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Christie and Wesley Werts have taken the idea of a blended family to the next level. When the couple fell in love five years ago and married, they brought together her children, Megan and Vance, and his children, Austin and Dakota.

As of January, the Ohio family has five children after adopting young Levi, 2. Levi is the son of Wesley’s ex-wife, who passed away four days after the child was born. The ex-wife had the boy prematurely, at 33 weeks, and died soon after from drug addiction and complications of COVID-19.

When Levi was born, he was a ward of the state with no first name or birth certificate.

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“When I heard about Levi, without hesitation, I said we should take him,” Christie said, according to The Daily Mail, and her reason went far beyond the fact that the child was the half-brother to two of her recently adopted children. “I myself was a foster kid and, although for the most part, I had a great experience, I did not want him going to foster care,” Christie said.

@cjthemom5

Replying to @Journey♥️ Yes, they will always know of her and ill be there for every emotion good or bad. But im also mom, ive been to every game, every doctors appt, sat with them if they needed an ear loved unconditional . I am mom also. #adoption #srorytime #siblings #foryou #loveislove

Before the family knew of Levi’s birth, Christie had a recurring dream about a blue-eyed, blonde-haired boy.

“Before Levi, we had wanted to try to have a child of our own,” she told Newsweek. “I’m in my forties, so we knew that we would probably need fertility treatment, so I thought let’s just think about it and what will be will be.”

The problem was that Levi was in Texas, so the family sold their house and moved to the Lone Star State to go through the arduous adoption process. The situation was further complicated because Levi’s biological father had parental rights even though he had substance abuse problems. The family couldn’t move out of Texas until his rights were legally terminated.

But after a 16-month process, in January 2023, Levi became a legal family member. Christie understands that adopting her husband’s ex-wife’s baby may seem unusual to some people. “It’s a lot to process for a lot of people, but honestly, it seems a lot crazier than it was. At the time, it just made sense,” she said.

@cjthemom5

Our adoption is official !!! after 17 months!!! #adoption #son #loveyou #ourstory#foryou #fyp

Even though Christie knew in her heart that she must adopt Levi, she wasn’t without reservations. “’If I said I did not [have concerns beforehand], that would not be honest,” she told The Daily Mail. “This was different—I was going to walk into a child I never met and was worried the circumstances would hinder this instant love. But […] he stole my heart. I also felt this intense need to protect him.”

These days, Levi fits right in with the family, and the rest of the kids are happy to be back to living an everyday life without any caseworkers or inspections.

“He’s great, he is the king of the house! We are all very close. He won’t understand the journey right now, but someday, I will let him know we fought for him!” Christie said.

This article originally appeared on 8.31.23

It’s obvious to most people that being financially unstable or living below the poverty level is a struggle. Figuring out meals that you can afford outside of ramen can be hard, especially if you have to make it last for days. In fact, cheap foods are generally really processed and unhealthy, but when that’s all you can afford, you make do with what you have.

But one creator on TikTok has made it her mission to provide content that will help people who are struggling to make healthier food on a tight budget. Rebecca Chobat runs the TikTok account Dollar Tree Dinners and creates meals using only the ingredients she can find at Dollar Tree, including meats. She shows recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner with an emphasis on stretching a tight budget.

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“There are plenty of people in the world who don’t have access to regular grocery stores or even fresh food. They may only have a Dollar Tree near them,” Chobat explains in a video before continuing. “My videos are here to show people that they can make the best use out of ingredients that are available to them.”

Living in a food desert or having to rely fully on food pantries for your meals is the reality for a lot of Americans. Chobat is hoping her videos help people in these sorts of situations make the best out of what they have access to. While some wouldn’t consider her meals the gold standard of healthy, when you look at the alternative, the meals she cooks are a much better option.

@dollartreedinners

$35 Budget Dollar Tree Grocery Shopping #dollartreedinners #shopwithme #shopwithmeatdollartree #dollartreegroceryhaul #dollartreefood #groceryshopping #grocerybudget #eatingonabudget #savemoney

Chobat uses a lot of frozen vegetables in her recipes to not only add color but to add nutritional value. Even while being sure to incorporate vegetables, she’s also aware that not everyone has access to a refrigerator, so she makes some meals that don’t require frozen or refrigerated foods.

@dollartreedinners

Making a $5 One Pot Taco Chili #dollartreedinners #5dollardinner #eatingonabudget #feedinglargefamilies #norefrigeration #pantrymeals #easyrecipe #weeknightdinner #cheapmeals #fivedollarmeal #onepotmeals #20minmeals

The budget-friendly TikTok user also shows you how to meal prep and make grab-and-go lunches for work as well as no-reheat lunches for kids. Every option is low cost and can help people who may only have $10 to buy enough food to hold them over until their next payday.

