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A newlywed friend recently confessed to me that she and her husband often eat dinners off wooden trays on their sofa. “It feels too formal to sit at the table with just two of us,” she’d told me. I’ve been to her mother’s house for special occasions, so I know my friend is well-equipped with the knowledge and know-how to properly set a table when the opportunity arises. Even so, I couldn’t help but wonder: In an age of drive-thru meals and TV dinners, have people forgotten how to properly set a table?...

Dolly Parton’s ABC variety show might have been short lived (it aired for just one season in the late 1980s) but it produced some of the finest moments in country music history. Take, for instance, the late Loretta Lynn’s 1988 guest appearance on Dolly, when the legends joined forces for a medley of Lynn’s biggest hits. The only thing better than their big hair and sequins was their harmony. “I thought it would be nice if we did a medley of some of your great songs,” Parton says in a decades-old clip (below)....

It’s finally here! Dolly Parton’s first perfume will make its debut on HSN today, July 28. Scent from Above is the very first signature scent of what she hopes will be many in her partnership with Scent Beauty, the first multi-brand e-commerce platform for bespoke fragrances that markets to a worldwide audience. And now, you can nab your very own bottle of the very first scent designed by the Smoky Mountain Songbird herself both on Scent Beauty’s website here and via HSN....

Late last year we brought you the news that the first couple of Laurel were headed out of Mississippi to take on their biggest project yet. Erin and Ben Napier weren’t just going to renovate one home—they were going to take on an entire town. And they were looking to their fans for suggestions. Erin took to Instagram to ask her Southern neighbors for towns who could use some extra love....

This might be our least favorite (not to mention dirtiest) task: scrubbing ashes, charred food, and grease from the oven. It’s unpleasant enough that many avoid it, even though neglecting this chore leads to baked-on food that is much harder to remove, not to mention an unhealthy amount of smoke in the kitchen. So what if we told you that the secret to a spotless oven has been sitting in your kitchen all along?...

When a cut apple is exposed to oxygen, the flesh will turn brown (or oxidize) quickly. This natural process doesn’t affect the flavor of the apple, unless they have been sitting out for a very long time. That said, you still want sliced apples to look as fresh and crisp as possible, whether you’re packing them for school lunches, tossing them into salads, or serving them as part of a cheese board....

Growing up in the North, I may not have learned how to make the perfect pot of grits, but I did learn a thing or two about how to handle the cold. In my first few years living in Virginia, I was continuously shocked at how—following two inches of snowfall—the roads and sidewalks would descend into utter chaos. I was the only resident of my house who owned an ice scraper; my Floridian friend once used a lacrosse stick to dig her car out of the snow....

Matthew McConaughey has already proven to us that he’s got some seriously endearing dance moves. Now, the actor is going to show us he’s ready to get the little ones saying “yee haw” in a new podcast series based on John R. Erickson’s children’s books series, Hank the Cowdog. McConaughey will star in the titular role of Hank the Cowdog, with support from a cast including Jesse Plemons, Cynthia Erivo, Kirsten Dunst, Leslie Jordan, and the book’s author, among others....

In any family, there are certain standout dishes that a cousin, uncle, or grandmother has unspoken dibs on and that can often become synonymous with a specific family holiday celebration. In our family, Easter just isn’t right without my aunt showing up with an unprovoked baking dish of Lime Delight Jell-O salad, Christmas morning doesn’t feel the same without my dad getting in the kitchen to make his famous sausage balls, and there is no Thanksgiving lunch without my grandmother’s specially requested squash casserole that has beaten out all other variations that deigned to arrive at the feast....

Staff Sgt. Macey Winegarner was one of nearly 500 members of the Oklahoma Air and Army National Guard who answered the call to provide emergency relief to those impacted by Hurricane Ida. Winegarner, an air transportation non-commission officer with the 137th Special Operations Wing, felt compelled to volunteer even though she was still nursing her six-month-old daughter. “I’ve deployed and have done several temporary duty assignments. I’ve never been able to help during a state of emergency,” she said in a statement....

