Behind every great man is a great mother. Of course, some mothers didn’t need a son to be great, while other notable mothers weren’t even mothers at all. So as Mother’s Day comes around, here’s a look at some of the famous (and infamous) mothers who have graced the pages of history:

Anna Jarvis.  She wasn’t a famous mother in the traditional sense, but was instead a devoted daughter who helped create Mother’s Day. Ironically, she never married nor had children of her own.

Grandma Moses.  Some famous mothers were grandmothers too. Grandma Moses began her strikingly successful painting career at age 70, long after her four children had grown.

Ma Barker.  The alleged criminal mastermind behind the infamous Barker-Karpis gang, Ma Barker captured the American imagination in the 1930s.

Marie Curie.  Who says you can’t be a success in the work world and also be a great mom? Madame Curie not only received a Nobel Prize in two different fields, but also raised a daughter who won a Nobel Prize of her own.

Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Famously portrayed by actress Katherine Hepburn, Eleanor was mother to three kings and made sure her daughters married into the best royal houses of Europe. She's been called the Mother of Europe.

Mother Teresa.  While some consider her a controversial figure for her views on abortion and contraception, she is also fondly remembered for her countless charitable works.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to all moms everywhere, whether they’re famous, infamous or somewhere in between.

Did you ever have Career Day when you were in school?

That was the day you put those unexciting grammar and math lessons aside, walked down to the school cafeteria or gymnasium and got to meet all sorts of different people. There were hairstylists and lawyers, truck drivers, policemen and more, all eager to tell you about what their jobs were like.

It was fun, but what if instead of them coming to see you, you could go see them? April 28th is Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day, and it was intended to give kids the chance to do exactly that.

Taking your children to work with you for a day might be a great way to impart some life lessons to them. You check on homework assignments, participate in parent-teacher conferences and take them to after-school activities.

You get to see a lot of your child’s world. Why not give them a chance to see yours? 

The day will require a little planning on your part.

Speak with your employer and see if they participate or are willing to participate. You’ll want to talk with your child about what they’re interested in seeing, or what type of work they’re interested in.  You’ll also want to set expectations.

It’s a work environment after all, not a trip to Disneyland.

Try to engage them in what you’re doing— not just shadowing, but understanding what you do and why you do it. 

It's been said that experience is the best teacher, so why not give them a hands-on preview of what they can expect beyond the classroom?

With the name, it almost sounds like they would get mad at you if you tried to eat them. The good news is that not only are cruciferous vegetables a lot less dangerous than the name suggests, but they’re good for you too.

These vegetables include such familiar staples as broccoli and cauliflower, and less common fare such as rutabagas and shepherd’s purse.

As if being tasty weren’t enough, there are several health reasons to make these vegetables a part of your diet:

Vitamins.  Think carrots have the market cornered on Vitamin A?  Think again.

The members of this vegetable family are all-stars when it comes to Vitamin A. They’re not too shabby with Vitamin C and fiber either.

One hundred calories' worth of these beauties (about 5-6% of a daily diet) provides between a one quarter and nearly one half of your daily fiber requirement.

Reducing your cancer risks.  A review of research published in the October 1996 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association showed that 70% or more of the studies found a link between cruciferous vegetables and protection against cancer.

Protein.  No, they’re not going to pack the same protein wallop as a rib eye steak, but cruciferous vegetables can contribute a surprising amount of protein to the diet — over 25% of your daily requirement.  Protein with little to no fat… what’s not to like?

Check out some recipes to help get you started on your way to loving cruciferous vegetables. 

Bon appétit!

If you’re the band Europe, The Final Countdown is your biggest musical hit of the 1980’s, and the 18th of April is just another day for you.

If you’re an American taxpayer however, the final countdown takes on a whole new meaning. You now have less than a week to file your 2015 tax return.

Uncle Sam is not a patient man when it comes to taxes.

The penalty for filing late will typically equal 5 percent of the unpaid taxes you owe for every month or part of a month you put off filing your return, up to a 25 percent cap.

Even if you can't afford your taxes now, it's best to, at the very least, file your tax return on time. If you do not pay your taxes by the due date, you will generally have to pay a failure-to-pay penalty of ½ of 1 percent of your unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month after the due date.

Another option filers have is called an extension, which grants taxpayers up to six additional months to file.

It’s important to remember that the extension is an extension of time to file, not an extension of time to pay. Even so, the failure to pay penalty is a lot less than the failure to file penalty. 

The days may be growing longer as spring rolls in, but the time to file is growing shorter. With only a few days left to file, make sure you put them to good use.

Like a train in the night, you can see the tax deadline approaching. You can hear its long, lonely whistle coming closer, but for some reason, you still haven't organized your tax papers.

Don’t worry, you are not alone. In most tax offices, the last day of tax season is also one of the busiest.

If you’re the type that likes to put everything together at the last minute, here are some tips to help:

Organization.  Assemble all your documents before you start adding up figures. A little extra time at the beginning can save you a lot of trouble at the end.

Charitable Donations.  If you made a lot of charitable donations, go through your credit card and bank statements to make sure you didn’t miss any small ones.

IRAs.  If your numbers aren’t looking so good, you can still contribute to a traditional IRA all the way up to the tax-filing deadline as a way to reduce your overall income.

Haste makes Waste.  The clock is ticking. You’re in a rush, and you just want to be done with it. Make sure to avoid these common last-minute errors:

• Math mistakes
• Transposing numbers
• Getting important information like Social Security numbers wrong
• Signing your return

If possible, put aside your return for a day and then come back to go over everything one last time.  You may be surprised at the simple errors you’ll catch.

Next year, see if you can get an earlier start. Taxes can be stressful enough without a deadline looming over you.

The month of April can be a rough. Not only is this section of our calendars filled with proverbial showers (we supposedly have to wait until May for the flowers), but also the 15th is usually the last day we can put off filing our taxes.

So what better way to start off such an ominous month than by playing a prank that will have people talking for weeks afterwards? Here are a few of the more famous ones people have pulled off through the years:

• An edition of the Madison Capital-Times in 1933 included an edited photo of the Wisconsin state capital in ruins. The accompanying story claimed that the building was wrecked by a series of explosions caused by hot gas produced by the “verbose debates” in the chambers.
• On April 1, 1957, the British Broadcasting Corporation told viewers that there had been an “exceptionally heavy spaghetti crop” in Switzerland that year, due in part to “the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil.”  
• In 1996, Taco Bell ran an ad announcing that it had purchased the Liberty Bell. While the stunt had its critics, it changed the way many companies viewed April Fools’ Day marketing.
• Not to be outdone, Burger King published a full-page ad in USA Today announcing the creation of the 'Left-Handed Whopper' in 1998. The next day, thousands of southpaws showed up to try their new favorite burger only to find it was a hoax.

Do you have any pranks up your sleeve?