Oh, brother. Whitney Houston's troublemaker ex-husband, Bobby Brown, sat down for an interview with Today's Matt Lauer, which will air tomorrow. Brown wanted to proclaim to the world how he is not the one who got Whitney Houston hooked on drugs. According to Brown, Whitney was hitting the hard stuff loooong before he came into the picture. So he'd kindly ask the world to stop hating on him. "I'm not the reason she's gone," says Bobby.

Could he have a good point?

We are HUGE fans of Jenny Lawson, AKA The Bloggess, here at The Stir. And it's not just because we are lucky enough to have her as one of our columnists, but because ... what's not to love? The 38-year-old mom is charming (when not hiding in the bathroom), is off-the-charts hysterical, likes to use the word "motherfucker" as often as possible, and talks quite openly about her vagina. And if all that isn't awesome enough, Lawson's new memoir, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, packed with as many arm condoms and cougar vampires as you could possibly stand, hits the world Monday.

Ah, the holidays. That warm and fuzzy time when families get together and smile and laugh and everything is just like a Hallmark card. Or a Folgers commercial.

Or a train wreck. I say that with great fondness, of course -- what's a holiday without a little dysfunctional family drama? Boring, that's what it is. (Not that I would know.) Still, nobody wants Thanksgiving dinner to get so tense that siblings leave swearing to never speak to each other again.

Think about it. Christmas is only a month away. Awkward!

So in the interest of keeping the family peace and preserving one's personal mental health as much as possible, consider studying the following list of hot button conversation topics to avoid at all costs this Thanksgiving. I'm not a counselor or family therapist, mind you -- just passing on some of the things I've learned over years and years of dysfunctional holiday gatherings.

We've all been there. Whether due to a particularly bad break-up, a death in the family, or just a general feeling of malaise: You're in a funk and it's incredibly difficult to shake the feeling of sadness no matter how many scoops of ice cream you consume. Usually it's a great idea to get out with your friends and have a little talk therapy.

While it's true that there are some things that a night out with friends can cure, other times it's deeper than that. Of course when you're in the middle of it, it can be difficult to figure out if it's time to hit the couch, or head out for ladies night.

Here are four signs that you need to head to a therapist, and let your friends go back to their day jobs.

Those of us who are always looking around for the key to happiness and good health (I'm sure it's around here somewhere ...) might want to try to stop focusing on what's missing from our lives and start focusing on all the great things we do have.

The key to a more upbeat outlook and a healthier you just might be ... gratitude.

Studies have shown that expressing gratitude can have a major positive effect on not only our moods, but also our physical health and the well-being of our relationships. Plus, research has indicated that people who regularly express gratitude about their own lives tend to help other people with their problems more. Inspiringly, the good will you extend to yourself just spreads.

When someone in their 20s is diagnosed with cancer, it's very sad and wrong. When two people from the same family are both diagnosed within hours of one another, it's a near-tragedy. And yet for two sisters in the UK, that is exactly what happened.

Leanne Barber, 29, was diagnosed with leukemia. Two days later (48 hours), her sister Hayley Todd, 22, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer of the blood. The cancers weren't related and doctors were baffled. 

Though the two sisters often couldn't help one another since they were both so sick, the fact that they knew they weren't alone did help in the hard times. Both sisters are now (miraculously) finished with treatment and have been given the all-clear. Hayley said:

Mothers-in-Law.

It's one of the most complicated relationships I know. Dealing with your own mother can be hard enough, but a mother who didn't raise you? One who you don't necessarily love? One who views you as competition? That can be torture.

If you are a MIL, here are some tips to help you peacefully co-exist with your precious one's chosen mate. Truly: We want to like you. We want to have a decent relationship with you, really we do.

Help us help you, won't you?

Okay ladies, it's time to complete that annual rite of passage called spring cleaning. But this year, I'm going to clean more than just my house. I'm taking a fresh look at my marriage, getting the cobwebs out, and figuring out what I need to work on.

I got started last weekend on both the house and the marriage. Cleaning out the house gave me such physical gratification; having a well-organized, scrubbed down pantry and no clutter in my kitchen clutter drawer. Cleaning the other, my marriage, gave me physical gratification as well. But more importantly, it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you know you're on the same page as your partner. Even in the same paragraph. But that takes some attention to detail from time to time.

So put on your non-latex relationship gloves and let's get started: