Tag: Family

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Introducing Your Boo To The Family At Christmastime

The holidays can bring you and your significant-other closer even as you cope with the stress of including them in family events.

The folks at ForHims.com have come up with some helpful tips for that big moment when you introduce your boo to the family:

Tell your parents about your partner:

  • Have a quick meeting with them without your partner to go over your expectations
  • Share your partner’s stories and dietary restrictions and hobbies

Set expectations for your partner

  • Tell your partner about good things about your parents’
  • Talk to your partner about your parents’ viewpoints and what topics to pay attention to

Help your partner be prepared

  • Let them know what your family’s dinner etiquette is like
  • Prepare some answers to some common questions your parents might ask

Exit strategy

  • Arrange a code word or signal with your S.O. beforehand which means, “I need to get out of here now.”
  • Have another commitment in mind that you can use as an excuse for escaping
  • Only commit to visiting for a limited period of time

Final Words: Give it Time

All first-time family meetings with your S.O. can bring some anxiety. But, don’t stress out, have patience and be open to understanding different viewpoints.

(graphic via ForHims.com)
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Nevada: 12 Members Of Adam Laxalt’s Family Pen Op-Ed Opposing His Candidacy For Governor

In a devastating op-ed posted in the Reno Gazette, 12 Nevadans express their opposition to Republican candidate for governor, Adam Laxalt. Those 12 people happen to all be members of the Laxalt family.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt

In a devastating op-ed posted in the Reno Gazette, 12 Nevadans express their opposition to Republican candidate for governor, Adam Laxalt.

Those 12 people happen to all be members of the Laxalt family.

Here’s an excerpt from the Reno Gazette:

First, for those of us who were actually raised in Nevada, it’s difficult to hear him continue to falsely claim that he was raised in Nevada or has any true connections to Nevadans.

The simple fact is that while he may have been born in Reno, he left as an infant and was raised on the East Coast, 3,000 miles away, in Washington, D.C., and moved here only in 2013, only one year later launching his political career. Aside from the occasional short visit, Adam never knew the state or its people. Perhaps if he had, he would stand for Nevada’s values rather than for those of his out-of-state donors.

If he responds to this column at all, it will probably be to say that he hardly knows the people writing this column. And in many ways that would be true. We never had a chance to get to know him, really — he spent his life in Washington, D.C., while we lived in Northern Nevada and grew up in public schools and on public lands. He moved to Nevada in 2013 so that he could lean on the reputation of a family that he hardly knew while tapping into support by donors who had no interest in our state or its people.

It’s worth saying that this column isn’t about politics. We would be proud to have a Laxalt running for office on Nov. 6, regardless of whether they were Republican or Democrat or independent, so long as we believed that they would be good for Nevada.

We’re writing because we care about Nevada and because we know the truth about this candidate. We think that you should, too.

The op-ed is signed Gabriel Urza, Kevin Nomura, Amy Nomura Solaro, Alexandra Urza, Kevan Danielle Laxalt, Michelle Terese Laxalt, Peter Laxalt, Michelle Janet Laxalt, Dr. Kevin Marie Laxalt, Dr. Kristin Laxalt, Monique Laxalt and Meggan Laxalt Mackey.

The Laxalt family points out even though Adam is currently the Attorney General of Nevada, his tenure as a practicing lawyer was considered “a train wreck” by his own law firm members.

The op-ed also says that Laxalt had worked to undermine current two-term governor of Nevada, Republican Brian Sandoval. Sandoval has notably refused to endorse Laxalt in this year’s race.

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Wells Fargo: Learning Sign Language

This Monday, Wells Fargo will launch a new TV ad, “Learning Sign Language,” representing the challenges and achievements of LGBT couples as they build their families and their futures together.

This ad is the first of four TV spots developed as part of the new Wells Fargo campaign: “Working together to make a difference.”

Wells Fargo has a long history of supporting the LGBT community as an employer and a provider of financial services, dating back over 25 years and continuing to grow every year.

(via press release)

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Ohio Dachsund Goes From 56 Pounds To 12 Pounds In Two Years

Dennis the dachsund at 56 pounds

OMG. And Michael likes to tell me our dogs are “fat.”

Two years ago, 26 year-old Brooke Burton of Ohio adopted Dennis the dachshund from her uncle. At the time, Dennis weighed in at a very hefty 56 pounds. According to Buzzfeed, Burton’s uncle was something of a hoarder and had been feeding the pup mostly White Castle burgers and pizza.

“The vet said he would not have made it another month there,” Burton told People Pets, noting that Dennis was very dehydrated and suffering from skin infections.

Dennis started eating dry dog food and going on lots of walks with Burton.

Forty-four pounds later, and look at the handsome guy now!

Buzzfeed reports that Dennis had to undergo three surgeries to remove excess skin due to the weight loss. Apparently, Dennis would trip over the loose skin and it would get infected.

People, it’s commons sense that we have to take care of our furry family members. Food isn’t affection.

We stopped feeding our dogs fatty treats a while back, switching to baby carrots on the advice of our vet. No fat, and healthy. And we saw a drop in weight in our four dogs in a fairly quick time.

