of trash left by careless visitors on the banks of the Alafia River near the Lithia-Pinecrest Road bridge. ...more

September 26, 2007

How is it that the body ages while the person inside still feels as young as ever? I find myself making plans as if I can still do all the things I've always done. And then I'm shocked when things take longer, or are more tiring, or I find I simply can't do them at all. ...more

September 23, 2007

SEBRING — "Cool beans" is an old '70s phrase that Sherri Cooper uses to express "good news." The "cool beans" now for the coordinator of Keep Highlands County Beautiful is that the county is back to normal in the business of cleaning up illegal dump sites. Through the manpower shortage at Highlands County Recycling of the past three months, the waiting list for dump-site cleanups grew to about 95. That was about five times the normal list of 15 to 20 dump sites. ...more

September 15, 2007