• I write books.

    I do! It's true. I have written for all sorts of different audiences. My first book was literary adult fiction and I've written many many books that have fallen into the category "juvenile fiction" and "YA fiction". I talk about my books and writing in general on my other site, which is at www.karenrivers.com. (I don't know how to make that a live link, so you may have to copy and paste.) (Sorry.) THIS site is about me, my hair, my kids, my appliances, and that time that I rode my bike down a cliff and then got stung by a bee. It may not all be appropriately awesome (or even slightly interesting) to kids, so if you are young, LOOK AWAY. That said, there is nothing harmful here, except the occasional swear, which I ask you to edit out with your eyes. Blink blink.

  • I take pictures.







    More Photos

  • Is it safe to eat raw bacon?

    No. You shouldn't eat any raw pork products. You could get trichinosis and no doubt a number of other food-borne illnesses. With the recent change in food safety standards, I'd frankly cook the crap out of any meat product I purchased before eating it. Even if it's already cooked. Seriously. Keep in mind that I am not a raw bacon expert, I just play one on the web.

  • I Flock

  • Categories

FIVE THINGS TO BUY FOR YOUR WIFE FOR CHRISTMAS SO YOU CAN STOP PANICKING ALREADY EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE NOW RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

Posted on December 12th, 2009 by Karen

Well, looky here, it’s our annual, helpful Christmas gift-buying feature, brought to you entirely by ME. No sponsors are even slightly interested in my list although I hear that Gilette is looking for a new face for their razors. That sounded wrong (it was really just a dumb Tiger Woods reference [...]

Filed under: Five Thing Friday, Shopping | 4 Comments »

Five Things + Friday = Five Thing Friday. Surprised? Because it’s actually Thursday? Well, no one is perfect.

Posted on August 6th, 2009 by Karen

I realize that if you read this blog regularly, it’s starting to look like I do nothing but watch/obsess about crap reality shows and shop and I want you to know that that’s really not the case. I swear that now that The Bachelorette is over*, the only show I watch is [...]

Filed under: Five Thing Friday, Shopping | No Comments »

On J.Crew.

Posted on August 4th, 2009 by Karen

So as you probably know, I buy a lot of my clothes at J.Crew. (FINAL SALE!) (Seriously, this is the most astounding sale ever, and if you have coupons, you can get that $200 sweater you’ve coveted all season for something like $23.99.) The funny thing is that when I hear OTHER people [...]

Filed under: Shopping | 3 Comments »

I call this post, “Dear Samsung”, because that is how it starts and I’m clever that way.

Posted on July 6th, 2009 by Karen

Dear Samsung,
I hate you.
Let me backtrack a bit. I know you’ll be interested in how this day began, and who wouldn’t be? Well, let me tell you. It started off fine. Just. Fine. We got up at 7. [...]

Filed under: Shopping | No Comments »

Five Thing Friday! It’s a New Feature, except it’s not Friday, and there are nine things. Hey, no one is perfect.

Posted on June 20th, 2009 by Karen

I’ve been thinking about this blog and what it needs, mostly to keep me posting regularly (apart from The Bachelorette which I blog religiously on Mondays) (OK, fine, mostly on Tuesdays).   So after careful thought (i.e. I was vacuuming the crap from under the dining room table and thought, “I should add more structure to [...]

Filed under: Five Thing Friday, Shopping | No Comments »

How to Hook Up A Canon Wireless Pixma MP620 To Your MacBook Without The Story Ending With You Lying In The Road Begging A Bus To Please Run You Over To Stop The Insanity Already.

Posted on June 11th, 2009 by Karen

It’s my birthday on Friday.   I’m going to be 39.   I tell you this to save you from looking up somewhere else how old I am or trying to guess based on my picture.    Everyone who has guessed (And why WOULD you guess my age?  Seriously?  I will tell you if you want to know.  [...]

Filed under: MacBook, Shopping | 5 Comments »

Five dresses that I covet because … pretty! Not that they fit my lifestyle in any way because they are not “yoga pants” or “ugly”.

Posted on May 28th, 2009 by Karen

It’s time for more fantasy shopping because why not?   I like shopping and also imaginary shopping.   I also like to pretend that I DO look like Kate Walsh because my mum told me that I did the other day and she’s not one to dish out compliments randomly or with an ulterior motive.   She was [...]

Filed under: Shopping | 2 Comments »

What To Buy For Your Wife For Mother’s Day Or Just Generally What To Buy For Me If You Want To Buy Me Stuff And Why Would You Because — Honestly — Do You Know Me Well Enough To Want To Buy Me Stuff? Not That I’m Saying You Shouldn’t.

Posted on May 7th, 2009 by Karen

I was all gung-ho to write this post this morning, filled with bright and witty suggestions for Mother’s Day gifts but then I watched a documentary called The Bridge last night and my brain refuses to dislodge itself from the sludgy depressed stupor it has fallen into, sort of like I imagine it was for [...]

Filed under: Mothers Day, Shopping | 2 Comments »

The Green Jacket Miracle And Some Other Stuff.

Posted on April 16th, 2009 by Karen

Yesterday The Birdy and The Bun woke up sounding like baby seals on an ice floe barking an SOS to The Universe. Using my excellent Mummy instincts, I flashed back to last year when The Birdy — sounding similar — accompanied me on a doctor’s appointment for something unrelated, and was instantly diagnosed [...]

Filed under: Kids, Laundry, Shopping | 1 Comment »

Hey, guess what? There’s an Eighth Circle.

Posted on April 11th, 2009 by Karen

I woke up today — oh, wait, that part’s not even true! I’m starting this post with a terrible lie! Because if I say “I woke up” then that would mean I’d been asleep. But I had not. Nope. Not me. That [...]

Filed under: Laundry, Shopping | No Comments »

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