Dennis, after his weight-loss, at 12 pounds
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Mother To Political Sons: “I Would Really Like A Peaceful Christmas”

Brad Woodhouse (former DNC communications director) and his brother Dallas (who worked for a Koch brothers-funded group in North Carolina) – appeared on C-SPAN Tuesday promoting a documentary about their political work (“Woodhouse Divided”) when a familiar voice called in.

“Oh God, it’s mom,” Dallas Woodhouse realized.

From USNews.com:

“I was very glad that this Thanksgiving was a year that you two were supposed to go to your in-laws and I’m hoping you have some of this out of your system when you come here for Christmas,” Joy Woodhouse admitted, asking the partisan pundit brothers to please not spoil the rest of the holidays with their rancor. “I would really like a peaceful Christmas.”

“Woodhouse Divided,” which debuted in the nation’s capital in September, follows the Woodhouse brothers over a four-year period. It shows Brad Woodhouse winning the Obamacare fight and Dallas Woodhouse aiding the rise of the tea party movement. The documentary also shows the brothers bickering through family holidays – something Joy Woodhouse would rather not see this year.

(tipped by anonymous TRR reader)

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Honey Maid documentary: “Dad & Papa”

Great new ad from Honey Maid featuring all kinds of families including interracial and gay couples, a tattooed rock musician and a single father.

The campaign began airing today on TV shows including The View.

Gary Osifchin, senior marketing director for biscuits at Mondelez which owns Honey Maid said in a statement, “We recognize change is happening every day, from the way in which a family looks today to how a family interacts to the way it is portrayed in media. We at Honey Maid continue to evolve and expand our varieties to provide delicious, wholesome products so they can be a part of everyday moments of connection in a world with changing, evolving family dynamics.”

Kudos to Honey Maid. Excellent spot that celebrates the diversity that is the American family.

The first clip is an extended web version focusing on two dads raising their family.  The second is the TV ad –  “This is Wholesome” – being broadcast on air that includes many families.

(via Ad Age)

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First gay marriage announcement at US Coast Guard Academy

Kaitlin Ward (L) and Lauren Bloch (R)

A very cool bit of history was made at the US Coast Guard Academy last week.

From Buzzfeed:


It’s a tradition at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., that when a cadet becomes engaged to be married, the lucky man or woman’s friends will announce the engagement to the entire corps in the wardroom at lunchtime, the one meal that all four years of students eat together.

On Thursday, Dec. 5, the announcement was a little different. “Over the weekend, Cadet First Class Kaitlin Ward got down on one knee and proposed to her longtime girlfriend, Lauren Bloch. This is the first announcement of its type.”

There was a brief moment of silence as the room realized the significance of the announcement — the first in the school’s 137-year history — before the corps of cadets started cheering and whooping for their classmate and her fiancée, the latest couple who had met and fallen in love at the academy.

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Cheney family infighting over marriage equality

So, this is how it began…

First, 2014 US Senate candidate Liz Cheney had this to say on Fox News Sunday:

“I don’t believe we ought to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. If people are in a same-sex relationship and they want their partner to be able to have health benefits or be designated as a beneficiary on their life insurance, there’s no reason we shouldn’t do that. I also doesn’t support amending the constitution on this issue. I do believe it’s an issue that got to be left up to the states. I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage. Listen, I love Mary very much. I love her family very much. This is just an issue on which we disagree.”

Then, Liz’s sister-in-law Heather Poe, wife of Mary Cheney, responded on her Facebook page:

“I was watching my sister-in-law on Fox News Sunday (yes Liz, in fifteen states and the District of Columbia you are my sister-in-law) and was very disappointed to hear her say ‘I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage.’ Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 – she didn’t hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us. To have her now say she doesn’t support our right to marry is offensive to say the least. I can’t help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other. I always thought freedom meant freedom for EVERYONE.”

And then, Mary Cheney, added this to the above, which she re-posted to her own Facebook page:

“Couldn’t have said it better myself. Liz – this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree – you’re just wrong – and on the wrong side of history.”

Heather Poe and Mary Cheney

(via JMG)

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Grandfather’s letter defending his gay grandson goes viral

Grandfather defends grandson to his bigoted daughter who kicked out her child because he came out as gay.

A letter that a man wrote to his daughter after she kicked her son out for being gay has gone viral. The online world is rallying behind the sentiment of the letter.

Here’s the text of the letter which was posted to the Facebook page of FCKH8:

Dear Christine:

I’m disappointed in you as a daughter. You’re correct that we have a “shame in the family”, but mistaken about what it is.

Kicking Chad out of your home simply because he told you he was gay is the real “abomination” here. A parent disowning her child is what goes “against nature”.

The only intelligent thing I heard you saying in all this was that “you didn’t raise your son to be gay”. Of course you didn’t. He was born this way and didn’t chase it any more than he being left-handed. You however, have made a choice of being hurtful, narrow-minded and backward. So, while we are in the business of disowning our children, I think I’ll take this moment to say goodbye to you. I now have a fabulous (as the gays put it) grandson to raise, and I don’t have time for heart-less B-word of a daughter.

If you find your heart, give us a call

– Dad

FCKH8 says “We were blown away by how this guy stands by his grandson and stands up against his own homophobic daughter. This is real l♥ve!”

(h/t Towleroad)