• Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  UGH.

    Getting Back On The Horse

    After the traumatic morning I had on Sunday, I waited as long as I could to get gas in my car. In other words, I waited until I was thisclose to empty. I figured that it probably wouldn’t be smart to drive by the gas station on the way home without stopping, so I took a deep breath and turned in, parking myself at the pump on the far end. Seriously, I was nervous. The funny thing is, I’ve been pumping gas since I was sixteen: nearly twenty-seven A LOT of years now. It took that one moment… that one HORRIFYING, SCARY, EMBARRASSING moment …to screw it all up. It…

  • Childhood Memories,  Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?

    Missing A Sensitivity Chip

    Back in the 80’s, I was a very typical teenaged girl, music-wise: I was completely over-the-moon about the (Second) British Invasion, especially the music groups involved, and especially Duran Duran. In fact, two years ago I wrote a whole post about my love for “D-squared”, and it covered the white-hot intensity of my obsession pretty well. (Click here to check it out; you won’t regret it.) Unfortunately, I never got to see them perform live. Fast forward to October of 2011. Duran Duran is touring, and yesterday I had to turn down free tickets to see them. I know. I KNOW! The tragic nature of that statement alone is beyond…

  • Roxie

    Does This Dog Look Like A Killer?

    You wouldn’t think so, right? Boy, do I have a story for you. Yesterday, I let Roxie out into our fenced backyard to “do her business”, which is a polite way of saying…well, you know what I’m saying. I made the mistake, it being a lovely summer day and all, of walking away from the family room (where I can keep an eye on her) and getting involved in something else, in another part of the house. The reason that’s a mistake is because Roxie has a problem with not being able to pass up the opportunity to roll in rabbit poo. Usually, on a great summer afternoon, if I…

  • Friends,  Fun in Chicago

    Just When You Think Everything Is Smooth Sailing…

    When you last heard from me, it was Wednesday and I was waiting for a pair of red shoes to arrive at my house, a day ahead of an event that was “Red dress or red shoes optional”. I was very excited to have finally found something that would work for me, and paid for express delivery (something I NEVER do), in order to get the shoes early enough to wear around the house for a couple of hours before making the commitment to wear them for six to seven hours on event night. I checked the UPS tracking on the shoes during the day on Wednesday, and there was…

  • Uncategorized

    What Comfort Zone?

    Even outside of this blog, I am a writer. You know that. I have a specialty, though. Did you know that? I write non-fiction. I believe I am good at it. I can write the heck out of an informational magazine article or a business letter*. Even the book I wrote, though it reads a little like fiction, is a true story. The idea of writing works of fiction terrifies me. That’s why I said, “Sure!” when Tara asked me, a few months ago, to be one of the contributors to a tag-team blog on which we collectively write a novelette. (Uh yeah, that’s fiction.) Actually, I said, “Sure!” because…

  • Something That Could Change Your Life

    Autumn Cleaning

    Since we took the older boy to college two weeks ago*, I was hoping that life would slow down a little bit. And it did, just a little bit. What I am finding is that, like so many of my good friends out there in the blogosphere (and IRL!), I still have too much to do with too little time. My to-do lists aren’t cutting it anymore, because I end most days disappointed when I assess what actually got completed: it’s usually a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but not a whole lot of anything in particular. After putting some thought into it, I finally…

  • Confessions

    I Finally Hit Bottom.

    I never thought this would happen, in a million years. In fact, I thought I took measures to make sure this would never happen. Back in the day, I couldn’t even count them all. My supply? Overflowing. I was definitely a hoarder. They were so pretty when you put them all together; they made a rainbow of possibilities, to be used in whatever order I deemed necessary. They relaxed me, or invigorated me, or reminded me of my favorite moments. They could wash away a bad day in record time. And now? With no ceremony, they are gone. All gone. *wringing hands* And I don’t know what my next steps…