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AJ

Dads, when it comes to household chores, we know many of you may feel like they are not your responsibility. But the truth is, helping with household chores is essential for building strong and healthy families. Not only does it make the workload more manageable for moms, but it also teaches children valuable life skills …

Read More about Dear Dads: Why Helping with Household Chores is Essential for Building Strong Families

Hey kiddo, Can you believe it? 16 already! I feel like just yesterday you were asking me to help tie your shoes and now you’re getting your driver’s license! I am so proud of the person you’re becoming and I can’t wait to see all the amazing things you’ll accomplish. Before you officially become a …

Read More about Sixteen Things I Want My Daughter To Know Before She Turns Sixteen

Kanye West aka ‘Ye’ is currently the train wreck you cannot seem to look away from… Today is officially day 2 of Kanye West’s Instagram Rampage and it’s a total dumpster fire. As you may have noticed, Kanye has seemed to be battling all sorts of issues with mental health, issues with relationships and according …

Read More about Kanye West Goes on Instagram Rampage and Then Deletes Photos – Here’s Screenshots of What He’s Said

I will always remember several years ago when actress Anne Heche left her long time relationship with comedienne Ellen DeGeneres and married a man. The world seemingly lost its mind. How was it possible? How could she go from being gay to being straight? No one understood. I am pretty sure I watched several reporters’ …

Read More about What Is Pansexual and How Do You Know if You’re Pan?

We got the call Monday. Nothing ever prepares you for any horrific news, but this was bad. A member of our family had taken his own life. His brother made the call, and we could hardly understand what he was saying through all the tears, sorrow, shock, and confusion that was rolling off of him …

Read More about We Just Lost A Loved Member Of Our Family And I Don’t Want The Same Thing To Happen To You

You think you know what you are going to say and do — until it actually happens. I was in the middle of making dinner, in the middle of a project at work (I work from home), and in the middle of switching out a load of laundry from the laundry room. I had so …

Read More about My Teenage Daughter Told Me She’s Bisexual and I Hope I Said All The Right Things

For the briefest of seconds the earth stands still, and all is right, all is good. You can feel it, though. It’s too right. In an instant, with the next breath, the earth starts spinning, a little too fast and slightly off its axis. The ground starts angrily shaking, and you can see a fissure …

Read More about This Is What It Feels Like When Your Husband Cheats On You

The summer season is here and chances are you’ve got your grill ready and your fireworks on standby. I personally love the summer  holidays as they are filled with family, friends, fun, food and fireworks! Of course, no summer celebration would be complete without the perfect cocktails! That’s why I found 15 Perfectly Patriotic Drink Recipes to …

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I have to admit that when I was looking for Plant Based Protein Recipes, I wasn’t expecting to find anything other than boring and bland recipe ideas. However, I was so wrong! I’ve discovered that plant based meals can be delightfully flavorful, creative and delicious! If you’re looking to start eating more plant based protein …

Read More about 25 Plant Based Protein Recipes To Try Now

Summers to me are all about enjoying the great outdoors:  fresh crisp air, the warm sunny days, being outside, the fresh smell of flowers in the air, enjoying bbqs with family and friends and enjoying refreshing drinks! When I think of summer refreshing drinks, the first thing that comes to my mind are mocktails. These …

Read More about 25 Magical Summer Mocktails Everyone Can Enjoy

Congratulations! You made it thru another week! I get it. Adulting is hard work. Fortunately for you, I’ve come up with the perfect way to end a long week with 25 Best Ever Boozy Cupcakes You Don’t Deserve To Eat. Well, maybe you “do” deserve to indulge in all the greatness and deliciousness these cupcakes …

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Oprah Winfrey is taking her motivational spirit on the road early next year with an arena tour to promote a healthier lifestyle. The former talk-show host and OWN television network chief announced Wednesday that the “Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” tour will begin Jan. 4 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is working in …

