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Six-year-old Kayden Reid of Mobile, Alabama is being hailed as a hero after his brave actions saved the life of his younger sister. On Jan. 18, Kayden and his sister Kaycee were at a family function when two-year-old Kaycee slipped out of the house and darted into the street. Kayden was playing on the sidewalk when he realized that a car was oncoming and Kaycee was in harm’s way. He immediately stopped what he was doing and jumped in front of Kaycee to save her from being hit....

Anderson East joins Sid Evans to share tales of his job as a teenager slinging barbeque, his mother’s church piano (which he now uses in his studio), and how his grandmother’s battle with Alzheimer’s influenced the title track from his latest album “Maybe We Never Die.” Get to Know Anderson East Anderson East was born and raised in Athens, Alabama, about 20 minutes from the Tennessee border. Having moved to Nashville right after high school to pursue music, Anderson made a name for himself with a powerful voice that harkens back to soul singers like Otis Redding....

Just one mile from the Ole Miss football field in Oxford, Mississippi, is a certain forest and a lake. On that lake is a house, and on that house is a beloved screened porch. “That’s where we live,” owner Lesley Mosby says. “If you ask anybody in the family, they’ll say, ‘We want to be out on the screened porch.’ " “Ask anybody in the family” sums up how the getaway came to be....

Turning down a bowl of Blue Bell ice cream — we wouldn’t dream of it. Turning down a bowl of a new flavor of Blue Bell ice cream? Seconds, please. That’s why we were excited to learn of a new seconds-and-thirds worthy flavor from the Brenham, Texas, based creamery that’s launching today, Thursday, February 25: Cookies ’n Cream Cone Ice Cream. The flavor is described as a creamy vanilla ice cream base mixed with chocolate crème filled cookie crumbles, chocolate cone pieces coated in dark chocolate, and a chocolate fudge sauce....

Forget about the fancy potluck party snack. We’re introducing you to the Fire Cracker, also known as the Alabama Fire Cracker. It’s simple. It’s delicious. It’s addictive. Bake them – or don’t bake them. Just make sure you shake them really well. Here’s the story behind this Southern snack that starts with a sleeve (okay, actually four sleeves) of saltine carckers. Ingredients 16 oz. package of saltine crackers 1 tsp. garlic powder...

In the 1985 film, Peewee’s Big Adventure, when the star’s beloved bike gets stolen he is desperate to find it. He is so desperate that he turns to a phony psychic named Madame Ruby who tells him that the bicycle can be found in the basement of the Alamo in San Antonio. After making his way to Texas, Peewee finds out the hard way that there’s no basement in the Alamo....

It’s a scorching 93 degrees as I sit here today with weeks of hot weather yet to arrive. Thus, you’ll forgive me if I’m not contemplating my spring garden with every waking thought. I do have to drink beer, you know. Neglecting spring entirely would be a sorry lapse of judgment, though, if future sweeps of flowering tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and snowflakes are on the menu. True, the time to plant bulbs is later....

Have you ever opened your fridge and noticed that your milk carton looks a little sweaty? Or your tea isn’t particularly iced or your brand new yogurt is halfway to cheese when you open it? If that sounds vaguely familiar, your fridge may not be working as well as it should be. Refrigerators have a gasket—a long rubber piece—that helps keep cold air in and warm air out, but if the seal isn’t working properly, it’s not doing its job and the stuff in your fridge is probably warmer than it should be....

Once you’ve had a ‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato sandwich, making one with any other tomato is like skipping the salt and pepper—it just ain’t right. Along the same lines, snack on a ‘Black Cherry’ tomato fresh from your garden and you’ll find yourself constantly counting to see how many more you have left on the vine. It’s the over-the-top flavor of these and other heirloom tomatoes that makes us want to grow them....

Our vintage cookbooks have been passed down through the generations, and the worn, bookmarked volumes are some of our most treasured possessions. They’re filled with dishes that have nourished our families for decades—needless to say, we want to preserve and protect our vintage cookbooks so that we can pass them down to our children too. We have a few pointers to share in regards to storage and use that will help you keep your vintage cookbooks in tip-top shape, and we also have one major tip for ensuring their contents are preserved forever....

