If you like things that creep and crawl, you have two opportunities this weekend to get up close. Bugs of all kinds will be on display and available for touching, if you dare, at the annual Insectaphobia.

For Stephanie O’Dea, life’s a Crock (Pot). She started cooking with a slow cooker in college for convenience, she continued as a newlywed for economy and kept at it for a challenge.  It landed her on Rachael Ray’s daytime TV show and earned her a following on her Web site, A Year of Crockpotting ( http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com).

This is an easy recipe — and one that can be thrown together in no time. I happened to have leftover roasted veggies in the fridge, but you can use frozen or fresh instead. I choose to not thaw frozen vegetables before putting them in the crockpot and leave them in for the entire cooking time. Some people don’t like that, though, and thaw and stir in at the very end. Your choice. This can definitely be assembled the night before for an easy morning plug-in.

You can use your leftovers to make fried rice. For reals. In the crockpot. I know! It totally blew my mind, too.

I saw this recipe posted on a site, and knew we had to make it. We just had to.

Mix and match patterns tastefully — here’s how:

“Good Housekeeping” found two products that can help fade the dark spots that form from sun damage.

Remember when you biked for pleasure? Avid mountain bikers in the region are often loading up their cars and gearing up for 17 miles of a wooded, lush and tucked-away biking trail. That first pedal into the shady, earthy trail is almost like riding into another world.

Less than a week before Barry Wood was going to start a new shift as a registered nurse with a full benefits package, he woke up one Wednesday morning and couldn’t see.

Brenda Pittman took her pet tarantula, Rosie, to the book talk program at the Eden branch of the Rockingham County library Thursday.

Summertime … and the blueberries are ripe. Rockingham County farmers say the berries are faring well, rebounding from last year when a late spring freeze ruined the crop.

Ralph Davis plans to drive his Yamaha 650 motorcycle to work today to celebrate the 17th national Ride Your Motorcycle To Work Day.

First, get to know your plants.

Nationwide, drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional death among children ages 1 to 14.

My husband gets bad leg cramps, mostly when he is sleeping.

Vernell Cassada checks on his tomatoes Monday in his garden. Cassada said this is a good season for tomatoes, but not for other vegetables, such as corn.

Where are the jobs? What fields are they in?
Air conditioning/heating/refrigeration, electronics, electrical, machining and horticulture, that’s where.
Rockingham Community College can train you in all of these fields. And women, don’t think these jobs are for men only.

Remember when feathered hairstyles were in style, and you cruised to the tunes of the Eagles - and it was cool? If you went to Friday’s Cruise-In, you got a taste of times past.

Goofball, Couch Potato and Love Bug are not the names of new arrivals at the Danville Area Humane Society.

For some summer weekend fun, bring your car to the car show in the Draper section of Eden on Saturday morning or watch the cars cruise the block in downtown Reidsville on Friday evening.

Rockingham County residents who show their license or identification card will be able to tour Chinqua Penn for $10. That’s half the regular house tour rate of $20 and 33 percent off the senior and student rate of $15. Youth ages 6 to 15 always get in for $10, and children 5 and under tour the mansion for free.

The amphibians face threats from disease, pollution, climate change, more

Dr. Luis Matos with Asthma and Allergy Center in Roanoke and Lynchburg says, “Whenever it gets muggy, then definitely the mold spores are out.”

Membership to this gym is contingent, not on annual dues, but on being an employee of Piedmont Precision Machine Co. on Airside Drive in Danville.

Winfred Jones, 82, of Reidsville, wanted to see the man he was in prison camp with during World War II. So he packed up the car and headed to Glens Falls, N.Y., to visit Frank Bertram.

It’s not every day the boys and girls at Kid’s World of Eden get a visit from a screech owl or a hedgehog, a snake and a chinchilla.

You don’t have to buy a fancy machine to make ice cream.
SLIDESHOW: Watch and listen to these cute kids make ice cream

QUESTION: You had a story a while back about pets getting MRSA. Are the warning signs for pets the same as people, and is it common?

A few weeks ago, as Tiffany Tillman was getting ready to take her 8-year-old son Noah to an appointment at the Center for Pediatric Therapy, he uttered “doctor.” Thrilled, Tillman cancelled his appointments, took him to the doctor where he was diagnosed with swimmer’s ear.

What kind of person are you? Precise? Orderly? Organized? Enjoy routine? Good with numbers? A problem solver? Like challenges? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you will probably do well in a business career, and Rockingham Community College can get you started.