Read More about Oprah is Heading On Tour For The First Time in 5 Years

Moviegoers from Maine who watch the film “It: Chapter Two” this weekend might recognize a scene that draws on a painful event from the state’s history. Quite honestly, it is a trigger warning that the movie needs especially for those that are sensitive to LGBT history. Full disclosure, there may be a few spoilers here… …

Read More about The Trigger Warning The It: Chapter 2 Movie Needs

Watermelon is one of our favorite fruits so naturally it is a must have in our house during the summer months! Its so refreshing to munch on a beautiful ripe watermelon on a hot summer’s day. These Mini Watermelon Cupcakes capture the mouth-watering watermelon you’re craving all while satisfying your sweet tooth. Every bite is …

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As a mom I do everything in my power to protect my kids. I know who their friends are, where they are going and I even monitor their online activity to ensure it’s kid-friendly content. But here’s the thing – it’s not enough and here is why… A mom found suicide instructions in a YouTube …

Read More about A Mom Found Suicide Instructions in a YouTube Video Designed for Kids

I am not sure where exactly everyone is getting all of their medical information, but for some reason people actually believe that you can get the flu from a flu shot. No. You can’t. And every time you say you did you just sound dumb. So stop saying it! It’s completely impossible for you to …

Read More about No, You Seriously Can’t Get The Flu From A Flu Shot!

When it comes to children, some people love to give parents (experienced and new) their own advice on how to better raise the children, regardless if they themselves have any children of their own. Watching someone else try to parent your own kid while you’re doing the best your best job can be very infuriating, …

Read More about 17 Annoying Times Strangers Tried To Parent Someone Else’s Kids

It hasn’t even been two years since Anna Faris and Chris Pratt announced they were splitting and Christ Pratt has announced his engagement to Katherine Schwarzenegger. Yes, she is the daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger in case you’re wondering… This morning Chris Pratt posted an image of him and Katherine Schwarzenegger with the caption “Sweet Katherine, …

Read More about Anna Faris Just Congratulated Chris Pratt on His Engagement and I Just Can’t Handle It

Some people around here feel like the new Tidying Up With Marie Kondo Show is stressing them out, but not me! Oh no, that show soothes and lulls me into a state of utter happiness. First, there’s Marie. She’s this perfectly adorable, perfectly put together tiny woman who shows up at crazy people’s houses and …

Read More about I’m Obsessed With The New Marie Kondo Show And You Should Be, Too

I’ve been divorced five years. That’s half as long as I was married. So I thought it might be time to start dating again. But my daughter is fifteen. And this means she’s dating, too. So, yes. That means my daughter and I can go out on a double date. Look, we’re not actually going …

Read More about After Divorce: Trying To Date When You Have A Teenager

With Memorial Day being the unofficial kick off of the summer season, what better way to celebrate than with amazing and delicious food? Whether you’re grilling steaks on the grill, you’re in need of sides, salads, desserts or drinks, you’re sure to find some delicious ideas in this incredible recipe collection of 25 Best Ever …

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I love desserts and I love eating Vegan! However, finding both delicious and healthy Vegan dessert recipes can sometimes be a challenge.  Lucky for you, I’ve put together a list of 25 Mind-Blowing Vegan Desserts You Simply Can’t Resist! If you’re craving something sweet, these indulgent treats are sure to satisfy! In case you are …

Read More about 25 Mind-Blowing Vegan Desserts You Simply Can’t Resist

Is it Happy Hour yet? We’ve all been there. Its been a long day and you want a refreshing cocktail, but you don’t want to wreck your diet. So, what now? Cleaner Cocktails are on the way… You can have the best of both worlds! Whether you’re looking for something bold, fruity or boozy, you …

Read More about 25 Cleaner Cocktails That Won’t Totally Ruin Your Diet

The warmer weather season is upon us and that means its also Baseball Season! I love all the things that baseball season brings-fun summer nights, America’s favorite past-time and spending quality time with friends and family. What better way to celebrate than with these 25 Delicious Grand Slam Baseball Recipes! 25 Delicious Grand Slam Baseball …

