BoomerGirl Diary

She's in the business of selling things for others

A typical day for Betty Lou Donnelley involves washing other people's dishes, dusting their light fixtures and organizing their closets, but she is not a maid.

Keen on quinoa

This easy-to-prepare, protein-packed whole grain is getting a lot of buzz in health-food circles

In most cookbook indexes, the "Q" section is either tiny or nonexistent. Not so, however, in "The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook." The reason: quinoa.

5 tips to free yourself from society’s negative messages about singles

Do you know how to avoid society’s subtle messages about singles? You will when you read and use the tips in this article.

Keep those eyes peeled

Feeling particularly keen today? Then we have a challenge for you: Watch this video from overseas with an eye for teamwork — and for detail.

Start your week with new stories!

From advice for singles in a married world to the lowdown on our new favorite grain, to a great Herspectives on women and their mechanics, we've got those stories and a fun test of your mental powers today. Click through for more specifics and direct links.

Fresh start

Herbs make breakfast healthier, tastier

Take a hint from the French and perk up your morning fare with the incomparable flavors of fresh herbs. With just a few snips of your kitchen scissors, you’ll transform your favorite egg, potato or quick bread.

No space for a garden in your yard?

Try container vegetable gardening on your patio, balcony or doorstep

Not everyone has a big backyard with soil suited for growing vegetables, however, even the smallest patio, back porch, balcony or doorstep can provide enough room for a beautiful and productive container garden.

Buyer beware: Some leather goods don't make the grade

This year the cows come home. As houses bask in the trend of luxury, more and more folks are leather-bound. High-quality leather furniture offers incomparable durability while becoming softer and suppler over time. But how do you know which hide to seek?

A season for reading

Spring books preview

If facts are your bag, be forewarned — many of spring 2008's nonfiction books are two shades darker than somber. But wait! Julie Andrews, the Mary Poppins of our collective mind, has a new memoir out.

Fresh content for a Sunday in Spring

Treat yourself to a how-to on container gardening, recipes for breakfast using fresh herbs, consumer caution on leather furniture and books for springtime reading today. Click through for previews and quick links.

Carrots a challenge, but can be grown

One of the vegetables that can be directly seeded into the garden this time of year is the carrot, which has developed — unfairly, I might add — a reputation for being difficult to grow.

Six sex tips using your eyes

Attention boomers! Rekindle the flame and turn up the heat with these six suggestions.

Create events your friends will remember

I like to host little parties throughout the year. It's a nice way to rekindle old friendships and make new acquaintances. One of my favorite things to do is build a photo display of past holidays and meaningful events and turn my billiard room into an exhibition hall.

Hubby dresses like a slob on weekends

Q: My husband dresses like a total slob on weekends but wears suits and ties during the week for his job. Come Saturday and Sunday, he puts on the same ugly plaid shorts and raggedy T-shirts. And he shaves only if we're going out on Saturday night.

Stories for a glorious Saturday

Sloppy husbands, spring carrots, creative memory boxes and tips on "making eyes" at a man. That's what's new today on BoomerGirl. Read on for details and links to whatever piques an interest.

Golfing with the Osmonds

Oh, that Donnie and Marie. So wholesome, so ... sparkly. Revisit the '70s in this clip featuring a visit from Bob Hope.

Death Valley is a place of superlatives — and not always as hot as you think

Hottest. Lowest. Driest. Those words describe Death Valley, but leaving it at that is like describing chocolate merely as brown.

Quickest way to protect skin from UV rays

No, I'm not suggesting you sequester yourself indoors for the summer, but I have found that getting myself equipped to face the morning sun on my daily power walk takes a lot longer than it used to.

Living outside

Garden rooms offer a place to relax outdoors

No matter the size of your backyard, you, too, can create your own private retreat with garden rooms. You just have to do some planning before you start moving pots and chairs around.

A terrific TGIF to you!

We've got a new artist in the gallery, Donnie and Marie on video, tips for creating beautiful outdoor rooms and sunscreen for your entire wardrobe! Curious? Click below and get details and links to the new stuff.

Tackling tough talks from afar

Caring for an aging parent or relative living far away can be among the most challenging situations a person faces.

