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    The Romance of Death

    My dad died. It’s easier to type those words than it is to say them out loud. I’m a fairly straightforward person. I don’t like sugar coating my statements and I don’t like euphemisms. I hate when someone says, “I had a few beers” when they actually got shitfaced and pissed themselves. Saying something in a more pleasant way doesn’t change the facts of what happened. Euphemisms serve no purpose other than to make the truth more palatable. I always found it irritating when people purposely avoided saying that someone had died. Instead, they “passed” or “left this world”. Until now. Now, I understand. Almost every single time I had…

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    Renovations Are Fun

    It’s finally happening! I’ve worked hard. I’ve saved my money and I am now on the road to renovating and redecorating my kitchen/living/dining room area. Open concept floorplans are great but change in these large areas creates an equally large mess. When your kitchen, living room and dining room are essentially one big room, you can’t renovate only one area. That would be weird. And ugly. Living in a construction zone is enough to make anyone crazy, and me being the OCD organizer I am, I had a plan. (Side note – I like to organize, but I rarely am organized.) Anyhow, I had a plan. There were some tasks…

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    Hitchhikers Who Don’t Try

    Pet Peeves – We all have them. For most of us, the everyday irritants of life are similar. We all hate the slow guy driving in the passing lane. We all want to kick the guy who chews loudly, smacking his lips together with each grind of his molars. Or the guy who macerates his food with his mouth wide open as if the rest of us want to see the sickening result of him tormenting a pop tart, crumbs flying everywhere. And no one likes the messy sneezer. You know, the person who never covers their sneeze but tells you not to worry because it’s just allergies. Allergies or…

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    Pomp, Circumstance & The Mullet

    I am a little late in posting this, but a couple of weeks ago my youngest, Nick, graduated high school. Now, if you’ve been following my blog, you know I am not a fan of graduations. They are long, boring and usually a platform for political grandstanding. I won’t bore you with my full rant when you can easily read about it. Click here Despite my inherent dislike for the ceremonial pomp, I am still disappointed Nick didn’t get an actual graduation. The class of 2020 was shafted big time. They didn’t have a prom. They didn’t have the Belleayre Bash (an all-night graduation party sponsored by a local ski…

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    Waxing in the Age of ‘Rona

    If you’re anything like me, you are sick, sick, sick of this whole Coronavirus business. I am so ready for life to get back to normal. I need my nails done. I need to visit my wax lady. I need to shop somewhere other than Walmart. There is no end to the selfish and shallow reasons I want this to be over. The end of the world is proving to be quite an inconvenience. Simmer down, Karen. I know how serious this virus is. I don’t need an angry email detailing the reasons I should follow your lead and wear a useless cloth mask and contaminated gloves everywhere I go.…

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    An Open Letter To My Addict

    Addiction is so commonplace in our country we all have at least one loved one affected. Loving an addict is a tough place to be. Always walking the fine line between helping and enabling, always hovering in the gray area between hope and reality, always wavering between speaking our mind and worry that the last conversation we’ll have with our addict will be filled with anger. I’ve never been great at holding my tongue (shocker, I know). Many times, the opportunity to speak meaningful words is lost because we don’t know how. Or our addict refuses to hear. Or we know anything said will be twisted and refuted the moment…

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    God Laughs

    I may not go to church as often as I should and I’m certainly not the best example of a pious woman, but I do wholeheartedly believe God is real. And I am one hundred percent positive he has a sense of humor. A good one. If you don’t agree, I challenge you to answer me this: If God does not have a sense of humor, why would he not only allow us to create see through doors, but also give us people who would walk into them? Seriously. There is nothing funnier in this world than watching someone bounce off a closed glass or screen door they thought was…

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    Awesome Autism

    I had this great plan to publish this post at the beginning of the month in celebration of Autism Awareness month. Unfortunately, time got away from me and my blog took a backseat to life. As I just said, April is Autism Awareness month, promoted on television, in magazines and on the internet. Organizations like Autism Speaks have done a wonderful job educating people on the signs of autism, the need for early intervention services and encouraging the acceptance of people with autism. Very important work they’re doing over there at Autism Speaks, but here in my house, we’re already well aware of autism and what it means. Eighteen years…

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    There Once Was A Man

    There once was a man, the world he loved so. Adventure he wanted, and off he did go. With his boots and his gun, on the x he did sign. He had the confidence of the young, all would be fine. The training was hard, the adventure was grand. But the flight was soon over, it was now time to land. A wife and a child, a family he did start. To this new adventure, he would give his whole heart. Saying goodbye to his ranch, his roots and his cows, He built a new life, this one with vows. This man he was good, solid and pure, But for…

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    Social Media Faux Pas

    Social media can be many things depending on your perspective and your mood. Sometimes it’s funny and entertaining, sometimes it’s annoying and overwhelming. It can be a great way to stay in touch with friends and family near and far, even an effective networking and marketing tool. I could sit here all day extolling the virtues and pitfalls of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, but that would be boring. Instead, I’m going to examine the lighter, more ridiculous side of the social media coin. I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of at least a few of the indiscretions I am about to ridicule. I won’t…