It’s a wonder! We got a new mattress today after I don’t know how many years. Mattress shopping made me wonder how in the world my husband and I have managed to share the same bed for our 36 years of marriage. In the early days we were so poor, we didn’t have a lot of options. His dad bought our first bed – a waterbed. They were all the rage back then and if you had one, you know why our generation is marked by fortitude and success. There was no such thing as ordering a bed online, waiting Keep Reading...
Grateful for the Flood
I’m so grateful for the flood! Not the Noah’s Ark flood - though I should be grateful God chose to save mankind and the animals He created. But that’s not the flood I’m referring to. I’m grateful for the flood we had for about four straight years in the house where I grew up. Specifically, in my bedroom, my sister’s bedroom and our shared bathroom. Now that I think about it, the boys’ rooms never flooded and they never had their rooms torn up. Wait, that’s probably an issue to discuss with a Keep Reading...
Unmet Expectations – A Story for Easter
I’ve lived in towns with interesting names but they always seemed to make sense. Boise. It is a French word for “wooded” and the French trappers used it to describe the trees lining the river flowing through the valley where the city of Boise grew up. Boise is a beautiful, tree-filled city. College Station. In the 1800’s, a little college, now Texas A&M University, sat along the railroad tracks and the train station was the stop for the college. The conductor would call out, “Next Keep Reading...
Today is a BIG Day!
Today is a BIG day! I didn’t know it was a big day. It started out as a regular day. A friend let me know there was a typo on my blog. I tried to blame the web designer and then realized it was something within my control. Not completely my fault but...within my control. So, a quick log into my website turned into a walk down memory lane (to fix the typos) and I realized I started my blog 11 years ago TODAY! Today is the 11thanniversary for my blog. What? On one hand, it seems like I Keep Reading...
What Kim Kardashian and I Have in Common
Do you know what Kim Kardashian and I have in common? We were both sewed into our dresses for an important event. That and the fact we love our kids. But I think the similarities end there. Kim was sewn into her dress for a star-studded event at the New York Met. She borrowed Marilyn Monroe’s dress and starved herself to fit into the form fitting dress. It was so form fitting that she had to be sewn into it. Me? I was throwing on my flowy dress for my niece’s wedding. I asked a daughter to Keep Reading...
A Sticky Mess
Hey! Remember me? It’s been about four months so you may have forgotten. When I started my blog, oh so many years ago, it was called Chuckles in the Chaos. I said I would only post about once a week. Well, the past few months have been filled with chaos. Some of it I cried about but some of it gave me reason to chuckle. There wasn’t time to write about it or even to figure out what message I wanted to relay. A writer friend of mine who saw the tears and heard the chuckles encouraged me to make Keep Reading...
I’m Rooted and Planted – or Am I?
“Bloom where you are planted” was cross-stitched into a picture and hung in my Gram’s kitchen. My family laughed about it because she wasn’t planted anywhere long enough to bloom. She flipped houses before flipping houses was cool. My grandfather was a true traveling salesman and more than once he returned home on a Friday evening to find a For Salesign in his yard. I thought it was fun to visit a new home nearly every time I visited her and though I have many of her characteristics that is Keep Reading...
Coconut on the Beach and…Thoughts
Late one night. I recently walked on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. Just me and my thoughts. And a waterlogged coconut. I stared at the coconut being pushed back and forth by the ebb and flow of the waves as they crashed on the beach and for some reason, I felt the need to throw the coconut back out to sea. I’m not sure why I thought the coconut needed to go “back out to sea” because coconuts don’t come from the sea. Maybe I just wanted it to be free to bob in the ocean and not rot on the Keep Reading...
Searching for Sand Dollars
I can’t believe I haven’t told him before now. I’ve known him for 37 years and haven’t told him a very pivotal story in my life. A turning point. A tipping point. I’ve shared a bed with him for nearly 35 years but I never told him the story until this week. If you haven’t guessed, who “he” is, it’s my hubby. And this week he heard the story. This week we were sitting on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean enjoying some pre work trip together time when I decided to take a nighttime stroll along Keep Reading...
Christmas Capade #3 – The End
I have two short stories today to finish up my Christmas Capades. Both of the stories involve moving to a new town. I’ll start with the most recent. When our three daughters were teenagers, we moved to a new town. We knew it was a hard time to make a move so I was thrilled when my oldest daughter came home and asked to join an organization called Symphony Belles. The Belles handed out programs and ushered at the local symphony events and would also learn manners and leadership skills. So we Keep Reading...