“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...
Is the Best Really Yet to Come?
I heard it again this weekend. “The best is yet to come!” Is it? Is “the best” really on the horizon? “The best is yet to come” has become a popular saying from the pulpit, a meme, a catchy catch phrase. It's meant to encourage. And maybe even to sell books. I'm all about encouraging people. I want people to look forward and not behind. I want them to look on the positive side of things. I like the flower - not the thorns. I like the half full glass - not the half empty glass. I like Keep Reading...
Things Are Not Always As They Seem
The last few weeks could be captured by the movie title, “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” except without the trains. Or maybe the movie title, “Four Weddings and a Funeral” except there weren’t any weddings but there were two funerals. The past few weeks have been a little nuts around here and this week is ramping up to be another not boring week. At least no dogs ran through wood floor glue this week – yet! (That blog is coming soon – once I determine a positive spin to put on it.) I Keep Reading...
Snow Biking – Really, that is a “Thing”
Okay, just the title, Snow Biking, tells you this will be a ridiculous story (with a good ending so keep reading.) Snow and biking should never be in the same sentence. Seriously. But I learned that the hard way. Yes, I went snow biking. For my fellow Southerners, let me explain what the heck snow biking is. Snow biking is when you get on what southerners would call a mountain bike except it has super fat tires with super thick tread – for the snow! I was at a resort somewhere in Keep Reading...
Going and Coming and Coming and Going
Today's bike ride reminded me of something I wrote a few years ago. 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 Keep Reading...
I Have to Use a What?
At my last dental visit, the gal that scraped the tarter and gunk from my teeth advised me to get a waterflosser - aka - a WaterPik. I value good oral hygiene so I went straight to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked out the best WaterPik system I could afford. I took it home and stuck it in my closet because 1) life was busy, 2) it seemed complicated and 3) I wasn’t so sure about the whole “it’s time for a WaterPik” thing. Yesterday, I pulled it out of my closest and I had every intention of Keep Reading...
The Tepid Tub
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...
The Whole World Can’t Be Wrong
My oldest daughter was learning to drive several years ago so when we drove from Texas to Colorado, I thought it would be good experience for her to drive when we went through the Texas Panhandle. In that region of Texas, the roads are straight, wide and seem to go on forever. Her driving permit was fairly new and West Texas seemed like a pretty safe place to practice highway driving. The first hour passed without much conflict. (For those of you who have driven with a strong-willed teen and Keep Reading...