Romper Rooms

No matter how much we read about adoption, there is a tremendous tendency to believe that your own kids are not getting questions or comments about race or adoption.

We're all at this site for a reason: our family. No matter its shape or size, we're here because of how important family is to us. Unfortunately, thousands of people around the country are not so lucky. Some always feel that sharp ache of loneliness and loss.

Christmas and holiday gift giving is getting both harder and easier to do each year. I remember having to stretch my dollars to buy gifts for people that I hardly new: the person I see at the office coffee machine in the morning, kids of acquaintances, and a bevy of college friends.

We talk a lot about ways to save money, don't we? And since we are in the holiday season, we'll be sharing more ideas that focus on saving money during the holidays.

With the holiday season having arrived you may find yourself out and about at the malls and other retail stores, getting gifts, decorations and more. It is easy to get distracted from your weight loss plan when you are tired, hungry and faced with the fast food.

Yesterday I talked about the dangers of the tongue in marriage relationships. All too often that is our spouse or family- the people we should be closest to that come in for the brunt of it. Surely this is a good reason then for us to learn to temper our tongues.

As a poet myself, I have a natural interest in reading poetry as well as writing it. Sadly many teachers seem to do more to turn children and young adults of poetry off than to turn them on to it.

In our house, the little elves bring a special gift on December 1st. They creep through their elf door downstairs and place the gift in front of the door, along with a helping of fairy dust. Or perhaps it's elf dust.

Though I wouldn't say I suffer from arachnophobia, I still do not want to co-exist with spiders. Yes, I know they reputedly eat flies and mosquitoes but they can eat them outside, not in my home. Here are some of my hints for making your home a spider no go area. 1.

You may have heard of the slow food movement, which is a direct antithesis of the modern fast food reality. The slow food movement is a grassroots idea of slowing down and linking the pleasure and nutrition of food to a commitment to the planet. I'll be blogging more about this movement.