Wallowing in willows

Graceful landscape plants bloom into spring showstoppers

Willows are among the more interesting shrubs and trees, especially this time of year, when soft, gray pussycats curl up along their stems. Willows have other weirdnesses, too: Just look at the form of the branches.

What's new for you this Thursday...

From advice on caregiving from afar to tips on bidding farewell to your contractor to the most amazing example of sheepherding we've ever seen, it's all here today. Click below for previews, additional stories and a new Showbiz Kid blog.

End game for a remodeling

After five long months of banging and buzzing and pounding and ventilating fumes of polyurethane and paint, the home remodeling project is finished. Presto. A shiny new living room and dining room with hickory floors, a stone fireplace and tall windows opening to the pin oaks.

These sheep are on-message

We'll do just about anything to usher in the spring and, apparently, so will a farmer in Devon, England. Click here to see the amazing feat accomplished by a persistent man, 200 hungry sheep and three tenacious Border Collies.

Timeline important for planting from seed

The time has finally come to plant spring vegetables. Whether you are an experienced gardener or trying your hand for the first time, take advantage of the cool weather to plant some leafy greens and spring favorites.

Loyal-wife syndrome grows tiresome

I feel like I'm outside the party looking in. I must confess that despite two marriages lasting a total of 39 years, I never had an affair. How dull of me!

Do concealers do the job of making skin look flawless?

At any given moment we're trying to hide something. A blemish, dark under-eye circles, age spots, scars. So again and again, we're seduced by the promise of concealers.

Wonders for Wednesday

From Tiny Tim and Johnny Carson to the latest on the "loyal-wife syndrome" to a handy timeline for planting those spring seeds, we've got it and then some today on the site. Read on to get previews and links to the new stuff.

Through the Tulips with Tiny Tim

Maybe you can't tiptoe through the tulips quite yet (at least, not in my neck of the woods) but that doesn't mean you can't warm up to the idea with this trip down Memory Lane with Tiny Tim and his old pal, Johnny Carson.

Old meets new at Etsy

You'll find all kinds of handmade items for sale on Web site

Sometimes a step back is really a step forward. That's how devotees look at Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods.

Professor looks for love, finds it in religions

"Encyclopedia of Love." The title alone sounds like an author's hot ticket to "Oprah" or "The View." But the new, illustrated reference book, edited by Rollins College professor Yudit Kornberg Greenberg, is more ecumenical than racy.

Why do wives stand by husbands in sex scandals?

It's not the face of the man at the microphone your eyes are drawn to. Not the guy confessing or denying sins to a phalanx of cameras. It is the face of the woman beside him that fascinates.

The power of aromatherapy & plant spirit medicine

The aromatic plant — distilled to its essential oil — not only has a new form, but a new and powerful chemistry which must be respected, used with care, caution and awareness.

Here's to Tuesdays!

We're toasting a new day with stories on the value of essential oils, women who stand by their men during sex scandals, a new release "The Encyclopedia of Love" and a great new blog by Pat Detmer. Click below to find quick links. Cheers!

Different techniques head off nature’s interlopers in the garden

As we begin planting this year, it will be important to think proactively about protecting new plants from the local wildlife. Given the spike in the four-legged population in recent years, defensive gardening is a must, even in town.

Don't know what to do? Ask the 8 Ball!

Remember when you could tell the future simply by asking a small, black ball with an '8' on the side? "Will Brian ask me out?" "My sources say no." And that was that.

‘Who’s bringing the tofu?’

I have to admit, I’ve never purchased tofu. I do not even know where to find it in the store. However, this bean curd has landed on my plate more often than I ever thought possible.

But do you remember your second first kiss?

Sue will never forget their first kiss. Bob, on the other hand, forgot it almost as soon as it happened.

Monday, Monday, so good to me...

We're beating the Monday blahs with stories on "second first kisses," Soy 101, protecting your turf in the garden and one of our favorite classic toys, the Magic 8 Ball. Click through for quick links.

Ten tips to ready your garden for spring

Spring is here — finally! I am anxious to get to work in the garden, and there are plenty of things to do to get ready for the growing season. Here are some ways you can prepare your lawn and garden for the season.

Book suggests marital sex overrated

Who would think it in an age of huffing and puffing on television and film, but marital sex is vastly overrated.

