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As pre-teens, we devoured Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-Sitters Club series so eagarly it was almost as if we were an honorary fifth member of the BSC. Now, we can relive the tween fun by tuning into Netflix’s The Baby-Sitters Club series, which just got renewed for a second season. Recently, Martin caught up with TODAY with Hoda & Jenna show co-host Jenna Bush Hager for her “Open Book” segment and we were particularly interested in Martin’s predictions for what the ladies from Stoneybrook would be up to now....

Just when you thought the tale of the three cows that survived Hurricane Dorian’s eight-foot “mini tsunami” by swimming approximately five miles to the Outer Banks couldn’t get any more incredible, it turns out that one of those cows was pregnant during the ordeal. According to Ranch Solutions, the company tasked with collecting the castaway cows back in November, a healthy calf has been seen following its mother Doriene around back home on Cedar Island....

Love cute animals? In the Atlanta metropolitan area? You’re going to want to make plans to head to Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, Georgia, the this Leap Day, February 29th. On that Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the idyllic 127-acre nature center on the Chattahoochee River with trails and exhibits galore is hosting a very special wildlife baby shower…and everyone is invited. During the event, visitors will have the chance to spend time with some adorable animals and chat with wildlife technicians, learn about what to do when you find a baby animal from these experts, and more....

“Go with your gut,” says designer Cheryl Luckett of Dwell by Cheryl Interiors on tackling a renovation project. Homeowners Bonnie and Eric Moody had daydreamed about repainting their Spartanburg, South Carolina, redbrick Colonial white, and when the house needed some structural repairs, they jumped at the chance to give the exterior a makeover. “The Moodys knew they wanted a white house from day one, and that made the process so much simpler,” says Luckett....

Easter Sunday is one of the most special days of the year, and whether you’re hopping over to have a special brunch with your family or you’re hosting an elaborate get together, there’s one thing to be true: candy will be everywhere. A little trail or treats might go from your kitchen to your child’s bedroom, or maybe you have too many plastic eggs with too many pieces of chocolate (as if there really is such a thing as too much chocolate)....

For Dolly Parton, the holidays are a celebration of faith and family—two things that were just as important to her as a Tennessee farm girl growing up in the 1950s as they are to her as a country music legend today. “We were poor, but we had one another,” she says of those childhood Christmases in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean is the fourth of twelve children born to Robert Lee Parton, a Sevierville, Tennessee, farmer, and his wife, Avie Lee Parton, the daughter of a preacher from South Carolina....

What’s one benefit of living in a larger city? Having a wide variety of top-notch eateries to choose from without having to travel far for them. It’s not often that you find smaller towns with a bustling food scene, but that’s not the case in Easton, Maryland, where a culinary revitalization is taking place that’s making the town a favorite weekend getaway — or new home — for big-city dwellers coming from New York, D....

If you ever visited FAO Schwartz in New York City or watched the 1988 film Big starring Tom Hanks, you’re likely familiar with the giant dance-on piano. At the NYC flagship location that shuttered a few years back (there’s now a new outpost in Rockefeller Center), you’d walk past the security guards dressed in buttoned-up red toy soldier uniforms, breathlessly head to the escalator, and then arrive at the sprawling piano, the windows beside it allowing light to cascade on you and your finest sneaks with a heavenly aura....

During these unprecedented times amidst the coronavirus pandemic, being a parent has become exceedingly difficult with colleges, schools, and day care centers shuttered around the country. Sometimes, it can feel hard to even take a deep breath and possibly know how to juggle it all. The answer: Nobody knows how to juggle it all right now—and that’s okay. Leave it to Hoda Kotb, inspiring quotes enthusiast and mama to two girls ages 3 and under, to present us with exactly the words of wisdom we so desperately need right now....

Even the cleanest of kitchens can fall prey to gross smells now and then. They lurk in your garbage disposal, your refrigerator, and even your microwave. The latter is especially discouraging since microwaves are all about speed and convenience. No one wants to find an unpleasant smell inside just before they’re about to reheat a plate of spaghetti! Luckily it’s easy to get those terrible smells out of your microwave. To find out how, we went to Jeremy Thompson, strategic cleaning advisor at YouthfulHome....

