California has a lot going for it. Namely, it has three of our offspring living there, as well as their three amazing spouses and, of course, two top-of-the-line grandchildren. What it doesn’t have is a postal service that is even close to adequate. Case in point: We once mailed a large box filled with wrapped […]
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Once again, I have planted some hostas. Some meaning about a thousand. It’s not that I’m particularly crazy about hostas, it’s just that in our yard we have lots of shade trees. Shade trees and grass are enemies, thus there are lots of bare spots in our yard. Lots. Huge ones. And each spring, the […]
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Our five offspring, in addition to being the Medicine-and-Food-Expiration-Date Police, are also the Only-Healthful-Ingredients-Allowed-in-Food-and-Drink Police. Case in point: They roll their collective eyes at my preference for Miracle Whip on my peanut butter sandwiches. “Mom, Miracle Whip isn’t even food – it’s all chemicals!” Then there are their reactions to my choice […]
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Don’t you hate it when some research firm, probably with nothing better to do, determines that something you have loved for years is very bad for your health? I can just see a roomful of bored scientists sitting at a conference table and tossing around the names of various desserts, candies, whatever. And then, stroking […]
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Rumor has reached me that cursive writing is being downplayed in our school systems. In some schools, I’m told, it has even ceased being taught. I wish that had happened a few years ago and I would have been spared a grade-school humiliation that has scarred me for life. The (Dreaded) Palmer Method We were […]
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There was a quiz on Facebook awhile ago designed, I think, to make me feel bad. And old. It listed 19 things from years past and quiz-takers were to check the ones they remembered. Things like home delivery of milk in glass bottles, tiny wax coke-shaped bottles with colored water in them, phone numbers with […]
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My internet crashed again, this time taking the phones down with it. Or maybe the phone line crashed, taking the internet down with it. I’m thinking of resorting to communication by smoke signals. It took seven hours for everything to be fixed. During that time, I was able to use my new cell phone, […]
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Remember Joe Btfsplk? He was the character in Lil Abner who walked around with a black cloud over his head. I know how the poor guy felt. Last week was not my best by a long shot. I hate to whine, but I’m going to. (Please note you have been forewarned, so you needn’t read […]
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I wrote this in June for the anniversary issue that was to come out then – slight delay, it finally came out last week. Happy New Year, all! I started as a reporter at the Algona Upper Des Moines just a few years ago. OK, it was in 1984, if you want to be technical. […]
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I wonder who looks at expiration dates on food and over-the-counter meds other than my children. Bing and I seem to have reared five super-cautious (a nice way of saying paranoid), compulsive label-readers. Who Reads Expiration Dates Anyway? Food Case in point: Last year, Meg asked what she would need to make turkey gravy at […]
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