Short days, miserable weather and a lack of cash.

It’s no wonder January is the worst month for couples.

The average couple’s arguing rises to 8 minutes a day during the month – and two thirds have broken up with their significant other at the start of the year. Wonderful right?!

The January blues means people spend 15 hours a day at home – causing ‘cabin fever’.

If they are strong enough to stick at it, couples will waste four hours in the month fighting – but for some the idea of the tough month was so bad they broke up as part of a New Years resolution.

Behavioral Psychologist Donna Dawson said: “Cabin Fever is a real phenomenon that takes place during the dark winter months, particularly January. The lack of sunlight can make us feel lethargic and depressed, and the lack of exercise and the fact that we are cooped up in a stuffy, centrally-heated house can make us feel edgy, irritable and stressed. Add boredom to the mix, alongside any financial issues and too much empty time with our partners, and you have the perfect recipe for arguments and consequent break-ups.”

The study of over 1,000, by Sheila Wheels’ home insurance found that long hours at home result in 20 arguments with their other halves during the month.

Compared those stats with the summer months when people spend ten hours and five minutes at home and couples have just 16 arguments.

Over two thirds  blamed the weather for wanting to spend more time indoors, while 65%  said it was the lack of daylight. The other third said they were tightening their belts after Christmas.

As a result, nearly half of those questioned cut down on social time spent with friends in January, while a third also claimed they neglect their family.

The January blues struck 38% with the under 25  age group being the worst hit at 48 per cent, saying January was the most depressing month of the year.

After they dragged themselves from under the covers, with 59%  saying January was the most difficult month to get out of bed, 38%  started and finished work in the dark.

But one in five confessed to giving up all together and pulling a ‘sickie’.

Because of the dark times 65%  have ended a relationship in January and 7% even confessed that they had broken up with someone as part of a New Year’s resolution.

Jacky Brown at Sheilas Wheels’ home insurance said: “The miserable weather, dark nights and lack of cash means we’re spending more time at home during January and this can put a strain on our relationships.
Getting regular exercise, arranging to see friends and family and taking up a new hobby can all help to keep spirits high during January.” (Guess I Might have to rethink my New Years Resolution of NOT stepping foot in a gym…)

People  spend the most amount of time arguing with their partners in January at 24 arguments, averaging 13 minutes each day compared to those in the North East who spend just two minutes arguing each day.

Fans of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have hit the jackpot, now that the country superstars have reunited for a series of Soul2Soul shows at the Venetian Las Vegas.

“We wanted to tour again for a while, and it’s always a long space between our tours,” McGraw told CMT Hot 20 Countdown. “It’s because when both of us are working it’s really tough with our daughters. But what made this so appealing and so perfect is to be able to play a small venue like this and be so close to the audience and be intimate and do a limited engagement at one spot. So we could fly in and out and be home and still do the things that we need to do during the school year.”

In this interview with producer Terry Bumgarner, the country couple discuss the benefits of playing a small theater, building the set list to reflect their career together and battling the butterflies before a big show.

Read the full interview here~  http://on.cmt.com/UoSLwC

Lee Brice Has ‘Fresh’ Christmas Album on His Bucket List

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Lee Brice. The ‘Hard to Love’ hitmaker reveals that he wants to record a Christmas album, but with a twist — instead of yet another in the endless parade of half-baked ‘White Christmas’ renditions already out there, the singer-songwriter would like to make a holiday album that includes a lot of new material.

“For me, I would want to make a Christmas record that was as fresh or as good as if it was a regular album, and not necessarily a Christmas album,” Brice tells the Boot. “There would be a few classics on there that I would cut my own way, maybe in a way that hadn’t been cut before, or recorded. And I definitely would want to write some stuff that nobody has heard before; so it would probably be about half [new] and half [traditional].”

That said, Brice admits he doesn’t have any specific song ideas for the project just yet. “Christmas is a very specific thing. You’ve just got to open your brain up and open your mind up and do something that’s kind of outside the box,” he relates. “Maybe it’s funny or maybe it’s a little more serious in another whole way. You have to go down other avenues to make something fresh. It’s difficult.”

The musician is also planning a new studio album for next year, as well as some high-level touring with an as-yet-unnamed artist, but he said the Christmas album is virtually a done deal. “I will end up doing that,” he affirms. “I think [label head] Mike Curb definitely wants me to do one of those. We’ve talked about it.”

Want to see the Top 50 Country Christmas Songs Ever? Check out the following link.

http://tasteofcountry.com/tim-mcgraw-dear-santa-top-50-country-christmas-songs/

Even those who’s kitchens go relatively unused the rest of the year might just find themselves preparing a meal or two this holiday season.  Just be CAREFUL, watch what you eat and remember, ALWAYS WASH YOUR PRODUCE! I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of eating produce a time or two without washing it but that will never happen again after reading this article!

You can’t help but be a little worried anytime you take a week-old bag of salad greens out of the fridge. But the worst you usually encounter is wilted greens. A woman in Minneola, Fla. found something far more gross when she opened her crisper this morning. According to WFTV9, she picked up the bag of Marketside greens she bought at Walmart last Thursday, Oct. 18, and found a live frog camped out inside her salad bag.

You can tell that the frog is alive because its heartbeat is clearly visible in a video posted on the WFTV9 website. Wonder how a frog survived that long inside a plastic bag? Most plastic used to package salads these days is slightly permeable, which allows the lettuce — and apparently, any stray amphibians — to breathe. The bag was unopened, so it’s extremely unlikely that the frog entered the bag anywhere but the Market Fresh factory.

