If you call me, I won’t answer. You can try to reach me on my cell or on our ancient landline. But I won’t answer. I use my cell phone for everything from watching exercise videos to playing word games. It’s my camera and my map of the world. The thing monitors my heart and […]
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Fighting About Money
In many ways, my husband and I are opposites. Not in ways you can immediately discern by looking at us, but in the most fundamental ways. For example, he doesn’t like peanut butter and thinks mayonnaise and Miracle Whip are interchangeable. To me, that’s stark, raving madness. In the interest of equal time, I count […]
How to Beat the Winter Blues
“If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.” Anonymous. Winter blues. Seasonal affective disorder. Call it what you will, but a lot of us feel that unmistakable blah of winter. The first person to put up holiday decorations […]
Word of the Year
We’re barreling toward the mid-2020s. Whoa. I’ve just ordered my Jetson style-flying car from Amazon. 2023 does sound like we’ve arrived in the future. Be that as it may, we still have to take out the garbage, empty the dishwasher, and clean our houses. We do have smart appliances, doorbells, cars, and thermostats, so a […]
Toss Holiday Traditions That Cause Stress
I’ve written about the benefits of minimizing clutter, whether you’re a Marie Kondo fan or a Swedish Death Cleaning type. With the former, you keep what brings you joy; with the latter, you toss everything to spare your kids the job after you go. When we think of clutter, we think of mismatched socks, paperwork, dead […]
What My Grandmothers Taught Me About Baking
My two grandmothers were as different as night and day. They were alike, however, in the most important way—they were both the best grandmothers in the history of the world. My childhood memories of baking with each of them are among my most treasured. I think about them this time of year as I make […]