Clocks are turned ahead, and we all need a nap. Thankfully, Monday is national Napping Day, celebrated every year after Daylight Savings kicks in. Pay attention to this one, ladies. Studies indicate we need more sleep than men. Check out this CBS report.

Napping Day is followed by — scare yourself to death day — if you can hum the theme to the Alfred Hitchcock hour, you know that this unassuming man was behind a lot of classic thrillers.

While “The Birds” was one of scariest movies, I remember some of the TV shows best. The story about The Nurses still gives me the willies.

Hitchock teamed with Cary Grant on four films, and in “Suspicion,” 1940, he left everyone wondering if Grant’s character really was the bad guy. There was even an alternate ending. “Notorious,” 1946, “To Catch a Thief,” 1955, and “North by Northwest,” 1959, also starred Grant.

Fans also know Hitchcock appeared in nearly all of his films. A passerby in the background, a customer — but always in the background. See if you can spot him.

I’m a fan of naps and Hitchock, but it’s rare that anyone would nap after a Hitchcock film.

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.

Dresses, dresses, dresses. I am loving the dresses. This one from ModCloth.com speaks to me because it is called Author Outings Dress. It has a vintage feel — here’s the ModCloth.com description: “goldenrod-yellow fit-and-flare frock! Its retro hue, lightly textured stretch fabric, and see-through, crocheted details make this dress as intriguing as your latest work. You know it’s not fair to judge a book by its cover … ”

I had a dress that color many moons ago, and I also had that collar on another dress. It’s all back!

It is $79 and it is one of a million dresses I love. I am also coveting many frocks from Ruelala.  The site has numerous BCBGMAXAZRIA designs. Click here to see a few. I have friends who told me about these sites. Thanks friends.

Just a heads up — you do have to join to see all the stuff, but it costs nothing — just your e-mail address. So far they have not been stalking me like Zappos does (I get reminders that they miss me on nearly every web page I open — it’s a little creepy!), but I am a huge Zappos fan.

If you’re going to shop online, here’s the full glossary of terms I never knew, thanks to Recessionista.com. Get the full story here:

• B&M = Brick-and-mortar (aka, this deal is redeemable at the store’s physical location).
• BOGO or B1G1F = Buy One Get One Free
• C/O = Cash Off
• CPN = Coupon
• DND = Do Not Double (aka, no doubling up on coupons allowed!)
• GDA = Good deal alert
• GWP = Gift With Purchase
• H/F = Handling Fee
• LPG = Lower Price Guarantee
• MIB orNIB = Mint in Box or New in Box (aka, the product is brand new).
• NAZ = Name Address Zip Code (to see if you are eligible for the deal).
• NED = No expiration date
• NOCC = No Credit Card
• NWOT = New WithOut Tags
• NWT = New With Tags
• POP = Proof of Purchase
• PP = Purchase Price
• SMP = Specially Marked Packages
• TMF = Try Me Free (samples, anyone??)
• UNL = Unlimited
• YMMV = Your Merchandise May Vary

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.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve eaten fish on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent. I grew up in an era when fish was what’s for dinner every Friday — even when it wasn’t Lent. Or at least anything not meat was the Catholic menu. So mac and cheese worked too.

But as a fish aficionado — and my family will tell you I forced them to be aficionados even when they were too young to be ordered to eat fish, according to Catholic tenets — we religiously bought into McDonald’s Filet-o-fish sandwiches.

When we had six kids around the house, there were deals where these catches were 2 for $4. That was big news for us because many of the Eckert and Parker brood ate more than one sandwich … and fries. We tested out nearly every other sandwich on the planet, and returned to McDonalds.

This year, we discovered the Arby’s fish sandwich. Mmmm — they are 2 for $4, and the folks at Arby‘s in downtown Erie assure me that we can reel in that price until the end of April. Guess what’s for dinner?

In recent years, those talking fish at McDonald’s (if you watch the commercials) retailed for just shy of $4 each. Not at my house. McDonald’s heard my plea for mercy. Well sort of. On Friday, if you buy an extra value Filet-o-fish meal, you can buy an extra sandwich for a $1 — just on Fridays, but today, you can get the the new snack-size McBites for $1.

Gone fishing!

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.

While checking out some fun parenting blogs, I came across HEATHER SCHUCK from Glamajama. She has a blog that suggests 20 different ideas to kill time when you’re, well killing time, waiting for an appointment with the kids. One of my favorites from her list was playing “I Spy.” The “I Spy” book series includes at least a dozen books priced at $3 to $11, and my kids loved them. The authors and illustrators Jean Marzollo, Walter Wick and  Carol Devine Carson must be fun people. In Wikipedia, Marzollo says that ”I Spy” books have the same rhythm and rhyme as “Old Mother Hubbard” and rap — who knew?

We were also “Where’s Waldo” fans. There’s even a 25th anniversary edition “Where’s Waldo Now“– all by Martin Hanford.

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.

There’s an entire fashion show dedicated to chocolate clothing. See the video here.  Of course this topic made me think of Lady Gaga’s meat dress — it has its own Wikipedia page — see it here. But instead of showing a picture of that, I found some other fun stuff.

Kara Rodemer from Delish.com wrote about some yummy and oddly stylish dresses like the one at left, a chocolate bubble dress. She had more — like Cloris Leachman in a cabbage dress,  a spaghetti and meatballs dress, an artichoke dress, a creampuff dress, stale bread dresses (and slippers) and more salad dressings — err make that dresses. Click here to see 10 fun outfits all made from food on the Delish.com website.

