Sunburns suck. They just do. Blisters, pealing, showers that feel like you're being assaulted... But the whining is the worst. Sometimes the kids complain, too. There are so many options and home remedies out there to ease the awful, it can cause chaos when you're desperate for relief. My favorite sunburn remedy is just good old-fashioned aloe and lotion. And I do, unfortunately, get a sunburn at the beginning of every summer. What about you? What kills the pain and helps heal your . . .

This post was sponsored by Clorox. Our home remodel has definitely been a "hurry up and wait" kind of situation. We did a big push in order to be able to move into the house right away, because we didn't have the money to float two house payments. But then after we moved in, we had to spend about a month living on concrete floors because the bamboo had not acclimated to the moisture levels in our house yet. Then we finally got flooring down, but there were no doors in the house because we were . . .

Kahil Gibran once suggested that joy and sorrow are inseparable. They arrive together, he wrote. "When one sits alone with you ... remember that the other is asleep upon your bed." I get it, man. You're describing what summertime is to me. Growing up, summer was the best thing in the world, and I love revisiting that freedom and happiness when my kids are on their break. I get to spend more time with them. I get to see them play. I watch them grow and change before my eyes because they're not at . . .

      Victims of the Charleston church shooting.Top row: Cynthia Hurd, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singletonmiddle row: Daniel Simmons, Rev. Depayne Middleton Doctor, Tywanza SandersBottom row: Myra Thompson, Ethel Lee Lance, Susie Jackson     STANDING WITH CHARLESTON: SOLIDARITY IN THE CHURCH This tragedy brought against both faith and race represents unmasked evil. And it appears to be another incident pointing to the shockingly commonplace sin . . .

This post is sponsored by Charmin. When I heard that there was an annual competition that involves making wedding dresses out of toilet paper, I assumed it would be a hilarious collection of awful swathing of toilet paper, much like the dresses I'd seen made at wedding showers. Remember that game? Break into groups and design a wedding dress from toilet paper? The results were never pretty. But this . . . this was a whole different thing. The 2015 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest & Fashion . . .

Only Thursdays I post from the vault. This is from July 2010, during another time our house was torn up. There were a few incidences last week that set into motion our current vagabond existence: The RatOn Monday morning, Jafta woke up early to use the bathroom, and we suddenly heard him calling for help.  Mark ran in to find Jafta staring at a rat in the toilet. THE LID HAD BEEN CLOSED.  I can't decide which part of this story is more bizarre: the fact that this rat somehow swam up . . .