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The bathroom’s an ideal place for many houseplants. Some are even happy in the shower

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

The term bathroom décor often conjures thoughts of decorative shelving, a framed print or perhaps a colorful shower curtain. But what about houseplants? Most houseplants are tender tropical plants that thrive best in the warm, humid conditions of their native climate, often a rainforest or jungle. So, a bathroom, especially one with a window that also hosts a daily shower (or several), can be an ideal spot to grow them.Recent trends are going a step further, adding plants not only to the bathroom but inside the shower, either on the floor, hanging from the ceiling, placed on the ledge of the tub or on a shelf above it. If you go this route, take care to keep them out of the path of the water stream. Tropical plants like humidity but not soggy soil. In fact, they’ll likely need less water than their out-of-shower counterparts.WHAT TO CHOOSEPlants best suited for jungle showers include prayer plant (Calathea), moth orchid (Phalaenopsis), golden pothos/devil’s ivy (Pothos), flamingo fl...

Denver metro could actually have a white Christmas this year

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Dec. 25 is less than a week away, and those of you who have been dreaming of a white Christmas might just get your wish.While the Tuesday before Christmas could possibly break a heat record with highs in the upper 60s, a big change is coming this weekend. The Pinpoint Weather team has been tracking Denver's chances for a white Christmas this year, and many areas will wake up to snow. It just depends if you think a white Christmas is snow falling or simply having snow on the ground. View the latest Weather Alerts in Denver and across Colorado on FOX31 It's important to remember that there are still six days until Christmas, which means the forecast, especially snow totals, is subject to change as the storm gets closer. Be sure to stick with the Pinpoint Weather team for the latest weather updates. When will the snow arrive?The weather will go from highs in the upper 50s to the 30s. Light snow will begin to move into Colorado beginning on the Western Slope by early S...

How to recognize and manage holiday stress

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — There’s less than a week until Christmas, and the holiday stress might be setting in. This time is supposed to be about cheer and joy, but some Americans feel more stressed out during the holidays. A lot of potential stressors include: Do I have the perfect gift? Is my house good enough to host all these people? Am I spending as much money on someone else as they’re spending on me?A study by the American Psychiatric Association Foundation found that 29% of Americans feel more stressed out this year than they were last year. They said the main cause of holiday stress is money, money surrounding food, gifts, decorations, and more. “So, we certainly know that there are economic factors like inflation, but ultimately, we think through our doctors that they're striving for perfection, that you're just trying to achieve something that's impossible, and you're willing to spend almost anything to try to achieve it. There is just no such thing as a perfect holiday,” said Raw...

UK ups Stormont rescue offer to £3.3bn as DUP told to stop blocking a deal

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

DUBLIN — The price tag for reviving Northern Ireland’s cross-community government keeps going up – but the U.K. now says £3.3 billion is as good as it will get.As he announced an inconclusive end to eight months of negotiations with the Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he had just presented a final financial offer to DUP chief Jeffrey Donaldson and the leaders of three other parties entitled to share power in the region’s collapsed government at Stormont.The major concession from last week’s initial offer of a £2.5 billion rescue package for Stormont is a new commitment from the U.K. Treasury to write off £559 million in existing overspends from the past two years of rudderless governance.That debt write-off — which the Northern Ireland Office bills as “new money” since it removes potential crippling deductions from upcoming budgets — is conditional on the DUP ending its blockade of power-sharing and crafting its own balanced budget plan...

European vessels to police Red Sea as part of US task force

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

The United Kingdom has deployed a naval destroyer to the Red Sea as part of a coalition to counter attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on commercial vessels sailing through the major trade chokepoint, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said Tuesday.It’s part of a growing international effort to ensure the freedom of the seas in the key shipping lanes.The HMS Diamond has already been active in the area to bolster efforts to protect merchant vessels, but will now formally join the United States-led Operation Prosperity Guardian aimed at safeguarding navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a critical avenue for oil and container traffic. More than a tenth of global maritime trade passes through those waters with more than 23,000 sailings a year through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, according to the British government.Over the weekend, HMS Diamond shot down a drone with a Sea Viper anti-aircraft missile as attacks on merchan...

