The Fair at Home: How to Make Funnel Cake With Pancake Mix Every year, we pack up the family for a trip to the Florida State Fair, even though Busch Gardens is less than ten minutes from our house. Why? Well, c’mon, there’s just something different about the fair – something you can’t get from Busch Gardens and something you certainly can’t get at the major Disney and Universal theme parks. As much as we […]

Like pretty much everyone else in the Western world who wasn’t gifted with a NASCAR-like metabolism, I’ve had my share of experience with the various diet fads that come and go through our culture. Yes, I’ve tried the grapefruit diet. Yes, I tried the infamous Beyonce master cleanse diet. I even went back and found my mom’s Deal-a-Meal cards from the 80s and gave that a whirl. I don’t really need to explain how these […]

I don’t often spend time on here talking about meals (or crafts) that I don’t personally enjoy, but I’m going to make an exception this time to talk about hard-boiled eggs. I can handle eggs, but I’m a scrambled kind of girl. If you can manage to get some cheese in there or maybe mix it up with some grits? Now we’re talking. Eating hard-boiled eggs is…I dunno, not my thing. Just the idea of […]

Did you know that ladybugs are comprised of approximately 5,000 different species? Beloved by kids and kids-at-heart alike, these fascinating insects have mesmerized generations of humans with their bright, colorful patterns, their association with luck, and their seemingly gentle countenance. Known scientifically as Coccinellidae, ladybugs are graceful (yet voracious) eaters who consume aphids and other pests known for ruining crops and plants. A single ladybug has been known to eat up to 5,000 insects over […]

Three Fall Cocktails to Sip While Watching the Leaves Change Color I know I said in an earlier post that I didn’t quite understand when my friends would complain about having to send their children back to school, but I wasn’t entirely honest. Don’t get me wrong, I do cherish the blessed silence that returns to the house when fall rolls around, and I do enjoy getting some time to myself in between the chaos […]

Not long ago, my 6-year-old son (The Precocious One, as I call him here) came home from school with a suspicious-looking brochure. I knew this glossy foldout meant trouble the moment he brought it from his backpack, and I needed only one quick glance to see that I was right. His school was having a fundraiser, and this brochure outlined the available prizes for motivated students. Or, should I say, motivated parents. He had his […]

11 Types of Orange Flowers That Add Colorful Cheer to Your Garden Does the color orange get a bad rap? It’s not as popular as yellow or red when it comes to flowers, and it’s certainly not one of humanity’s favorite choices when it comes to décor or clothing. But this striking color – a kind of halfway point between the colors mentioned above – has its own beauty, especially when found in nature. With […]

Apparently there are certain FIVE STAR candy bars that every child covets. For the most part, these are fun-size versions of Snickers, Mounds, and other popular bars. Once in a great while, a house will actually pass out full-size versions of this candy, which is tantamount to finding the Holy Grail. I like this kind of candy well enough, but I’m more than happy to let my kids keep it to themselves. I’m looking for […]

How to Make Reindeer Food That Will Make Your Family Flip Mr. B and I were catching up on The Real Housewives of Atlanta the other day (and murmuring about how the show used to be a lot better in the old Nene, Kim, and Sheree days) when Mr. B paused the show. I expected him to say something like, “Why do I have to watch this? Why can’t you just watch this on your […]

About the Pool Cabana Pool cabanas are medium-sized structures that give people a chance to get in out of the sun without actually going inside the house. They are made for those families who like to spend their entire days out by the pool…but who don’t want to actually be out in the broiling sun for hours on end. Made from either a tent-like construction or a more closed-in hut-type of structure, a pool cabana […]