Being gracious is one of those things that has sort of gone to the wayside in this whole selfie obsessed world. We are often times so focused on ourselves that we forget things like grace. Gracious isn't about being graceful. It's not about dancing with style or being the most athletic. It's about being kind, nice, and pleasant. That's why it was really important to me that my daughter learn how to give people the benefit of the doubt, to assume innocence, and to not make snap judgments based on first impressions. The truth is, that's kind of a scary thing in today's Keep Reading >>>

My 13 year old daughter and her friends are all boy crazy. I mean, of course teenagers are boy crazy, but I just wasn’t expecting it this early. What am I supposed to do? If I tell them to stop talking so much and worrying so much about boys, they won’t. They’ll just do it away from me. Where I can’t head all the juicy details. (They call this spilling the tea.) I want talk to them about other things. About sports and grades and plays they’re in. What are their hopes and their ambitions. They want to talk about boys and boys. What are they boys doing right now, and Keep Reading >>>

A high school gym teacher, Martin Applebaum, got suspended for ONLY five days for photographing a female student without her permission, telling her she had cute gym clothes and giving her a failing grade for dropping her class. Basically here's what happened, this creeper snapped a picture of the student, told her that her gym clothes were cute, and, instead of making a huge deal out of it, she noped the heck out of the class as fast as she could. Well, that wasn't good enough for this freak-of-a-teacher, so he gave her a failing grade to take with her for the transfer. He told Keep Reading >>>

I went searching everywhere for Conversation Hearts, and I can't find the real ones anywhere. I could only find fake ones! So, I had to find out why. Well, as it turns out, the company that makes them, NECCO, suddenly went out of business earlier this year. They actually laid off everyone in the whole place (about 200 people) and sold off their brand to someone else. No word as to who, but it explains why conversation hearts taste weird now. Necco, which stands for New England Confectionery Co., was the country's oldest continuously operating candy company. I Keep Reading >>>

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 teaches them how to find joy and happiness amongst all their clutter and chaos. This lady is all about Joy, and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. You know what sparks joy for me? You do, Marie. You do. Her system is simple. Basically you pull out all your junk, put it Keep Reading >>>

Oh, humanity. In what may be the most ridiculous warning that actually has to be warned yet, Netflix had to send out this message to their viewers warning them not to attempt the Bird Box challenge that's gone viral. https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1080525103593512962 For those of you that haven't seen the movie-- basically you have to stay blindfolded any time you go outside because if you look at the "monster" you will die. (I watched the whole movie and summarized the plot for you here if you don't want to watch it yourself.) And now people are attempting every Keep Reading >>>

It all started when my (adorable, but tone deaf) husband decided he was going to karaoke a song on our honeymoon cruise. I tried everything I could to stop him. I mean, he’s so bad it’s past comical and into awful. He decided on a song nobody knew and he was sure he was going to rock it.  I was sure he was not.  He practiced for two days. I didn’t know it was possible to actually get worse with practice. I begged him not to do it. Tried to tell him it was a mistake. Reminded him gently and not-so gently he couldn’t sing.  But he wasn’t hearing it. So, Keep Reading >>>

The other day I asked my husband if we could get a peacock. He said absolutely not. Here's the thing in my marriage, we pretty much do what we want when we want, but when it comes to animals or purchases over a certain amount of money, we have to agree. And honestly, a herd of peacocks falls into both categories. So I am currently peacockless. But like, I have a whole plan for these peacocks. I did some research, and I think I could get them as babies. So like, they think I am their mom, and then I can let them be free range peacocks. Because that is a Keep Reading >>>

Grover always has been and always be my favorite monster at the end of any book ever. But that doesn't mean he didn't just drop the F bomb about what an excellent idea his furry counterpart had? https://twitter.com/pbump/status/1066489991797358592 Okay, so maybe that's not exactly what happened, but while half the internet hears Grover say, "Yes! That sounds like an excellent idea!" The other, much darker half of us hear something a little more R-rated. It's basically the new Yanny Laurel, if Laurel were a foul mouthed puppet. Or maybe Yanny is. I am not sure who is Keep Reading >>>

I've been sitting here, starting at all the "Santa was here!" posts in my Facebook feed, and I have to be honest, the rampant consumerism is insane. I don't understand it. I don't understand how there can be so many presents underneath these trees. These are the same people who have talk about not being able to cover car payments, not having enough for vet bills, just not having enough all year long and there are HUNDREDS of presents under their trees. What are we teaching our kids with this? Do we really want them to think that a good Christmas comes from piles and piles of presents? Keep Reading >>>

The rumors are true! Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth were spotted this weekend, Miley in white hands entwined with Liam cutting into a WEDDING CAKE. We are talking straight off of Pinterest, complete with individual 'naner puddings, place cards with little hearts, wedding cake sitting on something made of an old pallet Southern Girl MARRIED! You know it's going to be one heck of a reception when the Hemsworth brothers are in the house. The wedding was completely low key. Nobody leaked anything to the press. Family from both sides was in attendance. You can even see the MR. Keep Reading >>>

This time of the year is cold, colder for some then others. With that being known, someone (and we're not naming any names) decided it was time to introduce a new trend: Ankle Scarves. Yup, we aren't kidding. For those that are always cold from head to toe, this seems like it could be a good thing and a nice way to keep your ankles toasty. Although, we'll be honest, it's probably a trend to keep at home. Unless you are looking for the raised eyebrows and head turns then by all means rock these this winter. Sure, you could just wear socks or some fashionable boot cuffs but that Keep Reading >>>

Christmas is one of those times where everyone you know has traditions of all kinds, and one of my favorites is hiding a pickle in the Christmas tree. For those of you that think I am a crazy person, this is a real thing. On Christmas eve, someone hides a pickle ornament on the tree, and because it's green, it's super hard to find. If you're the first person to find the ornament, you win a prize! The ornaments come in all shapes and sizes. So, if you have older kids, then you can get a smaller pickle. It's also a fun party game to play, hide the pickle! The truth is, this is Keep Reading >>>

This year, I get Thanksgiving with my daughter. That means I won’t get Christmas. I remember the first year I didn’t get Christmas with her. I was as prepared as you can be when you are faced with spending the holiday kid-free, but what I wasn’t ready for was all the questions from family about where my kid was, why she wasn’t with me, etc. The next time, I did Christmas without her, I was in a relationship, and his family convinced me to come spend Christmas with them. I thought I could avoid the questions by going there, but nope, they asked all the same Keep Reading >>>