At the last second, we looked around at all of the Legos scattered around our house and decided to pick them all up, dump them on a table and have a "Lego" party. At one point, one of the kids reached for a plastic dinosaur and wanted to play with it so I had to quickly come over and say to him, No. Because of these kinds of restrictions and confusions associated with theme parties, I have fervently become anti-theme when it comes to kids' parties. Soon after the movie debuted, toga parties sprang up all across America. What happened next was all of the paper plate manufacturers and napkin makers and plastic fork people and costume makers realized an opportunity here. Taking their cue from the greeting card industry and their made-up holidays like Secretaries Day (although secretaries work hard and deserve to be honored), party marketers said to themselves, If people are going to have toga parties, well then they are going to need togas and Roman-themed plates and napkins and knives, etc. [...] the cake was always chocolate and always very moist and always with white icing and two sparklers on top. Mom always sang "happy birthday" and played it on the piano and made sure I got plenty of gifts and, if you went outside on your birthday the other kids in the neighborhood would be allowed to punch you in the arm as many times as how old you were. ... Like the time little Johnny threw up all over the cake on his 7th birthday, or the time Uncle Gary came by with the fire truck and gave everyone a ride around the neighborhood or when Uncle Wilbur got drunk and fell asleep on the couch. [...] there are some essential themes for a kid's party like a cake and the singing and the presents, oh and maybe some hats and you gotta have ice cream and paper plates and you might as well make the napkins match the plates and he really likes Scooby Doo so maybe a Scooby-Doo cake.

For years, this tall child has been approached by teachers and coaches and parents; their opening line has always been, "You should be playing hoops." Grace swam instead, tried soccer, danced ballet, learned musical theater -- and continued to shrug off questions about basketball. There were patterns to remember, and crossovers to do, and players to guard and always, always, that ball to dive onto and wrestle away. "Use those sharp elbows," we tell her on the drive home. At practice she would sink a few baskets, each time watching the ball swish through the hoop before turning to look at me, beaming (and me beaming). [...] with an energy that has nothing to do with her mother's mental telepathy or prayers, she will sink that ball. Beth Dolinar is a former Riverside resident and Pittsburgh television reporter who is staying at home to raise her two children.

The trouble started when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the wrong tree. God had given them access to everything in the garden, with one exception. Right in the middle of the garden was one tree, which was declared off limits. [...] the penalty for violating this prohibition was death. The human race has been in trouble ever since. If I were Adam and Eve's attorney I would appeal their case on two accounts. If God did not want them to eat that fruit, why did he make it so accessible? [...] the death penalty for eating the wrong fruit? To inflict such a harsh punishment for such a minor offense would be injustice in the extreme. Like the rest of the bible, this story is a lesson in living. What we do with that gift will largely determine the quality of our living. [...] we cannot escape the necessity of it, anymore that we can stop breathing. [...] choice has been made, we look back on it, sometimes with regret, sometimes with satisfaction. For all the agony that choice brings into our lives, it is the source of our dignity. To be sure, Adam and Eve used their ability to choose in a destructive way. All because he said: "I will give it a try, what can it hurt?" Other young people were present that day that used their gift of choice in a different way. Msgr. Frank C. Wissel, D.Min., is pastor at St. Mary Church in Greenwich and the founding director of the St. Maximilian Kolbe House of Studies for boys in Bridgeport.

[...] we are being asked to fund money to build a complex that will be used, at most, three months out of the year -- and this defies logic. The RTM ultimately approved "seed" money, but where is the report that was promised -- what will be built and how much, the cost of ongoing maintenance and the ecological impact of the substantial blasting of rock at the site? How about money to repair the dilapidated Eastern Civic Center, which is utilized year round and is in total disrepair, for which we spent $700,000 for a new roof.

Since the beginning of time, the presence of light has been of utmost importance to mankind. [...] the quality, quantity, placement and cost of lighting are complex subjects that cover a broad range of engineering, architectural, interior design and psychology topics. In this short column, let me just announce that the next phase of high-quality and relatively low-cost lighting -- LED (light-emitting diode) lights -- has arrived. While the initial forays into this lighting technology were prohibitively expensive and of dubious light quality, there are now some LED bulbs and retro-fit fixtures that can make your home a shining jewel in the face of darkness without having to take out a second mortgage. With the multiple layers of aluminum oxide coating, it makes a lot of sense in a kitchen floor. The only real danger in kitchens is the rolling of refrigerator wheels back and forth in the same area for cleaning, because you can dent the floor. Since the financial crisis of 2008, and even after the recession "ended" in 2009, many lenders issued stricter documentation requirements before they would approve a loan. About 90 percent of new mortgages written today are backed by the FHA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Because these entities are now requiring banks to repurchase some of the loans they make, banks are gun shy and have increased minimum down payments, and changed the debt ratios they'll consider, making only the most conservative loans.