By January of each year, us Southerners have seen our fair share of northern blizzards on the Weather Channel, including a sidebar of winter driving and car preparedness tips that seem about as useful to us as tips for driving on the moon. Terms such as snow chains, rock salt and carry a shovel bring a quizzical look of loathing to the average coastal Carolinian.

The simple truth is, generally speaking, we never have to deal with that white wintery hell that, in my opinion, must be the reason for the mass exodus from Ohio to the Lowcountry.

But, just because we don’t get six feet of snow and temperatures so low that water poured from a bottle freezes before it hits the ground, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t prepare for the cold weather we typically see in February.

One of the worse things to feel after a peaceful night of sleep is stiff. It makes even the youngest of us hobble out of bed and feel somewhat incapacitated. Inflexibility is inevitable as we age. It is also a side effect of inactivity and obesity in all ages—young and old. Staying flexible is not hard. However, the term move it or lose has never been truer than when it comes to keeping yourself free-flowing. Here’s what our experts had to say about flexibility:

What are the most common problems of not staying flexible?
The skeleton provides the body with support and our joints allow the skeleton to be flexible and move around more easily. We lose bone mass or density as we age and, for women, during and after menopause. Bones also lose calcium and some minerals and are easier to break.

Our strength and endurance changes as we age, as well. So, as we get older we may not feel like we have enough energy to exercise, but lack of exercise and activity may result in lack of flexibility.

Stay up-to-date with these tech savvy tips for your daily life!

I have weighed as high as 223 pounds. Thankfully, I don’t anymore. Being overweight for most of my life, childhood included, I became the master of excuses. Once I got real with myself, I was finally able to defeat the false reality waging war in my head, and ultimately, lose the weight.

Stay up-to-date with these tech savvy tips for your daily life!

So, dear ladies, this is how you know the resolution business has taken a real downward turn: you dig out your notebook to make your resolutions and see that you have had the same ones five years in a row. How many times can you promise to lose 10 pounds, call your friends more often, eat a healthy diet, and be nicer to people? Well, I finally got on to the fact that these sorts of things were not only not working for me, but were actually making me quite depressed. What, you say? Never any better even with all of this resolving and reevaluation? Well, no more. I am about to share the secret of how to actually keep some resolutions and do it easily.

It’s January. You may be one of thousands of people donning new workout clothes, heading to a new gym and exercising your resolution to finally get fit! Pink decided to offer encouragement and introduce you to Samantha Norris who got a head start by beginning her fitness program last August. We hope her enthusiasm, commitment and results—now four months into it—spur you to keep on going when the first flush of resolve fades away.

I am often asked where I take my cars to get washed, and my general response is “my driveway.” Surprisingly, the next statement is often, “Oh, I don’t know how to wash my car.” What? I just assumed this was a right of passage passed from parents to children around the time they got their driver’s license and perhaps their first car, if not sooner, while helping mom or dad wash at home.

Children are to be seen and not heard. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that from my father when I was growing up. I really never bought into it, but you can bet I immediately shrank into the woodwork when he said it. I knew, in no uncertain terms, that he meant to be quiet and behave, and that meant now! I also knew that if I didn’t, I would be the one on the losing end.

Stay up-to-date with these tech savvy tips for your daily life!

Barbara Kiebel is a mom with two grown girls, a reluctant cat owner and an avid gardener. Herbs are a passion and she loves having a fresh supply for her forays in the kitchen.

“I love having friends over, enjoying their company and sharing food and drink together. While I’ve kept my best recipes online for almost 20 years, it was only in the past several years that I decided to turn that effort into a food and cocktail blog, where I can now share what I love with a wider audience. I love making old standards and creating something new. And, my love for making cocktails cannot be denied!”

The winter weather is cold and dry: it’s making me really itchy. What can I do?

Itchy skin in the cold and dry weather can be an annoying problem. The good news is there are several things you can do to help nourish and protect your skin from the cold weather and low humidity. Low humidity means more water evaporates from your skin leaving behind dehydrated, flaky and sometimes cracked skin. The main defense against this problem is doing everything you can to “lock in” moisture and re-establish the natural oils on your skin that go away with showering and bathing. What I recommend is to avoid very hot showers. My general rule is that if your shower leaves a fog on the mirror, then it is too hot. Keep it short and as mild as you can stand it. In the shower use a mild moisturizing soap such as Cerave, Dove or Cetaphil. Avoid fragrant soaps and only wash the “dirty” spots. Unless you have been exercising or working and getting very sweaty, generally the underarms, genital area, feet and face will do. After the shower, pat dry. Leave a little bit of moisture on your skin and then apply a good moisturizing cream (non-fragranced)  on all of your dry areas. Oils are also good, and a popular choice is coconut oil in place of a moisturizer.

