Kathy Landin

The Elf on the Shelf—whether you find him cute, annoying or somewhere in between, he's everywhere these days, making the holiday season even more complicated for parents. We did a little investigating on this elusive creature that has become a phenomenon, and discovered a few things we didn't expect.

The school buses are running again, and the kids are out of the house. Finally. With the end of the far-too-long summer break, this return to school days can leave you with a little extra time on your hands during the day, right? Well, maybe not too much, but your daily schedule should ease up a bit, so now what do you do? You get back on the Internet, that’s what.

Even if you don’t realize it, you are already familiar with the latest hotness in social sharing apps. Instagram is the photo sharing app that allows users to take, filter, post, share, like and follow photos and photo collections. It makes even the worst photographer seem like a shutterbug. But what else can it do?

Our pets are important to us, and a lot of times, we’ll consider whether a potential mate is a cat or dog person before we take the relationship to the next level. And, for almost everyone, whether or not your significant other gets along with your pets can be a deal breaker. But would you expect cats to be at the root of this couple’s divorce?

The service men and women of our country make huge sacrifices to fight battles on our behalf and keep the freedoms we hold dear. One of those sacrifices is being away from their families and loved ones for long periods of time. The only thing that makes this sacrifice bearable for most is the incredible sweetness of coming home, even if it is only for a short leave.

When you go to Arby’s you expect to get finger food like, say, tater tots with horsey sauce. What you don’t expect is to be served an actual finger. But, a human finger is exactly what one kid got in his junior roast beef sandwich.

As of Friday, Mark Zuckerberg is officially in a relationship with everyone. Facebook’s IPO became available Thursday with shares now being traded for about $43 a piece. And, of course, the occasion was marked with a status update by the founder himself.

We’ve all done it. We buy a small bag of groceries at the store to donate to a food bank. We bring toys for the tots. We buy some gloves and a scarf to put on a tree for a needy child. But few of us have done what Rankin Paynter did for his Clark County community.

With the popularity of eBay and craigslist, it has become very easy to get great deals on “gently used” items without leaving the comfort of your home, but as the weather warms up, we can’t deny that there is just something much more exciting about finding those great deals while on the hunt at garage sales all over town.

We’ve watched the guys at Epic Meal Time make massive desserts. We’ve watched them make massive St. Patrick’s Day treats. And we’ve watched them make massive, yet amusing, fools out of themselves. Today, we watch them make the most massive bacon burger ever created by man. And we love them for it.