Taylor Swift once made Jessica Chastain the ultimate breakup playlist

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

(CNN) — Taylor Swift is known several of her songs about heartbreak, so it seems only right she’d know how to help a friend recovering from a breakup.Swift sent a personalized breakup playlist to Jessica Chastain after the actress shared she was dealing with a recent split when they met at the 2011 Met Gala.“She was so sweet,” Chasten told host Jimmy Fallon during a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show.”“I just went through a breakup and I was talking to her about that, and we went and danced together. It was such a fun night,” she continued. “And then the next day. I had an email from iTunes that said, like, ‘Taylor Swift’ or whatever, and I just thought that it was a Taylor Swift album.”But, in fact, the message was a playlist curated by the one and only.“She had, like, curated all these breakup songs to send me to help me get through my breakup!” Chastain recalled. “Isn’t that the sweetest thing? And here I thought it was like a Taylor Swift advertiseme...

Column: Cubs Convention is on, while SoxFest remains off. Can an old tradition be revived?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

The announcement of Cubs Convention events Monday helped Cubs fans temporarily forget about the team’s lack of any offseason signings, while simultaneously reminding White Sox fans that SoxFest remains on hiatus.Fan fests have been an annual winter marketing tool for our two teams since the Cubs invented the genre in 1986 as a way to get people interested in the upcoming season and maybe sell a few tickets. The main difference between the two local fan fests is that Cubs fans generally want autographs and to be close to the players, while Sox fans want their pound of flesh from management for the team’s inadequacies.This would’ve been a nice chance for first-year general manager Chris Getz to get his first official grilling, though it’s hard to imagine the genial Getz barking back like his predecessors.Oh well. Maybe next year.Whether these fan fests are an outdated idea in 2024 is debatable, but traditions in Chicago are worth preserving, so for the Cubs, th...

New England Revolution hire Caleb Porter has head coach

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

FOXBORO – The New England Revolution have appointed Caleb Porter as head coach, the club announced Tuesday. Porter, a two-time MLS Cup winner with nine seasons of managerial experience in Major League Soccer, becomes the ninth official head coach in club history.Porter replaces Bruce Arena as coach.Porter, 48, is one of only six coaches to win multiple MLS Cup championships, and one of three to do so with more than one club, having led both the Portland Timbers (2015) and Columbus Crew SC (2020) to title-winning seasons. He is one of only two active managers currently leading an MLS club to own multiple MLS Cups, along with Seattle’s Brian Schmetzer.The 2013 MLS Coach of the Year will begin his 10th MLS season with New England in 2024, having compiled a 113-93-89 regular season record to date across five seasons with Portland (2013-17) and four with Columbus (2019-2022).Porter’s 295 games of experience are eighth most among all coaches currently helming an MLS club, while his .534 c...

True or false: Bears QB Justin Fields’ inability to close will accelerate his exit from Chicago

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

The Chicago Bears couldn’t believe it. Any of it.The Bears couldn’t fathom that they let a 10-point fourth-quarter lead get away, couldn’t comprehend that they kicked away a day-saving miracle on the game’s final play, couldn’t quite process that Sunday’s devastating 20-17 road loss to the Cleveland Browns torpedoed their energized chase of a playoff berth. Instead, they were left with another gut-wrenching disappointment to accept and another emotionally testing regrouping mission for Week 16.On Christmas Eve, the Bears will play the hapless Arizona Cardinals at Soldier Field with every opportunity to get back on the winning track. But the sting of Sunday’s loss is going to leave a mark and could create some unwanted resignation as well. The coming week will challenge the Bears’ focus, unity and emotional stability.As Tribune writers Colleen Kane and Dan Wiederer get their arms around it all, they engage in a “true or false̶...

UK offers a big financial package if Northern Ireland politicians revive their suspended government

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:18:07 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The British government said Tuesday it will give Northern Ireland 3.3 billion pounds ($4.2 billion) to ease a budget crisis if stubborn lawmakers stop boycotting the suspended power-sharing Belfast government.Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the financial package was a final offer and urged the holdout Democratic Unionist Party to get back to governing.“It is now the time for decisions to be made,” he said after meeting leaders of Northern Ireland’s main parties at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast.The semi-autonomous government has been on ice for almost two years since the DUP, the main British unionist party, walked out to protest post-Brexit trade rules. That left Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people without a functioning administration to make key decisions as the cost of living soared and backlogs strained the creaking public health system.Under power-sharing rules established by Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace accord, the main British unionis...