In a word: Kids? USA Today, National Public Radio and other venues have brought up a Center for Disease Control Study that 10 percent of men  and 15 percent of women aged 18-44 are exhausted. Here’s the USA Today article.

Most of the articles about the study attribute the fatigue to child-rearing. I think it’s interesting that the CDC put out the graph below that NPR used,

I don’t see anything in that graph except that women are permanently more tired than men.

The comments on Scott Hensley’s article on the NPR page “Annals Of The Obvious: Women Way More Tired Than Men” are worth reading.

Draw your own conclusions. I think it’s time for a nap.

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 and stepmom to three. 

I am officially conditioned to wave my hands in front of any hand dryer in a public restroom to make it work. Some will release paper and others will blow hot air. Here’s a story that’s better than hot air.

An NPR segment discussed the Xlerator hand dryer. It dries hands in 10 – 20 seconds, it’s made in the USA, and you don’t even have to wave at it. I met Xlerator at Primanti Brothers in Grove City. It works.

In February, National Public Radio featured a two-part series on its manufacturer — Excel Dryer, of East Longmeadow, Mass. For 31 years, the company has made hand dryers. Denis Gagnon bought the company in the 1990s, and revolutionized hand drying with the Xlerator hand dryers. NPR’s “How One Company Reinvented the Hand Dryer,” tells a fascinating story of how Gagnon met with scientists and invented an energy-efficient machine that campaigns with “It’s time to throw in the towel.”

The second part of the story is here.

We’ve had flash mobs, macarenas and hey let’s do the twist. The Harlem Shake is the latest in a series of dances that’s gone viral. The video clip above is an admirable underwater presentation by the University of Georgia  swim and dive team.

Wikipedia says the Harlem Shake dates back to 1981 in Harlem. Here’s the listing on Wikipedia:

• Harlem shake (dance), a dance originating in Harlem in 1981

• “Harlem Shake” (song), a 2012 song by Baauer

• Harlem Shake (meme), an Internet meme which began in early 2013

Here’s the NPR report – a great listen. 

But not everyone has a sense of humor.  Students in Brownsville,Pa., were suspended when they danced  it up over this viral craze. Read that story here.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa.

They’re back — prints, Bohemian style and more. Those of use who lived through the hippie days think some of the prints look a little familiar (and bizarre). Graphic, colorful and reminiscent of “Laugh In,” they all look like fun. 

In an NPR report, BCBG’s Max and Lubov Azria appeared at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week with “a nomadic, bohemian vibe.”

Read the full NPR story here. It indicates the clothes have a lot to do with gypsy inspirations. ”It sounds a little crazy, but it’s also a little bit hippie …” Max Azria said in the story by Samantha Critchell.

Looks like beanies and hoods are hot too.

Here’s a story in Glamour on Richard Nicoll’s new orange and pink print dress with a tablecloth hem. I swear I had a very similar style — always loved the pink and orange blend.

At bottom is Anja Rubik fresh from a page of Vogue. Yes, she is wearing a diamond pattern mixed with stripes and flowers. Read the full story here. It’s all groovy.

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.

For laughs today, here’s the sandwich I know my kids would love. It’s a grilled mac and cheese. I’m not a fan, but NPR‘s Ian Chillag of The Salt says the only thing that could make it worse for you is if they deep fried it. Read the full story here.

In USA Today, columnist Craig Wilson calls attention to a study that says women find Wednesdays to be stressful and really not pretty especially around 3:30 p.m. It’s an interesting read about how weekends and stress catch up with us today. Read it here.

So have a grilled mac and cheese, and don’t let stress catch up with you today.

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.  

Last year, my son used the word donk, and I had no idea what a donk was. It’s a butt — an ample one. It is not in Merriam Webster’s version of a dictionary.

But it’s in songs, even country songs. It was not among the new NPR words. I found donk and more contemporary jargon in the Urban Dictionary and the online slang dictionary. So here’s the translation of a few you might hear from family members this holiday season.

YOLO – you only live once. I missed this somehow. It’s been around forever in texting just like LOL, but it was lost on me.

iFatigue — Apple product introductions are wearing us out. At anagramer.com, this word gets 12 – 14 points in Scrabble and Words with Friends. Not sure if it is officially accepted.

Typerventilating — rapid instant messaging. I am guilty of this — my kids will tell you that.

Prezo or Preso — a short presentation.

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.

Did you ever listen to the weekly broadcast of Car Talk on NPR — it’s been on since 1977. Let me tell you it is often crazy funny. The hosts are brothers Tom, 74, and Ray Magliozzi, 63 — also known as Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, according to Wikipedia. Last week, the Magliozzis announced they would stop producing new episodes in September 2012. Read their bios here.

I recalled the call-in I heard earlier this year that I thought had to be a joke, but it wasn’t. A caller discussed cooking food — enchiladas — under the hood. Here’s a link to the transcript. Talk turned to a lot of menu items you could cook on the engine. One of the comments suggested it takes about 100 to 150 miles to cook a meatloaf. Tom and Ray also recommended “Manifold Destiny,” by Chris Maynard and Bill Scheller, a book that offers a lot of recipes to cook under the hood, and it was first published in 1989. It is still going strong with the latest 2008 version on sale.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi are retiring, but their episodes will live on in podcasts, transcripts and cookbook mentions.

An NPR story on Walgreen’s noted that the retailer introduced everything from smoothies and wine to sushi and manicures in Chicago. It brought back memories of soda fountains in places like the the G. C. Murphy’s store on State Street — often called the five and dime by parents and grandparents because, back in the day, you could buy stuff for 5 cents or a dime. Kind of like today’s dollar stores. Kind of.

You can read or listen to the NPR story here.

In the 1980s, I worked as the marketing manager at Cablevision on Peach Street in downtown Erie. We walked around the corner to G. C. Murphy’s to order hot fudge sundaes at the lunch counter on a pretty regular basis. Those sweet treats came in large paper cups to-go. We also walked across Peach Street to Carlisle’s, a department store, for lunch in a restaurant that had no clever name — no smoothies, no sushi, but great food. The venerable Boston Store on State Street closed about that time.

That kind of downtown shopping may never return to Erie, but what’s coming could be better. The NPR story discussed how the new Walgreens in Chicago caters to downtown office workers and more. It’s described as a gamble and a flagship store, and hey if Walgreen’s tries it, maybe someone else will. I’m hoping it works and gives some enterprising folks ideas to take us back to the future right here in Erie.