Baby Shower

ATLANTA -- Home Depot is going the way of retailers like Crate & Barrel and Macy's by offering an online gift registry, but will brides and grooms be eager to snap up miter saws or pressure washers? Industry observers see it as a way for the Atlanta-based company to enhance its relationship with customers, even if it isn't a boon for the bottom line. The initiative will be formally launched today. The home improvement chain says it is banking on its research showing that more people are getting married later in life, perhaps for a second time, and already have small appliances, fine...

Q. After years of research and soul-searching, I have rejected my faith and become an atheist/humanist. I grew up in a Christian household, and my family and most of my friends are Christians. I was once devout, and I married a Christian man. I have been honest with "Kurt" since I started doubting my faith. ­He was patient and supportive. That all changed several days ago when I told him I realized I was an atheist. Kurt completely shut down and ignored me for the rest of the evening and the following day. When he finally did talk to me, he told me he felt like a failure as a husband, that I'd...

A Dorchester man was acquitted by a Suffolk Superior Court jury yesterday in a fatal 2009 Roxbury stabbing, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. Rafael Lara, 20, was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing of John Paul Torres, 21, of Mattapan outside a baby shower on Dudley Street on May 3, 2009, Conley said. In a chaotic scene after the party, Lara sustained a head injury and Torres suffered the fatal stab wound, according to Conley. Lara was arrested in New York by Boston police and US marshals about a month and a half after the stabbing, Conley said.

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in Nicollette Sheridan's wrongful termination trial after the jury deadlocked, leaving an unresolved finale to a two-week trial that focused on the behind-the-scenes intrigue and personalities of TV's "Desperate Housewives. " Sheridan had been seeking roughly $6 million from her former employers, claiming her role as Edie Britt was eliminated because she complained that series creator Marc Cherry struck her in the head during a 2008 on-set dispute.

I had to watch WE’s “Platinum Babies’’ twice before I figured out why this particular look at conspicuous consumption is so much less satisfying than Bravo’s “Real Housewives’’ series. Then it hit me. The “Real Housewives’’ shows never bother with narration; Bravo simply turns the cameras on outrageous spending habits and trusts that we, the viewers, have the wisdom to gasp, gawk, and sneer as appropriate. But “Platinum Babies’’ - the natural follow-up to WE’s “Platinum Weddings’’ series - doesn’t want us to be quite so appalled.

A woman accused of snatching her infant granddaughter from her son’s Northern California home and taking a cab 350 miles to her home in Los Angeles County has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and burglary charges. The Contra Costa Times reports that Ericka Gallego also waived her right to a speedy trial during the Thursday hearing. Authorities say Gallego took a bus and a cab to her son’s home in the Contra Costa County community of Knightsen last month and took his 4-month-old daughter, Ramy Amadea Gallego.

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in Nicollette Sheridan's wrongful termination trial after the jury deadlocked, leaving an unresolved finale to a two-week trial that focused on the behind-the-scenes intrigue and personalities of TV's "Desperate Housewives. " Sheridan had been seeking roughly $6 million from her former employers, claiming her role as Edie Britt was eliminated because she complained that series creator Marc Cherry struck her in the head during a 2008 on-set dispute.

FORT WORTH -- A man was arrested and charged yesterday with murdering his pregnant former girlfriend and her 7-year-old son, who disappeared from their home over the weekend. Hours after the arrest, authorities found two bodies matching the description of bagel shop owner Lisa Underwood and her son, Jayden, authorities said. Stephen Dale Barbee, 37, admitted arguing with Underwood over leaving his wife, according to court papers. Barbee allegedly said he suffocated Underwood, then did the same to the boy after he interrupted the attack.

Monster In-Laws 10 and 10:30 p.m., A&E I love it that one of the "relationship experts" on "Monster In-Laws," Mel Robbins, is a former trial lawyer. This show gets all up in classically awful in-law rapports in order to heal them - after enjoying just how bad they are. Tonight, a son-in-law endures insults about his weight from his mother-in-law and, in the second half-hour, a daughter-in-law tries to raise her kids vegetarian even though her mother-in-law keeps bringing meat into the house.

