Christina Fairman

Christina lives in Northwest Illinois with her husband, daughter, and two English Springer Spaniels. Before becoming a reluctant stay-at-home mom, she worked in a variety of customer-service-oriented jobs while dreaming of living in the lap of luxury as a housewife. Unfortunately, having a child threw a wrench in Christina's plan to do nothing but eat bonbons while lounging in the Jacuzzi reading all day. Now, she spends her time looking for fun activities and crafts for her daughter and easy-to-prepare meals for her family, while trying not to land the kid in therapy when she grows up. Christina volunteers at her local library, and does both volunteer and paid work as a sexuality educator. She loves to read, and to learn about--and share--new products and resources.

Part of the fun of holidays is going to holiday parties! Miss Manners and Emily Post both agree that expressing one’s thanks with something tangible in addition to your written or verbal thank-you can be a kind gesture. And it’s the holidays, so presents for everybody! Yay! Check out this gift guide for hosts to …

I love the Thanksgiving traditions that center on each person present sharing something (or somethings) that they are thankful for. What I love even more is that this doesn’t have to be one of those “everyone go around the table and say something you’re thankful for” moments that can be so awkward. Check out these …

Teaching history to young children can be a pretty thorny topic. (Columbus Day, anyone?) Even in the (many) years since I started school and began learning American history, we’ve either learned a lot more about some of the touchstone stories of our history, or we’ve started admitting/acknowledging a lot more of the negative parts of …

As parents, we can all use some ideas to make our lives easier (or neater, or more organized). Check out these awesome parent hacks for a few great ways to simplify your life. I’ve got five years of parenting under my belt and just recently brought the scourge of glitter into my home. It was …

Last week, I shared some fun DIY nursery ideas for all you expecting parents. This week, I’m going even bigger. I’ve looked around and found ideas for the whole room! Think of me as your personal Pinterest curator of your Inspiring Nursery Designs board. (And for my friends and family who are starting to wonder: None …

My daughter has had a balance bike for a couple of years, but she never really showed that much interest in it. As much as she loves running around outside and dancing ballet, the general area of “athletics” hasn’t interested her much at all. But suddenly this summer, the bike caught her interest and she …

When it comes to preparing for the arrival of a little bundle of joy, our urge to give our offspring the best of everything is hard to fight. Also, baby stuff is so damn cute! And those two things together mean that decorating your little love’s nursery can become ridiculously expensive. But with a little …

Whew! You—and your kids—have made it through the first few days of school. Yay! It’s all good from here, right? Yeeeeah. About that… By now, you’ve had the teacher meet-and-greet and your child has some class time under their belt, so you’re aware of how the teacher operates day-to-day. Plenty of time for you to …

I can’t remember exactly when I came across Swoop Bags—probably some giveaway on some blog I follow—but I fell I love with the idea as soon as I read about them. Made-in-the-Seattle Swoop Bags are a combination play mat and storage bag. When it’s open, it’s a big circle with slightly vertical edges (like a …

One of the most important back-to-school tips you hear as a parent is to make sure you child is getting enough sleep. But why is sleep important and how much sleep is enough? First, let’s look at why sleep is important. This first reason is pretty obvious: kids who don’t sleep get cranky. Not good. …

September 3 is International Bacon Day. Need I say more? I didn’t think so. On to the recipes. I love grilled cheese in all its forms (white cheese pizza, quesadillas, plain grilled cheese, grilled cheese with fancy bread and cheese), but I never have anything on my grilled cheese except for, you know, cheese. Until …

The last time I talked to you about bras, I talked about how to find a bra that fits well. This time, I want to talk about some common bra fit problems and how to solve them. (Which I totally wanted to do in my last post, but I ran out of room. I love …