Shockingly, this is far from the first time an innocent customer has discovered a Mealbreaker-worthy frog inside a bag of mixed greens.

Two different UK residents found them in September 2012 alone — a dead one in a bag of salad from Tesco and a live one in a salad from Waitrose. Stateside, you have to go back to November to find a similar case — this one from a salad purchased at Costco — that attracted similar publicity.

Together, this plague of frogs and a recent spate of bagged salad recalls are almost enough to make us buy our own salad mixers. Or stop eating salads altogether! Other foods must be safer, right?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/frog-in-salad-bag-walmart_n_2010923.html

It’s still pretty early in December.  So you still have time to make changes if necessary!

–A new survey asked men and women to name their dream gifts, AND the gifts they hate the most.  Here are the results . . . plan the rest of your shopping and frantic gift returning accordingly.

 –The top five gifts women want the most:

#1.)  Designer shoes.

#2.)  A designer coat.

#3.)  A pet.

#4.)  A designer purse.

#5.)  Jewelry.

–The five gifts women DON’T want:

#1.)  Household items.

#2.)  Gift cards.

#3.)  Champagne.

#4.)  A gym membership.

#5.)  A kitchen appliance.

–The top five gifts MEN want the most:

#1.)  Season tickets to their favorite sports team, preferably football.

#2.)  An iPad.

#3.)  An expensive watch.

#4.)  A designer suit.

#5.)  Gardening equipment.

–The five gifts men DON’T want:

#1.)  A tie.

#2.)  Socks.

#3.)  A shirt.

#4.)  A book.

#5.)  Cufflinks.

WOW! I don’t know what else to say…. Check out this fan posted video of new EMI artist Drake White.

Found out that our good friend Marlene for EMI Records is bringing one of her new artists to the station to introduce him and let him share some of his music with us. Whenever there is a new artist stopping by, like to look them up and see what they are all about. We have had some really wonderfully talented people stop by but I don’t think anyone has made stop and pick my jaw up off the floor like this guy did. And that was just from watching fan posted YouTube videos! Can’t wait to hear him live later today. Mike Allen will be interviewing him so we be posting the interview and some of Drake’s music for you to see soon. We will let you know when it is up! I have NO DOUBT that we will be seeing a lot from this guy in the future!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3H0uVoFllo[/youtube]

Doesn’t get any more Country Christmas Fabulous than this! Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIdnYAkqSes[/youtube]

I am not kidding you when I tell you that I was actually out shopping for Christmas decorations, lights etc when my son Eli got so excited over the inflatable, light-up yard decorations I thought it would be fun to get one. Especially if I could find the Santa in a trailer that I had seen somewhere last year! Then my son would be the happiest kid ever (at least for the rest of day) and I would laugh hysterically every time I pulled into my driveway! Win~ Win! I have to point out that I live in an area where there is quite a bit of distance (and foliage) between homes!

Anyway…   Wanting to find my “Trailer Park Santa” inflatable, I did what anyone would do these days while standing in the middle of a store; I pulled out my IPhone and “Googled”  it!  Much to my surprise  the very inflatable I was looking for was listed as the tackiest/ funniest Christmas decoration in an article from a very popular newspaper. Check out the Top 11 Most Ridiculous Inflatable Christmas decorations CLICK HERE. 

So Eli is now 3 and VERY excited for Christmas. Unfortunately he just can’t grasp the concept that Christmas is not “tonight” or ” tomorrow” or that I can’t make Christmas happen “right now” no matter how much he wants me to! It all started when I was cleaning up Halloween decorations (the day after Halloween) and Eli came unglued, crying and wanting to know what I was doing with “his” ghosts, pumpkins and spiders! I explained that we had to put them away to make room for other Holiday decorations. When he wanted to know what holiday I responded with “Thanksgiving”…. When I then got a bewildered confused stare,  I realized he had no concept of Thanksgiving either…. *sigh*  Without thinking I then blurted out “Christmas”…. Wow, I wish I could take that moment of time back!!! Now daily he asks “when will Santa be here?”,  “is Christmas today?” and “do I get presents tonight?”!!!! When I try to explain to my sweet little boy that Christmas is coming but not here yet, he freaks out and then says “why not? I’ve been good!”!!! THIS HAPPENS DAILY! Trying to come up with ideas to distract him.  I think I’m past trying to explain how Christmas is next month…. We made scarecrows for Thanksgiving and decorated the house with any and everything I could think of that was fall related. We have a “thankful chart” and talk about the different things he’s thankful for every night. Still, no matter what I do he’s still stuck on Christmas! Last night after another discussion about having to wait for Christmas I finally suggested he start writing lists of things he might want for Christmas AND a list of things he wants to get for other people! (Luckily he LOVES giving as much as he does receiving!) He worked Very hard on his lists for Santa for over an hour! Finally after all pf his work was done I asked if I should mail his letter to Santa. His reply? “No, just take a picture and text it to Santa K?!”  Are you kidding me?! Oh no…. Then he insisted on sleeping with his letter to Santa…. Not sure why but it was way too cute. Thinking about caving in and decorating for Christmas this weekend… Too soon?

I Love Miranda Lambert and I LOVE this video! The fact that she thought to have Danica Patrick in her video makes it’s just that more amusing!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbaEVA259IE[/youtube]