On-the-job training for retirement planning

Not too long ago, Patti Doyle joked that her retirement plan was to find a shopping cart with "good snow tires." Now, thanks to Doyle's employer-provided financial adviser, she's test-driving a new retirement vehicle - her 401(k).

What's fresh this fine Sunday

From tips on preparing your spring garden to a book on sex and long-term marriage to a hilarious send-up of "This American Life", we've got plenty to keep you entertained today. Click through for quick links and more.

This American Parody

Even the most ardent fans of Ira Glass' public radio show, "This American Life," will snigger at a spot-on send-up by the San Francisco-based comedy troup, Kasper-Hauser.

This year, celebrate with traditional Easter breads

Dramatic stories of celebration are woven into the season of spring, and as is often the case, they're honored with the rites of food. Elaborate breads were historically formed and baked as a tribute to the end of sparse winter meals and religious fasting.

Seeing better is believing in cataract surgery

I am lying on an operating table in that half-awake-but-not-caring anesthetized state while a 3 millimeter incision is made in my right cornea, an instrument breaks up my cataract, and a new lens is slid into place.

Take our Nostalgia quiz

We've assembled some images that are guaranteed to take you back in time. How many of these can you recognize and name?

Another Saturday, more great stories!

From recipes for traditional Easter breads and our first Nostalgia quiz to a 1st person account of cataract surgery and praise for the afternoon nap, we've got a full plate today. Check out the new stuff and get quick links below.

Ground covers good alternative to lawn

The more I write about gardening and learn about our environment, the more I am converting my lawn from grass to beds of perennials or annual flower beds, patios and ground covers.

Good things to eat are part of game night fun

Whether it's a group of women who meet monthly to roll the dice in a game of Bunco, a lively gathering of wordsmiths playing Scrabble, or maybe Monopoly among family, game night is an idea that doesn't go out of style.

Women finding new, nonsurgical treatment for fibroid tumors

Women with noncancerous tumors that cause pain and profuse bleeding are beginning to seek out a new, nonsurgical treatment that spares many from having a hysterectomy.

The Photographic Brain

They call him "The Living Camera." An autistic savant, Steve Wilcher from London has an astounding talent you have to see to believe.

Shrink wrap that sagging skin

I know that headline reads like an ad for a product in the back of a cheap magazine, but there actually is a proven way to restore youthful firmness to sagging skin on the arms, legs and abdomen.

It's a fabulous Friday!

Jump into the weekend with gardening tips on ground cover, fun recipes for game night, an astounding video on a man they call "The Living Camera, and more! Click below for details and speedy links to the fresh content.

Concerns about grapefruit and estrogen pills

Grapefruit lovers might consider asking their doctor to prescribe estrogen in the form of a skin patch.

Any color of suitcase, as long as it's black

For a nation of citizens who pride themselves on individuality, it's hard to figure out why so many of us own black suitcases. It doesn't matter where we're going or where we're from, chances are we're dragging a wheeled black suitcase behind us.

College administrators advise ‘helicopter parents': Back off

As college acceptance letters drop in mailboxes for the Class of 2012 next month, there's something parents might consider doing now. Back off.

Cheer up, sleepy Jean

Oh, those crazy Monkees. They might have been the pre-Fab Four, but we couldn't love them any more.

Look at what's new this Thursday

From those adorable Monkees to the grapefruit and estrogen debate to timely advice for helicopter parents, we've got it, and then some, on the site today.

Do you still 'rock'?

Yipes! Aging rockers need a serious style reassessment

What consistently strikes me is that older rockers almost always wear the same incredibly harsh, predictable and unflattering uniform. Black and denim — united we stand, divided (or reconsidered) we’d fall?

Muscat love: Extolling the virtues of a versatile grape

Muscat is an ancient grape poised for new attention from adventurous wine lovers looking for a fragrant wine that comes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet.

How to be a screen queen

Mammogram, check. Pap test, check. Thyroid screen, check. Colonoscopy. ... OK, OK. Dental exam, check. Bone density, check. Mole exam, check. Colonoscopy. ...

On the rocks: Egg-based cocktails

Spring is for the birds. And the chickens. But mostly it's for the eggs, and that's something to cluck about.

Need a good night’s sleep? Try easy aerobics

We all love a good night’s sleep. But did you know that not getting one not only makes you dull and stressed, it can also make you pack on the pounds? Too little physical activity is clearly part of why we’re overweight.

