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Ask 10 different stay-at-home moms about their motivation behind devoting their life to caring for their children and home, and you might get 10 different answers. For some, staying at home with their children is a lifelong ambition. Others are former full-time professionals who gave up a high-paying career to change diapers and clean up after their children. Still others are taking time off from their profession, wanting to spend time at home with their newborn or toddler before returning to the workforce. A 2012 survey conducted by Mothers & More, a support organization that caters mainly toward stay-at-home moms, or SAHMs, found that 82 percent of their members quit a full-time career to care for their children. The United States Census also found that there were approximately 5 million SAHMs in 2010, which is a drop from 5.3 million in 2008. These numbers are compelling, but they don’t begin to explain the life of a stay-at-home mom. Here are five thoughts on the day-to-day turmoil, joys and anxieties faced by many stay-at-home moms.

Go through any neighborhood on the weekly recycling day and in front of most residences you’ll find recycling bins filled with cans, bottles, newspapers and other recyclables. Most Americans make an effort to recycle; according to one 2009 poll, 77% of Americans sometimes recycle. That statistic, reliable or not, doesn’t account for the other potentially recyclable items these same well-meaning individuals toss into the trash daily. Here are the top five items that should be recycled but all too often end up in landfills.

It all started so innocently four years ago in an aisle of Best Buy. My husband pulled me into the video game section and pointed to a game called World of Warcraft. The “Gee, honey, I’ll only play a few hours on the weekends” quickly turned into inside jokes with his friends, and mind-numbing talk of talent trees and farming dungeons. It’s now evolved into endless weekend nights where he sits in front of a computer screen, pressing buttons and speaking in a language so foreign most women would need a Rosetta stone to decipher it. I sometimes feel like I should start a support group for other women widowed by the console games and MMORPGs — or massively multiplayer online role-playing games, for those who haven’t already lost their loved one to this menace — that have taken over their husband’s and boyfriend’s lives. This might be a good first step in offering support, presenting the top 5 confessions of a video game widow.

It’s hard to believe now, with dozens of popular films under his belt, but Morgan Freeman was in his 50s before landing his first major movie roles in Hollywood. Today, after many high-profile award nominations and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in Million Dollar Baby, Freeman is considered by many to be one of the greatest living actors. In honor of his 75th birthday this year, here’s a list of the top 10 Morgan Freeman films. As always with a film list of this type, a spoiler alert is in effect.

According to the Facebook “Statistics” page, there are over 800 million active Facebook users worldwide. Twitter asserts that over 1 billion “tweets” are sent into the land of celebrity wannabes and disillusioned teenagers on a weekly basis. For as many astounding statistics there are for these and the other social media websites, including Google+, LinkedIn, Friendster, Digg and the formerly hip MySpace, there are almost as many common faux pas, mistakes and inappropriate tweets, posts and photos. Do yourself a favor and avoid these 10 common social media mistakes if you want to keep your friends and followers lists intact.

Like a fine wine, Jane Austen never goes out of style, as Austen’s imagination, wit and love of love created some of the most beloved literature of all time. Her real life mimicked many of the women in her novels. She enjoyed socializing, dancing and the company of family and friends, although unlike several of her famous heroines, Austen never married. Her life did not have a happy ending, either, as she died in 1817 at age 41, possibly the victim of arsenic poisoning. In her relatively brief life, Austen turned out several novels that are now regarded as literary classics, many of which have been adapted for film or TV. Shirley MacLaine’s character, Ouiser Boudreaux, pretty much sums up the reasoning behind every Austen film adaptation in another classic “chick flick,” Steel Magnolias, “… And I don’t read books, ’cause if they’re good, they’re gonna make ’em into a miniseries.” In that spirit, here are the top five Jane Austen-inspired films and miniseries.

As a woman it’s always amazing to me how some men can remember the score of Super Bowl IV but have no insight into the hearts and minds of the women they live with on a daily basis. I’m not going to waste your time helping you find the “perfect” gift for your wife or girlfriend, because that is almost as impossible as the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series. Instead, here is a practical guide that will help you avoid the minefield that comes with giving your estrogen-laden better half a thoughtless, insincere or just plain bone-headed gift.