Author Archives: Ann Kirsten

Depression cakes were invented by resourceful moms during the Great Depression when milk, sugar, butter and eggs were in short supply. Moms still managed to find ways to bake for their families withou...

There is a phase of child development that I call: The pre-PRE-teen years. The pre-teen years start at age nine and continue until thirteen, but I'm hearing more parents say that their child has start...

I told a bird to shut up today. My husband's reaction was, "May I assume that you are fed up with being isolated?" I had to laugh because he was right. The poor bird was singing a lovely song but I wa...

In the past, celebrating Mother's Day was as easy for dads as heading to mom's favorite restaurant for a meal with the kids (Mother's Day is traditionally the busiest day of the year for the restauran...

We have made big strides in bringing mental illness out into the open. People are more apt to talk about their struggles with anxiety and depression and that's a very good thing. But, then what? Are w...

There's a new coffee craze that popped up seemingly out of nowhere. In laymen's terms, it's called whipped coffee, but in South Korea (where it first went viral) it's called "Dalgona" (named for the K...

One of the hardest aspects of the Corona virus is how it is affecting kids. I don't mean that the illness targets them, because so far that's pretty rare, but news of this scary virus is filling a lot...

As if being stuck in your house isn't a big enough deal already, there is another scourge sneaking up on us. It's called "The Quarantine Fifteen". It's kind of like "The Freshman Fifteen" except harde...

If you haven't stocked up on toilet paper, chances are that someone in your neighborhood has. Isn't it interesting that TP was the first thing people thought to buy in bulk? The Coronavirus isn't know...

Moms are facing some high stress situations with all these shut-downs, social distancing and quarantine issues. Whether you're facing childcare problems, loss of income or homeschool frustrations, mot...