We’re always looking for new ways to keep our homes spic and span, but one thing we rarely think of is how to clean a mattress. It’s a collector of dirt and grime, and it’s a spot to which we should devote more of our cleaning energies. You will want to tackle this project about once every six months. You Need a Healthy Sleeping Space While you’re sleeping, dust mites, bacteria, and skin cells collect, and—because we sweat when we sleep—all of this creates an environment that is hospitable to icky stuff and it is, of course, not ideal for the sleeper atop said mattress....

Stressed? Partner or kiddos driving you insane? Just need to step away from it all for a few? During these unsettling times amid the coronavirus pandemic, typical cure-alls like a yoga class or treating yourself to a movie date with a friend may not be options. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a simpler, better way to find a little peace and quiet from your home’s chaos. If we take a line from country singer Keith Urban’s playbook, perhaps we should all simply retreat to our closets when we need a chance to decompress from our quarantine pod....

For fans of the long-running Hallmark franchise, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, well we have some great news for you! This Sunday over on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Shane and Oliver are finally getting married! You won’t want to miss Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Vows We Have Made, premiering Sunday, October 17 at 9PM EST, but first we have an exclusive clip. (See above.) After eight years working side by side to solve the mysteries behind lost letters, Shane and Oliver have shown us that opposites attract and that their dynamic combination can also help make a difference in the lives of others....

No woman can forget the first time she colored her hair. Sliding into that salon chair evokes a mix of emotions: excitement about finally getting those honey-blonde highlights matched by fear that you’ll walk out looking a hot mess. Warm tones versus cool, highlights versus lowlights, or temporary versus permanent—the most crucial part of your first salon appointment comes down to picking the right thing. As any lady who has suffered the hair gods’ wrath in the form of brassy blonde stripes knows, these are not decisions to be taken lightly....

While trips to the beach are supposed to be fun and relaxing, getting there can be a challenge. Carrying everything your group needs—drinks and snacks, beach toys and activities, chairs, towels, and all sorts of other must-haves—usually proves to be a test of how many things your arms can hold, which is why this two-in-one storage piece is so darn handy. This convertible piece from Mac Sports is both a comfy beach chair and a roomy, easy-to-maneuver cart with big sand-friendly wheels....

“I’m going to start calling you Opal,” a friend told me after scarfing down a slice of my cake. If there’s a better compliment for an amateur baker than being compared to someone’s grandmother, I can’t think of it. Credit, of course, goes to Pam Lolley, our Test Kitchen pro who developed a Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake for our August 2019 issue. With it, she’s created a recipe so fudgy, so moist, and so downright foolproof that even I, someone who typically relies on store-bought and bakery-made, was able to whip up a cake that garnered “oh-my-gosh-this-tastes-like-my-grandmother’s” reviews....

In the wake of Hurricane Florence—and Harvey and Maria and Irma and Katrina and dozens of other storms before them, it’s clear that hurricanes are a frightening reality of life for many Southerners. While scientists expect the South to be battered by more storms and fiercer ones in the future, there is a ray of hope—the Cajun Navy. When the rain starts to fall, the wind starts knocking over trees, and the water starts to rise, these homegrown heroes are there to help save the day....

Blacksburg, Virginia may be a college town—the proud home of Virginia Tech’s Hokies—but any visitor will immediately sense that it’s much more than just a temporary students’ home. If you’re looking for a weekend of outdoor excursions, Blacksburg, Virginia, is the ideal retreat. Located in close proximity to various points on the Appalachian Trail—including the famed McAfee Knob—as well as a variety of walking and biking trails, rivers, and farms, Blacksburg offers a copious itinerary of outdoor adventures....

When we tasked architect Brandon Ingram with designing our 2021 Idea House plan, we knew we were in good hands. All of Brandon’s designs, including the ones he has completed for the Southern Living House Plan program, are filled with smart details that truly bring soul to a new build home. With a range of architectural styles included in the Riverbend (SL-2066) house plan, this 5,545-square-foot home has thoughtful details and spaces that make it seem approachable and cozy....

The eldest child of The Pioneer Woman recently joined her mama live on the Pioneer Woman magazine’s Instagram to share some big wedding news. Cue the wedding march, Alex Drummond and her fiancé Mauricio Scott have set the date and picked a wedding venue. A fan asked when the wedding will be and Alex promptly replied, May 1, with a smile. (That’s May 1, 2021, to be clear.) And then Mama Ree gave us the details we all crave....