Keep Your Car Under Contol in Snow and Ice

Weather.com offers a number of helpful tips to keep you safe on the road this winter.

We have all thought it. When the first snow falls or the temperatures dip below freezing and the roads get slick, we wonder if everyone around us has forgotten how to drive. (Alert: Weather Service Says Sunday Ice Storm Could Be Dangerous) Here are a few tips on how to stay on the roads and avoid collisions when snow and ice start affecting driving conditions. Read the full list of tips by clicking here.   Driving safely on icy roads If your rear wheels skid: If your front wheels skid: If you get stuck: Get news where you live. Sign up for the Joliet, Channahon-Minooka, Romeoville or Shorewood newsletters.

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Expert Explanations

Things to Keep in Your Car During Winter

These are the 10 items you should have on hand as the weather turns cold and the snow begins to fall.

We have been lucky in Illinois this winter. We have not yet seen bitter cold or a large shower of snow. But, it is pretty doubtful that we will get through the entire winter season without either of the traditional markings of an Illinois winter. With that in mind, Patch has compiled a list of items you should keep in your car during the colder months. Much of the information below was compiled from weather.com. Get news where you live. Sign up for the Joliet, Channahon-Minooka, Romeoville or Shorewood newsletters.

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Expert Explanations

How to Stay Motivated to Keep Your Resolutions

Whether it is working out, eating more healthy or better time management, you can be more successful if you remember why you started in the first place.

It takes 21 days to make a habit. So, those of you who resolved to do better in 2013 may be feeling about ready to give up. But don't. Stick with it. And if your resolution was to be more fit, continue to brave the crowds at the gyms and outlast them. There are a variety of tips out there to keep you on track and motivated. Simplefitnesssolutions.com offers a number of tips to keep going. Here are our favorites: If you are specifically trying to get fit or stay healthy, the following tips are specific to those goals. Both simplefitnessolutions.com and WeightWatchers.com agree that finding an exercise buddy, or someone to whom you can be accountable is a great motivator. The Weight Watchers Web site also suggests that you start slowly and …

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Save Money by Packing Your Own Lunch

It does not have to be boring; here are some tips to keep yourself on task.

We all know that packing your own lunch can not only save you money but also is most of the time more healthy than going out to eat every day. But most of us don't pack our own lunches for a number of reasons. We may not have time, we may not believe it will save us money and we may be afraid that our own home-packed lunch will be boring when we are surrounded by other options. Here are some tips we compiled from a variety of Web site sources. Want more ideas? Visit these Web sites for more details.

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Expert Explanations

Think Before You Drink & Drive on New Year's Eve

Here are some eye-opening statistics about drunk driving, and what will happen if you get caught.

Patch already gave you tips on how much you can drink before your alcohol level makes it unsafe to drive. But before you take that first sip of champagne, we want to remind you of some sobering statistics regarding DUI. Mothers Against Drunk Driving at www.madd.org provided the following: Since thousands of Americans die each year on the road due to drunken, drugged or distracted drivers, President Barack Obama proclaimed December "National Impaired Driving Prevention Month." To read the proclamation, click here. If you've ignored all our warnings thus far and the idea of hurting yourself or others is not enough to keep you from driving while intoxicated, we have included a link to the Illinois State Police page that lists the penalties of…

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Expert Explanations

Stay Heathy While Cooking for Thanksgiving

ATI Physical Therapy offers tips to stay healthy while cooking that big meal

Next week, it's time to cook the turkey and all the fixins that go with a Thanksgiving feast. All that cooking is hard work. Chefs, even those working in a home kitchen, need to take steps to make sure that all that cooking does not take its toll on his or her body. ATI Physical Therapy have some tips that can help keep you pain-free. “Activities such as standing too long while cooking, meal preparation, and lifting heavy objects like turkeys and boxes can cause back, shoulder and neck pain,” says Tara Smith, physical therapist at ATI. “There are simple things that can be done to help decrease the effects of the added stress on our bodies.” In addition to muscle aches and pains, injuries to the hand are all too common during the holidays. …

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Expert Explanations

Is This Really the Best Time to Buy a Car?

Terry D'Arcy, owner of three Joliet dealerships, gives you tips to shop for a new car.

Terry D'Arcy, who owns three car dealerships in Joliet, says that this time of the year is indeed the best to buy a car. "It is a good time to buy a car the later part of the year, if you intend to keep it," he said. That's because D'Arcy said he has seen a trend in more and more people leasing cars instead of buying them. "There's probably 35 to 40 percent of people who like to trade in three or four years," D'Arcy said. Years ago, D'Arcy said only about 5 to 7 percent of people chose to lease. No matter whether you're going to buy a car or lease a car, here are some tips: DON'T MISS THE LATEST JOLIET NEWS. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER FOR A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TAKE, FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

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Expert Explanations

Mums Can Last Years and Years

You've seen them at all the pumpkin farms and fall flower stands, mums bloom late and if treated right can bloom again and again.

When you walk into MacFarlane Pumpkin Patch, you see big pots of mums. Those are not for sale, but rather are flowers the family has cultivated for years. They have bloomed multiple times and continue to come back year after year. Keeping mums healthy and continually blooming is not that hard, Marilyn Macfarlane said. Marilyn Macfarlane is married to Drew Macfarlane, whose family has owned the farm for 50 years. The best way to keep your mums blooming year after year is to plant them in the ground. But that is not the only way. You can also winter mums in pots if you care for them in the proper way. The key is to allow the plant to go dormant over the winter. While the plants can be left outside once the weather changes, you have to mound …

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Expert Explanations

What to Do with the Insides of a Pumpkin

Patch has told you how to best choose your pumpkin, now we give you ideas on what to do with the insides.

Let's say you bought a pumpkin for the purpose of carving eyes, nose and a mouth and lighting the inside with a candle. You have gutted the pumpkin and there on your table, are the seeds and the pulp. You may have no idea what to do with it. Or, you may be the kind of family that pulls the seeds out, throws them on a pan with some salt and roasts them in the oven. But, there is so much more you can do with pumpkin. Patch has pointed you in the direction of the University of Illinois Extension before. We told you what to look for in a carving pumpkin and what to look for in a baking pumpkin. The same resource also offers a wealth of tips and tidbits about the orange gourd. This section of the site offers 14 pumpkin recipes, including one …

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Expert Explanations

Pick the Perfect Pumpkin, Part II

Last week we discussed what to look for in a pumpkin you want to carve; this week we discuss what to look for in a pumpkin you want to cook.

With the mid-October chill in the air, your stomach may be craving the comfort of foods such as pumpkin pie or pumpkin soup or a baked squash of another sort. While you might begin your search at a pumpkin farm - just like someone looking to carve their pumpkin, what you look for in a pumpkin is a little different. The University of Illinois Extension offers the following tips for picking and prepping a pumpkin that will grace your pie pan or soup tureen. You can prepare the pumpkin for your recipes in three ways - Boiling/steaming, oven baking or microwaving. Cut the pumpkin into rather large chunks. Rinse in cold water. Place pieces in a large pot with about a cup of water. The water does not need to cover the pumpkin pieces. Cover the …

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