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Good morning! It's National Dog Day today! If you know me even a little bit, you know that I am an avid (to put it mildly) dog lover, and I am so happy to be able to take a whole day to celebrate the canine loves of my life! First, let me introduce you to my pups: Keeley, my sweet girl. Keeley: She's my pound puppy! Actually, I adopted her from the Pet Adoption League in Tulsa, way back in 2009, when she was approximately four years old. She is (as best we can guess), a cross between a German shepherd, and a basenji. She looks more like a shepherd, but definitely has the personality of a basenji. She is my special girl. So loving and sweet and 100 percent neurotic. Her interests include tearing apart small stuffed animals, avoiding the human baby, and sneaking off to take naps in places she is not supposed to go. She is loyal, cuddly, and protective, and goes nuts is she is separated from her baby brother. McFly, being skeptical. Marty McFLy:  He'...

In case you don't know, coffee is awesome when it is iced. I mean, it's just so good. So much better than when it is hot. It is refreshing, revitalizing, and, apparently, good for your health ! And your skin ! (Coffee, that is, not just the iced variety.)  So when the weather starts getting warm, I immediately start drinking my coffee cold.  Normally, I make a huge (like, two gallon) pitcher of cold brew coffee and keep it in the fridge, pre-sweetened. I use the Pioneer Woman method , which involves simply soaking ground coffee overnight in water, then straining it into a pitcher and adding a desired amount of water. I used Espresso Roast coffee, because it is strong, but not too bitter. Then I add Torani Cane Sugar syrup and mix it up good. It keeps in the fridge for a long time. Then I can get up in the morning and just pour it over ice and add a little cream.  If you don't feel the need to keep gallons of coffee on hand at all times like I do, there are ...

This is Stephen King, laughing at your terror. I have only recently started delving into the works of one Mr. Stephen King, and I am discovering that I wholeheartedly regret all those pretentious years of college when I was immersed in being an English major and considered myself above genre fiction. So when I went looking for the perfect starting place in King’s positively enormous canon, I knew there was only one person who could give me direction: my father. He is an absolute Stephen King expert. He has read all of King’s books, viewed (and critiqued) many film adaptations, and loves horror/sci-fi fiction with fervor. He has always advised me wisely, and has consented to share his top five recommendations for newcomers to the land of King as a special Halloween themed post. So take a gander and take your pick from Steve Knapp’s Stephen King library: Since Halloween is fast approaching, many readers, avid and otherwise, look to find some good scary stories. Of course, ...

What a baby and dog may look like. It seems to me that there is something of a great divide between people who love children and people who love their animals as if they were children. As someone who has two dogs, a cat, and a human child, I simply don't understand this. Personally speaking, giving birth to a human did not diminish my love for my four-legged furballs, and having the fluffy ones around has not in any way interfered with the growth and development of my baby. It has recently occurred to me that a big part of this might be because in many ways, raising my child has been a lot like raising a dog.  For instance:   What a baby's face looks like after totally destroying your world. 1. They go to the bathroom whenever, wherever Obviously you know about how babies use diapers. This is not really very different from a puppy who goes to the bathroom in his or her crate, or really anywhere in the house. The point being--as a pet parent or a human parent,...

Another winner from Becca J. Campbell! In her latest series, Flawed, her usual flare for suspense and the manipulation of reality manifests itself in the forms of five unique and gripping characters, all of whom possess a certain “flaw” that enhances their life experience—and not always for the better. In Empath, the riveting first installment to the series, we are introduced to Jade, a young woman plagued by the distinctive problem of being highly sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others—to the point that she often loses track of her own personality. In an effort to gain control over this phenomenon, Jade enrolls in on-campus college classes for the first time ever, and strikes up a surprising number of friendships with people who allow her to be herself. Caught in the internal tug of war of emotion, not only with her own feelings for her new friends, but with theirs as well, Jade is unable to track the emotions of the one person who may matter most: the man who is stalkin...