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EXCLUSIVE: How To Get 92 Weeks Of Groceries For 23 Cents
Step 1: Be a woman. Step 2: Demand equal pay. Step 3: Use that extra 23 cents (per dollar earned by your male co-workers) to buy groceries for you and your family.
11.12.12
via Keswick Mountain Rescue Team/Instagram, Cat Protection/Youtube
Incredible pets deserve incredible food.
2024 was a year filled with heartwarming stories that reminded us of the incredible bond between humans and their furry companions. From acts of bravery to heartwarming gestures, these pets made a huge impact on the lives of their owners… and the lives of many, many more.
It’s stories like these that continue to inspire leading pet nutrition brand Nulo, which is committed to helping pets live their best lives with functional, delicious and nutritious food. Through their innovative and intentional formulas, Nulo fuels incredible cats and dogs just like the ones below each and every day.
Enjoy some stories below of 2024’s goodest boys and girls — courageous dogs, trauma-informed kitties and much, much more —that really show the unwavering love and loyalty animals bring into our lives. Their inspiring actions fuel incredible.
When a 71-year-old man went unconscious and collapsed during a steep hike, his golden retriever and a black labrador instinctively broke up into a rescue team — the smart and resourceful labrador going off to look for help, and the loyal goldie staying by its owner's side. Sometimes it’s smart to have two of “man’s best friends.”
Marley, a seven-year-old, black and white feline known for his "incredible gift of empathy” won Cat Protection's National Cat of the Year 2024 for the way he comforts women who have been enslaved, exploited and trafficked and staying at the Caritas Bakhita Safe House in London. He’s known to often leave a reassuring paw on guests’ legs to “let them know they’re not alone,” a gesture often called “the first kindness they’ve experienced in years.”
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
In early 2024, Kobe, a four-year-old husky with an extraordinary sense of smell, began digging obsessively in the yard. At first the pooch’s owner, Chanell Bell, thought this was just typical behavior, but soon discovered that Kobe had indeed detected a dangerously large cloud of natural gas that would have not only been seriously life-threatening to her, but the entire neighborhood. It’s like they say, “the nose knows.”
Eight-year-old golden retriever Roger, may have failed his drug-sniffing training in Taiwan, but it turns out he has a knack for rescue operations during natural disasters. After a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck, Roger dug through the rubble of a collapsed building to locate the body of one of the 13 people killed in the quake, offering closure to a grieving family. This earned him the nickname of “the pride of Taiwan” on social media.
Dogs don’t only save humans — sometimes they rescue other animals as well.
When folks scrolling through the X account called “Animals Dying” saw a video of a creature swimming through murky water with a deer fawn in its jaws, they probably assumed it was an alligator enjoying its latest meal. But to everyone’s surprise and delight, it was actually a Labrador Retriever making sure the sweet little fawn didn’t drown.
Once a stray, 12-year-old Cilla found her home at Outwoods Primary School in Warwickshire, England, where she calms anxious students, inspires a community of cat lovers on X, and has even used her social media celebrity to help raise £5,000 to restock the school library — a place she loves to lounge in.
In July, Bloodhound puppy and K-9 unit member Remi used his powerful nose to help an autistic and non-verbal boy who had gotten lost find his way back home. Deputy B. Belk, Remi’s partner, used a piece of sterile gauze to collect the scent from the boy’s forearms and the back of his neck and had Remi “reverse” track backwards for about half a mile to locate the child’s home in a nearby neighborhood.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
When a beautiful pooch named Gita saw her 84-year-old owner fall and hurt his leg, she ran down to the main road, and refused to move until someone stopped to help. Eventually she was seen by a man named Deputy Wright, who tried to get Gita into his patrol car, but the dog wouldn’t budge. When Gita did finally bolt off, Wright followed her down to where the man had been stranded, and was able to help him. Without her protection, who knows if the man would have been found in time? “The loyalty and heroism of our furry friends never cease to amaze us,” Wright would end up writing on Facebook.
If there’s an incredible furry friend in your own life, nothing says “thank you” quite like a nourishing meal. Check out Nulo for a variety of recipes sure to be loved by your beloved pet.
via Pixabay
When parents can't step up, should grandparents step in?
A story that recently went viral on Reddit’s AITA forum asks an important question: What is a parent’s role in taking care of their grandchildren? The story is even further complicated because the woman at the center of the controversy is a stepparent.
At the time of writing her post, the woman, 38, met her husband Sam, 47, ten years ago, when his daughter, Leah, 25, was 15. The couple married five years ago after Leah had moved out to go to college.
Leah’s mom passed away when she was 10.
When Leah became pregnant she wanted to keep the baby, but her boyfriend didn’t. After the disagreement, the boyfriend broke up with her. This forced Leah to move back home because she couldn’t afford to be a single parent and live alone on a teacher’s salary.
Leah’s story is familiar to many young mothers facing similar difficulties.
The father isn’t involved in the baby’s life as a caretaker or financially. Sadly, research shows that 33% of all children in the U.S. are born without their biological fathers living in the home.
Single motherhood comes with unique hardships.
The new mother is a teacher and can’t afford to live on her own with a child. In 2019, a study found that out the top 50 U.S. cities, Pittsburgh is the only one where a new teacher could afford rent.
Today, Portland, OR has joined the very short list of cities where an "average teacher can afford 91.3% of apartments within community distance of their school" according to a recent study.
The stressors of taking care of the baby made Leah realize she needed help.
“But once she had the baby around 4 months back, Leah seemed to realize having a baby is not the sunshine and rainbows she thought it was,” the woman wrote on Reddit. “She barely got any sleep during the last four months. All the while Sam was helping her with the baby while I did almost all chores myself.”