Bloopers from the smartest comedy of its day

Witty, sophisticated dialogue and terrific actors made The Dick Van Dyke show one of our all-time favorites. Check out this blooper reel for a hilarious trip back in time.

Hooray for Hump Day!

We're celebrating Wednesday with stories on health screenings, wine, cocktails with a kick (of protein, that is) and a hilarious Dick Van Dyke show blooper reel. Click below for more.

Study fails to credit women

Researchers have speculated that women are the gatekeepers of the health care system, and that when you marry one, she will make sure you see a doctor regularly. She will probably also nag you into exercising, losing weight, taking your blood pressure medicine, and she will make you quit smoking.

Pudding: Creamy desserts stir up memories

There are few foods that evoke the overwhelming feeling of comfort more than the first silken spoonful from a dish of homemade pudding.

Adults give it that new college try

John Galvin skulks around a lot of college campuses on a mission: to find the best professors for One Day University, a new venture that caters to adults eager to relive their college days - if only for a few hours - without the high cost, homework or hangovers.

‘Home to Holly Springs’ another superb Karon work

“Home to Holly Springs,” Jan Karon’s newest novel, was released in November 2007. It’s the first of the “Father Tim Novels.” Fans of Jan Karon have enjoyed her series of novels about the town of Mitford, of which Father Timothy Kavanagh is a central character.

Hooray for Hump Day!

We're celebrating Wednesday with stories on health screenings, wine, cocktails with a kick (of protein, that is) and a hilarious Dick Van Dyke show blooper reel. Click below for more.

Preparing for healthy travel abroad

Biking through Italy, lounging in Tahiti, volunteering in Guatemala: A plethora of international adventures beckon retirees. They may have more time to travel, but they also may have more health concerns.

Boomers inspire a new nutrition landscape for everyone

"This generation is redefining what it means to have quality food," Michelle Barry says. And, she adds, they're investing the time to become more knowledgeable about food.

Watch the "Sidewalk Picasso" in action!

We saw this guy on a recent "CBS Sunday Morning" and couldn't believe our eyes. If you haven't seen him yet, check out Julian Beever and his amazing 3-D images here.

An Eco Easter

Rather than plastic grass, cheap baskets and gummy candy, you can enjoy an eco-friendly Easter that fits right in with the arrival of Spring.

Important matters for Monday

We've got fresh stories on super foods, preparing for healthy travel abroad, a fascinating look at the heights sidewalk art can reach, and tips on having a green Easter. Read on for details and links to whatever interests you.

Cooks reach across digital realm to find and share new dishes

Recipes were long a family affair. Mothers would pass down to daughters well-thumbed cookbooks, dog-eared file cards scribbled with faded ink, yellowed newspaper clippings and magazine columns folded just-so to fit snug in a squat wooden box.

New products to revitalize your hair

No one bats an eye at the 40-plus men who swagger around with baggy shirts below their hips, no-pack abs beneath Abercrombie tees and a backward baseball cap for a final swipe of attitude. Forty-plus women, on the other hand, are forced to reconsider their personal style in favor of being age appropriate.

Sunday, Sunday! Here's the new content

It's the Ides of March but we're not scared! We've got a fun new Web site and beauty tips to share, a new Herspectives on celebrities and profanity, new ways to share recipes and more! Click through for details and quick links.

Watch the "Sidewalk Picasso" in action!

We saw this guy on a recent "CBS Sunday Morning" and couldn't believe our eyes. If you haven't seen him yet, check out Julian Beever and his amazing 3-D images here.

Exercise is a great way to find new relationships

Do you need to increase your network of close friends? Do you need to enlarge your social world to help you feel less lonely? If so, think about getting involved in some sort of exercise program. It's easy to meet new people this way.

The dentist you'll want to visit

When some of us need a little cheering up around here, we like to turn to a tried-and-true standby - an old Carol Burnett Show sketch. Click below and enjoy a good guffaw.

Living salt free

Cooks try creative solutions to cooking with little or no salt

It's the perennial problem of cooks who make low-salt or salt-free dishes: How do you boost flavor in food?

Elder abuse calls for your attention

We don't think weak and dependent old people are worth much. We have federal laws to protect animals but no federal law against elder injustice, just "information" centers.

