Category: Blog

  • The Toothpaste Test

    The Toothpaste Test

    by

    in

    Living in harmony starts with the toothpaste test As another wedding anniversary looms I find myself thinking back to those early years of learning to live together in harmony. The difference between deciding to marry and living everyday life together is like fishing for sardines and landing a 100-pound halibut. The reality is so much…

  • A Conundrum in My Kitchen

    A Conundrum in My Kitchen

    by

    in

    A full fridge means leftovers are at critical mass There’s a conundrum in my kitchen. While most people grocery shop when their refrigerator is empty, I have to shop when mine is full. It took me awhile to identify the reason. In my house, a full fridge does not mean there are food choices in…

  • Memories Hide Within the Clutter

    Memories Hide Within the Clutter

    by

    in

    Why do we keep the stuff we keep?   I alternately wage war and make peace with the clutter in my house. Occasionally my tolerance of “stuff” reaches critical mass and I go on a rampage against it. In those moods I’m determined to minimalize, simplify, de-acquire. But my clutter is sneaky. It knows how…

  • The Huge Boss, the Small Boss, and Dogs That Don’t Listen

    The Huge Boss, the Small Boss, and Dogs That Don’t Listen

    by

    in

    Some days, I just want to be the huge boss   Our family roles have been defined since my son’s preschool days. According to his 4-year-old reckoning, Dad is the huge boss and I am the small boss. Since this pronouncement happened over 20 years ago, I can only guess at the criteria my son…

  • Things That Go Ring in the Night

    Things That Go Ring in the Night

    by

    in

    Video doorbells don’t always see everything   Fearless, I’m not. In fact, sometimes I’m a downright sissy. Not that I haven’t done brave things. After all, I birthed two children without so much as a Tylenol. And I’m not afraid of the dark, but sometimes I’m afraid in the dark. I don’t like things that…

  • Food is Love and Cookbooks are Sacrilegious

    by

    in

    Lessons from an Italian Grandmother My Italian grandmother taught me that food is love. She lived ten minutes from us growing up and never came over empty-handed, so my siblings and I were the recipients of an awful lot of love. And it was all from scratch. I don’t know if cooking from scratch is…