Read More about 25 Delicious Grand Slam Baseball Recipes

While looking for new Instant Pot recipes to add to my weekly dinner rotation, I came across the most delicious Instant Pot Seafood Recipes and let me just say that I’m impressed! Lucky for you, I’ve taken the stress and guesswork out of “what’s for dinner?” with these recipes that are quick, easy and bursting with …

Read More about 25 Instant Pot Seafood Recipes That Will Make Your Heart Swim With Joy

If you love homemade cheesecake, but you want a quick and easy way to make the most delicious cheesecake recipes, then you’re going to love these Instant Pot Cheesecake Recipes. These mouth-watering Instant Pot Cheesecake recipes are so easy to make, but look like you spent your whole day making beautiful desserts in the kitchen! …

Read More about 25 Sinfully Delicious Instant Pot Cheesecake Recipes That Will Change Your Life

I love the look of flannel so needless to say, I’m happy it’s trending again! That being said, I laugh at little at the prices of flannel things…especially since there is SO much flannel available at literally every single thrift store on the planet (thank you 90’s kids). I’ve been thinking a lot lately about …

Read More about Easy No-Glue Flannel Bracelet

I didn’t think I could love my Instant Pot any more than I already do, but then I found the best Instant Pot Chocolate Recipes and I’ve fallen in love all over again! If you like chocolate (and I know you do) you are going to LOVE these! 25 Instant Pot Chocolate Recipes So Delicious They’ll …

Read More about 25 Instant Pot Chocolate Recipes So Delicious They’ll Make Your Heart Skip A Beat

Tonight my daughter told me she hated me. She screamed it, in fact, before flipping her hair and marching upstairs to her bedroom. The door slammed and while part of me wanted to run after her and talk to her, I knew the best thing would be to give her time to cool down. My …

Read More about How To Know If You’re Doing An ‘Okay’ Job As A Parent

Over and over I’ve seen other moms talk about their stretch marks as ‘tiger stripes’, ‘warrior scars’, ‘hope wounds’, but I hated mine. And the worst part was I couldn’t tell anyone how much I hated them. I remember starting the conversation with a friend of mine. “I had the baby and now my skin …

Read More about I Put Off Intimacy With My Husband After Pregnancy Because I Was Ashamed Of My Body

Marriage is hard on everyone. Sure, at first it’s all honeymooning and sex and being on your best behavior, but at some point the guard comes down and life gets messy. We’ve all been there. You love your spouse, but if they do this one horrible thing one more time you swear to GOD you will …

Read More about 10 Times Your Spouse Sent You Into A Blind Rage

I recently came across an article with that very title– Should I let my middle schooler date? The article gets pretty sanctimonious, and talks all about how you should definitely not let your middle schooler date. But what really surprised me was how everyone in the comments agreed that you should absolutely not let your …

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Some parents roll out of bed perky and ready to tackle the day. I am not one of those parents. Most mornings I roll out of bed squinty eyed, cursing at the alarm clock, and praying someday they invent a patch that infuses us with caffeine as we sleep. I, like many of us, was …

Read More about 5 Strategies To Help Night Owl Moms Who Have Early Bird Kiddo’s

aka That Time Everyone Without Little Kids Pissed Off Everyone With Little Kids When a child, being a child and therefore prone to stupidity, got himself into an endangered gorilla’s enclosure last year, the zoo sacrificed the gorilla’s life to extract the boy.  The Internet went on a campaign of blame and outrage, some even sending …

Read More about I’m Glad Harambe Died (And You Would Be, Too!)

To start with, this post is probably going to make me look horrible. I swear I’m not. I love my kids. I love my husband. I love love love my family with all of my life and every fiber of my being. But…sometimes it’s a bit much. I mean, the whole family and life and …

Read More about Am I The Only Mom Who Always Seems To End Up In Tears On Mother’s Day?

