Shelly D Templin

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

When I ride my bike, there is a two-mile stretch as I leave my neighborhood that is it relatively flat. By Northerner’s standards it would most definitely be considered flat. But in Texas, our guidelines for flatness are a little different. In Texas, anything with an elevation is a hill. On this two-mile stretch ~ with only a slight hill ~ the road is flanked by pastures most of the way. If there is any sort of a breeze, it seems tenfold on this stretch of road –with limited trees to act as a Keep Reading...