Let’s say you’re in the mood for a coffee. You pop into the cafe, order your drink, and are informed by the barista that the cost of the coffee is $1.99 in the regular white cardboard cup – or $1.59 if you opt for a blue cardboard cup. In most cases, unless you really have…
If you read the blog regularly, you probably already know a little bit about my grandmother. If you don’t, let me fill you in… She made the best vegetable soup in the world but couldn’t tell you the recipe. She raised eight children, including an invalid son whom she refused to institutionalize even though everyone…
My son starts summer camp tomorrow. And this is what I have learned as a parent about summer camp: it’s expensive. Super expensive. Last week, I took all three kids to Dick’s Sporting Goods to stock up on camp items: shin guards, mouth guards, cleats, shin guard covers (who knew?), new hockey stick… The list…
A number of years ago, I climbed into a van with some friends and headed to the great city of New Orleans. It was summer, hot and humid, even for those of us used to it from coastal North Carolina. We were armed with craft supplies, loads energy, and great ideas – we were going…
Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket, or a holding pattern over Philadelphia. – Judith Viorst, children’s author and believe it or not, tax activist I love Valentine’s Day. I’m a sucker for flowers and candy and goofy cards – anything for an excuse…
There are 38 days left until the end of the year. That means you have just a little over a month to whittle down your taxable income (yeah, we tax people tend to think about the end of the year in slightly different ways). Sure, you could buy your entire family and staff a set…
I love Halloween. I do. I love the camp, the excess, the whole over the top vibe. I dress up every year. I make my kids’ costumes for our school parade. I bake ridiculous amounts of cupcakes and make silly snacks that are meant to look gross like hotdogs that look like bloody toes in…
The nominations are in for the 12 Days of Charitable Giving 2010. Our final of twelve charities to be featured this year is Sheltering Books, a nonprofit organization that collects women and children’s books and donates them to homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and residential treatment centers that house children. The organization began in 2007…
The nominations are in for the 12 Days of Charitable Giving 2010. Our tenth of twelve charities to be featured this year is Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network whose mission is to mobilize resources and volunteers among the diverse congregations and communities of Northwest Philadelphia in direct response to the needs of homeless families for…
This month, I’ve been focusing on charitable donations. DoSomething.org, one of the largest organizations in the US that helps young people rock causes they care about, just released its list of the most charitable celebs for 2010. At the top of the list? Lady Gaga (yes, Dad, she’s a real person), who was given the…