Peeps. Everyone has an opinion on Peeps. There has never been a more controversial topic around the family Easter table that has resulted in so much thrown ham. They are either a perennial Easter favorite or a much maligned “last treat in the basket” candy. Some adults have fond memories of these sugar coated marshmallows …
Edible glitter is an actual thing. I don’t know about you guys, but with the holidays approaching my Pinterest boards are filling up with all kinds of yummy looking desserts.
My husband and I don’t really do lovey gifts. Valentine’s, anniversary, whatever. He doesn’t care if he gets a gift on Valentine’s Day. I used to care. A lot. Mostly because I’d been taught to care. All those TV sitcoms where the goober of a husband forgot a special day and had to scramble to …
It’s the end of Summer now. Time to wake up early, shove those kiddos into their brand new clothes and hand them their backpacks full of glue sticks and yellow plastic folders. You wave a tearful goodbye as they board the school bus. As you close the door, you weep. Not because your baby has …
It’s no secret. I’m trying to get pregnant. I mean, it’s not like I talk about it incessantly, but I will NOT be guilted by grandmothers for not giving them great-grandkids. We’ve tried the old fashioned way, we’ve tried minimal medical intervention, and we’ve tried full blown IVF. While we have managed to have a …
Last June I had a miscarriage. It was a quiet thing which made it all the more dreadful. Something so wretched as losing a very VERY wanted pregnancy should at least have the decency to be loud and obvious. But no one knew. My husband did, of course. My boss, too, since I had to …
I’ve always wanted rainbow hair. You can blame Lady Lovely Locks, or really pretty much any 80’s cartoon geared towards girls. Every one of those shows had rockin’ chicks sporting epic bangs and multicolored hair. Apparently I never grew up, or those things came back into style, because I finally got my rainbow hair, and …
I’ve got so much stuff to do. I should be working on my manuscript, working on my pitch for said manuscript for an upcoming writer’s conference, tackle various freelance design jobs, organize a class I’m teaching at a said writer’s conference, keeping my house at human occupation levels, and oh yeah, I’ve got an 8-5 …
The first time I saw a photo of the pink and blue tie-dyed drink on Facebook, even though it was a few days late, I thought it was an April Fool’s day prank. It was too cute. Too trendy. There was no way a big chain store would sell a drink that was that bright …
A few weeks ago I had no idea what LuLaRoe was. Despite the fact that there have been several articles about the fashion line have been posted on this very website, I hadn’t done much more than scan them. I got the basic idea. Competitive clothes shopping? No. Freaking. Thank. You. I have to watch …
My brother got married last weekend. I’m so happy for him! His new wife is super cool! I was my brother’s Best Grooms-Lady so I had to look snazzy. The day before the wedding, my then sister-in-law-to-be and I treated ourselves to a mani and pedi. I’d never had fake nails before because I was …
A few months ago my brother, J.J., and I visited my Dad’s house. Dad needed some help with a few things around the house and that called for some extra man-power. Fortunately, we got the water heater installed. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. We had to wait until the next day to call the hotline (Ha!) …
In the last few years Santa Claus’ darker half, Krampus, has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. The delightful half goat, half demon punishes where Santa Claus rewards. But he’s not the only other Christmas time folklore figure that kids can look forward to a visit from this holiday season. The History Of Krampus’s Gal-Pal, Frau …
If you’re like me, you’ve probably forgotten to get someone a gift. It can be hard to be thoughtful when you’re scrambling at the last minute to put together a present so someone doesn’t feel forgotten. I’ve come up with a solution that is one part unique gift, one part cleaning out your closet: The …
When I was a little kid, my Christmases were fairly predictable. My brother and I would fall asleep on Christmas Eve somewhere after 1 AM (we were, of course, in bed by 9 PM but Christmas morning excitement is a hell of a drug). As soon as it was light enough to see, we’d bolt …
We all have groups of friends, co-workers, or other random people who want to give us presents at Christmas. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, ‘tis the season for White Elephant gift exchanges. White Elephant Gift Exchanges And Why We Suck At Them Everyone’s family has slightly different rules, but the general idea is that you …
Whether you are a seasoned chef or a backseat baker with a thousand viewing hours of Chopped, there are lots of little tips and tricks to getting the perfect pastry. Unfortunately we usually only figure them out after an epic baking fail. Here are some hard earned bits of baking wisdom that I’ve learned from …