In one video, she made creamy spinach pasta with meatballs that not only look delicious but makes enough to feed more than one person or to have leftovers for the next day. With the way grocery prices have gone up over the past year, her recipes may help families who are having trouble making ends meet.

@dollartreedinners

$5 Dinner Idea: Creamy Spinach Pasta with Meatballs #dollartreedinners #dollartree #dollartreefood #5dollardinner #eatingonabudget #howtoeatcheap #foodbudget #dollartreegroceries #makeitcheaper

Budget-friendly recipes don’t often come with videos that show you how to cook the meals and much of the time the ingredients come from bigger grocery stores. But with Chobat, no matter where you live or how little money you have, there’s a recipe on her page for you. She even did a series on how to cook while staying in a hotel.

Chobat’s TikTok page isn’t for everyone and she knows that. In fact, she is very deliberate in her word choice and items purchased because she wants to ensure that the people who need her videos the most don’t feel shamed. It may seem like a small thing to some, but what Chobat is doing is likely changing lives.

This article originally appeared on 2.28.23

Beyoncé does it again. Her highly anticipated album, Cowboy Carter, is already rolling in accolades stemming from the project’s massive streaming number.

According to Spotify, the body of work’s debut earned the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer another notch on her belt. The streamer shared the news on its official X (formerly Twitter) page. “On Friday, March 29, Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far,” read the note.

The collaborative album We Don’t Trust You by Metro Boomin and Future previously held the crown. But the history-setting for Beyoncé didn’t stop there. Spotify revealed that thanks to Cowboy Carter‘s performance on the platform, it also set a new milestone for country music overall. “This is also the first time a country album holds the title this year,” they wrote.

The album’s projection onto the Guggenheim Museum and Rome’s Colosseum, plus its many conversation-stirring cover variants, Cowboy Carter was bound for global domination.

In a letter penned by the musician, the album was birthed from a place of “not feeling welcomed.” But it has turned into “a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive” that supporters are eating up.

Patience is a virtue. With that said, some folks just don’t have any to spare. One of those people includes the alleged sexual assault victim of Afrika Bambaataa (real name Lance Taylor).

After filing the claim in 2021, the unnamed complainant (referred to as John Doe) hoped to resolve the matter quickly. However, as of 2024, the case has not yet been determined in court. Given how speedy Cassie’s bombshell lawsuit against Diddy was settled, Doe is now urging its presiding judge to make a decision.

In court documents exclusively obtained by HipHopDX (a fellow subsidiary of Warner Music Group), Doe filed a petition through their attorney on March 28 to make their request for the Bronx judge to sign the order. Read a snippet of the petition below.

This firm represents the Plaintiff in the above-referenced matter. Plaintiff filed a Motion for Default Judgment (motion sequence #3) against Def. Taylor on August 1, 2022. Plaintiff is once again respectfully inquiring as to when the Court will issue a decision and Order.

The outlet shared that the initial sexual assault case allegedly favoring Doe was given to the judge in 2022. since then, the case has been “sitting on the official’s desk” unacknowledged.

As of March 30, the judge in the case has not yet taken action in John Doe’s filing.

HBO’s Big Little Lies debuted in 2017 as a limited series. This not only hard-launched the TV-heavy phase of Nicole Kidman’s career — including The Undoing, Expats, and Nine Perfect Strangers — but also snagged both a voluminous audience and critical acclaim as engineered by David E. Kelley.

So, the show continued for a second season, which made those lies bigger and officially moved beyond Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name. In the end, the so-called “Monterey Five” — Madeline (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste (Kidman), Renata (Laura Dern), Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz), and Jane (Shailene Woodley) — turned themselves in at the police station for their combined involvement in Perry’s death. This could have been the end, albeit slightly ambiguous, after it was revealed that Bonnie had flown into a rage and killed Celeste’s abusive husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård).

Prior to these ladies landing in a ^^ lineup, Perry’s insufferable mother (Meryl Streep) had been ratcheting up the tension among the friends, and she was the lone character who had a semi-happy ending. Was that all the series was destined to write? Nope. Kidman and Witherspoon began putting out feelers, and Laura Dern further stoked flames regarding her desire to tell more Lies. Let’s talk about what we know so far and what might happen next.

Plot

To start, is a third season really possible? There’s momentum, and that’s also how the second season happened. As Dern previously told us, “[The decision] was solely based on how excited the audiences were,” and “our novelist had another idea for a continuation and sort-of wrote a novella-style bible of where these characters went from there. It was certainly hard for any of us to not want to continue because we love each other so much, and we really love our characters. I could have no more fun than playing Renata, my god.”

Renata is a trip, for sure, and ideally, we’ll see more of her being fabulous while dancing in her back yard. HBO/Max head honcho Casey Bloys has revealed that he is privy to the chatter going on about a storyline, and he knows “a little bit about the idea. I think it could be great.”