It's Friday, thank goodness!

We've got a hilarious video on the Nostalgia page, tips on salt-free cooking, warning signs of elder abuse, and advice on how to meet new people while whittling your waistline today. Click below for highlights and direct links to new content.

What's inside YOUR fridge?

Admit it. Other people's refrigerators are like medicine cabinets. You just love to sneak a peek inside now and then. Now you can be a fridge voyeur without running the risk of getting caught.

Clinic helps people conquer fear of flying

A flight to Mexico 20 years ago left Gwen Garrett traumatized and panic-stricken, and she didn't fly for years. Garrett was all too familiar with clammy hands, heart palpitations and the feeling of having a heart attack or stroke when she tried flying again.

Substitutions key to making American diet heart-healthy

You crave fried plantains. You yearn for your grandmother's biscuits. And the mere thought of your aunt's chocolate cake makes your mouth water. But you also know those dishes wreak havoc with your heart health.

Take three on love relationships

Just the other day, a couple in their late 60s said a remarkable thing to me. "When we were first married years ago, there was hardly any information on how to do marriage. Now there is just so much. I wish we would not have had to wait so long to be able to use it."

Here's the line-up for Thursday

Cure your fear of flying. Make your diet heart-healthy. Test your geography I.Q. And laugh at another "Home Alone" blog today. Click through for more details and links to the new stuff.

Parsley: Good for butterflies and you, too

For a few years, I grew butterflies. Or rather, I grew parsley - which attracted black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. I would help my daughters, then 6 and 8, pluck caterpillars off the parsley plants in the garden before my chickens could gobble them up.

Welcome to Wednesday

Get jiggy with Tom Jones and Janis. Learn how to protect yourself while traveling. Eat parsley. And find out what NOT to do before you die from Pat Detmer. Read on for previews and links to our latest stories and blogs.

How to find out if you're heading into harm's way

You've scrimped and saved for years to visit Africa. And now, just weeks before your departure date, violence breaks out after the Kenyan elections. Should you take the risk of going or not?

Don't let date nights become predictable

I once complained to a marriage counselor I was interviewing that all my husband ever wanted to do was go to the movies, while I felt we should be going out to dinner and having meaningful conversations.

Boomers may find bridge to health insurance

"Making it to Medicare" has become one of the biggest challenges for baby boomers who retire or are laid off before 65.

Orchid rehab

For years I’ve been awkwardly baffled and shamefully intimidated by orchids. They’ve always seemed so pretentious, high maintenance and smug. They reminded me of the spoiled Park Avenue prom queen who never had to worry about acne or boyfriends.

Spring trends hitting stores near you

Still cold? Me too. All that layering starting to make you feel like a mummy? Uh-huh. Tired of the winter wardrobe? I'm right there with you.

Savor the sorrow

Happiness is overrated, author claims

Eric G. Wilson warns that the American quest for endless happiness is dangerous and boring.

We're tearing up it for Tuesday

Ronna's got herself a new job. The Dirt Diva is okay with orchids. Spring brings new fashion trends. And a new book sings the praises of, uh, melancholy? Get previews and links right here.

An orderly progression, with drums

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, as this short film showing the progression of age with the help of a snare drum illustrates.

Staying active with arthritis just what the doctor ordered

Exercise might seem like the worst thing for stiff, aching joints. But it may be just what people with arthritis need.

New travel Web site for boomers: Boomeropia

A new travel Web site has been launched for baby boomers. "I happen to be a baby boomer and I felt like the fun side of me wasn't being catered to and marketed to," said Web site founder Liz Dahl.

Pleasures of a backyard garden

It was 50 degrees on Leap Day, warm for February in Kansas. I wandered out to the backyard to my already-tilled garden and dropped some seeds into the cold, wet dirt. Soon more seeds, herbs, and a few tomato plants will follow.

Here's to a new week

Bang a drum for Monday and charge into the week with us here on BoomerGirl. We've got fresh ideas for that upcoming spring produce, a new travel site created just for us, and more!

Ultimate comfort food

Some visits home are harder than others. This last one was to say goodbye to my mom until I see her in heaven one day. Times of grief and loss disrupt normal routines. My sisters and I slept less. We skipped meals. We drank more coffee.