“Now her leave is ending. She did not want to leave the baby at daycare or with a nanny,” the woman continued. “Sam and I both work as well.”
Leah asked her stepmother if she would stay home with the baby. The stepmother said no because she never wanted to have a baby and she has a job. “I asked why Leah can't stay home with the baby herself,” the woman wrote. “She said how she was young and had to build a career. I said many people take breaks to raise kids, and she broke down crying about how she was so tired all the time being a mom and needed something else in her life too.”
The demands of new motherhood are usually all-encompassing.
via Pixabay
After the woman told her stepdaughter no, her husband pressured her to stay home with the baby. But she refused to give up her job to raise her stepdaughter’s child. “Leah said yesterday how she wished her mom was alive since she would have had her back. She said I didn't love her, and my husband is also mad at me,” the woman wrote. The woman asked the Reddit community if she was in the wrong for “refusing to help my stepdaughter with the baby,” and the community responded with rapturous support.
"[The woman] should tell her husband to knock it off and stop trying to pressure her into raising his daughter’s baby. If he wants a family member to look after her baby while she works, then he can do it," user Heavy_Sand5228 wrote.
"This is Leah's baby that she alone chose to have. That doesn't obligate you to change YOUR life to suit her desires. The whole business of saying you don't love her because you won't quit your job to watch her baby is manipulative and messed up, and I'm shocked your husband is siding with her," user SupremeCourtJust-a** added.
Leah and many women like her are in this situation because, in many places, teachers are underpaid, rent is high, and not all dads pay child support, even those required by law.
Another commenter noted that the baby is much more the father’s responsibility than the stepmother's. "To add, Leah should consider seeking child support from her ex. Her kid should be getting that money," Obiterdicta wrote.
While there are resources to help stepparents connect with their stepchildren and step-grandchildren, it's important to remember that the responsibility to raise a child ultimately rests with the parent(s).
This article originally appeared last year.
Blair.Bear.RN/TikTok
Have you ever people say that only children are lonely? One family from Tifton, Georgia would like to respectfully disagree! Mom, nurse, and TikTok creator Blair recently sat down with her family for Thanksgiving and just had to capture the scene. All the grandparents, aunts, and uncles at the table decided to put on a show for her baby, Jax. As the only baby in the family — the only grandkid and only nephew — everyone was excited to chip in and show him a good time at the table.
You've just got to see all seven adults going absolutely nuts to Chappell Roan's Pink Pony as a bewildered Jax looks on from his high chair. Eventually, even he can't resist getting in on the action, and he breaks out a few sweet torso-only dance moves of his own. I'd say they successfully kept him entertained!
@blair.bear.rn My boy has some MOVES. 🕺🩵 #happyturkeyday #thanksgiving #happythanksgiving #turkey #onlychildlife #onlygrandkid #nephew #son #momsoftiktok #momlife #family #familytime #ivf #ivfsuccess #fyp #nursesoftiktok
Blair's video went unexpectedly viral, racking up over 2 million views and thousands of comments. People were blown away by the pure joy and love radiating off the screen in the short clip.
"He really said 'ya know what, hell yeah. These people are crazy and I love it' 🥺" the top comment read.
"You can feel the love that everyone has for that baby through the screen," wrote one commenter.
Others couldn't help but share their own stories of everyone in the family showering attention on one baby.
"My 4yo is the only grandchild and only neice and we spent 3 hours after dinner watching her 'perform' her original songs and dances for the family 🤣There are a lot of reasons, the cost of having kids being a big one," said another user.
"This is my entire family with my daughter 🤣 she’s the only granddaughter, great granddaughter, and niece and gets ALL the attention 🤣🤣🤣," someone wrote.
It seems Blair's family isn't the only one who loves letting the only-babies be the center of attention.
Whether it's an intentional choice or just temporary, there's something really magical about only having one kid.
Photo by Something called "one-and-done parenting" has become more and more common in recent years; that is, having one child and then calling it a day. There are a lot of reasons for the rise in only-child households — the high cost of childcare and other expenses, for example — but there are a lot of upsides as well.
With one kid in the family, you (and your extended family) get to shower them in love and affection (just like in Blair's video), give them all of your resources and support, and still have a little time leftover for yourself. That gets a lot harder to do when you have multiple children.
It also gives you time and space to be a more intentional parent. It's a lot easier to plan and execute the type of parent you want to be, the lessons you want to teach, when you can focus your energies on one, versus running around in a panic trying to wrangle multiple kids at once.
When my firstborn was little, I remember things being so different. She'd get full attention from both me and my wife at bedtime, and sometimes from grandma, too, if she happened to be visiting. We'd read books, sing songs, and play games — two on one! Bedtime now that I have two girls is a lot more frantic and chaotic. There are still books and lots of laughters, but those early days had a special kind of magic to them.
Some might look at this clip and think that the baby will end up spoiled by all the attention. Survey says? Not likely! Stereotypes about only children (lonely, spoiled, maladjusted) are just that: Stereotypes. And they're typically not true. There's no amount of love that's too much. So feel free to go absolutely nuts, all you grandparents and aunts and uncles out there!
Blair says Jax is so especially meaningful to her and her family because of her experience with IVF:
"My husband and I spent 8 years trying to have a baby before we were able to pursue IVF. We only had one embryo that survived the process, and when we finally transferred it, we were blessed with our little Jax. So when I take videos like this, I get to cherish every single second of our family loving our little boy as much as we love him. I think the people of TikTok saw a family that is willing to do whatever it took to make a little boy smile and it put a smile on everyone's face that was watching too."
Having a big family with a bunch of kids is a ton of fun, but it's so cool to see how Blair's video captured how special and magic it is the first, and maybe, only time around, and how much it means to everyone in the family when an amazing new person gets added to the mix.