Now, we know what to do with those leftovers!

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.  

Snowshoeing is something you can do with the family — well snowboarding is too, but it’s not for everyone.

Snowshoeing, on the other hand, is on the rise. Ryan Alford of Snowshoe Magazine says it might helps folks avoid Seasonal Affective Disorder -read that here. He quoted research from the Outdoor Industry Association and SnowSports Industries America that the sport is on the rise, and it is in our family. My sister, two BILs and an SIL are all avid snowshoe fans.

Around my house, snowboarding was never all that popular. We still have a few boards in the attic, and many winters have come and gone with no one asking to rescue them. My daughter’s boyfriend, however, is a master at Blue Knob near Altoona, Pa.

My son’s girlfriend in Virginia Beach. She wants to see these snowshoes becasue she never really sees much snow. I’m going to give snowshoes a try this week with my buddy Grace Perhacs. I won’t have any great tips for you until after our adventure.

In the meantime, if you need some tips for where to enjoy snowshoe fun, Asbury Woods has it. Please call (814) 835-5356 for details. You can rents snowshoes there.

At Presque Isle, Shelter 1 near the Waterworks Ponds offers cross country skis and snowshoes for rent from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Call 814-833-7424 for more info.

You can also check out some of the ski resorts for info on snowshoeing. And Cleveland MetroParks has loads of family entertainment including snowshoeing.

Here’s info from Dana Massing’s blog Cheap in Erie on free snowshoe walks at Erie Bluffs and Pymatuning.

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.

These are my boys smirking on Christmas morning a few years ago and laughing that they got the same shirt for Christmas. That kind of happens every year — the same shirt thing — because they both look handsome in the same colors and styles, and my daughter and I outfit them accordingly. We know they don’t hang out together. In fact, now they are age 20 and 26 and live in different states. So we often buy them the same things.

If you’re a mom or a stepmom, here’s a quick piece of advice for getting along with your kids. Choose your battles. You can’t be arguing with a toddler, child, tween or teen for weeks on end. For me, safety came first and neatness last — especially when I was a single mom.

And they questioned everything. When I taught my youngest to drive on the interstate, he was exceeding the speed limit. I warned that he would get a ticket, and that would pretty much prevent an early license.  He scoffed that there was no place for troopers to hide. “What — do you think there are tree cops or something,” he said.

Kids must never watch “CSI,” or “NCIS,” or “Person of Interest.”

“Radar,” I said. “Do you think I make this stuff up? Do you think I’ve never gotten a ticket? I’m just telling you they make rules so you follow them. We all have rules.”

And kids don’t always follow them. But the consequences do have influence — especially tickets. Kids learn from their mistakes just like we do. Make sure you have rules and consequences. And remember to reward good behavior — don’t just punish the bad. You need to make kids feel good about themselves every single day. It will make you feel good, too.

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. 

Kids often want to make a change. It happens in a lot of blended families — ours included. All of our kids are now age 20 to 28, so hindsight is 20/20.

I can confirm that it was a good decision each and every time one of the kids moved.  My kids’ dad passed away 13 years ago, so my kids were kind of stuck with my hubby and me, but we had a revolving door for my stepsons. It may sound silly, but it worked.

I was reminded of all of this when I read one mom’s struggle of  letting her 14-year-old daughter go live with her dad on Blogher.com.

The story is thoughtful and insightful — a great read and a reminder that kids are way smarter than we think they are.

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 a news moment that I want to share with everyone. Women gave me faith in government after weeks of fiscal cliff news.

Republicans and Democrats — 20 women senators admitted their frustration with how Congress works. See the video here of Diane Sawyer’s interviews with the inspiring women in government.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, pictured at left, says women can be independent lawmakers and still work together.”I think we’re problem solvers, and I think that’s what this country needs,” she said to Sawyer.

It’s an interesting few minutes of video that will give all of us hope. Here are more links to all the great news about these women.

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.

We are all connected to our pasts, and they often help us find our futures. This month in Her Times, a lot of women share some outstanding pasts, presents and futures with us.

Cover girl Jordyn Colao is vying for Miss America this week, and I had no idea that Jordyn, a McDowell High School and Penn State grad, frequented our neighborhood for the past decade until my daughter told me Jordyn was friends with our neighbor. Jordyn also went to PSU with our photographer Andy Colwell. Catch the video Andy did of Jordyn here. In the video, Miss Pennsylvania shared that she has collected some substantial scholarship money as a result of winning pageants — a big bonus to any college student. She has been training in tap dance at Miss Lucy’s since she was a tot. Read the full article on Jordyn here, And vote for Jordyn online to become one of the 15 Miss America finalists. Here’s the link. It only takes a minute to vote!

Her Times also offers up women’s stories of reflection. You have to look back before you can go forward. It’s too easy at this time of year to regret what we didn’t accomplish — we have to congratulate ourselves on what we DID do. Marnie Mead shares her own extraordinary story of courage and triumph this month. It is a must-read right here. We also salute extraordinary women and an award-winning interior designer who says being a waitress taught her some of her most valuable career skills.

We also get a dose of leggy fashion, makeup tips, what’s happening at salons and directions on how to plan our futures with big dreams. And real women share advice they would have given their younger selves. Here are links to all the stories in Her Times:

• Jordyn Colao vies for Miss America
• Extraordinary women
• Time to reflect
• Prepped for leggings
• Make under the new makeover
• Hair’s what’s happening
• Win free stuff
• Your best year ever
• Eat more fish
• Career changer, award winner
• What we’ve learned
• Letter from the editor

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.