Blog Posts by The_Stir

Bed bug scares may seem so 2009-2010. But the reality is the pesky, nasty insects are still hanging around in abundance, and may now be carrying methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, the superbug that is resistant to most commonly used antibiotics.

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Researchers in Vancouver say they took bed bugs (five of 'em) from three patients treated at St. Paul's Hospital. The scientists then crushed and analyzed the bugs and found three samples with MRSA. And the two other samples? Those carried vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, or VRE, a less dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Awesome.

Judging from how this story has been covered so far, I think we're all supposed to be panicking, believing that this is just another sign of the end of the world, and pretty soon, we're going to have an outbreak of MRSA thanks to scores of bed bugs ...

The truth: It doesn't seem like there's much, if any, reason to

Sweet potato cupcakes with toasted marshmallow frostingFor most of us, vegetables are something we reluctantly scarf down before dessert. But imagine what would happen if the two courses were combined into one?

Before you turn your nose up at the very thought, consider this: Professional chefs and home cooks have long been experimenting with vegetable-based desserts -- many with delicious results. After all, savory desserts are popular the world over. So, aren't veggie desserts essentially a not-so-distant cousin of things like bacon ice cream and salted caramel cupcakes?

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Check out these seven desserts that call for vegetables as a main ingredient and go way way beyond the classic carrot cake and pumpkin pie. We bet you never realized vegetables had this much sweet potential!

Of course, the vegetable-dessert that's getting the most attention of late is the Neopolitan Eggplant and Chocolate dish served up at Del Posto in New York. It's eggplant crostada served

It's getting warmer outside and you want to pull out those shorter dresses, skirts, and shorts in order to keep cool. There's only one problem:

Your pasty white legs.

Never fear! I've got a few quick and easy ways to make your legs instantly look flawless and warm weather ready. Click through to see them.

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My spring legs shortcut is cheap and simple. Right now, I do this every day. I buy the cheapest foundation I can find at the drugstore (in this case, Wet n' Wild), mix it with a little moisturizer, and rub it on my legs. The moisturizer keeps the foundation from looking cakey and my legs instantly look smoother and more flawless without looking unnatural.

For nights out on the town, I love airbrush sprays like Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs. You can even wear them in the rain -- they don't streak! Be sure and get the lightest color you can find unless you have darker skin, and reserve these

I don't have a shower curtain. Right now, all that is hanging from those rings is a liner. It's a nice liner, but I realize it looks a little sad, a little odd, a little straight out of Psycho. Sure, I have shopping ADD and can't ever really make a decision with non-important matters ... but really, there are so many shower curtains to choose from these days. Kitschy ones, traditional ones, solids, stripes, patterns. Heck, you can even have a customized shower curtain made just for you.

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As I've been surfing for our perfect shower curtain, I found some awesome ones that actuallyteach you things -- a new language, the 239th number of Pi, or the symbol for Seaborgium (Sg, natch). I'm totally serious ... check them out!

Okay, so many are ideal for your little ones. But, if you are like me and have one bathroom, then Junior's bathroom is your bathroom ... and some of this info just may come in handy

Sex is something we all want (well most of us anyway) but rarely get in the quantity we want. For some of us, we are getting too little, but many others are, apparently, getting too much.

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And while in pop culture, men's libido -- particularly young men's -- is legendary, in real life, not all young men want more sex. An Australian study showed that 12 percent of men ages 16 to 24 wanted less sex. And while that number may seem low, it was the highest proportion of any age group of the various men surveyed. That means that young men, those great conquest-seekers, are not so much.

For all us married ladies, the news wasn't so good. The older men (35-44) most likely to be married and in long-term relationships still wanted more sex. In fact, 57 percent said they weren't getting enough while only 28 percent of women said the same thing and 14 percent of women in that age group said they wanted less.

I kind of get it,

Take the term MILF and ratchet it up a dozen degrees and what do you get? Hot Mama Burlesque, the one place where a crowd gathers to appreciate the hawtness that is a bunch of women in the many stages of motherhood.

A four-year-old tradition in New York City, Hot Mama Burlesque (set for this Saturday, May 21, in NYC) is welcoming their first pregnant mama this year to prove babymakers are beautiful ... and SEEEEEEXY. OK, I'll be honest. I'm terrified of taking my clothes off after pregnancy left my body ravaged by stretchmarks and cellulite (forget what they say about the elasticity of youthful skin -- motherhood in my 20s left me with a tummy of sag).

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But I'm fascinated by the moms who have embraced bawdy AND their bodies. So on behalf of curious and self-conscious moms everywhere, I caught up with the show's creator, Raven Snook, mom of an almost 6-year-old daughter, to find out what

What would you do if your husband wouldn't have sex with you for months? Masturbate? Of course. Cry, yell, and even vent to your friends? Yes. One woman has taken it a step further and is suing her husband in the Dubai Courts for over $12 million, claiming he "failed to fulfill her needs."

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That's not something you hear about every day. What we frequently hear about is all of the reasons why women don't have sex drives as high as their partners. Reasons like I'm tired, have a headache, and too stressed out. But the truth is, there are more low sex drive men out there than you might think.

Happily for me, my husband is not one of those. But sure, I would be unhappy if his sex drive took a plunge. But suing him because of it? Not quite the road I would take. There are other ways to address the issue:

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Give him some space: Pull out your arsenal of

When I was working outside the home, I depended heavily on grocery delivery. It could be aggravating -- I hated that I couldn't see the weekly produce specials, and if they didn't have a particular item in stock, I might get a surprise. But for basic staples, it really couldn't be beat.

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Now that my schedule is more flexible, I do the shopping myself, usually with two girls in tow. It's a hassle, but it means I can see if Trader Joe's has those dairy-free mochi desserts, and get in on the Whole Foods meat specials, and hit Safeway for toilet paper.

But there are days I dream of the delivery guy magically whisking my purchases up the stairs with no parking, no crying, and no trying to decide which child to put back into the car first. Rumor has it that Walmart is testing out home delivery, so I'm clearly not the only one. So I did a quick, unscientific survey of grocery delivery services. Would one work