I don’t care if my husband watches porn. Like at all. Well, I mean, not while he’s driving…or when he’s supposed to be taking out the trash. But if I’m not home and he’s got a spare minute? He’s welcome to peel his own carrot. Now, for some of you this is a non-issue. Of …

Read More about I Don’t Care If My Husband Watches THAT, I Watch It, Too!

Unless you’ve been hiding from the internet since November (and really who could blame you), you might have noticed that January 21st boasted a historic Women’s March. An estimated, worldwide, 5 million women, men, and children strapped on their walking shoes, made signs, and took to the street to have their voices heard. Hell, even my tiny conservative …

Read More about The Top 3 Stupidest Responses To The Women’s March (That Prove Why We Needed The March In The First Place)

A little over a year ago my personal dating profile could have read something like: ‘Crazy workaholic cat lady who loves wild weekends with big books and bottomless pots of dark roast coffees looking for Mr. Right Now to help keep her gossip interesting and her reputation questionable.’ No shame. Who knew things would change …

Read More about A Year Ago I Didn’t Want Kids, Now I Live For Mustard Bombs And Maniacal Baby Giggles…

Let’s face it – we all want to present the better side of ourselves to our (future) spouses, and their families, and while the ones we love will eventually become aware of all of our flaws, as we will become aware of theirs, it is human nature to try to convince our in-laws that we …

Read More about They Don’t Really Go To Church – And 4 Other Lies Your Inlaws Would Have You Believe

I’m adding to the list of things I wish I hadn’t done after getting engaged. First up was simply not telling anyone I was engaged. This week it’s wedding groups. I Will Cut The Next Bitch Who Adds Me To A Wedding Group See, I joined a couple because I figured I’d troll them for …

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Chances are we haven’t met, so let me introduce myself. I’m a 30-something white girl from the Mid-West. My family includes a lot of racial diversity, within my immediate family I have black, Hispanic and Middle Eastern relatives. To say that our family is an interesting melting pot would be an understatement. You might have …

Read More about Trump Is That Spoiled Kid At The Birthday Party Who Ruins It For Everyone

At the time of writing this I’ve been engaged (that’s such a weird word to use in regards to…well…me) for almost five whole days. My long time boyfriend proposed on New Year’s Day. We waited a few days to tell family and close friends. This was, essentially, to ease ourselves into the chaos that is the …

Read More about Telling People I Got Engaged Was A Huge Mistake

I’m writing this post from a very conflicted place in life. This weekend was supposed to be about a reunion. A coming together of generations for food and games and stories. A gathering of loved ones. Instead, it was a hectic juggling of travel details and the fall out from someone taking their own life. Please …

Read More about Hard Choices: Why Do We Get To Decide When It’s Someone Else’s Time To Go?

I’ll never forget our first Christmas together…because it was an emotional disaster. We’d just settled down after years of dating, bought a house and it just so happened that we were going to have the children. Due to other circumstances the kids had never gotten the chance to have a truly festive holiday with their …

Read More about The Year Everyone Got A Present…Except Me…

Our daughter is a high functioning Autistic daughter. Our son isn’t. Neither are what you’d call social butterflies. We don’t go to a lot of parks, because parks mean people and a high likelihood that we’re all just going to sit on a bench watching other kids play. Not all that much fun for any …

Read More about The Time I Fought Against A Woman Carrying A Gun In The Park By Playing ‘Barbie Girl’…

Let me say out of the gate, I don’t have solutions. I have questions. And as a stepparent, there’s only so much I can do to make a difference. To complicate matters more, parenting a child with special needs in two separate households is…in short…almost effing impossible. When I went all in with my husband …

Read More about Autism Moms: How Do You Discipline A Child Who Doesn’t Understand Discipline?