Oh, and Kidman’s daughter believes that Celeste has much more work to do to move forward in life. She’s not wrong:

“My daughter is the one who watched both of the [seasons] and went, ‘OK, there’s just no question, there has to be a third,’” Kidman explained. “She’s like, ‘Celeste, she’s not coping in the second one, what is she doing? I could kind of see the point of view of Mary Louise.’”

From there? Well first, the ladies need to get out of jail and off the hook for the Perry situation. Presumably, Bonnie’s actions could turn out to be proven as justified in a court of law, but the group coverup does not look good. From there, hopefully Liane Moriarty can send these ladies into the biggest lies ever.

Cast

The series would not be complete without all five stars, including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, and Shailene Woodley. Their three living husbands are portrayed by Jean Marc-Vallée, Jeffrey Nordling, and Adam Scott. Alexander Skarsgård portrayed the late Perry Wright, husband to Kidman’s Celeste. Meryl Streep barreled in as Perry’s passive-aggressive mother, who won’t take anything for an answer.

Release Date

Given how enthused the cast seems to make this go, we can bet that — if it happens — mid-to-late 2025 is possible.

Trailer

There’s no telling what the cast and David E. Kelley will cook up, but for now, enjoy “Bonnie’s dancing.”

Humans have enjoyed the art of puppetry since ancient times, and like all arts, puppeteering has become more and more refined over the centuries. To see that evolution in action, look no further than the incredible skills of Polish puppeteer Lukasz Puczko.

Puczko’s ability to mimic a dog’s movements with with his dog marionette, Burek, is so impressive even real dogs are duped. In a TikTok video that’s been viewed nearly 20 million times, Puczko is seen on a crowded street at an arts festival with Burek as he pounces around, wags his tail, lifts his ears and crouches into a playful stance just like a real dog would.

And it’s so convincing, his real doggy counterpart doesn’t seem to know what to do.

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Puczko shared that Burek carries the scent of other dogs, so a little wind will quickly catch a real dog’s attention. Then the “uncanny valley” experience begins, and you can almost hear the real dog saying, “That’s not real. Wait, is it real? That can’t be real. Or can it?”

Watch:

@aonsolniki

Burek – The Dog Marionette. Fully improvised show with unique type of marionette. Puppet has a smell from other dogs, what with a propper wind can bring a dog to Burek in seconds what randomly starts interaction. Body language allowed by handmade construction is the key here. Burek is not barking, but people around my shows are 😅 This puppet is working as well as a therapy dog for people who are affraid of dogs 💪 those are very random moments during a show on a street, but not that impossible to handle with this puppet. This is 7th generation of Burek, first has been made in 2009. (For licensing or usage, contact [email protected]) st-Art Festival, Tegelen 2024, Totaal Theater. #dogs #puppet #street

Even the people who clearly know it’s a puppet will reach down to scratch Burek’s ears and chin and pet him as if he were real. It’s incredible to witness.

@aonsolniki

Burek – The Dog Marionette. Fully improvised show with unique type of marionette. Puppet has a smell from other dogs, what with a propper wind can bring a dog to Burek in seconds what randomly starts interaction. Body language allowed by handmade construction is the key here. Burek is not barking, but people around my shows are 😅 This puppet is working as well as a therapy dog for people who are affraid of dogs 💪 those are very random moments during a show on a street, but not that impossible to handle with this puppet. This is 7th generation of Burek, first has been made in 2009 st-Art Festival 2024, Tegelen. Totaal Theater. #dogs #puppet #street

Puczko shared that Burek is often used as a therapy tool for people who are afraid of dogs. That makes perfect sense, since his movements are so similar to a real dog he can be used to demonstrate how dogs communicate through body language.

The encounters Puczko shares are fully improvised, which is all the more impressive. It’s one thing to memorize a choreographed show with a marionette and another to have the movements down so intuitively that the puppeteer—or puppyteer, in this case—can interact so fluidly in the moment.

Here’s Burek meeting other dogs during the holidays. The poor pups seem so confused at what they’re seeing.

It’s always a joy to watch someone who is a master of their craft, and Puczko’s puppetry skills are just as entertaining as the dogs’ reactions to them.

You can follow Lukasz Puczko on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

It must be incredibly hard to do live TV comedy sketches and never break character, especially when you’re working alongside some of the funniest people on the planet. Every “Saturday Night Live” cast member has had their moment where the sketch was too funny and they lost control, but few had it happen more times than Bill Hader, who starred on the show from 2005 to 2013.

One of Hader’s most popular characters on SNL was Stefon, the New York City nightlife reporter. Multiple times during the sketch, he had to cover his face to prevent the audience from seeing him laughing.

