Blog Posts by Reader s Digest Magazine

Make your backyard a hot spot this summer by adding these must-haves to the mix.

1. S'mores Galore
Summer and s'mores go hand-in-hand. Forget the microwave method and invest in an outdoor fire pit to get the party started.
Build your own fire pit or buy one.

Plus: 31 Delicious Recipes for the Grill

2. Decorative Patio Pillows
Jazz up your patio furniture with outdoor pillows. Throw these pops of color on your patio and you'll look like you've spent hours decorating for the family BBQ.
Decorate your outdoor space.

3. Tiki Torches
Who doesn't want tiki torches shedding light on their summer fiesta? Added bonus: Many tiki torches include Citronella and double as decoration and mosquito deterrent.
Get your tiki torch bargains here.

© Hemera/Thinkstock

4. Bocce Ball
This fun game for all ages is perfect for any outdoor gathering.
Learn how to play and buy the game.

Plus: 15 Great Ideas for Summer Fiestas

5. Signature Cocktail
Cool down with a fruity summer cocktail. Plan your summer

From 1,801 Home Remedies

These 11 items you have lying around the house will help soothe a summer sting.

©iStockphoto.com/dulezidar1. Apple Cider Vinegar
As soon as you have the stinger out, soak the area in apple cider vinegar for a few minutes. Dip a cotton ball in vinegar and tape it to the sting site. It will help relieve redness and swelling.

2. Meat Tenderizer
Treat the area with meat tenderizer right after you're stung. It contains enzymes that break down the venom, reducing swelling and inflammation. Take a few spoonfuls of meat tenderizer powder, add enough water to form a paste, smear the paste on, and leave it on for an hour.

PLUS: 13 Funny Summer Cartoons

3. Aspirin
Apply an aspirin paste to stop the itching. Using the back of a spoon, crush one or two aspirin on a small plate or cutting board. Add just enough water to make a paste, then dab the paste on the sting site. Ingredients in aspirin help to neutralize the venom.

4. Ice
Apply an ice pack to numb the area and help slow the swelling. If

Does the grass always look greener on the other side? Check out these 6 easy tips for a green lawn.

1. Build up the low yellow spots.

The makers and sellers of pest and fungus treatments would love you to believe that every yellow or dead spot is the result of a sinister invader that can be eliminated with frequent use of their expensive products. But some yellow spots are simply the result of low spots in your lawn, especially if they appear after heavy rain. Grass can suffocate or rot in standing water. Try spreading a layer of compost over the yellow spot to raise it up to the level of the surrounding ground. Within a week or two, new grass will likely sprout to fill the patch.

PLUS: 5 Ways to Keep Animals Out of Your Garden

© Hemera/Thinkstock2. Quit bagging up grass trimmings.

If you have the kind of mower that shreds grass and drops it right back onto the lawn, you can reduce the recommended amount of lawn fertilizer by at least a third-and possibly even half. The salespeople at your

From Forbidden Advice

The way you eat and behave at the table is still important, says Nicholas Clayton of The Guild of Professional English Butlers. His guidelines:

© George Doyle/Stockbyte/Thinkstock1. Let your food cool of its own accord - don't blow on it.

2. Don't spit unwanted food into your napkin - remove it with your fork and place it on the side of your plate.

PLUS: 9 All-American Brand Name Foods Origins

3. Never talk with your mouth full.

4. Don't hold your knife poised as if ready to sign a cheque, and don't point with any of your cutlery.

PLUS: 11 Funny Restaurant Signs and 12 Funny Warning Signs

5. A napkin is there to protect your clothes; use it to dab the corners of your mouth but never to polish your teeth.

6. Never cut bread or bread rolls. Break the bread with your fingers and butter a small piece at a time. Breakfast toast is the only exception.

PLUS: 20 Secrets Your Waiter Won't Tell You

7. Be careful not to insult your host by adding salt before you have tasted your food.

8. When you've

From America's Forgotten History

Find out the reasoning behind the familiar shape of a Coca-Cola bottle, how Graham crackers caused riots, and 3 more brand name foods origin stories.

© 2006-2009 The Coca-Cola CompanyCoca-Cola
"We need a bottle which a person will recognize as a Coca-Cola bottle even when he feels it in the dark! The Coca-Cola bottle should be so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was." This challenge, offered by the Coca-Cola Company in 1913, was met by the glassmakers at the Root Company in Terre Haute, Indiana. Inspired by the plump and rippled cocoa bean pod, the Root team came up with the unmistakable silhouette in pale green glass that has meant "Coke" to generations of thirsty folks since 1916.

PLUS: 22 Most-Craved Regional Foods

Graham Crackers
When Sylvester Graham, a frail and disgruntled early nineteenth-century Connecticut cleric, went searching for the root of all evil, he came up with a long list of possibilities. Topping the list was the American

By Derek Burnett

From the Appalachian Trail to Kilauea Iki, here are five walks you'll never forget.

comstockcomplete.comOne Step at a Time
It's the Big Daddy of American hikes, more than 2,174 sole-challenging miles across 14 states, from a mountaintop in Georgia to another in Maine. Each year about 2,000 people set out from one end of the Appalachian Trail (AT) headed for the other; only about 400 soldier on for the six months it typically takes to finish. Mercifully for the rest of us, the AT has hundreds of entry points, and hikes suitable for almost any age, experience or waistline. It cuts through cities and green valleys and cow pastures, across sacred battlegrounds and historic sites, including an early settlement of freed slaves. Hikers pass by the President's retreat at Camp David, and Mount Weather, the federal government's super-secret underground bunker. So answer your call of the wild -- and get going. For more information, log on to www.appalachiantrail.org.

PLUS: 13 Tips for Fun and

Keep brownies, M&Ms, and other delicious treats in the healthy eating game with these 30 delectable noshes - each 125 calories or less!

The science is clear: eating small amounts of healthy foods throughout the day is the best way to curb cravings, limit hunger, and avoid overeating come meal time.

Clive Champion / Foodpix / JupiterimagesThere's no perfect formula, but many experts are now saying that in addition to three healthy meals, each of us should enjoy a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon as well. After dinner, either a small dessert or late-evening snack also makes sense to round out the day's menu. The goal is to never go three waking hours without having a small bite to eat.

The key rule: Keep each snack to 125 calories or less. As you'll see, we're not banning chocolate or potato chips. But you'll find that the healthier the food, the more you can eat. For example, an entire cucumber is a mere 45 calories. It takes just five potato chips to get you to that threshold!

We've asked the food experts and did some

Check out some of our best advice to help you feel younger and healthier.

1. DNA Life Changer
Healthy habits can actually repair your DNA, say researchers Dean Ornish, MD, and Elizabeth Blackburn, MD. Their study subjects ate vegetarian whole foods with 10 percent of calories from fat, walked 30 minutes six days a week, used stress-reducing techniques, and went to a weekly support group. The results? Besides a decrease in LDL cholesterol and stress levels, they showed a 29 percent rise in telomerase. This enzyme repairs and lengthens telomeres, tiny protein complexes on the ends of chromosomes that are vital for immunity and longevity. Short telomeres and low levels of telomerase signal an increased risk of heart disease and cancer, plus a poor prognosis if you do get ill.

Editor's Note -- October 5, 2009: Elizabeth H. Blackburn (mentioned below), Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak have just won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their breakthrough work on telomerase,