Just a few weeks ago my youngest son had a very interesting conversation with my wife. He started by commenting that “the day after yesterday was a great day.” To clarify, my wife corrected by asking, “Do you mean the day before yesterday?” “No.” “Do you mean today?” He responded flatly with, “No. I took […]
Nothing in the glutenous world beats freshly-baked bread. If you’re yearning for that homemade taste, store-bought frozen bread dough will do in a pinch, but I have to say, nothing beats mom’s homemade bread recipe. If you’ve never witnessed the making of homemade bread, it’s quite a process. I remember the long hours mom spent […]
Well, it finally happened. Sometime yesterday our oldest son grew up. After weeks of persistent begging, we granted him permission to walk home after school – by himself. Okay, not exactly all by himself (ultimately I think that’s what complicated the decision to allow it). He may be a responsible and mature fifth grader, but […]
I consider myself a very logical person. If I can’t empirically prove something to be true I become skeptical. What I have to remind myself is that if I choose not to believe something because I can’t prove it (by way of scientific observation) does not make it false. That’s where faith comes in. There’s […]
Unless you’re expecting something via U.S. Mail, the trip to the mailbox is often a fruitless endeavor. The amount of junk mail that we receive has probably gone down over the past few years, but occasionally we still get that credit card application we never requested or the local coupon package with discounts for products […]
The cost of petroleum in this country has nearly pushed the once popular full-sized SUV into extinction. My feeble mind never understood the love affair some people had with the huge gas guzzlers (I know my wallet couldn’t). It seemed that the people who would actually need such a vehicle for heavy-duty, off-road hauling of […]
You have to appreciate the independence kids develop as they get older. That’s the only way you’ll be able to deal with what seems like heartbreaking rejection. If you’re not there yet, prepare yourself. There will come a day when you drop your ‘baby’ off at school and he/she will all but ignore you. Don’t […]
It’s been said that people will ‘lose their heads’ in a crisis. I can freely confess that this does happen. For whatever reason, panic sometimes overcomes me and things that should be painfully obvious just aren’t. I have to remind myself almost daily not to ‘lose my head’ worrying about the things I have no […]
The only thing more menacing than a bully is… a cyberbully! The worst part of it is kids can be victimized without ever seeing who’s tormenting them. The relative anonymity of the tormentor has made this a very serious issue. I had no idea how extensive and potentially fatal cyberbullying is, but I can tell […]
The microwave is an awkward appliance. It falls into that murky area between necessity and convenience. Sure, I could boil water in seven minutes on the stove, but wouldn’t it be convenient if I could boil it in three? I remember when this ubiquitous culinary hardware made it into our household when I was a […]