random musings
-
Granddaughter eyes
I’m in a stare-down with a toddler. I lie on the sofa and she sits on my chest. She has already pulled off my glasses and she is looking at me. She’s been babbling non-stop all day but now she is silent. Looking. Deep into my eyes. She doesn’t blink. She doesn’t realize it’s a stare-down. I’m Continue reading
-
March mudness
Unless you’re into basketball, is there anything to like about March? St. Patrick’s Day, perhaps. You have to wonder, though, if St. Patrick’s day was really originally in March or if the Irish just wanted to bless us all with an official drinking holiday in this most dreary of months. Many people hate the month of Continue reading
-
Epic inertia
inertia \i-ˈnǝr-shǝ\ n. a property of matter whereby it remains at rest or continues in uniform motion unless acted upon by some outside force epic \ˈe-pik\ adj. extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope I’m not a physicist, so I have never much pondered the uniform motion aspect of inertia. To Continue reading
-
I’m not Santa
I’m not Santa. I have played his representative at this household for …um…thirty years, but I suddenly find that my term is over. All my girls have their own little ones and, hence, have assumed the role of Santa for themselves. And all my girls have their own guys who are responsible for ensuring Christmas happiness and Continue reading
-
peace on earth
Discord. Joyful images to “like” on Facebook: six year old grandson grinning the gap in his smile from his newly yanked front tooth; one year old twins in candy-cane striped pjs caught in the act of “emptying” the dishwasher and trying to escape Mom’s “wrath.” Candlelight images pleading for us all to pray for the Continue reading
-
My own medicine
Last week I made my ESL students write three paragraphs on a single topic to three different audiences with potentially three different purposes–to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. I gave them four possible topics with the option of picking their own. They moaned and groaned about how mean I was. You would have thought they were Continue reading
-
It’s Advent, not Christmas…that’s what I tell myself
I’ve lived long enough to know better, but I still entertain fantasies that the Christmas decorations will go up in a perfectly clean house. The truth is, my standards and energy levels are going lower every year. In my idealized world, the screens will come off the windows and the windows will be sparkling clean before Continue reading
-
If bacon drippings were gold
I have this dream, fantasy….ok, completely unrealistic expectation that one day when I entertain everything will be perfect. Other people seem to do it. Martha Stewart comes to mind. A bit closer to home, my sister-in-law Kathe has the perfect home. It’s so perfect to the teensiest detail that the lamp in the guest bedroom Continue reading
-
Mice, mouses, or meece
Here’s a question: If your computer mouse dies, you tell the IT guy you need a new mouse. But what if you need two? Do you need two computer mice or two computer mouses? Just wondering. My mouse at school stopped working and I told someone it died and they had to think about it for a moment. With Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 