When my husband and I got married 10 years ago and merged two families, he made a point of entertaining the kids with eggstra special egg chatter. This year, the kids are 21 and older and scattered around the universe. We will only see my two youngest on Easter, but we are eggcited. Here are a few eggsuberant words to liven up your day.

Chocolate-covered strawberries are not eggstravagant treats.

There is no such thing as eggstraneous chocolate.

I will have to count on eggstreme eggcerise to burn off the eggcelent chocolate eggs I consume.

The treadmill often eggsacerbates the pain in my knee.

A coconut egg is eggsactly what I want.

My niece in New Mexico won’t join us for Easter because she is eggspecting.

It’s eggsasperating when we don’t hear from some family members.

I need to eggsamine the peanut butter eggs.

Eggstract those jelly beans from the bottom of the Easter baskets.

If it keeps snowing, we’ll have to eggscavate to find the daffodils.

If the sun shines, it will eggceed our eggspectations.

Dinner will be eggsceptional — my sister makes lamb.

My brother makes German potato salad, and he eggsagerates how much work it is. (Well, not really — it requires an eggstraordinary amount of time.)

My brother and sister love to cook. I make deviled eggs, an eggsample of how much I love to cook. We eggsemplify a modern family.

When my husband reads this eggcerpt, he is going to eggsclaim that I eggscluded a lot of words, but I have to stop.

This is … eggshausting.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one. 

In 20 years of writing for House to Home, I don’t think I’ve seen so many nice condos and patio homes on the market at one time until now.

The picture is of one of my favorites behind Erie Day School, but there are some for every price range and plenty are open tomorrow for viewing. Read my full story here. One thing to keep in mind about condos is some developments do not permit For Sale signs, so if you, like me, ride through neighborhoods and figure nothing is for sale — check with a Realtor because right now nearly every condo development in the region has a few for sale.

A shout out to all the folks who sent me their favorites. We couldn’t accommodate everyone, but I will be doing this again. You can create your open house tour here. If the condos you want aren’t on the tour, call a listing agent, get an appointment and check out some great places to live — in all price ranges.

Check out all of this week’s House to Home right here:

It’s always nice to find a surprise in a house for sale. This week in House to Home, we visit  Pebble Creek, where the  home at 5471 Granite Lane has two full floors of living and separate entry points — perfect for a multi-generational Millcreek family. Read the full story here. The house is open next Sunday, and it lists for $249,900.

Check out all of House to Home right here:

Last week, a caller asked that we run a photo of Nell Hardy smiling. I wasn’t sure what she meant, but here it is. Nell writes monthly in the Erie Times-News about her battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This is her second year of the disease.

I was unfamiliar with all of Nell’s articles, but I read what I could find after I discovered her most recent piece — here it is in its entirety. If you, like me, find yourself crying, you’ll want to read the rest of her articles. I have links to some of them at the bottom of this page. If you need some inspiration today, this is it. Take my word for it.

Nell Hardy: ALS gives me patience

A group of women met at my house two weekends ago for a silent retreat. They surrendered commitments, cell phones and schedules for six hours. Gingerly, each woman dipped a toe or fingertip in the quiet before immersing themselves in the silence.

I patiently waited for them. I’ve been speechless for more than a year after amyotrophic lateral sclerosis put me in the ring with pneumonia. I lost and a tracheotomy was performed so I could breathe.

Actually I won because I didn’t die, but who’s counting?

In the months before the tracheotomy, my words were so garbled that only my sons and a few aides could understand me.

As the muscles in my tongue and throat atrophied, my speech became unintelligible. It wasn’t much of a stretch to go from struggling syllables to silence. Sometimes it was even more difficult to no longer laugh or sing.

I tried different speaking valves to coax words out but none worked. Difficulty swallowing, inability to form words and stiffening limbs seemed a trio destined to take me down.

But I’m the runt of the litter. I’m plucky and come from a long line of strong Irish women. I’m determined to savor what my life offers.

Enter secret weapon, stage left. A portable computer called a Dynavox is my main ally in coping with ALS. Attached to my wheelchair, the computer has a screen with letters I choose by blinking at them. Then I select “speak” and words roll forth, framed by a voice of my choosing. Before my voice began changing because of the illness, I spent hours banking my words.

