With the calendar being flipped to December again (that always seems to happen this time of year!), I decided to revisit something I originally wrote in 2011, because I’m sure it will be useful again, especially with our current administration making it an issue. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or something else? I have written about this topic several times before, but alas, it’s that time of year once again, and I always get questions. Let me start out with my disclaimer: though I naturally think that my point of view makes complete sense, it is indeed MY point of view and I have great respect for other opinions, even if…
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We Can Rebuild Her…
By “we”, I mean “I”, and by “her” I mean “Aunt Jemima. Those of you who have been reading my stuff since the beginning (Ten years! Thanks!) will remember that an old glass Aunt Jemima bottle that was stuffed full of twinkle lights at some point back in the 1960s is one of my most-prized family heirloom holiday decorations. That says a lot, by the way, because if you’ve been here a while you also know how much Jim and I despise decorating for holidays. (Exhibit A: one of my very first blog posts, back in 2007. Wait, don’t read it. It’s horrible.) Aunt Jemima is one of my favorite…
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Inbox Breakups and the One I Just Won’t Let Go
My inbox has been out of control lately. I’m not currently employed so it’s not work emails causing a problem: it’s newsletters and retail emails along with credit card notification emails. The credit card notifications are a necessary evil, I have found. Jim and I have had our credit card numbers compromised four times in the last couple of years and it finally occurred to me that, in addition to keeping an eye on our accounts, I could take advantage of the handy notifications that our card company offers. Those notifications have purpose. The newsletters and retail emails are a different story. I can’t believe how many lists I’m on,…
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Managing Expectations is (Now) My Jam
I had a great conversation earlier today with a friend about expectations and how we manage them. This is something I have been working on for a while now, but I’ve kicked it into overdrive in the past few months since I stopped working full time (and stopped having to be on the go constantly). Back in the day I was the Queen of Expectations–wait, maybe High Priestess of Expectations–both in regards to myself and others. I was raised with high expectations and believed that keeping the bar waaaaaaay up there was important when it came to being successful, being happy, and getting things done. Well, I was wrong…and I’m…
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A Sunday Haiku, Part Two
Holiday over She looks at the week ahead Sees nothing, and smiles.
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On Peeling Eggs and Other Things That Take Time
One of my contributions to the family Thanksgiving dinner this week was deviled eggs. I was determined to figure out how to peel them so they stayed looking as pristine as the eggs you see in the magazines, because usually when I peel hard boiled eggs they end up looking like a hot mess. i did a little research of course, because that’s what I do. Let me save you some time; there are LOTS of theories out there about how best to peel eggs, and the theories contradict each other like you wouldn’t believe. What I came up with that was different from what I’ve always done was: 1.…
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Telling Our Stories
One of the things I have always loved about getting together with my parents is the storytelling. There are certain stories in our family (and probably yours too) that get told and retold. Favorite stories for us include the one about how my dad stuck a fork in his older sister’s butt cheek, how my Grandma casually came out to the living room where my Grandpa and my Dad were talking and said sweetly, “Danny, the kitchen is on fire…”, how my sister nailed me in the head with a wooden Fisher-Price clock on a road trip to Canada…those are just the tip of the iceberg. Dylan, Jason, and Hannah…
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#Thankful
It’s been a very full day so I’ll just say this: I’m thankful for many, many things but most of all for my family and friends. Have you hugged your loved ones today?
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Taking Stock
I decided to jump on the “Taking Stock” bandwagon, which I first read at Laurie’s site. She got it from “Meet Me At Mike’s”. I thought it looked fun; we’ll see if I still think so at the end. Now that I’m reading through it all, it seems like a lot of work. Ready? Let’s go. Making: Holiday cookies and deviled eggs (not simultaneously). I’m making the boys’ favorite holiday cookies so they can take some home when they go back to the Chicago area on Sunday AND so Jim and I can enjoy some cookies but not thousands of them. The deviled eggs are, along with wine, what we’re…
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What To Say, What Not To Say
This NaBloPoMo month of writing daily has been much harder for me than it usually is for several reasons, one of which is that I was away from home for two weeks and, rather than scheduling posts ahead of time like I usually do when I know I’ll be gone, I blogged from my phone. Writing daily is the idea of November NaBloPoMo participation, of course, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever gotten through it in the last decade without pre-scheduling a single post. Oddly enough, I think I have done a better job with much of what I’ve written this year so that’s a good takeaway for me.…
