Along with the amazing owl baby shower cake I featured yesterday, my baking guest-blogger Erin Lippitz also put together a fun baby shower activity using cupcakes.

My friend, co-worker and regular guest blogger Erin Lippitz has a new cake to share with you.

I first read about this crazy recipe for Pork and Beans Bread in a mystery called "Plum Pudding Murder" more than a month ago.

It was kind of a hokey story, but I liked it because it includes delicious-sounding recipes, including one for this sweet dessert bread.

As an anniversary gift, my sister and her husband gave us this amazing, retro-looking candy dispenser.

The cool thing is, it's motion activated, so you just wave your hand in front of the spout for a fun little treat.

As you may have read yesterday, I had the honor of writing a story about News-Gazette photographer emeritus, Robert K. O'Daniell.

He retired from our newsroom at the end of 2012, after more than 43 years.

I was hunting through my cookbooks last week for a dish to make with a pound of ground beef. I love chili, but I've made it a few too many times this winter.

In my "Betty Crocker Cookbook," I found the recipe for Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie.

About a year ago, Rob and I redecorated our hallway, painting it white and adding a barn door.

I crocheted a ton of Christmas presents this year, and I worked really hard to make sure these were neat, meaningful gifts, not just, "I crocheted you an impersonal scarf because I could."

I especially wanted to make something worth playing with for our niece, who will turn 2 in Feburary. I thought it would be fun to crochet her a picnic basket and some play food.

After working on crochet Christmas presents from August until late November, I've taken a few weeks off from the hobby I discovered this year.

However, after all my gifts' recipients seemed to like the items I made, and after I received a couple of wonderful crochet books, I've found myself browsing Pinterest the last few evenings to look for more ideas.

I made several crochet gifts for various people this Christmas, but I forgot to take photos of most of them before giving them away. Whoops.