Once the temperature soars above 70 degrees, I officially trade in my hot coffee for iced. Iced coffee is a refreshing drink perfect for hot summer days—but if you’re anything like me, you’re not used to making your own iced coffee at home. I’ll admit it: I run on Dunkin’. But uncertain times like these call for new habits, and with plenty of time on my hands, I decided to upgrade my morning coffee routine, cutting out trips to the coffeeshop in favor of home brews....

There’s a lot to love about older homes—the character! The quirks! The superior construction materials!—but one thing modern homeowners usually don’t like about an older home? The popcorn ceilings. If you own a home with popcorn ceilings you’d like to get rid of (or maybe you were the one who added them 30 years ago and now regret that decision), it’s possible to remove the ceiling texture without getting a contractor involved, but there are some important steps and precautions you should take before going scraper-first at your ceiling....

It turns out that hummingbirds are even more magical than previously thought. According to a 2020 study, the tiny birds can see colors that humans can neither detect, nor even imagine. Unlike human eyes, which have three types of color-sensitive cones, bird eyes are tetrachromatic, meaning they have four color cones. While humans are able to see spectral hues (the seven colors of the rainbow) as well as one nonspectral color (purple), birds are able to discriminate a much broader range of colors, including the ultraviolet spectrum, which includes colors such as UV-green and UV-red....

The show must always go on. This year, musical performances to honor military heroes across the country on Veterans Day may have taken place in the virtual realm in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but they were every bit as spine-chilling and powerful. From Musicians on Call’s Concert for Veterans Presented by Wrangler featuring Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow, Scotty McCreery, and others, to local organizations putting on digital tributes, there were countless amazing renditions of patriotic tunes broadcast on computer screens, TVs, and mobile devices all over the nation....

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is calling on the state’s places of worship to help bring a little bit of joy to residents struggling more than most during the COVID-19 crisis. During a press conference on Monday, Beshear asked all churches to ring their bells at 10 a.m. each morning for those who are feeling “alone” during the pandemic. “We’d like places of worship to ring their bells every morning—for those who are feeling alone, working from home, not working at home, to let them know we’re thinking about them,” Beshear said....

Attention parents and budding bookworms: a new theme park that aims to change the relationship between children and reading is coming to Tennessee. Storyville Gardens will be a story-driven theme park with attractions inspired by books and stories from all over the world. It will use a mixture of modern technology and show-based entertainment to bring stories to life in a highly immersive “edu-taining” experience. “The goal of the park is to ignite and foster the desire to read beyond what is necessary in the classroom,” a news release states....

What do the lead singer of Queen, a homeowner in Bedrock, the host of TV’s most famous neighborhood, and your new houseplant have in common? Well, according to a recent survey by craftjack.com, they’re likely to share the same first name. Fred. That’s right. More than a thousand people across the country were asked to assess which name best expresses the personality of their favorite, greenhouse buddy and “Fred” topped the list....

Blame poor circulation, a drafty 100-year-old apartment, or simply the fact that I’m a delicate adult baby: When I sleep, I simply can’t be warm enough. I pile on blankets, surround myself with my dogs, and wear cozy, head-to-toe loungewear to bed, and nine times out of 10, I’ll still wake up in the middle of the night, shivering from a draft that no one else can feel. And forget about sleeping comfortably in a bed with anyone—as it turns out, few people enjoy sleeping under a dozen blankets at a time....

There’s an old saying, “If you can read, you can cook.” While that’s technically true, we need a little more guidance in the kitchen. There’s an infinite amount of cooking tips on the Internet, so to simplify things, we narrowed down this list of the best pieces of cooking advice we’ve ever received. Even expert home chefs could use a little refresher on the basics. 1. Read the Recipe—Then Read It Again If you’ve been cooking for a while, you know the feeling....

Soooo….quarantining together for the better part of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic still has you convinced you’ve found the one? We kid, we kid. But in all seriousness though, engagement ring sales are showing no signs of slowing down with proposals thriving during the pandemic, per The Washington Post, and it’s no surprise that couples are turning to online shopping. Based on findings from The Knot’s jewelry and engagement survey, a third of engagement rings were purchased online last year....