My family has a tendency to over-do Christmas. My Mom especially liked to give everyone lots of presents. It’s how she showed her love and it’s how I tend to show mine. Since she passed a few years ago, Christmas has taken on even more meaning since it was so much her holiday. The days …
The day after Halloween my coworker put up her Christmas tree. I was like, “Ha ha, what a weirdo.” In my head. I’m not a butthole. Then another coworker chimed in that she’d put hers up, too. AND she was going over to her mother’s house that night to help HER put up her tree. …
While perusing Reddit the other day I came across a post asking “What is one seemingly inconsequential decision have you made that changed your life?” Many of the responses were along the lines of randomly deciding to be nice to the new kid and thereby making a new best friend for life. Another recounted the …
We all have those things that we accumulate that we will use some day. Sure it’s been in the back of the closet for 5 years, but you will definitely repair it one day even though you’ve already bought a new one and haven’t thought of the old one in forever. But please, take it …
October is here, and with the crisp weather and the promise of Halloween on the wind comes the traditional horror movie marathons. We watch in giddy anticipation of the hapless hero stumbling upon a murder in progress. Then we yell at the screen when they idiotically run upstairs instead of outside to the already running …
I suppose I’d always imagined that if I ever made a late night trip to purchase a humidifier it would be as a last ditch effort to comfort a sick kid. As I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot at 10:45 PM I realized I was half right. But the sick kid was my husband. …
Kids suck. I get it. If you’re lucky you might only have to yell at them to get off your lawn once or twice a year. But when October 31st rolls around all the neighborhood ragamuffins have been given carte blanche to roam as they please, trodding across your carefully cultivated fescue. The worst part …
Halloween is my jam. My favorite childhood TV shows had me convinced that I needed to live in the Addams family’s house and have Beetlejuice as a best friend. Unfortunately I grew up in a house that was not Halloween friendly. The front door was on the side, down a winding path and through a …
I recently ran across an article about Anna Kendrick as Squirrel Girl. Obviously I had to click on it because the only thing more awesome than Anna Kendrick IS Squirrel Girl. As it turned out, the article wasn’t news per se. It was really just a write up about Anna Kendrick saying in passing that …
Look, I know most people won’t ever need IVF. I certainly thought I wouldn’t. If there is one thing that human beings are really good at it’s making more of ourselves. But since starting IVF, I have made some observations that I really wish someone had let me in on ahead of time. So I’ve …
I had a couple of college roommates in my time. My first roommate had been a good friend of mine. I’d known her since elementary school although we really only became best friends in college. When I decided to move to north Texas I dragged her with me. We got an apartment together and it …
It sucks feeling old in my thirties. Before those of you who have made it past level 32 of this crazy game called “Life” want to write me off as a punk kid, hear me out. At the tender age of 32 I realized that I’m getting old…er. I’m not saying that my bursitis is …
When my husband and I embarked on our IVF odyssey, I thought I was ready for the emotional roller coaster I was about to strap myself into. Ha. Ha hahahahahaHAHAHA. Ha. That’s like saying “Well, I’ve been on a trampoline so surely I can base jump.” 6 Things I THOUGHT I Knew About IVF 1. …
I didn’t know I grew up in a hoarder house. But thanks to reality TV, we now have a name for it. I know what you’re picturing: Piles of rotting garbage stacked to the ceiling next stacks of desiccated rat carcasses. In my case, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We had a clean …
The first time I went on a date with Fred, I knew it wouldn’t work out. So, of course we dated for a year. But perhaps I should back up. I was really lonely in college. I’d moved up to Dallas from my small hometown and left a mediocre boyfriend behind. We’d tried the long …
The last words you ever want to hear from the new president of your company are, “Don’t worry. We’re not going to fire anyone.” Because guess what? They are going to fire people. Maybe not this month, but it’s coming down the pipe just as soon as the new boss figures out who he needs …
I got my period the day my mom died. It wasn’t my first period or anything. I was 29 at the time. But the painful coincidence didn’t go unnoticed. Nor did the parallel that exactly nine months had passed between Mom’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and the day of her death. My mom had been …