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• Consider alternatives to a lawn
Qm tired of mowing my lawn. Can you recommend some lawn alternatives?

• Antiques show benefits Cleveland's historic Dunham Tavern Museum
It's steps from Euclid Avenue, with its one-lane driving, spaceship-like bus stops and new traffic patterns.

• Home for the Holidays' Makeover winners enjoy revamped rooms
7408523, winner

• Find a pet boarder through vet, research Ask Dog Lady
Dear Dog Lady:

• GARDEN CALENDAR
Catch up on all the news with our Garden Calendar, available online at cleveland.com/insideout. You'll also find a list of upcoming house tours there.

• Garden checklist
Rake and compost fallen leaves and garden debris.

• Jaeger sightings reward frozen birders - Aerial View
For birders who braved the icy winds, driving rain, stinging sleet, blinding snow and crashing waves over the weekend, the payoff was worth the pain.

• Hair and makeup tips for a festive evening from three pros
Not many of us have the luxury of visiting a salon before every holiday gathering, so we sought the advice of local experts on the trends in festive evening looks. Who better to consult than the folks who did the hair and makeup for all the models in this special section?

• Side dishes, new ideas give Thanksgiving meal an update without derailing tradition
Time for a Thanksgiving dinner tuneup?

• Local chefs celebrate in and away from the kitchen
Chefs have keen food memories, especially at the holidays. Increasingly, more of them have to put aside family dinners and work on our Thanksgivings. According to the Ohio Restaurant Association, one in 10 of us will go out for the big feed, which means someone is in the kitchen making it.

• Holiday menswear calls for creativity, sophistication
Hey dude! Can we skip that Santa tie with the 500 prancing reindeer this year? Yeah, you know who you are.

• Be festive, but don't look too fabulous
When it comes to the annual holiday office party, the wise stylista makes a to-do list. Or is that a don't-do list?

• Bundle up in something you love
If there's anything Northeast Ohio partygoers can count on, it's having to cover their finery with a winter coat.

• Crack One Open

• Culinary Calendar

• Dish Deli and Catering?s Cornbread Stuffed Pork Tenderloin With Sun-Dried Cherry Sauce

• Dressing too young is a big mistake, saleswoman says -- Fashion Flash
The biggest mistake a woman can make, according to Suzanne Schaefer, is to dress too young.

• Fashion Calendar

• Get a head start on making your holiday cookies
Q: When can I make my holiday sugar cookies?

• Edith Head took credit for Givenchy designs in 'Sabrina' - Marylou Luther
Dear Marylou: I just bought and read "The Dress Doctor." On the cover, it says the book is "An Adaptation of the Bestseller by Edith Head." As a design student, I wanted to learn more about the legendary Hollywood costume designer.

• People turn to high-fat Spam in lean economic times - Connie Schultz
We all know these are tough economic times, and it seems like every day the news just gets worse, but boy, I never saw this one coming.

• Holiday artisan bazaars
Seasonal shopping is even more special when the wares are handmade right here in Northeast Ohio. The PD Style Team shares the delights of several favorite holiday bazaars on page XX. We kick off with ARTscape, Friday and Saturday at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, where the charms of Solon's Jak Figler, who builds custom necklaces for the shopper on the spot, will be displayed.

• How to reduce the cost of your Thanksgiving feast
Face it. Thanksgiving can be an expensive day.

• Jewels of the night
If there's anything that's guaranteed to send the women of Northeast Ohio into a tizzy, it's the arrival of a party invitation.

• New takes on side dishes, meal freshen Thanksgiving
Brandt Evans, chef and owner of the Blue Canyon Kitchen & Tavern in Twinsburg, knows the pull of tradition.

• Vineyards from Ferrante to Firelands are turning out some very ambitious wines
Free-range Ohio turkey from New Carlisle, apples from Geauga orchards, a pumpkin from a Medina field. How about an Ohio wine to go with that locally sourced Thanksgiving dinner?

• Stitches in Bay Village takes modern look at old-fashioned art
Beth Gantz wants to take needlepoint to new heights of fashion.

• Retailer Guide
Clothing and accessories in this section can be found from these retailers:

• Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Salad With Tangerine Vinaigrette

• Rolled and Stuffed Eggplant Parmesan

• Simply stand out
Holiday cocktail parties -- sequins, sequins and more sequins, right? Not so fast, Liberace.

• Sprucing up for holiday gatherings
Let's be honest -- most of us only have one or two cocktail parties per holiday season. But the neighborhood potluck? The family get-together?

• Start holiday meal with seasonal soup

• Style News

• Sweet Carrot Puree

• The It List
The PD Style Team can't wait to get shopping at our favorite holiday fairs!

• Tur-duck-en

• What's for dinner?
Tired of trying to decide what to cook? The Plain Dealer offers an evening-meal idea Monday through Friday at: blog.cleveland.com/lifestyles.

• Wine Buy of the Week

• Tell loved ones what you want at the end of life Healthy Cleveland
It's the gift nobody wants to ask for.

• Calling Gyrotonic a great workout is no stretch

• Health briefs
Organ donations celebrated:

• Health experts say 'Biggest Loser' methods too risky
On "The Biggest Loser," contes tants arrive fat and leave thin. And in between, they go through an intense fitness regimen that is, to put a good face on it, grueling.

• HealthWatch

• Choosing the right Medicare plan during open enrollment
It's the time of year when people who are eligible for Medicare wrestle with plans that seem to be written in for eign languages, sift through comparisons of coverage and worry about making the best medical insurance choices for next year.

