I tend to gravitate toward award winning books (well, okay, let’s be honest, I will read anything I can get my hands on: cereal boxes, shampoo bottles).
So when I saw that Rules, by Cynthia Lord, earned the Newberry Award, I happily added it to my Amazon cart to reach $25 so I could have free [...]

We purchased Listerine Whitening Pre-Brush Rinse over six months ago. How nice would this product be if it actually works?
Just swish the rinse in your mouth for a few seconds and you get whiter teeth. That’s what Listerine claims anyway. Well, we will never know if this product actually whitens our teeth or not.
After just [...]

This handsome hard-covered children’s book caught my eye in the store, as my own four year-old daughter dearly loves to be fancy.
The cover blurbs celebrated the creation of a fabulous little heroine with a breathtaking sense of style… but when I actually read the book, I tossed it aside in disgust. In the end, Fancy [...]

Commercials lie sometimes. That woman with the incredibly shiny hair on the dandruff shampoo ad? That dandruff shampoo didn’t cause that.
In fact, I have yet to find a shampoo that has anything to do with how shiny my hair is. Recently succumbing to the true brunette in me, I was worried about [...]

I recently sampled two types of Keri Moisture Therapy Lotion; the Nourishing Shea Butter and the Original Formula.
Let it be known that my fair, nearly 40 yr old skin does tend to run dry so I’m ALL ABOUT the lotion. I tried both formulas on different days and both did okay in the moisturizing department, [...]

The Nature Valley folks recently sent me a box of their new cereal, Nature Valley Crunchy Oats ‘N Honey. It says on the box “with granola bar pieces” and since I happen to like their granola bars, I figured I’d like the cereal. Well…it was good, but it was so sweet it actually hurt my [...]

Buying a home in a good location in Raleigh these days means buying an old home and working with the shell. A year ago, this is what my husband and I did. Now, in my kitchen, the subflooring sits naked, waiting for a lovely tile job that we will do ourselves.
Tiling is just [...]

Something no one ever told me about being pregnant was that I would find myself a victim of many weird skin afflictions. Sure, I knew about the possibility of stretch marks, but the dryness? The itching? The mystery pustules? These were all new experiences for me. A little research revealed that the best thing to [...]

Do you read Melanie Lynne Hauser’s blog, the Refrigerator Door? If not, shame on you! Melanie is hilarious and her writing is just so…. perfect. She writes about her husband Duh, and her two teenage sons, and a lot about their blocked toilets. She also writes books. Two of them so far. And today is [...]

The Props & Pans team was recently supplied with Fiber One Chewy Bars to sample and review. We all tried them but did we all like them? Keep reading to find out!

I know I do not get the daily recommended intake of fiber that I should, but I’ve really never noticed it affecting me internally [...]

My kitchen is small and my counter space is limited, as are my cabinets. Just when you think they’ve invented every possible gadget possible you find another. I am all for convenience and accept any help in the kitchen I can get. In our house the microwave gets more use than our oven. My two [...]

I recently had an opportunity to try Tylenol Rapid Blast Liquid when I was knocked on my proverbial arse by an evil stomach virus.
My entire body ached with ungodly pain but I was afraid to take Tylenol or Advil caplets because I was having a hard time keeping things down. Eventually, I couldn’t take it [...]

So begins Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth, which is currently our favorite children’s book. It tells the story of Stillwater, a giant panda who suddenly shows up in the backyard of Michael, Addy, and Karl and is quickly befriended by the them.
First, Addy goes to tea with Stillwater; then Michael goes over to [...]

In the name of frugality I’ve been scaling back from some of my more expensive habits, and I thought I’d give a new facial cleanser a spin. I don’t usually buy my facial cleanser at the store as I’m really a Mary Kay girl but based on the myriad choices available I decided to take [...]

One day, I found myself in my local Whole Foods, trying like hell to use the natural food coupons I had scored from Mambo Sprouts before they expired.
One was for a Cherrybrook Kitchens product of my choice, so I decided to give it a go: cookie, cake and frosting mixes were available, and they are [...]