By saying nonsensical phrases such as “a blueberry perched on my pot of ink,” the program tried to capture the frills and thrills of a human voice. For me, it fell flat. My words sounded like a different language uttered loudly in a tin can.

A conversation using the Dynavox is, well, different. It simply takes time. On a good day I can eye-type eight words per minute. That’s when all variables settle nicely and the Dynavox stars align. Conversing with me involves silence and long pauses. I love the golden layers that quiet spreads between words and phrases.

Speaking through a device presents unique difficulties in our hasty, quick world. I travel at 10 mph in an 80-mph world. Often I finish a sentence only to find the conversation is three subjects ahead.

Others do not like silence; it doesn’t fit in our hurried, worried world of instant answers. One friend is a coin jingler. The longer he waits, the deeper his hand plunges into and sifts through a pocketful of change. Others clear their throats, tap toes or actually sidle behind me to read what I type.

Sitting comfortably in silence wasn’t always this easy. Before ALS I was a stuffer; I crammed soccer games, child care, horse shows, friendships and self-help into my life.

I wished for a new car, another horse, low-maintenance sons. Rarely did I stop for fear my life would catch up.

But sometimes it takes a crisis to evoke change.

Because of ALS I have downsized, condensed and decluttered my life. I’m finally patient in an impatient world.

Nell’s January 2013 article My three sons and I learn to live with ALS

Nell’s December 2012 article Nutcracker ends year on joyous note

Nell’s November 2012 article Top 10 reasons to stay alive

Nell’s story from July 2011

NELL HARDY, of Fairview, writes monthly about her battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease (nhardy1@mydvox.com).

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one. March is women’s history month, and this blog will include some interesting stories of inspiration from women of the past and present.

If you, or someone you know, has asthma, check out this video by David Bruce and Matt Mead about Erie woman Sharon Daly, an Air Force veteran and softball player, debilitated by asthma.

My new shoes

Last year, I wanted floral shoes in the worst way.

I never found a pair that were the pattern I wanted and in colors I would wear. Then Zappos stalked me all across the Internet and in my e-mails after I left things in a shopping cart on the website. I caved, and my husband encouraged it because he needed new shoes and found his old standbys cheaper at Zappos than anywhere else on the planet.

We bought shoes Saturday and they arrived Monday becasue they upgraded us to VIPs. I am wearing my new kicks today even though they are a little colorful for a snowy day.

And they go with purple, red, green and black, although not all in one outfit. I bought a pastel version of the same shoes. They are pretty springy, but it’s time for springy.

I think these were $55. What’s that song — “I can’t drive 55.” I’ll be singing that all day and dancing through meetings in these new kicks.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one.

It was quite a season ending episode on Sunday.

If you haven’t watched, I won’t spoil Season Three for you. It is a true soap and very dramatic. For those of you who did watch, it is rumored that a new love interest will appear in Season Four — you know who I am talking about. Cosmopolitan UK reports Tom Ellis of “Doctor Who” and “Miranda” will be joining the cast. Read more here. Huffington Post has a feature on him also.

While some of the plots are dreadfully sad — as we would say in pure Downton fashion — author Julian Fellowes says a few of the actors did not renew contracts, and that necessitated the storylines.

On the funner side, Huffington Post offers a silly rendition of One Direction’s song “What Makes You Beautiful” — here’s the video. Additional parodies are hitting Sesame Street, Youtube and Saturday Night Live.

Even Forbes suggested some ideas for finances based on Downton’s history tracing financial blunders and successes. Read it here.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one.  

National Margarita Day is Friday, Feb. 22. It might seem odd that I would post this — I don’t like tequila. But when I saw the list of sponsors for the day — see below — I had to stand up  and take notice. So come Friday, make mine one of those blackberry delights  from Longhorn Steakhouse with vodka — not tequila.

As my cartoon friend, Speedy Gonzales would say, “Andele, Andele! Arriba! Arriba!”

Pam Parker has written about real estate and home decor in the tri-state region for more than 20 years. She is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one.