Fitness, prevention can decrease risk of falling

Q: My mother, who is 80, just fell down and broke her hip. I am 53 and have just been diagnosed with osteoporosis. We both have arthritis. What can we both do to make sure we don't fall down and break our bones?

Try taking the high-hatted road

Women will wear just about anything labeled "fashion": jeans cut so low you could keep them on during an appendectomy, nosebleed platform shoes. But not that most enticing and useful accessory, the hat.

A slightly shorter Sunday

You're short one hour's sleep from last night's time change, but there's no shortage of new features to read on BoomerGirl! Get your details here.

Some women seek permanent makeup solutions

No one said looking good is supposed to be painless. That maxim rang especially true as Julie Wallace leaned over to tattoo the outline of Nancy Wallace's lips with ink the color of Jamaican Rum.

Best of the blenders

Immersion blenders have a long a.k.a. list: They're also known as hand blenders, stick blenders, dipsticks, magic wands and, in the case of those oversize restaurant versions, boat motors. Call them synonyms for love.

The straight poop

Dear Crabby: Seems like ever since I became perimenopausal, I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my bowels. I used to be pretty regular, but now I can go for days without any real results. I DO NOT want to become one of those old ladies obsessed with her bowels! Please help.

Welcome to the weekend!

Blenders, beauty and baking, oh my! We've concocted quite the list to start off your Saturday — click through to see what's up.

Rethinking breakfast

Breakfast provides energy for the brain and gets you started in the morning

Gail Frank's voice, soft and southern, made its way through a sea of scientific data. I met her for breakfast at a cozy coffee shop in Seal Beach, Calif., and while we consumed our eggs (hers an egg-white spinach omelet, mine two eggs over medium) we discussed what Frank considers a crisis of utmost importance. Breakfast.

Older workers caught in grip of long-term unemployment

Workers aged 45 or older make up 27 percent of the workforce, for instance, but they comprise 37 percent of the long-term unemployed.

Staying engaged keeps memory sharp

Can you remember your best friend's address? Your cousin's birthday? Your own child's cell phone number? The name of the attorney general of the United States?

Beauty product rebellion

I've made up my mind and I won't be swayed. From this point on I will never purchase any two-step beauty product be it mascara or anything else.

Meet our Friday features

We're nearly ready for the weekend, but while you're waiting for it to arrive we've got hot new breakfast recipes, one woman's makeup declaration, and more to keep you occupied.

Flashback of the day

The dean of American television newscasters says farewell

Program helps the ill get fit

What if I told you blowing bubbles - those kiddie ones that come with a wand in a plastic bottle - should be part of your morning fitness routine? Or that the same exercises designed to help women recovering from breast cancer will also benefit people with Parkinson's, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, weight control, senior fitness, even pregnant women?

Coping with grief may be lonely, ongoing task

In the past, when a loved one died, neighbors stopped by with casseroles and nearby relatives were on hand to offer comfort and share memories.

Here's what's fresh today

Dance lessons, fitness tips for the unwell and that great conversation starter — new facial hair on the hubby — are all on the lineup today. Click through to find out more.

Lessons from the Godfather of Soul

What didn't James Brown know about dancing and singing? Not much, it seems to us. The Hardest Working Man in Show Business was a bit of a teacher, too, as this vintage video demonstrates!

Get the skinny on your area

Curious about the neighbors? Thinking about moving and wanting to do some research about possible destinations? Or maybe just looking for some data to back up an argument?

Welcome to Wednesday

Halfway through the week on BoomerGirl, we've got information on how to get the lowdown on your neighbors — and how to avoid them if you're just too busy to talk at the moment. Click through to learn more.

Beds of roses

Styling can make the bed the focal point of your boudoir

Is your bed a wallflower or a boudoir star? Ironically, the piece of furniture we lean on the most - physically and emotionally - gets the least amount of our attention and interior design resources.

Artist teams up with poet to help others find their voice

Kelley Hunt is an internationally known rhythm and blues recording artist. Caryn Miriam-Goldberg is a writer with a penchant for poetry. Together, they form sort of a mutual admiration society.

Does hypnotism work, or is it all just hype?

The shiny pocket watch swings back and forth in front of your eyes. "You're getting sleepy," the hypnotist whispers. "Sleeeeeepy." Forget all that. Real therapy-based hypnosis is nothing like the TV version.

