School’s about to be out for the year, which means it’s time to get ready for summer family activities. Summer family activities can include staycations as well as paid vacations. Whatever you ... Read more

When I had three babies in less than three years (yep, twins), people had the impression my life, as I knew it, would be over.  I would swap my professional career outside of the home to be a stay-at... Read more

This shabby chic burlap planter idea is a wonderful (and frugal) addition to any front porch or patio. It is simple, extremely inexpensive and absolutely adorable! Using burlap, twine and an old buc... Read more

It’s rare to find a high quality, locally-owned, brick and mortar toy store nowadays — after all, even that childhood staple, Toys R Us, couldn’t last forever. That’s why when Smartickles Toy ... Read more

As parents, we hope to instill in our children the importance of traditions. Many of our family traditions revolve around food. For example, our Sunday evening tradition has become a London broil dinn... Read more

The 4-year-old is screaming because she wants my help and her "legs are too tired" to walk the four feet over to me. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at her genius of picking up the same excuse I'... Read more

I thought I knew how to research. I had, after all, written the book on it: a doctoral dissertation in Rhetoric and Composition. I had taught thousands of students both online and on campus, includ... Read more

My family and I had the pleasure of attending Akron Symphony Orchestra’s Live Performance of Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets at EJ Thomas Hall in Akron on April 21. The combination of live... Read more

Everyone seems to be using pallets in decor lately. Some projects are a bit more labor intensive and involve totally deconstructing a pallet. Others require a lot of tools and time. If you follow ... Read more

As you’ve probably figured out by now, I’m all about shopping small and local whenever I can. You know those “He went to Jared’s” commercials? Well, for this local-loving lady, that would no... Read more