But one of the most obvious character breaks Hader ever had was in 2010, on season 36 of the show, during a “Hollywood Dish” sketch where he and Kirsten Wiig played entertainment reporters. The guest on this episode was Scarlett Johannson.

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Towards the end of the sketch, Hader spits a Big Gulp onto Wiig and throws a bowl over her head and the duo completely loses it. The clip recently emerged on TikTok, and people are remembering how hilarious Hader and Wiig were on the show.

(The entire sketch is at the bottom of the article.)

Great clip

@vincentlaframboise

Great clip #snl #saturdaynightlive #funny #humor #billhader #funnyvideos #scarlettjohansson

Scarlett Johansson, who’s hosted ‘SNL’ 6 times and is married to head writer Colin Jost, does a commendable job in the sketch by not breaking character. “She is such a good actress to just go along with it. Clearly, that wasn’t planned, but good for her for not breaking,” Jill wrote in the comments.

Hollywood Dish with Scarlett Johansson – SNL

Hours after Beyoncé dropped her new album Cowboy Carter, she also sent musician Mickey Guyton a truly lovely surprise. Guyton posted a picture of a large bouquet of white flowers that she received, along with a heartfelt note from Queen Bey.

“Mickey, thank you for opening doors for me queen,” Beyoncé wrote in the card. “Keep shining.”

“With opportunity comes possibility,” Guyton captioned the sweet photo. “The possibilities are endless with you @Beyonce. God gave me an assignment and I followed. May the doors continue to stay wide open.”

For fans who weren’t already familiar with her or her career, Guyton is a country musician from Texas and a five-time Grammy nominee. Specifically, she is the first Black woman to be nominated for the Best Country Solo Performance, after her 2020 song “Black Like Me” became a major and impactful hit. She then released her debut album in 2021.

Guyton is also a huge Beyoncé fan. About two years ago, she performed Bey’s “If I Were A Boy” as a cover during her Global Citizen Festival set. Most recently, she shared a throwback video on Instagram and pointed out how she was “so excited” to hear her in her “country era.”

View Mickey Guyton’s post about her gift from Beyoncé above.

Cowboy Carter is out now via Parkwood/Columbia. Find more information here.

We have all wondered what we might do in certain situations that seem to take super human courage. While many people like to assume they”d have the wherewithal to do what needed to be done in a dramatic situation, thankfully most won’t need to find out. But for the ones that do, it seems there’s not much thinking involved. Just adrenaline and instinct to protect.

Adriana Alvarez, a mom to an adult daughter found herself acting on pure mama bear instincts when her adult daughter was almost a victim of kidnapping. Her 18-year-old daughter, Lex, was just about to enter the home after walking the dog when a man wearing a surgical mask jumped the railing grabbed her and carried her away.

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Lex can be seen struggling on the doorbell camera while her screams pierced the air. That’s when Alvarez is seen peaking around the corner to see what’s happening when it appears she recognized her child was the one being carried down the steps. Immediately the fierce mom begins trying to attack the man, fighting him down all four flights of stairs.

The mom was pepper sprayed and punched but she was determined to free her child from this would be kidnapper. She was successful with the help of two of her neighbors.

“I never heard her scream like that,” Alvarez told NBC News.

When the mom made it to the first floor she ran to a neighbor’s apartment who then began chasing the man. Once the attempted kidnapper ran across the street, another neighbor took chase and tackled the man. Lex was sparred from whatever plans the man had for her and escaped with just a few scratches.

Alvarez on the other hand was pretty banged up with a dislocated shoulder, bruises on her face and an eye injury. She explained to NBC that she was unconcerned about her safety, her only focus was saving her daughter. What an incredible demonstration of not only bravery but community. Watch the entire harrowing video below.

The 1975’s Matty Healy is using his time wisely since the band is currently on hiatus. In a new announcement today, Healy uploaded a new song called “Loads Of Crisps” to Soundcloud under the alias “Truman Black,” allowing fans to still hear some tunes.

Overall, it is a very calming track, perfect for listening to at night — whether you’re on a drive past some city lights or just sitting at home.

“A family pet / A brand new purse / A man of steel / A wooden hearse,” Healy sings over a twinkling electronic beat when his voice comes in around the 1:20 minute mark. “Something borrowed / Something new / Something old / Me and you.”

According to the song’s release page on Genius, Healy produced it alongside fellow band member George Daniel. Back in 2022, the track was originally released as a demo from The 1975, but this seems to be the first proper release, according to NME. A few years earlier, he also reportedly auctioned off a painting with the same title.

As for what fans can expect from The 1975, the band recently finished their Still… At Their Very Best Tour and now plan to relax. Last month, they also dropped a song as part of the soundtrack for Apple TV+’s The New Look series.

Check out Matty Healy’s “Loads Of Crisps” below.