Intimate rivalries: A mixture of pride and envy

We want to be close to people who are stars — just as long as they excel in something that is not important to us.

A toast to Tuesday

While folks in Ohio and Texas are casting those all-important votes, we've got great new stories and blogs for you - from hypnotism to that hot "Two Brains" video circulating the Web. Click through for links to whatever lights your fire.

They call it Camp O’Hare

I waved cheerfully at my husband as he pulled away from the curb at the airport. I was early. I’d been assured by the efficient robot voice at the airline info line before leaving home that my flight was “On Time.” I had my passport and e-ticket in a handy-dandy pouch around my neck. I was flying to Germany, via Chicago. An adventure!

'Two Brains' taking Internet by storm

We've gotten just as many forwards of Mark Gungor's hilarious "Two Brains" video from men as we have from women. If you haven't had the pleasure, check it out now in The Men's Room.

Eating whole grains creates slimmer abs

Cutting calories helps people lose weight, but doing so by filling up on whole grains may be particularly heart-healthy, new research suggests.

Divorce document basics

There are three documents that every person who separates or divorces needs: a will; a durable power of attorney for financial purposes; and a health care power of attorney. In your situation, if you don't have proper documents in place and die or become incapacitated, your spouse may well be in charge of sorting out your assets, a quite unintended result.

What makes hair go gray?

In this era of hair color products that do minimal damage, gray hair is not such a big deal. You can wear it proudly, like an age badge, or you can return your hair to the color of your youth.

Fold sheets in pillowcase

Make linen-closet organization easy

Bipolar disorder, from the inside out

Terri Cheney was very, very afraid. She knew she was depressed. She knew she was manic. She knew she was going to kill herself on Christmas Eve.

Pump up the muscles, not the volume

Q. Would you please speak to the astonishing noise levels in cycling studios? This blare from "music" can also be found in any group classes (at least at my gym). I would like to take part but not for the price of damaging my hearing.

Stories to kick off your week

Find out what to eat for slimmer abs, what to do about a noisy gym, what causes hair to turn gray and how to cover the basics in the midst of a divorce. All this, plus a book review of "Manic", is yours today. Click through for quick links.

3 wall-wowing projects for the adventurous

So you're sitting there, looking at that big, empty wall. It's blighting your indoor landscape. Stealing your decorating mojo. And, until you win the Powerball, your art-buying budget is looking mighty slender.

Exploring the streets of Chile's cultural capital

This is my second trip to Valparaiso. I have come with my husband, who hails from this magnificent city. I am enchanted by the glorious remnants of the city's 19th century prominence as the Southern Hemisphere's chief seaport.

Get in the pink with these flowering plants

Want to show you care, but not with a dozen red roses? Other colors and flowers also can offer wonderful displays of affection.

Sometimes you have to go where the dance takes you

The other day I picked up the book "Tango: Lessons for Life." The photo on the cover showed a woman with Latin good looks and a seductive smile, in the embrace of a tanguero. The words next to the picture: "A perspective on healing and life as seen through the eyes of a dancing doctor."

What's in store this Sunday

From flowering pink plants to the culture of Chile's Valparaiso to a review of "Tango: Lessons for Life", we've got it for you today. Read on to find previews and links to whatever you like.

Flashback of the day

Half of the were the biggest-selling group of the '70s.

No kitchen? No problem

Tips for cooking and entertaining in any size abode

For the past six weeks I've been miserable. I had my kitchen remodeled and there was nowhere to entertain. There I was, holed up in an upstairs guest suite, living like a college student.

Do detox formulas do it or are they duds?

Detox by drinking? It's not what you think. Now that energy drinks and super-C tonics are as common as sodas, could the next Big Gulp be formulas that allegedly help your body get rid of toxins to make your skin look fab, help you manage weight and make you perky?

Flashback of the day

They came through their "Rings of Fire."

Mushrooms: a healthy addition to everything from pasta sauce to pizza

Maybe you haven't given mushrooms much thought. Or maybe you're not a fan. It might be time to reconsider.

Saddle up for Saturday

We've got a contest winner announcement, fresh stories on the Food, Beauty and Home pages plus new Showbiz Kid and Herspectives blogs today. Click below for previews and links.