Nothing gets me in the mood for Halloween like a good ghost story. With its historic homes and rich history, an old city like St. Louis is the perfect setting for some real-life hauntings. Learn about some of these lost souls and wayward spirits at upcoming storytelling events.

There are certain triggers with families and education. Discipline policies, curriculum, teaching methods. For the most part, if you have a strong feeling towards one of these touchstone topics, you can find a school that best fits your model and live your life in peace. At least, that part of it.

Working for many schools the past few years has enlightened me, however, that there is one common trigger that schools just can’t get right: homework.

I’m going to sound really old here, but my first memories of food co-ops go waaaay back to the ‘70s and ‘80s. The upside was healthy, nutritious (and, for us, exotic) foods like dried papaya and carob chips. The downside was pen-and-paper ordering, tallying and record-keeping. Those poor volunteers, including my mom, really toiled over their calculators at delivery time.

Nowadays, ordering is online and you don’t even have to break out a pen – unless you need to jot a reminder note about your pick-up date and time. The foods are still healthy and nutritious, but the focus has shifted to locally produced wares.

I walked through the sign-up process at Community Helpings Coop a few days ago, and it was so easy that I asked one of the organizers, Tracy Gruener, if I had missed something.

Even if you are living under a rock, you probably know that health care reform is a hot topic. I’m not trying to start a political debate here, but I need to throw in my two cents' worth on the subject: weekly massages for every American. The country would be so much more relaxed, healthy and happy if we had the kinks worked out every week. And we would be less cranky and more productive.

But massage's benefits aren't reserved for adults. Children can reap its rewards, too. Besides being a great bonding experience, massage can help babies relax, sleep better and cry less.

I remember my first year of straight As. I was in third grade, a particularly harsh year because my teacher was a little (a lot) persnickety. And we were still doing phonics and I had been a reader for three years. And, well, math.

For readers who haven’t caught on, math and I are not friends.

Spring has indeed sprung. Flowers are blooming, lawnmowers are buzzing and area farmers' markets are opening their doors. Tower Grove Farmers’ Market and Bazaar is kicking off the 2010 season this Saturday morning. More than 50 food and art vendors are on the lineup, including newcomers Diamond M Farm and Freeland Vegetable & Berry. 

I love to read. But perhaps even more than this, I love being read to. Some of my most cherished childhood memories are of my dad reading bedtime stories every weekend. Whole summers I would spend listening to recordings of Shel Silverstein or Marlo Thomas and Friends. These days, I attend poetry readings or author events or festivals. But I also find myself turning down the radio or folding laundry in the hallway to better hear my husband reading to our children. Whether it's Redwall to his teenage son, or Misty of Chincoteague to our 6-year-old daughter, I am entranced.