Blog Posts by The_Stir

When you spend hundreds of dollars on a car seat, you definitely want it to last! Fortunately, with a little research prior to purchase, you'll find there are seats that will fit both your car and your budget.

With the right combo, you can realistically only buy two to three seats, for your child's entire life, without sacrificing safety. Three-in-1 seats can't do this because of harness heights and weights, but also because of one other factor not everyone knows, and some don't believe: Car seats expire.

More from The Stir: 7 Rules for Buying & Installing a Car Seat

Now, I know there are some conspiracy theories out there about how seats "don't actually expire" and that's it all just a ploy to get you to buy a new seat. I'm allabout questioning the motives of companies, but in this situation, it's true. Your seat really DOES expire.

Materials deteriorate over time, especially plastic. Ever left a plastic toy shovel in the sun and see how it gets bleached, becomes

May is Masturbation Month and in honor of it I'm going to let you all in on a little secret that I 100 percent believe to be the ultimate truth. Ready? Masturbation is the key to saving the world's problems. Oh! Yes! It is.

More from The Stir: Which Sex Move Burns the Most Calories?

Masturbation relieves stress, gets out our pent-up frustrations, cures headaches and menstrual cramps, makes people happy, and can bring on labor for those who need to get the baby out. If we all had more self-love, we'd be doing more deep breaths in and slow breaths out and positively altering the air we give our plants. Heck, maybe if Osama masturbated more, he wouldn't have ended up as fish food and instead put his influence to good use to end illegal whaling and save the ecosystem like Captain Paul Watson. Lofty? Oh I know. But a girl can dream.

More from The Stir: 3 Sex Toys That Will Blow Your Mind

So in the spirit of saving the world's problems (and probably many of your own), one

Anyone who thinks that orgasms don't matter is probably not having as many of them as they should. Orgasms are pretty nifty and feel so good, but they are also part of a healthy lifestyle for any woman.

More from The Stir: 69 Ways to Have Sex With Yourself

Sex therapist Dr. Natasha Valdez is famous for touting why orgasms are so good and her new book -- Vitamin O: Why Orgasms are Vital to a Woman's Happiness, and How to Have Them Every Time -- came out May 1. In it, Dr. Natasha explains the health benefits of regular orgasms, which include:

• Relaxation - less stress and tension

• Falling asleep and staying asleep better

• More supple skin

• Lower risk of heart disease Immunity boost

• Reduced hunger and cravings for junk food

More from The Stir: I Trained Myself to Be Multi-Orgasmic & You Can Too!

The problem is, not all of us are having them. In fact, Ten to fifteen percent of women never climax under any circumstances.

Dr. Natasha can help change that.

OPI shatter polish serena williamsOPI and Essie. They're like our forever friends. The two name brand nail polishes that just about every woman can say she's gotten her mani-pedis done with in the past 10+ years. Well, OPI decided to take on Essie and trail-blaze a new trend in the world of nail polish recently: Shatter nail polish, which OPI describes as "creating a ground-breaking crackle pattern when applied over each dried nail lacquer."

The first time I noticed it was in Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" collection. I thought, "Hmm, that's fitting!" You could totally see Katy rockin' a "cracked," two-toned, funky manicure. (This is someone who did her nails in graphic images for the Royal Wedding, after all.) But then I started seeing that Serena Williams had her own collection, and OPI was putting out even more Shatter polishes. Huh??? This is taking off that big? We had to take it for a road-test here at The Stir ...

More from The Stir: Ugly Woman Turns Hot Before Your Eyes

Emily Abbate, our awesome

Remember those early days of dating your man? Everything's so new, exciting, wonderful, ahhhh ... Before you know it, you're falling in love. OMG. Then you're in love. Pretty soon you're beating back every urge to just blurt it out ... those three little, but really heavy words. Maybe you actually did say them first. Or maybe you waited 'til he did. Either way, researchers are now declaring that men -- not stereotypically more verbal or emotional women -- are more often the first to say "I love you." Really?

More from The Stir: Oldest Couple to Ever Marry Dated for 30 Years

According to the study, two-thirds of couples report that male partners said "I love you" first. And in commenting on the study, Dr. Laura Berman says it has to do with most men acting like horny frat boys who dangle the expression as a carrot to get what they ultimately want: sex. Maybe that's true for some men, but I wouldn't be so sure that's why most men are saying "I love you" first. The real reason:

Let me start by saying I welcome any excuse to break out the tequila. I don't need a holiday to bust out some chile-roasted pork tacos -- but if that's the plan for May 5, I'm totally down with it. It's just that there's something aboutCinco do Mayo that has real Mexicans a leetle perplexed: what is it that Americans are celebrating, exactly?

More from The Stir: Eva Longoria's Signature Guacamole for Cinco De Mayo

If you really think about it, we should actually be serving French food on Cinco de Mayo. We should be munching croissants, tossing back glasses of champagne, slurping up escargot and foie gras, chowing down on Napoleons, those multi-layered, cream-filled pastries. Skip the steak fajitas and have some steak frites instead. Trade your wide-brimmed sombrero and put on your ooh-la-la beret.

Cinco de Mayo is really all about France.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates a battle the Mexican Army won against the French in 1862. What were the French doing in Mexico? Oh,

A home cook in Australia had to pay more than $20,000 in legal fees after she inadvertently poisoned more than 50 people at a community barbecue. What made people so sick? A salad made with raw egg mayonnaise that food safety investigators discovered had been contaminated with salmonella.

More from The Stir: The Hidden Danger in Organic Food

Now, in this particular instance, the woman who provided the food for the function was fined because she actually charged money for it and was, therefore, classified as an (unregistered) business. Even so, the story taps into every home cook's biggest fear:

What if we accidentally poison our dinner guests?

Do yourself a favor: Don't be like the Australian woman. Here are some food safety tips to make sure your friendly get-together doesn't turn into a group trip to the emergency room:

-This may shock you, but hot foods should be served ... you guessed it ... HOT, ideally at 140°F. Use a thermometer to make sure you are

We all have our not-so-great mommy moments. Those times where you know you aren't going to win any Mother of the Year awards. Maybe you didn't have enough patience, maybe you totally forgot about the field trip to the zoo, maybe you are serving chicken nuggets and tater tots for the fourth straight night. If you are beating yourself up after one of those times, just remember you are a far cry from a bad mom. Really. Just turn on your TV and feel validation coming from that warm glow of the screen. Yup, turn it on and watch some really, truly awful moms.

With Mother's Day just around the corner, we rounded up some of all-time mamas we love to hate because they are so awful. The fact that many of them are on our favorite shows is the topic for another post. In the meantime, check out who we chose (and see if there is anyone else you want to add to the list).

More from The Stir: 8 Ancient Myths About Moms Dispelled!

Bree Van de Kamp on Desperate Housewives -- Creepy Martha