I have a dear friend who is the mother of four children. One of her teenagers is a son - the only son - and he has a fondness for long, steaming hot showers. Even before he gets in the shower, he likes the bathroom to resemble a sauna. In order to turn his plain bathroom into a sauna to rival that of any fine, luxury spa, he turns the hot water on full blast. Once the steam is seeping out from under the door, he commences his near scalding shower. And this is not an abbreviated shower. Keep Reading...
I Hate Pinterest!
Back in the 90’s, there was a show on cable TV with a homely lady and a geeky guy. I cannot even remember the name of the people or the name of the show. But I tuned in to watch each week. I even programmed my VCR to record the show! And then I went out and tried to emulate the projects they did on the show. This was before we had a kazillion channels with satellite, or HGTV. I loved one episode where they did a birdhouse themed room so in the kid’s room that was too young to protest, I Keep Reading...
Cheer Squad
One of my daughters recently finished a long month of “musical.” She had practices every night after school until 8:00 or 9:00pm. Then she had four days of performing the show. Lots of emotions at the end as it was the last time most would perform together and they were a “family.” I tried to cheer my daughter. My husband came home from a long week of travel. Several issues were pressing on him and weighing him down. I tried to cheer him. Two family members. One a teenager. One a Keep Reading...
Roots
There used to be a house on one of the busiest streets in my town. It was a modest, one story house. A house where two people raised three children. When the children were grown and the street became too busy, the couple sold the house and the lot it was on and moved to a quieter neighborhood. I didn’t meet the couple until they had moved into the new house but when my husband and I passed the old house, he pointed it out and said, “That’s where Hugo and Alice used to live.” A few days Keep Reading...
Black Friday
I went Black Friday shopping once. Once. Once was enough for me. It’s been years since that early morning craziness and I think I have finally recovered from the trauma. I had never heard of Black Friday until a friend told me how excited she was about “mapping out” the stores she and her sister would hit in the wee hours. She explained how, after the turkey was consumed and everyone was in their turkey coma, she and her sister would gather all of the sales ads from that day’s paper and Keep Reading...
Hope for Life’s Interruptions
Interruptions Life is full of interruptions. Maybe they are little interruptions like last week’s. Last week, I was sitting on my back porch enjoying a cool fall morning with a cup of coffee and a phone conversation with a friend. All of a sudden, a bird flew onto the patio. The dogs jumped up and chased the bird. The frantic bird flew into my open bedroom door! The frantic dogs chased the bird. My frantic self repeated, “Oh, no! Oh, no! The bird is in my bedroom!” My longtime Keep Reading...
Where is Your Confidence?
If being social were an Olympic sport, my oldest daughter would be a gold medalist. In fact, she would give Michael Phelps a run (or should I say, swim) for his money in the gold medal race. We should have named her “Social” because it is who she is. She loves her friends. She loves being around people. Most people have a bit of trepidation at the thought of starting high school. Not my oldest. She couldn’t wait to start – because it would mean she would be around people - her “peeps” as she Keep Reading...
Quick, grab that thing out of the golf bag ~ I have a bird to save!
Do you know what this is? If you think it is merely a golf ball retriever, you would be wrong. This is a Hummingbird Rescue Device! At least it is in my house – or in my garage! My last house had an unfinished detached garage. Where there should have been a ceiling, there were just rafters. At the roof peak, my husband installed a fan that automatically came on when the temperature reached a certain point and would suck the hot air out of the garage. That is great unless you are a Keep Reading...
Mr. Magoo
Pio came into my family’s life when he befriended my brother while they were in medical school. He grew up in the Philippines but came to America to go to medical school and since his family was so far away, our family took him in as one of our own – including him in our family celebrations and holidays. Before I tell you a story about Pio, I need to let you know that everyone was okay. So feel free to chuckle as you envision the scene… Pio was driving his car down a highway and saw a car Keep Reading...
Freedom – from the sock basket
Yesterday was “Pile Day” at my house. The day dedicated to going through all of the piles that have piled up due to schedules piled upon schedules. One of the piles I slayed was the sock pile. It really wasn’t a pile of socks. It was more like a big basket where socks got piled. And piled and piled! When you have three girls (especially if two of them are dancers), then you probably have sock issues. We have sock issues! The sock issues started when the two oldest girls were little. One Keep Reading...
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