Ashley's Blog

17 Terrible Mother's Day Gifts from money talk news

1. Diet or fitness products
Don't ever suggest your mom is fat, and definitely don't do it on Mother's Day.

2. Wrinkle cream
Did your mom give you acne products for your birthday? I hope not. If you give her wrinkle cream, you're telling her she's both old and wrinkly. Let mom buy her own cosmetics and creams.

3. Roses
Roses are a Valentine's Day bouquet. Instead, buy carnations and prepare a vase yourself.

4. A new pet
Giving mom a new puppy means more bills, more worries and more responsibilities. If your mom really loves animals, consider making a donation in her name to the local animal shelter or the ASPCA.

5. Cleaning equipment
Your mom is not your maid. Don't ruin her day by telling her she's great at cleaning and should do more of it.

6. Bath stuff
Your mom already had her own soaps and shampoos she used regularly, and she need anymore. .

7. Potpourri
It might smell nice to you, but it could be an allergen to mom. If you're not 100 percent sure, skip it.

8. Kitchen appliances
If your mother specifically asked for a new KitchenAid stand mixer, by all means go for it. But otherwise, Mother's Day isn't the time to ask for a free homemade meal.

9. Perfume
Chances are you don't know exactly what your mom is looking for in a scent, and you could buy something she wouldn't pick herself. If your mom already wears perfume, that's the perfume she wants. Don't make her feel obligated to switch scents because you got her a new smell.

10. Snarky signs
However well-intentioned those humorous signs are, many of them come off as snarky. While you might think a sign about cooking is great for the kitchen, or a sign about good moms keeping messy homes is great for her bedroom, she'll probably see it as your way of saying she should do more around the house. Not the message you want to send on Mother's Day.

11. Things that remind her of her mother
Shower caps, muumuus, flowery bathrobes — these might have been appropriate gifts for women of another generation, like your mother's mom, but not now. You don't want to dress like your grandparents' generation, and neither does she.

12. A self-help book
Talk about a condescending gift: Getting her a book about building better relationships or other ways she could improve herself is a really bad idea.

13. A gift card or certificate
They're impersonal, and you run the risk of giving her one for a store or restaurant she doesn't really like. Instead, take her out to dinner at her favorite restaurant. She'll enjoy it and you'll actually spend time with her.

14. Money
Even more impersonal than a gift card, money essentially says, "I don't know what you want or like, but this buys stuff." You can do better than that.

15. Clothes
You don't know her measurements, do you? If you do, that's creepy.

16. An empty photo frame
This gift tells her you don't have any memorable moments with her. Even worse: A framed photo of you.

17. A really big painting
Art is personal, and what your mother displays in her house is tailored to her tastes. Unless you're absolutely sure she wants a 56-inch Vincent van Gogh print, don't risk it. She'll feel obliged to hang it in her home even if she dislikes it.

10 Chores That Burn 100 Calories from foxnews.com

1. You could catch up on your DVR episodes of "Mad Men," but spending that 60 minutes washing and drying a sink full of dishes like a Betty Draper-esque housewife will be much more beneficial to your calorie count. Try multitasking entertainment and chores to burn 100 calories.

2. Bored of your morning beauty routine? Pinterest a new hairstyle, because holding your arms up to blow dry, straighten, and style your hair for 35 minutes will burn off 100 calories of breakfast.

3. You really should call your mother more often. Talking on the phone while walking around the house for 35 minutes will get you brownie points and burn enough calories for a 100 calorie brownie.

4. Wouldn't that couch look better on the south wall? Moving furniture around your living room for 25 minutes is a great 100-calorie workout, especially if you have an uber heavy hide-a-bed in your living room.

5. Mowing the lawn for 20 minutes can burn more calories than a power walk, but there's a catch; you have to mow with a push mower. You may feel like you're living on the frontier, but a push mower will turn your backyard into a bootcamp!

6. Can you even remember the last time you cleaned the bathroom? It's time. Scrubbing down the bathroom from floor to ceiling for 35 minutes burns as much as a 35-minute walk on the treadmill, and it's much more productive.

7. Wash the inside and outside of your windows for 30 minutes to burn off 100 calories. If you lived in the Empire State Building, for example, you'd burn 4,200 calories cleaning windows. That would be nearly a pound and a half of calories burned off!

8. It may scare the dog for the rest of the day, but vacuuming burns about 100 calories per 60 minutes. Go for every rug and upholstered surface in the house to burn calories and help with your seasonal allergies.

9. Moving laundry from washer to dryer, folding and organizing your closet for 45 minutes will actually help your clothes fit better. If you use an old-timey clothes wringer instead of a machine you can really get your arms working, but good luck finding one that isn't in a museum.

10. Lighten up! Tidying up activities such as changing out light bulbs, shredding junk mail, hanging pictures, reorganizing books for 30 minutes will work on your waistline while de-cluttering your house. Clutter makes it more difficult to relax if your own home, and relaxing helps bring down levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that holds on to fat in your body. Clean, burn calories, and de-stress.