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My grandmother made all of her grand daughters a Raggedy Ann. Each one had a little heart sewn on her chest that said “I love you” I love, love, love that doll and still have it. Some day I’ll pass it on to my grandchildren. There’s something about a handmade toy that is so special. I was inspired by  Susan Anderson,  author of Itty Bitty Toys , which shows you how to make adorable hand-knit toys for the kids in your life.

Susan is also the author of Itty-Bitty Hats and Itty-Bitty Nursery. Her knitting blog, susanbanderson.blogspot.com, gets more than 50,000 hits a month. Her series of 10 knitting tutorials, posted on You Tube, has been watched by more than 130,000 people in just the past 6 months. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband and four children.

The new Amy’s Table Book Club selection is Magnolia Wednesdays by Wendy Wax

At forty-one, Vivian Armstrong Gray’s life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Leaving her tiny apartment in New York, she reluctantly heads south to Georgia to experience the suburban soccer-mom experience through her widowed sister’s eyes. As she digs up her long-buried roots, and begins to secretly investigate her brother-in-law’s death, she starts to wonder if life inside the picket fence isn’t so bad after all.

Want to be in our next book club discussion? The first person to contact me will get a $20 Joseph Beth gift card and the first 4 will get a copy of this months book and the chance to chat about the book with Wendy on the air in April.

Listen to the interview.

The Amy’s Table Book Club book for February was The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. I loved it. It’s a novel about life, love, and the magic of food and follows the lives of eight students who gather in Lillian’s Restaurant each week for cooking class. One by one they’re transformed and united by food.

Erica has always wanted to be a writer. She got her PhD from the University of Washington and, frustrated by the lack of women authors in the curriculum she co- authored “ 500 Great Books by Women” and “Let’s Hear It For the Girls” In the process of writing these books Erica read thousands of books, both good and bad, which is clearly a great education for an author. But Erica says having children probably had the biggest impact on how she writes. She has a second novel in the works, tentatively entitled Leap.

This month’s book club panel is Mychelle Armstrong , Tonya Kappes , Eisha Armstrong   and Amy Decker. They asked wonderful questions. Thanks ladies!

Susan Anderson is a wildly popular knitting blogger and author. She’ll be on Amy’s Table this weekend but you can see her today in Dayton. Here’s the info:

March 4th:

BOOKS & CO. (The original location)
11:00 AM
350 E. Stroop Road
Dayton, OH 45429

BOOKS & CO. (The new store)
7:00 PM
4453 Walnut Street
Dayton, OH 45440

Listen to the interview.

Looking for ways to be healthier without crash diets and unrealistic resolutions? Well-known nutritionist and author of the new book, The O2 Diet, Keri Glassman has easy and helpful tips on how to load up on foods with antioxidants that fortify your health and satisfy your hunger. Keri is a nutrition contributor to the CBS Early Show, an expert on WebMD, and writer for Women’s Health. To learn more about Keri, visit her site

Keri suggests these easy tips to add antioxidants to your diet every day:

· Spice up veggies with basil, oregano, garlic and mustard to add kick and health benefits

· Add lemon slices to water for added antioxidants

· Choose one new daily nutrition goal, such as swapping soda for water, or chips for nuts

·Top morning oatmeal with pistachios for more vitamin B-6

Listen to the interview.

You may know Annie Korzen as the actress who played Doris Klompus on Seinfeld or as John Turturro’s mother in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen . But what you might not know is that she’s a lifelong frugalista with a passion for living large whiles spending little. In fact, Annie has managed to dress well, vacation in Italy, collect art, and eat out as often as possible without breaking the ban. She joined me today to share tips from her book BARGAIN JUNKIE: Living the Good Life on the Cheap.

For Annie’s tips and videos, visit her blog,  www.TheBargainJunkie.com

I love speaking with Pam Anderson. She’s so inspiring and down to earth- not to mention an awesome cook! Today we chatted about how she got healthy, lost weight and still managed to celebrate and enjoy food, which is central to her career and to her book The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great. Pam also has a really fun blog called Three Many Cooks

Listen to the interview.

Thomas Edison once said:  “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.  The certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

Here’s a shocking statistic: 17 million Americans suffer from heart disease. February is American Heart Month and so there is no better time to talk to  Joe Pescatalli, who may be the longest-surviving bypass patient in the world – 32 years and counting, and the author of Positive Mind, Healthy Heart . Joe has been a keen observer of lifestyle  habits since 1977, when open-heart surgery forced him to recognize the intimate connection between diet, exercise and stress diet and overall health. As president of the Institute for Fitness and Health, Inc. in  Gig Harbor , Washington, he lectures extensively to a variety of clients, has written eleven books including the million copy bestseller Don’t Eat Your Heart Out, and hosted the PBS special Take A Load Off Your Heart.

Joe joined me this morning to discuss his 6 simple principles to live healthy and fit for a lifetime:

1. Develop Resiliency
2. Develop Perseverance
3. Take Responsibilities for Yourself and Your Actions
4. Set Realistic Goals
5. Get Straight Information
6. Have Faith

“Falling down is not the failure. Not getting back up is the failure.”

Our current book club selection is called The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister It’s been called “reminiscent of Chocolat and Like Water for Chocolate” and it’s a gorgeously written novel about life, love, and the magic of food. The School of Essential Ingredients follows the lives of eight students who gather in Lillian’s Restaurant every Monday night for cooking class but It becomes clear that they’re all seeking a recipe for something more than food. One by one they’re transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of Lillian’s food. We’ll chat about the book on Amy’s Table on WKRQ with Erica in March.

Happy Reading!

Listen to the interview.

Relationship expert Amy Spencer has written for Glamour, New York, Harper’s Bazaar, Page Six Magazine and Match.com among other publications, and is the former host of a relationship call-in show on Sirius satellite radio’s Maxim channel.

Though Amy found her “half orange” she understands that being single can be depressing and that it’s easy to go crazy trying to attract the right person your way.  She says you don’t have to change who you  are, play games, exhaust yourself with countless dates, convince yourself  that you might be able to develop feelings for someone or make dating your  job. The ONLY thing you have to do is to live your genuine life so positively that you will literally attract the right person to yourself! What’s the secret to all of this? Decide with 100% confidence that great love will come your way by focusing your whole mind and body on how incredible it will feel when it does.

Why a half-orange? It’s based on the Spanish term mi media naranja (“my half-orange”), used to describe one’s sweetheart, one’s perfect other half.  In her book, Meeting Your Half Orange: An Utterly Optimistic Guide to Using Dating Optimism to Find Your Perfect Match, Amy shares the 6 phases for properly planting the seeds of success for love.

1. BELIEVE YOU CAN HAVE IT.

2. ADMIT YOU WANT IT.

3. WHAT DO YOU WANT?

4. FOCUS AND IMAGINE FEELING IT.

5. LIVE A HAPPY LIFE

6. HOW TO RECOGNIZE YOUR HALF-ORANGE.

For more information, visit amy-spencer.com, thedatingoptimist.com, and meetingyourhalforange.com.