Sass and Sippy Cups

That's right, the author of some of our favorite childhood stories would have been 102 years old today! So in honor of his birthday, I'll share some parenting motivation from the always loved and ever-wise Willy Wonka.  Yes, work is important. Of course motherhood is hard (my kid chews wires and tried to play with her own turds in the tub the other day, for Christ's sake)! But when you're at your most exhausted and at the end of your rope, you need to remember: embrace the chaos and enjoy the silly . In the end, the nonsense and the memories that come from it are what make this whole mommy thing worthwhile (and at the very least will provide you with some future blackmail material!)

Today I’m coming to you with the story of one of the most infamous unsolved murders in American history. One that inspired a schoolyard rhyme that everyone knows:] “Lizzie Borden took an axe Gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done She gave her father 41.” Although it is historically inaccurate, we’ve all heard it.   Even if you weren’t born and raised in Lizzie’s hometown like I was, you have heard that song. I remember when I was in high school, we were at a rest stop in New Jersey for a school trip to Hershey, PA.   One of the locals asked where we were from and when we responded “Fall River, MA” we were immediately met with “ah, Lizzie Borden.” Now everyone has their own theory about how the murder went down, and before we get to my opinion, we’ll start with what we know for sure. Lizzie: The Early Years The younger of two sisters, Elizabeth Andrew Borden was born in 1860 to Andrew and Sarah Borden.   Sarah di...

Here’s another paranormal post for you guys, but this one is definitely more personal for me.   I’ve been a fan of ghost hunting shows for years, Ghost Hunters in particular. I even got to meet Jason Hawes and Steve Gonsalves at Comic-Con last year.   In 2012, they aired an episode about Hammond Castle in Gloucester, MA. Here’s a bit of background about the place.   John Hays Hammond, Jr. was the son of a wealthy mining engineer.   His family traveled a lot, so he became fascinated with history and other cultures. He was also interested in science. When he was 12, his father introduced him to Thomas Edison, and he asked so many questions that Edison invited him to his laboratory. He eventually attended Yale University, and while studying there he was taken under the wing of another great inventor: Alexander Graham Bell.   He remained close with both men until their deaths. Upon graduation, he got a job at the patent office. Edison had once given him adv...

Nefertiti Get ready for a long one, folks. In this edition of “Badass Women in History” we’ll be discussing without a doubt, one of the most powerful women of ancient Egypt: Queen Nefertiti. If you’ve ever had to take a World History class, chances are you’ve seen the above photo in a textbook somewhere. The woman depicted in this bust in Nefertiti.   She is most known for her famed beauty (her name literally means “the beautiful woman has come”) but behind the fair façade, she was a much more complex character, which is why many historians can’t agree on the role she played in history. What We Know for Sure Nefertiti ruled alongside Akhanaten as Great Royal Wife (as I mentioned in the last post about Hatshepsut, the pharaohs were almost always polygamous) during a time of great religious and political upheaval. This was because her husband decided to replace Amon, who was Egypt’s chief god, with another, Aten, restructuring society to revolve around this n...

Since March is National Women’s History Month, I’ve decided to create a series of posts dedicated to women in history whose power and influence rivaled any man at the time. Therefore, until further notice, FFF isn’t going to stand for Fun Fact Friday. For the foreseeable future, you’ll see posts featuring FREAKING FEARLESS FEMALES The first two FFF post go way back to Ancient Egypt.   Did you know that in Egyptian society, women had the same legal rights as men?   They could own land and property, enter into contracts on their own, and even divorce their husbands without needing a reason. For the next two posts, we’re going to learn about two women who seized control and became two of Egypt’s most powerful HBICs (head bitches in charge, for those of you not up to speed on today’s lingo). Part One Hatshepsut: The Queen Who Became King Born around 1507 B.C.E., Hatshepsut was the daughter of King Thutmose I.   At 12 years old, she married her half-br...

Fun Fact Friday Irish Legends Since Saint Patrick’s Day is almost upon us, I thought I’d dedicate this Fun Fact Friday to some legends from the Emerald Isle.   No, I’m not talking leprechauns or The Blarney Stone. I’m talking something a little on the darker side: Faeries. When I say “faeries, I don’t mean the adorable little winged things your kid wants to be for Halloween every year that they’re not a princess. I mean the mischievous creatures from Celtic mythology that were definitely not as nice as their Disney-created counterparts. More specifically, I want to talk about two of the most dreaded types of “fae folk:” banshees and changelings. The Banshee The term “banshee” comes from the Gaelic for “woman of the faery mound” or simply “faery woman,” so while some legends describe her as a spirit, others put her in the category of “faeries.”   The “faery mound” refers to what are thought to be burial mounds found dotted all over the Irish countryside. ...