Author Archives: Libby Pelham

About Libby Pelham

I have always loved to write and Families.com gives me the opportunity to share my passion for writing with others. I work full-time as a web developer at UTHSC and most of my other time is spent with my son (born 2004). I love everything pop culture, but also enjoy writing about green living (it has opened my eyes to many things!) and health (got to worry about that as you get older!).

“Storage Wars” Mark Balelo Dies

My family loves “Storage Wars,” especially my eight-year-old son.  It is not uncommon to hear him running around my house yelling “Yuuup” like Dave Hester. I had to explain how Dave Hester, who is now suing A&E, isn’t going to be on the show anymore.  Hester is claiming that the whole show, based on people purchasing storage units that have been abandoned, is a sham and A&E plants valuable items in the units. Now, the show has suffered another tragedy that hopefully my son won’t notice.  Mark Balelo was a buyer that the show introduced in season 2.  A native … Continue reading →

Mercedes-Benz Disses Freemasonry?

Oh, that crazy Super Bowl XLVII!  First, Beyonce flashes a little diamond sign and before the game is over, the Internet is abuzz about how she and hubby Jay-Z must be a part of the Illuminati, that secret group trying to rule the world. And, speaking of secret groups trying to rule the world, there was another Super Bowl controversy you may not have heard about.  There was a Mercedes-Benz ad, which featured Willem Defoe as a character who appeared to be the devil. I watched the ad and honestly, I paid so little attention that I didn’t even know … Continue reading →

Beyonce Can’t Catch a Break

Although young, beautiful and talented, it seems as if Beyonce simply cannot catch a break.  The singer gave birth to her first child, daughter Blue Ivy, last January.  But, before she gave birth, there was a rumor going around that she wasn’t really pregnant and that she had a surrogate carrying the baby after an Australian interview seemed to show her baby belly deflate upon sitting. Then, there was controversy over the fact that Beyonce and hubby Jay-Z reportedly dropped $1.3 million to reserve the entire floor of the Lenox Hospital where Blue Ivy was born.  Parents claimed that they … Continue reading →

Ashley Judd Splits and Rihanna Comes Clean

Ashley Judd seemed like the dutiful race car wife when husband Dario Franchitti won his third Indianapolis 500 in May 2012, but it seems that all wasn’t well with the relationship.  Less than a year later, the couple has announced their split. Judd released an exclusive statement to PEOPLE, which read, “We have mutually decided to end our marriage.  We’ll always be family and continue to cherish our relationship based on the special love, integrity, and respect we have always enjoyed. Judd, 44, and Franchitti, 39, met in 1999 at Jason Priestley’s wedding through mutual friends who hoped to set … Continue reading →

Stomach Flu Hits

It’s always something, isn’t it?  First, we see an outbreak of the regular flu, then I read today that there’s a new strain of norovirus, commonly known as the stomach flu.  It’s going around and experts say there may not be much you can do to avoid it, especially since it doesn’t have a vaccine yet. It always seems like these viruses are always just one step ahead of the doctors.  This one, called the Sydney strain, is typical – it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and a just general yucky feeling.  But, experts say this one may be hard to … Continue reading →

Jim Nabors Marries in Seattle

As you know, same-sex marriage has been in the news – A LOT!  Gays are still fighting to be like regular couples while many heterosexuals feel that marriage should be reserved for males and females. Some oppose homosexuality because they say that lifestyle is more promiscuous than heterosexuality.  I beg to differ and here is a prime example. On January 15th, actor/singer Jim Nabors, best known for played the television character “Gomer Pyle,” left his home in Hawaii to travel to Seattle, but he didn’t travel alone.  No, Nabors took Stan Cadwallader with him.  Cadwallader has been Nabor’s partner for … Continue reading →

NFL Teammate Supports Newly Outed Former Player

It seems that one of the hardest things a gay person has to do is come out.  Many wait for just the right moment and often fear that it might alienate family and friends. But, what is you were outed in pubic?   That has to be the worse. That is exactly what happened to Kwame Harris this week.  Harris appeared in court Monday after his former boyfriend, Dimitri Geier, filed a civil suit against him.  Geier is charging the former NFL offensive tackle, who played for the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders, with domestic violence causing great bodily injury … Continue reading →

CDC Warns Against Leafy Greens, Poultry, and Dairy

It sounds crazy, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a statement about leafy greens, poultry, and dairy after a recent study and it ain’t good. For a ten-year period, between 1998 and 2008, leafy green such as kale, lettuce, and spinach were the leading causes of food-borne illnesses in the United States.  But, it was dairy products that lead to the most hospitalizations.  And, poultry – well, that led to the most deaths. Now, the CDC didn’t release this info to scare you (although it did me!).  Patricia Griffin, a food-borne disease expert with the … Continue reading →

Queen Beatrix Announced Abdication

Royal families have been in the news the last few years.  Two years ago, Prince William married Kate Middleton.  Last year, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Diamond Jubilee.  That’s celebrating sixty years on the throne for us Yanks.  And this year, there was the joyous news of a new royal baby. Now, there is a bit of royal news coming out of the Netherlands.  Queen Beatrix announced her retirement this week.  Unlike England’s Queen Elizabeth, who is still going strong at 86, Queen Beatrix is a youthful 75, but announced that she would abdicate her thrown on April 30th, Queen’s Day. … Continue reading →

Small Meals Are Best

I don’t really need another study to tell me that eating frequent small meals is best…but here’s another one anyhow. A several French researchers, including Xavier Allirot, knew that if you ate smaller meals frequently throughout the day, rather than the traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it was easier to keep weight off.  But, there were no studies to prove it.  Allirot said, “There is no scientific consensus as to the optimum number of meals we should have for weight management and speculations regarding this are often contradictory.” So, he and his colleagues set out to do their own.  The … Continue reading →