Q. After years of research and soul-searching, I have rejected my faith and become an atheist/humanist. I grew up in a Christian household, and my family and most of my friends are Christians. I was once devout, and I married a Christian man. I have been honest with "Kurt" since I started doubting my faith. ­He was patient and supportive. That all changed several days ago when I told him I realized I was an atheist. Kurt completely shut down and ignored me for the rest of the evening and the following day. When he finally did talk to me, he told me he felt like a...

Monster In-Laws 10 and 10:30 p.m., A&E I love it that one of the "relationship experts" on "Monster In-Laws," Mel Robbins, is a former trial lawyer. This show gets all up in classically awful in-law rapports in order to heal them - after enjoying just how bad they are. Tonight, a son-in-law endures insults about his weight from his mother-in-law and, in the second half-hour, a daughter-in-law tries to raise her kids vegetarian even though her mother-in-law keeps bringing meat into the house.

A Dorchester man was acquitted by a Suffolk Superior Court jury yesterday in a fatal 2009 Roxbury stabbing, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. Rafael Lara, 20, was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing of John Paul Torres, 21, of Mattapan outside a baby shower on Dudley Street on May 3, 2009, Conley said. In a chaotic scene after the party, Lara sustained a head injury and Torres suffered the fatal stab wound, according to Conley. Lara was arrested in New York by Boston police and US marshals about a month and a half after the stabbing,...

A woman accused of snatching her infant granddaughter from her son’s Northern California home and taking a cab 350 miles to her home in Los Angeles County has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and burglary charges. The Contra Costa Times reports that Ericka Gallego also waived her right to a speedy trial during the Thursday hearing. Authorities say Gallego took a bus and a cab to her son’s home in the Contra Costa County community of Knightsen last month and took his 4-month-old daughter, Ramy Amadea Gallego.

I had to watch WE’s “Platinum Babies’’ twice before I figured out why this particular look at conspicuous consumption is so much less satisfying than Bravo’s “Real Housewives’’ series. Then it hit me. The “Real Housewives’’ shows never bother with narration; Bravo simply turns the cameras on outrageous spending habits and trusts that we, the viewers, have the wisdom to gasp, gawk, and sneer as appropriate. But “Platinum Babies’’ - the natural follow-up to WE’s “Platinum Weddings’’ series - doesn’t want us to be quite so appalled.

FORT WORTH -- A man was arrested and charged yesterday with murdering his pregnant former girlfriend and her 7-year-old son, who disappeared from their home over the weekend. Hours after the arrest, authorities found two bodies matching the description of bagel shop owner Lisa Underwood and her son, Jayden, authorities said. Stephen Dale Barbee, 37, admitted arguing with Underwood over leaving his wife, according to court papers. Barbee allegedly said he suffocated Underwood, then did the same to the boy after he interrupted the attack.

ATLANTA -- Home Depot is going the way of retailers like Crate & Barrel and Macy's by offering an online gift registry, but will brides and grooms be eager to snap up miter saws or pressure washers? Industry observers see it as a way for the Atlanta-based company to enhance its relationship with customers, even if it isn't a boon for the bottom line. The initiative will be formally launched today. The home improvement chain says it is banking on its research showing that more people are getting married later in life, perhaps for a second time, and already have small...

Jenifer Holloman hadn’t been doing many chores on her farm in the past few weeks on account of the sheer size of her belly. But that evening, she had to tend to a ewe that had given birth a few days earlier. The lamb wandered off in a snowstorm and died of exposure. Now the ewe’s teats were heavy and swollen with milk, and there was no lamb to relieve her. Everyone who heard the story lamented the loss of the lamb. Holloman agreed that sometimes animals’ lives on earth are too short.

My colleague Kara Baskin has a thorough and to-the-point guide on buying appropriate baby-shower presents here . Well worth a read! Her hilarious true confession:  Now is not the time to get creative or to show off. I still remember giving my sister-in-law Joy a sterling silver rattle from Tiffany before my nephew Morgen was born. I cringe just thinking about it. In my defense, "Sex and the City" was at the height of its popularity, and one of the girls had given the exact same thing as a gift.