Disney wants you to be their guest for an encore performance of your go-to tunes. That’s right y’all… you nailed it! After the runway success of the first “Disney Family Singalong” on April 16—which drew more than 10 million viewers—ABC has announced a follow-up special set to air on Mother’s Day. Disney-living mamas and their families should tune in at 7 p.m. EST on Sunday, May 10, for “The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II” hosted once again by Ryan Seacrest....

Humans weren’t the only ones enjoying the South Carolina surf over Labor Day weekend. A blacktip shark was spotted swimming very close to shore on Hilton Head Island on Sunday as visitors packed the nearby beach. Emily Wentz first spotted the shark around 1:30 p.m. near Adler Beach. Jill Baricikowski Horner, who also shared a video of what appears to be the same big fish swimming through the shallow waves on Facebook, told WJCL that her sighting occurred at Forest Beach around 3:15 p....

A month after he revealed his secret battle with two forms of cancer, Terry Bradshaw sat down with Today to discuss his decision to keep his diagnoses from the public. “I didn’t talk about it because I didn’t want pity," the 74-year-old Hall of Famer told NBC News correspondent Harry Smith. “I didn’t talk about it because a lot of celebrities— unfortunately, I’m one of those—when they say this, I think the perception around America with all the millions of people is, ‘Aw, look at him....

If you’re like me, every week, you probably find yourself contemplating the shrink-wrapped offerings at your grocery store’s meat department. I tend to grab what I need for that week’s meals for our family of three—a four-pack of chicken breasts for a Tuesday night stir-fry, pork tenderloin for a Sunday roast, and a pound of ground beef for meatballs—toss everything into my cart, and move along to the next aisle. Keep it moving, that’s my grocery shopping philosophy....

Most cake recipes call for flour. That’s specific, yet vague, which is why we usually turn to all-purpose wheat flour that’s supposed to cover all the bases, and it usually does. Some cake recipes, however, specify cake flour. What’s the difference? Cake flour is very finely milled soft winter wheat that makes it lighter and softer than other types of flour. It also has lower protein content, around seven to eight percent protein compared to 10 to 12 percent for all-purpose or about 13 percent for bread flour....

Sipping iced tea or refreshing lemonade on your porch is the way to spend summer afternoons. How else will you survive the heat? And when you’re ready to host outdoor gatherings with family and friends, you can show ’em that Southern hospitality with a little pizazz thanks to the “classic and classy” FineDine Glass Beverage Dispenser that keeps drinks cold for $22. Made with premium-grade glass and stainless steel hardware, the large drink dispenser is all you need to make a statement on your cookout table....

I’ve never been a big fan of potted mums. Maybe it’s because they’re usually displayed on front porches and my two pink flamingoes don’t need the competition. Or maybe it’s because I’m a gardeny person who likes plants that experience life in the ground and get bigger and better with age. The latter is certainly the case with this special mum that goes by the name of ‘Cathy’s Rust.’ I’ve never seen flowers this color before....

What Are The World Games? Every four years, thousands of athletes from around the world assemble to compete for the gold medal in their sport. And no, we’re not talking about the Olympics. These are The World Games and they’ve been around since 1981. But unlike the Olympics, these games feature sports you may not have seen before such as drone racing and wushu, a form of Chinese martial arts. “We define The World Games as the new generation of global sports,” Nick Sellers, CEO of The World Games, told Southern Living....

“Oh, gross!” wailed Donna, my sister-in-law, as we drove along the highway in West Virginia last week. “Look at all those giant spider webs in the trees! We have them at our house too!” I could sympathize with her concern. Many people are afraid of spiders, especially giant ones that eat people. Fortunately, her fears were unfounded. These webs were the work of fall webworms. Fall webworms rarely eat people....

Our cell phones hadn’t had a lick of service since we’d passed the last gas station at least 30 miles back. No pings or rings of new emails and texts piercing the air, just a downloaded Willie Nelson album playing on a loop. It had also been a while since we’d made any turns or seen any other cars. Each side of the curving road was lined with untouched grassy terrain and the occasional herd of cows or bison behind fences, with no people in sight—until a sign eventually pointed us in the right direction: Utopia, Texas....