It can be frustrating and embarrassing when your typically sweet little child refuses to share. Fortunately, this is totally normal and there are things you can do to help. Sharing is a complicated social skill that your child will learn with the help of your guidance and plenty of practice.

The brilliant work of great minds has shaped and molded the world into today’s advanced 2.0 version. People such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Winston Churchill, Madame Curie, Albert Einstein, Warren Buffet and Steve Jobs come to mind all as movers and shakers who made a difference in the world with their brilliance. Peoples’ genius brought us philosophies and inventions that were never thought possible like the airplane, helicopter, solar power, nuclear power, fax machines and the Internet. (I’m still amazed by the fax machine even though newer technology has made it almost obsolete.) Brilliance is also responsible for putting man on the moon, discovering medicines that cure deathly illnesses and building robotics that perform pinpoint accurate surgeries.

Most people view the tires on their cars as a necessary evil—
black rubber mystery tubes there to basically keep
their pretty rims from touching the pavement.

This month we wanted to “takeover” a woman who spends her life giving to others and let her be on the receiving end. Melissa Viets was the perfect candidate. Melissa, a certified nursing assistant and executive assistant at the Friends of Caroline Hospice of Beaufort, was suggested by her boss, Executive Director Lindsay Roberg. Everyone who knows Melissa agrees she deserved it. 

... is this mechanic trying to *#!$ me?

I am often asked questions about general car maintenance, and they typically start with something like “I took my Weiner mobile in for its 5K mile oil change and they say I need $2000 worth of work but I just spent $500 last oil change, is this mechanic trying to *#!$ me?”  This is always the awkward point where I wonder if I should have become a hair stylist or perhaps a yoga instructor because I am sure they rarely get these types of questions; but based on my lack of Zen calmness and inability to trim even my dogs hair in an attractive manner, I guess my path in life should continue down the all things mechanical brick road.

... is this mechanic trying to *#!$ me?

I am often asked questions about general car maintenance, and they typically start with something like “I took my Weiner mobile in for its 5K mile oil change and they say I need $2000 worth of work but I just spent $500 last oil change, is this mechanic trying to *#!$ me?”  This is always the awkward point where I wonder if I should have become a hair stylist or perhaps a yoga instructor because I am sure they rarely get these types of questions; but based on my lack of Zen calmness and inability to trim even my dogs hair in an attractive manner, I guess my path in life should continue down the all things mechanical brick road.

Technology can help improve your performance. Used correctly, it can up your fitness stamina with healthy challenges, which can result in enhanced training and an overall higher outcome.

While running errands this week, I was reminded how we tend to make assumptions about a person based solely on the car they drive. Case in point, I saw a new Honda minivan pull up and park at the pet store (total soccer mom kid hauler I assumed), but then a very attractive woman in her mid-20s got out of the van. Coincidentally, the driver of the van was in front of me in the checkout line inside, which gave me the opportunity to ask about the minivan. “I have two big dogs and like to go camping and to the beach so it seemed like the perfect car for me,” was the answer I received.

Stay up-to-date with these tech savvy tips for your daily life!

I am often approached by acquaintances asking a similar question that usually starts something like this: “Hi Jay, I have a model year such and such, mini van, sports coupe, wiener mobile, pickup truck, hearse etc. with 89,000 miles on it. Wondering if I should keep it or trade it in on something newer.”

Few things in life seem to conjure memories of our youth more than the infamous family road trip. Road trips have almost no socioeconomic boundaries, and for that brief period of time riding in the family truckster, crisscrossing America’s highways to visit Grandma or the Grand Canyon, all are equal: same rest stop bathroom breaks; same fast food and same universal “are we there yet” from the back seat.

We all know that living a healthy lifestyle is not just about food. Not by a long shot.
It is a very involved process that brings many feelings and emotions into play.

As I was checking out at the grocery store, the young cashier held up one of my items and asked me what it was. “It’s a yellow squash,” I said. She proceeded to search for the item number so she could ring it up.