Of this I can't resist: Pre-Thanksgiving Christmas cheer

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I typically steer clear of anything smacking of Christmas cheer before Thanksgiving. I do my best to avoid holiday displays in the stores until after the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers have filled my fridge. I ignore collecting recipes for Christmas treats and eats before I've enjoyed my Thanksgiving cranberries and pumpkin pie. And Christmas tunes of any sort are absolutely forbidden on my stereo, car radio, iPod and any other musical device until Thanksgiving evening, at the earliest.

Yes, I do my best to resist anything that upsets the order of my holidays.

My resistance to pre-Thanksgiving Christmas cheer dissolved immediately, though, when...

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Super simple DIY gift: Coffee Hand Scrub

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Grandmothers and others who regularly deal with those germ-filled critters we call children wash their hands a lot. Even folks who don't interact with kiddos often wash their hands a lot. Or so I hope, considering all the crud out there of late. Crud that the passing along of can be cut down on by washing one's hands. Often.

coffee hand scrub

With all that handwashing going on, we're a nation with dry hands. Mine certainly are. Which is why I love this easy-to-make and...

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Saturday movie review: 'The Awakening'

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Come the Halloween season, I crave a spooky movie. Not a scary-as-all-get-out movie, you know, the sort so evil one fears they've surely opened the gates of hell simply by watching it. And not the violent, gory, bloody yuck fests, either. And definitely not the poorly written, poorly acted scream fests featuring babbling blondes running from madmen in masks.

No, I like a good old-fashioned, suspense-filled ghost story. One with just the right amount of startles and chills yet one that allows me to afterward walk — not run! — up the two flights of stairs to my bedroom without having to turn on every light along the way or jump onto my bed in fear of what may be underneath it.

The Awakening

Such quality creepy films are hard to find. So each Halloween season for several years I've...

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