I grew up in a house that was built in 1902, on a tree-lined block in an older neighborhood in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
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What I Hate (And Love) About Halloween
Curmudgeon alert: I hate Halloween. I always have. No, I was never traumatized by a goblin on Halloween, I just don't like scary things. I don't like scary movies, books, or TV shows. I don't like the dark. I don't like rides that make me feel as if I could be risking...
Goodbye, House
Yesterday was happy/sad. Happy/sad because we closed on the sale of the house we lived in for 28 years. Where we raised our two girls and a few dogs along the way. The kitchen in which I made approximately 2160 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches for school lunches....
How We Use the Paprika App to Plan Meals
We’re empty nesters and we use the Paprika app on Mac and iOS to plan our weekly meals and keep track of recipes we like and want to repeat.
Moving: Final Phase
They are pretty darned, cute, no? You know how sometimes you are in the middle of something stressful and you focus on one little, tiny thing? Yeah, that. So I splurged on new shower curtains and those cute little rings that hold them up. You can get some really cool...
Change: A Catalyst for Blessings
Jim, my husband of 32 years and I are about to start an adventure. Along with our two dogs, and about half of 28 years' worth of accumulated crap, we're moving to Jonesboro, Arkansas at the end of July. We've rented a small house — and when I say small, it's half the...
That Time I Talked to Art Garfunkel
And I Did Not Cry Last night I spoke to Art Garfunkel. Now, this was not a private conversation. In fact, about 500 people (by Jim's estimation) bore witness. We were given a generous and special gift from my sister and brother-in-law, which included tickets to an...
How Important is Milk, Really?
Musings of a Bad First Grader I attended a Catholic school in first and second grade, a perfectly fine school. However, in Jonesboro, Arkansas at that time it was the only private school, and 99 percent of all of the children went to the public schools in town. They...
The Meaning in the Ink
My mother is an incredible woman (This is not her arm). She's a registered nurse, and was one of the first nursing instructors at Arkansas State University when the program was new. After she left nursing, she was a stay-at-home mother for many years, though active in...
Being and Becoming
It's weird when my birthday is on Thanksgiving Day. My birthday is the one day each year when I give myself permission to be a little selfish and indulgent. I get control of the remote, choice of meals, and I don't do dishes, laundry, or any other housework. I love...
The World Series. For Real.
I'm at a World Series game. No, really. Game 4 at Busch Stadium. Cardinal baseball isn't just my obsession, it's a family tradition. And to baseball-obsessed folk, the World Series is pretty much the ultimate dream. When I found out I was going, thanks entirely to the...
Colors of Life
I'm blessed with amazing friends, who are black white Christian Jewish atheist Muslim gay straight bi transsexual empty nesters parents of small children parents of teenagers childless geeks technophobes luddites conservative liberal young middle-aged old reserved...
How to Dice an Onion Like a Doctor
My brother-in-law is an incredible cook. If he weren't an excellent physician, he'd own a restaurant and be a highly-regarded chef, I'm sure. So when he has tips for how to do something in the kitchen, I always listen. Here, he's demonstrating how he dices an onion....
Funk.
Funk has at least three meanings: it is defined as a genre of music, a foul smell, or a dejected mood. I'm kind of familiar with the first definition, all-too acquainted with the second (we have dogs, remember?) and am currently experiencing the third. I've thought...
What Baseball was Like in the 1960s and 1970s
My passion for baseball began at an early age and grew, as each year our family headed to St. Louis for a series, usually in July, which is just as miserable in St. Louis as it was in Arkansas. But I loved the Cardinals more than I hated the heat, and looked forward...
Social Media, Tornadoes, and Sirens
I admit I'm particularly freaky about thunderstorms, and when the tornado sirens go off, my blood pressure tends to riseprecipitously as the barometric pressure falls. I was raised in Jonesboro, Arkansas in the 1960s and `70s. That was during the time that CB radios...
Are You Creative?
I just ran across an interesting article on Lifehacker about the creative personality, called The Seven Elements of a Creative Personality. I read everything I can on this topic because it pretty much describes me. Especially this: You're creative if: Your Mind Has an...
The Gift of Baseball
So, baseball is back. The season could not have come at a better time — especially now, when we're not going out much anywhere, due to the unemployment thing. One of our simple pleasures is putting our feet up and ending the day with the Cardinals on TV, win or lose....
3 Reasons I’m Not a Petrie or a Cleaver
I love to watch old sitcoms like The Dick VanDyke Show, Leave it to Beaver, and The Andy Griffith Show. They are relaxing to watch, as the characters' problems, always wrapped up neatly in half an hour, would earn a #FirstWorldProblems hashtag in today's world....