As I gathered up the mail towards the end of December, it occured to me that something was missing. And I don't mean Christmas cards, although come to think of it, my numbers were definitely down this year.

No, I'm talking about those special undersized catalogs with nothing but post-Christmas bargains that I used to get from J. Crew, L. L. Bean, Lands End, Talbot's, and Garnet Hill.

One of the toughest questions we're presented with is, "How do I co-parent with an abusive ex?"
So, we are continually on the look out for resources to support those
in that situation.  We found one article that considers the
admissibility of mental health records in custody cases.  This may be a
factor in cases involving abuse.  The article might contain a bit more
legalese than some readers would like, but I think it raises some

It’s 9:39pm on Thursday, January 8, 2009. It’s also the first minute the urge to write has come upon me since sometime in 2007.  Actually, the urge started in a few minutes ago, while I was in the shower. In fact, I’m calling this blog The Shower Share, as this is where I do most of my reflecting. That might be perceived as weird, pitiful, natural, or all three.

Three months ago when we moved to Charleston,we left most of our things in Florida, in storage. We couldn't afford to rent a truck at the time, and we had no where to go we were going to be staying in a hotel until we found someplace. It seemed the most reasonable thing to do.

Some good news comes to Casa Saddness

The dishwasher stopped working Friday night.  I was just thrilled of course because I didn't have anything else going on and I certainly wasn't making any dirty dishes six or so times a day. I went to empty it  againso that I could fill it again and I noticed the bottom was full of water. Yea!

It's Thursday night, which means I'm back again with a suggestion for a delicious, healthful, and inexpensive dish you might want to cook over the weekend or add to your menu rotation for the upcoming week. These Thursday night posts are a new feature BlogHer is calling Weekend Menu Planning, where each week I'll pick a dish and feature five recipes with photos from some of the amazing food blogs in the BlogHerAds food blog network. My goal is to get BlogHer readers into the kitchen, cooking delicious and nutritious food, and saving a bit of money at the same time, and I'm guessing you might discover a few new food blogs too.

So the thing about sex & relationships is, IMHO, There Are No Rules. At the same time, I don't know about you, but I feel like every year I learn something about how to do it better. For me. See, that's the trick, what's right for me may not work for you at all.

But that doesn't mean that we all can't keep learning from each other and growing together.

Wendy Atterberry from The Frisky shares Why women shouldn't say 'I love you' first:

In Genesis 12, Abraham lied about Sarah, telling the Egyptians that she was his sister. The king of Egypt, the Pharaoh, took Sarah into his harem. God sent a terrible plague on Pharaoh’s entire household.

In Genesis 20, Abraham lied about Sarah, telling the Gerarites that she was his sister. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, took Sarah as one of his wives. God came to Abimelech in a dream and warned him that he would die if he kept Sarah as his wife because she was already the wife of Abraham.

    Chicken with spinach , mushrooms, gruyere cheese in a creamy sauce with rice

   I created this super fast recipe when my first child was born, I was nursing and needing to eat well but I had no time and no help.  I still make it 15 years later and everyone who eats it asks for the recipe.  It is basic, good and quick for the nights when you don't have time to do the gourmet thing.  ( skip or hide the mushrooms if your kids don't like them)

   I pre make brown rice to add fiber to this dish

My favorite shoe store in New York City closed --just one of the estimated 73,000 stores that some say will bite the dust because of this thing we call the economy.

As far as shoe shopping goes,I am not the target audience for the Zappos $50,000 T-shirt campaign that Erin Kotecki Vest shares in her post Zappo: Sexist Marketing Ploy or Brilliant Viral Humor?