T: Tiny Spaces

Welcome to the T edition of the April A-Z Challenge! I thought about going for the obvious and talking about my tea stash, but then I realized that's not actually the thing I love most around the house. Let me preface this my saying that I'm a natural nester, a cozy cocooner, and a busy burrower.

If you made it past the terrible alliteration, I'm saying that I adore (read: live for, love, NEED) tiny spaces to make my own cozy little escape nooks. Even when I was a kid I'd seek out the tiny hidden corners and stay for hours - crammed under a shelf in a closet, under the entertainment center, a hidden space in tree branches... that was the best place to sneak off with a book :-)

However, my beer and pizza loving grown-up body just won't fit into those kinds of spaces anymore, so now I live for finding unused corners to take over and make my own. I may not be able to hide there, but there's something about the mostly enclosed nesting feeling that just brings peace back to my crazy days.

Lucky for me, the good folks over at Design Sponge know that tiny spaces are the place to be at all ages. Check out their 10 Cozy Reading Nooks that I bet you'll be finding a way to work into your house now.

From light and airy to dark and cozy, they've got them all!

What are your favorite escapes around the house? Do you have any tiny spaces of your own?

Carpal Tunnel and Other Wine-Related Injuries

Happy Wellness Wednesday!

With so many of us gearing up for the April A-Z Blog Challenge I thought today's wellness post should get us ready for the hours and hours of typing ahead of us. As much as the idea of injuring myself while I'm sitting on my spreading butt makes me giggle, Repetitive Strain Injuries are actually pretty serious.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "repetitive strain injuries are the nation's most common and costly occupational health problem, affecting hundreds of thousands of American workers, and costing more than $20 billion a year in workers compensation." In case you're not keeping up, that's a 20 with nine big fat zeroes behind it.

Worse, they are so common and misunderstood that many people end up with carpal tunnel or tendonitis and have no idea that A) they've been causing their own pain, or B) they can put a stop to it.

So to help get us through April without ending up like the spray bottle lady below, check out these 10 Simple Tips from RSIPrevention.com . This list includes:

• Keyboard/Hand Positions
• Posture Advice
• Checklists to Ensure the Comfort of Your Work Area, and
• When to Call a Doctor.

via GIPHY

Now... who wants to talk about what people are starting to call "scrolling thumb?"

Remember - keep those keyboards straight and your wrists flexing! I'd personally suggest lifting as many glasses of wine between now and your next long computer session just to make sure your wrists are in shape ;-)

AtoZ Challenge Theme Reveal!

Is it even possible that both Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day have already come and gone? And now that they are, we have a treat for you!

We've been cooking away behind the scenes for months getting ready for this year's AtoZ Blogger Challenge - the yearly challenge in which more than 1,000 bloggers from across the world post every day except Sundays in April beginning with A and ending with Z.

You'd better believe the Housewives are up to the challenge! And you know that we creative and crazy gals would of course put our devious little heads together and come up with an appropriate theme for you guys. Want to know what it is?

Well, get ready!

Drum roll, please?

via GIPHY

Yeah, that'll do :-)



This year's theme is....

Around the House from A to Z! We Housewives are bringing you 26 special tips, tricks, how-tos, articles, and fun this month all centered on the way we turn our chaotic homes into well-oiled machines. Or, at least, slightly less squeaky duct-taped contraptions.

Please be sure to join me, Tammy, Elizabeth, and Tara the entire month of April and welcome our special guest poster AG Porter for the letters I, K, and M. We promise it'll be fun, and there might even be wine left if you get to it before Tammy does ;-)

In the meantime, check out all of this year's fabulous participants here.

See you April 1st!