Blog Posts by The_Stir

A Mom's ThanksgivingWhen it comes to Thanksgiving, you want to save your cash for gas, tolls, heirloom turkey, and Klonopin (or maybe that's just my family). The so-simple Pilgrims wouldn't approve of overspending on décor. Of course, they probably wouldn't be too pleased with marshmallows in the sweet potatoes, either, but let's not split hairs.

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If you've done all you can with the stuff in your backyard and you're hoping for a little autumn cheer (without endangering the Christmas budget), here are some not-too-spendy options for Thanksgiving decorations on the cheap.

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I am all over this amazing DIY decoration from Kalleen at At Second Street. It's so much prettier than the commercial kind, and you can print it yourself -- and personalize it with your own choice of ribbon and card-stock color. Download the PDF and follow her instructions (this is a great excuse for sitting around and watching

Leftover turkey sandiwchesAfter you've put away the pumpkin pie, the cranberry sauce, and the mashed potatoes, you're most likely going to be staring down the gullet of a lot of leftover turkey the day after Thanksgiving. After all, there aren't "turkey sandwich" jokes for nothing. This Thanksgiving, why not make some effort with those turkey leftovers. We're not saying you can't enjoy a sandwich, by all means, enjoy a sandwich! But let's get creative this year, shall we?

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Personally, I love a good panini and I'm going to tell you how to put together one that will make you feel like you're on a street corner in Italy. Or perhaps Switzerland, between the French and Italian parts. Regardless, it's dang good.

Enjoy my favorite sandwich, and four other ways to get creative with your leftover turkey in sandwich form.

Turkey Gruyere Panini

Step up the Swiss with a lovely Gruyere and press that sandwich to get your gourmet on!

Pecan piePumpkin is a bit of a spotlight hog this time of year. From pumpkin spice lattes to pumpkin bread and everything in between, pumpkin is the reigning queen. Then along comes Thanksgiving, and we all bow to her mightiness when it comes to pie. Which is fine, if you're pleased with pumpkin. Personally, I'm more of a pecan kind of girl.

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Pecans are just as seasonal, and while they may not be as sexy as the plump pumpkin, they are delicious and nutritious in their own right. I love the sweet combined with the salty, all wrapped up in a delicious pecan pie. The only problem -- there are so many delicious ways to make one. Here are a six of the most scrumptious pecan pie recipes you can imagine.

1. Chocolate-Pecan Pie

I shared this recipe last year, but it's worth sharing again because it's that good. Easy, accurate, and amazing, I can't even begin to count the number of times I've made this recipe. If

The WrapI am a scarf fanatic. I think they add panache to almost any outfit. Throw on a boring old black T-shirt and jeans and you look kind of blah, but if you add a scarf, you're suddenly chic. Still, I am not a great artist in terms of tying the scarves, so when I saw there was a video on "25 Ways to Tie a Scarf" kicking around YouTube, I was all about it.

The video, while great and informative, was short (4.5 minutes), so it was hard to follow really closely. In that spirit, my sister and I, both of whom are abysmal at following any sort of directions -- seriously, NEVER give me a map if you want to get anywhere in under two hours and don't want to hear screaming and crying (from me, not my kids) -- we tried all 25.

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Now, because my sister and I are a little, um, slow in the directions department, we called in my engineer hubby to get some help. So, yes. We tried all 25. Below you will find the

There's nothing better (okay, maybe ice cream. MAYBE) than a toe-clenching body-rocking orgasm. But sometimes, it's kinda hard to, well, get there. I get it -- stress, distraction, new lovers -- well, there's any number of reasons why it's hard to get from here to there. Luckily, I know a little bit about orgasms. Specifically, how to have better ones.

Here are some of my secrets to a better orgasm.

1. Relax. Our days are long, stressful and filled with constant demands, which means that sometimes, when it's time to get down and dirty, we can't turn off our minds. Before getting naked, try taking five minutes, doing some deep breathing and relaxing by yourself.

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2. Love thyself. It's hard to know exactly what turns you on if you don't well, practice on your own. So masturbate! Get yourself a nice inexpensive vibrator (there are many discreet places to buy them online) and go to town.

3. Speak up. Once

'Malled' by Caitlin KellyJournalist Caitlin Kelly didn't intend to spend more than two years working behind the counter at The North Face. Yet that's exactly what happened when this veteran newspaper reporter faced an uncertain financial future and needed to make ends meet. What followed was Kelly's eye-opening account of life in customer service and sales in Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail.

For anyone who has worked in retail, these humiliations and occasional triumphs will ring true. And for anyone who has been a difficult customer -- especially around the holidays -- this story will give you some insight as to how the other half lives. But you don't yell at minimum wage employees, do you?

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Kelly is also positioned properly to give you some great holiday shopping tips before you head out next weekend. Here, the author of Malled gives you 10 tips (and two bonus tech tips!) on navigating the mall this holiday season.

bedHaving sex is one of the few things that leave us completely open and totally vulnerable. Emotionally as well as physically. In order to completely enjoy your time in bed, you have to let go. Easier said than done, right?

RIGHT.

Here are some of my tips to overcome sexual insecurities and enjoy your time in the bedroom a WHOLE LOT MORE.

1. Masturbate. Getting in touch with what you like and what you don't like will help you to be a better partner, because you'll know exactly what you want. And that is worth it's weight in orgasms.

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2. Naked time. A lot of us feel really uncomfortable with the way we look naked. We've put on some weight since college or we have dimples in places that didn't used to have them, and we feel kinda, well, awkward. So take off your clothes and revel in everything that makes you YOU.

3. Make sex a priority. We're all busy. Period. We do so much in any given day that

Michele BachmannThe next time you hear some judgmental jerk getting down on single moms, here's a tip. Ask them the last time they parented a presidential candidate. Michele Bachmann's mom did. Even more impressive may be the fact that Jean Amble did it despite six years without a husband to help her navigate the notoriously difficult teen years.

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When CafeMom showed up in Iowa this past weekend for the Republican candidates' Thanksgiving Family Forum, we got a look at just what a single mother contributes to American society: a woman who knows what it's like to get her first job at 13 to help support her family. And for that, Michele Bachmann isn't bitter. She's thankful. Take that single mom bashers!

It's no secret that I'm no fan of the candidate. But I can disagree with someone and still respect the obstacles they've hurdled, and their sheer tenacity. It takes something special to come from nothing