I love comfort food. Food that is warm and filling.I pulled this Chili Pie recipe out of a Real Simple magazine a few years ago.  It’s quick, simple and so yummy on cold evenings.

1 pound italian sausage (sweet or hot), casings removed
2 t chili powder
1- 15 oz can kidney beans, drained
1- 14.5 oz can diced [...]

It’s really funny to look at some of our top box office stars and remember where they came from. Tom Hanks was a cross-dressing guy on Bosom Buddies. Leo DiCaprio was a delinquent on Growing Pains. And Johnny Depp was a baby-faced under-cover cop on 21 Jump Street.
Mmmm, Johnny Depp. He’s just one of those [...]

Massachusetts is considering a spanking ban. Yep, another completely unenforceable law is being brought to the table.
This is actually interesting to me as my mom’s group was discussing to spank or not to spank yeaterday- from a Biblical perspective. (Don’t bail on me here, this is interesting stuff) We have been reading Don’t Make Me [...]

Brenna is getting old enough now to recognize holidays. For the longest time we heard “today is my birthday”or “today is Halloween”. Now we are decorating for Christmas… Every day I hear, “Is today Christmas?” The concept of “one month” or “thirty days” is foreign to her.
What she does understand is that the boxes that [...]

As I said before we are inundated with political TV ads. Hillary has a new one that makes me cringe.
In it you see a father telling you about his son’s illness and how a bone marrow transplant wasn’t going to be covered by insurance.
** Evil conservative note: Nowhere in the ad does it say what [...]

I’ve seen a few people asking for gift ideas lately. So I am going to give you a few ideas.
First off, let me tell you that I rarely pay full price for anything. When I am online I use coupon codes for free shipping, dollars off and percentage savings and free items. Always.
I shopped eToys [...]

As I was driving Brenna to school this morning she announced, “I can count backwards!”
This actually caught me off guard because it came from left field. We had been talking about the turning cars beside us.
She begins, “Ten, nine,” good so far. “Eight, thirty, six, five, four, three, two, one.”
Hmmm… I think [...]

Last Sunday Doug & I pulled all the Christmas decorations out of storage. So far only a few things are up: the outdoor decorations and the small pre-lit tree in the Great Room. All the other boxes are in the basement waiting to be unpacked.
I have opened one of those boxes; the box with the [...]

After the last few days there was just no way to avoid it. It was just getting too difficult to handle.
Yes, I am talking about static. Specifically hair static. My poor girls both have my hair- lots of it but rather fine and very prone to static in the winter. Which [...]

I love to travel and explore. And whether my journeys take me over the river or over the ocean really doesn’t matter. Beauty lies everywhere.
Once upon a time, almost in another life, I visited Canada. I lived in Minnesota at the time so it was kind of a given that you went to Canada at [...]

OK, I know that caused many of you to pause.
Now that you have let that sink in let’s move onward. I was laughing and Doug asked, “What?”
“I’m on John Edwards’ website.” I replied.
“Glutton for punishment?” Doug asked.
Well, no, not really. I really feel the need to know what people are using as talking points. I [...]

SO… I was in Target the other day and completely blanked out on what my printer is. Completely. Couldn’t tell you the brand or any of it’s functions.
If I hadn’t been so distracted by the craziness of life lately I would be worried about that disease where you forget stuff… You know…. Well, crap, what’s [...]

Last summer the skin care regimen I was using suddenly quit working. I was experiencing strange almost eczema-like breakouts on my face. I quit those products and began using the most mild dermatologist-recommended products I could get over the counter until I could get in to see a dermatologist.
Now, I went to a dermatologist who [...]

I’ve been shopping the last few days. Now, before you assume anything, I was not one of the 20,000 people at the mall at 12:01am on Black Friday.
Nope, I slept until Caelan woke me (shortly after 6am) and did some online shopping with the girls’ grandmother for their gifts. The majority [...]

Well crap. It seems that my eyes have changed significantly in the past couple of days. Everything seems ok when I have my contacts on, but when I put on my glasses- which are the same prescription- it feels like I am looking through hazy water.
I have a nasty astigmatism that prevents me from getting [...]