So I’m sitting over here trying my hardest to be as non-judgmental as possible – because we should support each other – and then my SIL tells me she’s “unschooling” her kids. Unschooling? Not homeschooling, but unschooling. She’s decided that at the ages of 10 and 8, her two oldest kids have learned enough basic …

Read More about Maybe We Haven’t Been Critical Enough Of Our Fellow Moms…

I’m an avid pet lover. I love animals. Any shape, size, whatever. I dig animals. I probably should have been a zoo keeper, but I made other life decisions. Which means that my house is comfortably full of animals. We capped our limit at six, some have fur, others don’t. And, as one does, I …

Read More about When Do You Admit The Relationship With Your Pet Isn’t Working Out?

I was wholly unprepared to be a step-mom. Completely and totally. I don’t think there’s a word that fully encompasses just how out of my depth I was. In the last few years I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve also learned a lot of lessons. For one, thanks to Disney step moms get …

Read More about Six Been There, Done That Tips To Surviving As A Step-Mom

I have two rambunctious boys. They’re three and one and full of love and kisses and Iron Man. The three-year-old, at least. He’s convinced he’s Iron Man. That is my fault. One day while I was doing dishes, I put on the Iron Man cartoon for him and that was that. Ever since then he’s …

Read More about Kids Climb Things, And Fall – That Doesn’t Make Me A Bad Mom

My ten-year-old came home from school the other day practically bursting at the seams: “We talked about puberty at school today.” “Yeah?” I asked. “What about it?” “The teacher said there are signs it’s starting. Like you start craving chocolate and get moody.” Inside I rolled my eyes a little. We live in Texas and there’s …

Read More about Why I Will Never Give My Daughter ‘The Talk’…

“I don’t play with stuffed animals anymore,” she told me after coming home from school. I was standing in the kitchen chopping onions for the pepper steak I’d planned for dinner and was only half listening. “Oh, yeah?” She raced past me and grabbed a garbage bag. “I’m cleaning my room!” I smiled. My kid isn’t …

Read More about Yesterday, My Daughter Broke My Heart…

We all think our kids are the most beautiful ever, but mine really is. She’s ten and has this long, blonde hair, huge pool-water blue eyes, and a smile that she must have stolen from her dad…because it’s the same smile that made me fall in love with him. And smart? This kid remembers just …

Read More about The Reason I Will Never Criticize Myself In Front Of My Daughter Again

Don’t get me wrong. I love being a mom. Most of the time. Most of the time it’s the greatest thing ever. Most of the time I look at those beautiful blue eyes and think, “Wow. You’re the coolest kid alive.” But I didn’t give birth to her. And since she is ten, she likes …

Read More about If Motherhood Is A Gift, What Exactly Is The Return Policy?

I’m a bright woman. If you’re reading this, you probably are, too. So know that I’m not writing this with pride, but with the great chagrin that comes from doing absolutely dumb-dumb things from time to time and feeling like we have to get them off our chests. My most recent dumb-dumb thing? I brushed …

Read More about I Accidentally Brushed My Teeth With Desitin…

For the record, maple syrup does NOT treat meningitis. I am not a doctor, nor a holistic healer, I barely know how to put on bandaids properly, but, and I repeat, maple syrup does NOT treat meningitis. Know how I know this? Because there is a couple in Canada (David and Collet Stephan) who are …

Read More about AJ’s Ranty Rant: Maple Syrup Does NOT Treat Meningitis

It’s all over Facebook: Donald Trump is the WORST PRESIDENT EVER! And if Facebook says it’s so, it Must be so! I mean, look at the hair, that alone is an affront to nature. And what’s up with the orange…like, has no one told him or something? He’s the worst! And we’ve all seen the …

Read More about 5 Reasons Why Trump Is The WORST PRESIDENT EVER!

Turn an ugly thrift store painting into something cool with this Thrift Store Painting Hack project! I’m always looking for inexpensive art I can transform into something amazing for my home. Today I am going to show you how to turn a seriously dated painting into something super stylish. Watch this Thrift Store Painting Hack …

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My refrigerator gets completely trashed from time to time. I have four kids if that explains anything! I can hear the door opening and closing and opening and closing which means that activity is happening. That activity (which although I’m happy they are all do-it-yourselfers) really makes a mess. So when I saw this Press-N-Seal …

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