• MetroHealth System employees learn about 112 staff cuts
MetroHealth System employees learned Monday that their numbers will be reduced by 112 to break even financially next year.

• Retiring physician Bill Lippy passing on his knowledge via an online library

• Enter the 'A Christmas Story' essay contest by writing a short essay
What do you want for Christmas? Now's your chance to tell us. In honor of the 25th anniversary of "A Christmas Story," The Plain Dealer, Positively Cleveland and A Christmas Story House and Museum are running a "What I Want for Christmas" contest. Submit an essay of 400 or fewer words for the chance to win a prize package including four general-admission tickets to A Christmas Story House and Museum, four general-admission tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and a $50 gift certificate to the Big Fun store in Cleveland Heights. There will be two prize packages, one for kids 16 and younger, and one for those over 16. Each essay must be e-mailed to contest@positivelycleveland.com by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3. Essays can also be sent to the Positively Cleveland Visitors Center, 100 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44113. The winning essays will be published in The Plain Dealer on Saturday, Dec. 13. Go to www.cleveland.com/movies or www. positivelycleveland.com for more information.

• Tips for choosing plans during open enrollment
Most U.S. employers again expect to see their health insurance costs go up for 2009. And employees again will be asked to pick up more, both in terms of their monthly contribution and out-of-pocket costs, such as co-payments, coinsurance and deductibles.

• 5 headlines you may have missed last week
1. Tough cookie: In Arizona, a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm. She then tossed the animal in her trunk and drove herself to a hospital. The fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the jogger are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

• About this series
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• Curious wife wonders why she checks husband's e-mail -- Tell Me About It by Carolyn Hax
Q: I check my husband's e-mail without his knowing it, and I don't know why I do it. I'm not suspicious of anything, I guess I'm just curious. What do you think this means?

• Humor Us

• Out and About

• PDQuotient / When good rivalries turn bad

• Services can lighten up the workload over the holiday season
Rest ye, merry gentlemen.

• Social Calendar

• Talking timeout: 10 MINUTES WITH . . . Bob Sevel
Bob Sevel, 47, of Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood, is an account manager for the U.S. Postal Service. That's his day job. His Sunday gig is the envy of every football fan in Northeast Ohio. Since 1999, Sevel has been the "red hat" or, more accurately, the "TV commercial timeout coordinator" for Browns home games. Working for the TV networks and wearing elbow-length orange gloves, he hangs out at the 20-yard line, steps on the field during natural breaks in the action (extra points, field goals, turnovers) and signals to the officials when to start and stop the game for television timeouts. Last week, Sevel answered a few questions from PDQ's John Campanelli.

• THE SOLUTION you didn't think you needed FOR THE PROBLEM you didn't know you had
This little idea went to market

• A look at Illinois sites associated with President-elect
A look at Illinois sites associated with President-elect Barack Obama:

• Australian park closes for summer World Watch
Australia:

• Illinois banking on presidential buzz to boost state tourism
Chicago

• Kimberly Gill of WEWS offers Southern perspective -- Sarah Crump's My Cleveland
Kimberly Gill, WEWS Channel 5 morning news anchor, worked her way through the University of South Carolina driving 53-foot tractor-trailers for FedEx.

• Obama tourism: Resources on the Web include:
Chicago Greeter: www.chicagogreeter.com

• Ski resorts ramp up for busy season with renovated facilities
This winter's weather is predicted to be extra cold and snowy -- excellent news for the thousands of Ohioans who can't wait to snap on their skis and snowboards and hit the slopes.

• Official silence is as troubling as Sean Levert's senseless death in jail - Connie Schultz
If Sean Levert had been taking heart medication when he was thrown in jail, his treatment would have continued uninterrupted.

• Discounts around Ohio for military families and veterans
Veterans Day was last week, but Ohio's tourism industry is still saying thanks to the state's active and retired military families with a series of ongoing deals and discounts.

• Tracking dogs help locate living and dead -- Donna J. Miller's Animals in the News
When a deer hunter didn't return to his Portage County home after sunset, his wife called sheriff's deputies, who relied on search dog teams to help them find the man.

• Ski resorts try to keep business from going downhill because of the economy
Michelle Michaels, a Colorado Springs software support employee, is a longtime ski-season pass holder to Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. But she won't be getting a pass this year while she tries to pay off debts.

• Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz to receive Urban League of Greater Cleveland humanitarian award
The Urban League of Greater Cleveland has awarded Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz the Whitney M. Young Humanitarian Award for the impact her writings have had in Cleveland communities.

• VOLUNTEERING
If you have some spare time, consider helping those in need. Contact Business Volunteers Unlimited at 216-736-7711 or fill out an application at www.businessvolunteers.org. Here are some of the latest offerings. (Other organizations' opportunities are listed afterward.)

• Why I wear a ski helmet now -- Susan Glaser
I've been a skier for more than 30 years and I've never worn a helmet. Until now.

• Clevelanders planning trips to join inaugural events
Tickets to January inaugural events in Washington, D.C., are sure to be scarce, but that's not stopping Clevelanders from plunking down their money in hopes of seeing Barack Obama become the nation's 44th president.

• RELIGION EVENTS

• Stan Hywet's Nativity displays are variations on a tradition
Akron -- Nativity scenes cradle religion, art and culture in gentle havens outside churches and inside homes each Christmas.