Applebee’s Has $1 Long Islands
Throughout the month of December, it looks like you’ll be drinkin’ good in the neighborhood. Jumping off the success of Applebee’s October $1 margaritas promotion, they’re upping the ante. All month long they’ll be serving up $1 Long Island Iced Teas. Get your Uber lined up now!
Source: BroBible
“Rule Of Four” Helps Parents Tame Holiday Spending
Parents want the holidays to be magical for their kids and sometimes that can lead them to overdo it with the gifts. But we’re not doing our little ones any favors by setting their expectations so high and teaching them to manage them is important. Some moms and dads have found that using the “rule of four” helps do that.
SO what is the “rule of four?” It’s super simple - you give your kid four presents: one they want, one they need, one to wear and one to read. That’s a drastic change from the pile of presents some children are used to, but it’s a much more reasonable approach and fans of the practice say it really helps.
“Less really was more. The kids actually had a more enjoyable holiday than years when we spoiled them,” explains Megan Brunson, mom of four. “They really played with those things, and they used them more, compared to when they’d get 12 things and they’d get bored with half of them after a couple of days.”
Here are some other ways to say “no” without ruining the holidays, according to psychologist Dr. Robin H. Gurwitch:
- Start managing expectations early - Explain to the kids that you’re downsizing the presents to save for a vacation or to make sure you have money for the things you need all year.
- Explain your family’s rules are different from other families - If your kid expects Santa to bring anything on their wish list, let them know Santa checks with parents first and you’ve asked him to only bring four gifts this year and that some things are off limits.
- Don’t have them pick from a catalog - It puts ideas in their heads, so ask them to come up with their own ideas about what they really want.
- Get the grandparents onboard - If your kid wants something pricey, see if aunts and grandparents can go in on it together and make sure relatives respect your “rule of four.”
- Swap toys for experiences - Create new traditions together and maybe put family activities on your wish list, like building a snowman together.
- Get the kids involved with charitable giving - Let them help choose a gift for a child in need, or which cans to donate to a food pantry.
Source: Moneyish
"Beautiful" medical milestone: Doctors hail first U.S. baby born from a uterus transplant
The doctors who helped deliver the first American baby born from a transplanted uterus opened up about the medical milestone, one of them telling ABC News, "this little boy will stay with us for our entire life."
"It was a beautiful thing to watch," Dr. Giuliano Testa, the surgical chief of abdominal transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, told ABC News.
His colleague, Dr. Liza Johannesson, added that, "all of us had tears in our eyes."
"This little boy will stay with us for our entire life," Johannesson said.
The baby was born last month to a mother who had been born without a uterus, and received a transplant at Baylor University Medical Center, last September as part of an ongoing study.
The woman suffered from Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility, a type of infertility affecting approximately 1 in 500 women, where the uterus is non-functioning or nonexistent.
"It was very special to look in the eyes of the mother, she was told when she was a teenager that she would never see this moment and then all of a sudden you see this happening and you think everything has meaning," Testa said.
The baby is now the ninth baby born in the world from a transplanted uterus.
As part of the ongoing study at Baylor, researchers have completed a total of eight uterus transplants, including the one in the mother who just gave birth. Three have been unsuccessful and one woman is currently pregnant; the remaining four women are in different stages of the transplant process.
"This birth and this boy is giving hope to all these women out there who have this type of infertility and that is truly an amazing thing," Johannesson said.
Testa added that the successful birth, "was really something that totally changed my mind about many things I thought were set."
"People like me, or men in general, don't really talk about this, because we don't know any better, but one thing that we all learned is that we should never have underestimated the need, the will, the wish, of the woman to carry their own pregnancy," Testa said.
Today is International Volunteer Day
December 5th is International Volunteer Day! As you might have guessed, this is the day we celebrate all the fine folks who give their time and resources to help others. All the fun began in 2012, when the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program launched the Volunteer Action Counts campaign to tell the world about the impact of volunteering by documenting the actions of volunteers across the globe.
Since then, millions of actions have been counted by the time the Rio+20 summit took place — a "remarkable testament to bottom-up, grassroots commitment" yet one more demonstration of how Rio+20 is mobilizing a global movement for change, as UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, said to the United Nations General Assembly in 2012.
UNV continues the Volunteer Action Counts campaign, building on the achievements of Rio+20, to further raise awareness about the contribution of volunteerism to peace and development and to promote the integration of volunteerism into the post-2015 development agenda. The Volunteer Action Counts website and social media profiles continue to gather stories about volunteering and provide information about upcoming events, opportunities and best practices.
Today is Bathtub Party Day
December 5th is Bathtub Party Day! No, we don’t mean for you to literally throw a party in your bathtub! Having yourself a nice, hot bath is one of the best things you can do to relax and de-stress. This is the time to leave your phone and computer in the other room and take some time to decompress. You’ve earned it!
To make it into a real shindig, invite your friends lavender soap and bath oil beads. You can even invite your rubber ducky if you want to!
However, if you have a significant other, you can turn this bath into a party for two! Light some candles, pop some bubbly or a nice bottle of wine, play some Barry White and enjoy each other’s company.