A few weeks ago, I posted this status update on Facebook.
Hosting a Holiday Open House
We hosted our annual holiday open house this Sunday. I decorate. Nicholas cooks. All our friends come over and we have a wonderful afternoon spreading a little holiday cheer (and mint chocolate chip cake... YUM!)
2014 Holiday Gift Guide
This morning I was a guest WSIL News-3 This Morning talking about my favorite gift ideas for the 2014 Holiday Season! This year I focused on non-tech items because - honestly - don't we all have enough chargers in our lives? Instead, I found unique products that will make your recipient feel special in one way or another!
Preparing for Winter with Ryobi Outdoors
I received a free Ryobi 40V Blower from Ryobi and a trip to Ryobi headquarters in exchange for writing a review.
Well, PREPARING for winter implies winter has not arrived yet but then again...
Maybe we should just say dealing with a winter that showed up early and unexpectedly in NOVEMBER!
Either way, the temperatures have fallen and it's time to bring out the warm blankets and roaring fires. We've had a stack of free wood sitting outside our house for over a year... because who turns down free wood!?! The only problem was most of the logs were WAY too big to use in a fire.
When Ryobi sent us the 40V Brushless Chainsaw, Nicholas suggested we use it to cut down some of the bigger logs into manageable slices. It worked like a charm without the hassle of gas and oil and had the power of the 40V battery we've gotten used to with the 40V Jet Blower and 40V String Trimmer.
Both Nicholas and I were so impressed with the results and we had our roaring fire that evening to celebrate!
Gingerbread House Party
Inspired to shake it up this holiday season, I decided to host a small gingerbread house party for Griffin and his friends after school. I am now an expert on all the gingerbread tips and tricks so if you want to know what works best to glue the houses or if you want to just see some cute kids and their creations, click on over to Salt & Nectar to see all the details!
Bill Cosby: Can creator and creation be separate?
Like so many Americans, I grew up loving Bill Cosby and The Cosby Show. I listened to an old record of his stand-up on my stepfather's record player and watched the Huxtables and all their spinoffs religiously. Rudy. Theo. Denise. Dwayne. Whitley. I loved them all.
I remember first reading about the rape accusations against Bill Cosby many years ago - long after The Cosby Show had gone off the air. My memory is murky but I recall reading there were around seven women who told very similar stories of drugging and sexual assault. The stories stuck with me.
This was around the same time as Cosby's support of respectability politics gained increasing attention. Obviously, I have no firsthand experience with being black in America, but Cosby's scolding of black Americans from a position of privilege always sat very, very wrong with me.
As a result, I began opting out of any Cosby worship. Oprah featured him many times over my years of viewing and I never watched. It's one of the few areas I consciously parted ways with Oprah. He just seemed OFF to me.
Now, after decades of being ignored by the public and silenced by Cosby's legal and public relations team, the internet has successfully revived the stories of those who accuse Cosby of sexual assault.
And there are a lot of them.
My Memories of December 1st, 1997
I was 16-years-old, a junior at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky. Born and raised in the small Western Kentucky town, I was the fourth generation of my family to attend Heath. My great-grandparents had skipped out on a basketball game to ride the ferry across the river and get married in Illinois. My great-aunt had been the home economics teacher for years. My mother had been the prom queen.
It was a cold, gray December day, the first after Thanksgiving break in 1997. Not owning a license yet, I rode to school with my friend Beth and her dad. I remember I was wearing my brand new blue fleece from the Gap that my stepdad had given me as a reward for getting all A's that semester.
We were running late, but as we circled the parking lot, I noticed a large group of students standing outside the gym -- mostly upperclassmen, including a boy I had a crush on. One of our classmates ran up to Beth's car and pounded on the window.
"Some guy just started shooting people!" he yelled.
TEN Advent Calendars in 15 minutes or less
The OFFICIAL countdown to Christmas begins in only a few days! December 1st is a perfect time to begin building anticipation for Christmas Day, but what if you're busy doing the other 1,572 (approximately) things that need to get done before the big day.
Not all of us have the time to hand knit a 25 mitten garland for the mantle or even order the more pricey varieties from Pottery Barn in time for a December 1st arrival.
Never fear! I've rounded up 10 Advent Calendar ideas that you can complete in 15 minutes or less. And guess what? Kids. Don't. Care. They love any kind of countdown, ESPECIALLY if it involves candy. So, pull out that Halloween candy you stashed away and build a little holiday anticipation.
