Hold on to your hats because “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is coming to the Washington market! Yes, here’s your opportunity to work on a house or a community center during the last week of August. I’m sorry that our own community wasn’t picked but these projects are within easy driving distance.

The text message beeps in at 4:09 p.m., just as I slide into my car and lower the windows to blow out the day’s heat. “On the ground,” my husband alerts me. What?! I yank the minivan into drive and take off.

Movie lovers received a double blow late last week with the deaths of writer/director/producer John Hughes at age 59 and controversial screenwriter and novelist Budd Schulberg at age 95.

» District 9: A large colony of malnourished, ill-treated refugees arrive suddenly on a nation’s doorstep. They are in need of care and shelter.

On Tuesday, a Louisiana jury found Corey “C-Murder” Miller guilty of 2nd degree murder in the 2002 shooting death of then 16-year-old Steve Thomas.

I’ll never forget my first baby-sitting job. I was 13 years old and it was four days a week for two months over the summer.

Please join me in a gigantic cheers to all the volunteers who helped with our Christmas in July event. It was wonderful because of the work of tons of volunteers.

“OK, guys,” I announce to everybody, projecting my voice up past the cube walls. “What should I get for dinner tonight?”

Mary Ann Kauchak shares easy-to-make recipes in her weekly column, “Shortcuts.“

It was deliberately planned, but really, it might not have been the best decision for me to attempt to install DSL Internet service by myself this past week. My whole family was out of town — husband, teenage daughter, teenage son — all of whom were much more likely to do it successfully.

After so many decades of insomnia, I know full well that brilliant ideas and clear-as-bell insights hatched in the middle of the night are generally neither. The morning sun virtually always exposes deeply flawed thinking.

Those fabulous folks at Matthew’s Center are planning a fun field trip to the National Zoo on July 29. Volunteers are needed to help chaperon the camp kids on what promises to be a super trip. They also have an ongoing need for van drivers in the afternoons on Monday, Wednesday Friday from just 2:30 to 6 p.m.

Mary Ann Kauchak shares easy-to-make recipes in her weekly column, “Shortcuts.“

Lianne Wilkes shares the trials and tribulations of being a Mom on the Run in her weekly column.

Mary Ann Kauchak shares easy-to-make recipes in her weekly food column, “Shortcuts.“

Lianne Wilkens shares the trials and tribulaltions of being a “Mom on the Run.“

Good morning Prince William and happy Fourth of July weekend.

Mary Ann Kauchak shares her easy-to-make reicpes in her weekly column, “Shortcuts.“

Good morning, Prince William. I want to give huge cheers to the Matthew Center for their new summer camp program for kids with autism. It seems like yesterday that this school was merely a vision and now it’s a fabulous thriving center for very special kids.

Mary Ann Kauchak shares easy-to-make recipes in her weekly column, “Shortcuts.“

Lianne Wilkens shares the trials and tribulations of being a “Mom on the Run.“

Good morning Prince William and happy Father’s Day! After you’ve enjoyed your special day, please consider helping out the Manassas Museum with outdoor landscaping tasks such as trimming bushes and sprucing up various historic areas in the near future.

The Friends of the Prince William Senior Center at Woodbridge Inc. held its election for office on June 4. The results are: Juanita Whitt, president; Doris Bodwin, vice president; Nancy Holland, secretary; Lana Toby, treasurer.

People should watch what they say and to whom they say it to. The person being addressed may write for a newspaper.

It certainly does feel good to feel good. I’ve jumped in with both feet this week and am enjoying being busy. My first “outing,” after fighting off pneumonia for a month, was going to a concert on Sunday.

Mary Ann Kauchak shares easy-to-make recipes in her weekly column, “Shortcuts.“

Even as I go through the steps, the carefully thought-out steps, I know this is a cockamamie plan. But I see no alternative.

Please mark your calendar for this Saturday to join in the fun at the Marine Corps Run Amuck and Kids Run Amuck races at Quantico Marine base.

Summer is really trying to make itself felt, so I thought I would share a couple of suggestions to make this summer more fun. When it’s hot people don’t feel like eating big hot meals so here is one of my favorites. I call it “The Sherry Waldorf.”

I’m back! The wrist is almost healed. The cast is history and I don’t miss it one bit.