January 2010

Digital Mom Meme

January 31, 2010

Some of y’all may know that for the past few months, I’ve been participating in BlogHer’s Family Connections citizen journalism project as a Momspotter. Basically that means I tweet a few times a day with the #momspotting hashtag about how I use technology in my day-to-day parenting life (actually, I talk more about just life, [...]

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Optimism Virus to Battle the Cold Virus

January 29, 2010

My “optimism virus” has been outgunned this week by a cold virus. I tell you what, it has been hard to see “Only The Good!” When things are going wrong, it’s probably the best time to practice optimism, eh? Let me try to shoot down that cold virus with some optimism. I’m going to give [...]

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Musing On The Question: For Whom Do You Write

January 26, 2010

“For whom do you write?” That’s the provocative question that Janie posed at Colloquium. I decided to ask that question of my Muse — that “inner child” of mine who is the inspiration for my creativity. Ask a silly question question of a silly person, and here is what you get. OK, Muse. For whom [...]

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Jelly Vendor

January 25, 2010

Driving the Texas highways (which is my neck of the woods), there are often vegetable stands in the spring and summer that tempt me to stop to peruse their offerings. Still, I was surprised to see a truck at a highway intersection in midwinter offering Mahaw jelly. When the man waved at me, I decided [...]

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Sure It Can Play, But Can It Sing?

January 24, 2010

Have I told you that my husband is a musician? Well, he is an engineer for a living, but he plays music in his spare time. He can play darned near any musical instrument that you can imagine except drums. The only reason that he doesn’t play drums is that we don’t have a set [...]

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Gimme Shelter

January 21, 2010

It’s not Only The Good Friday, yet, my friends. I know that, but this can’t wait. I bet when you look at the television news you aren’t seeing a lot of good. Images of the suffering in Haiti are overwhelming, aren’t they? I feel helpless. Those people have lost their homes and need shelter now! [...]

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Titillation Part Two

January 21, 2010

At my age, I’ve decided that life is too short to read books I don’t enjoy. A book has to titillate me in the first chapter, or I’ll close it and walk away. Now, I defined “titillate” in Part One, so stop tittering about it. I simply mean that a book has to excite my [...]

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Titillation: Part One

January 20, 2010

Hey, stop it! “Titillate” is a perfectly fine verb meaning “to excite another, especially in a superficial, pleasurable manner.” Though it can be used in an erotic sense, that isn’t the intent of the word. But, if you want to see a group of adults collapse into a paroxysm of nervous giggling … “tittering,” if [...]

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Floating In Memories

January 19, 2010

Close your eyes and remember a trip to your grandmother’s house. Wait … hold on … don’t close them yet! Read the post first. I want you to do some visualizing, but I want you to know where we are going with it. You can even use this as a writing prompt, if you like. [...]

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A Different Spin On Menus

January 18, 2010

Sometimes restaurants go to great lengths with their decorations to distract you from the fact that the food is inferior. That was not the case on Friday night. Our menus were handed to us encased in old album covers. The menu items were printed on labels that were stuck to old vinyl records inside. Click [...]

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One Million Acts of Kindness — A Lifetime Goal

January 15, 2010

Kindness. Do you think that the trait of kindness is innate, or is it something that we “learn?” I’m not sure that everyone is born with it, but I think that most people can learn to be kind … although it takes practice. By practicing simple acts of kindness, I think we can teach our [...]

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Life Would Be A Dinglederry, If I Only Had A Brain

January 13, 2010

My life resembles the soundtrack from the Wizard of Oz. Like the Scarecrow, I go around singing “If I Only Had A Brain.” But, wait! I do have a brain … in fact, I keep it in the living room so that everyone will see it. Unfortunately, it’s just a brain coral. I’ve done something [...]

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A Hand-some Bowl

January 12, 2010

My beloved husband knows how to worm his way into my heart. Since he is aware that I collect “hands,” he got me the perfect gift: A handy bowl. Actually, “handy” is stretching it a bit. It isn’t for use in serving food, it’s just decorative. But, oh! How decorative it is! Now, I have [...]

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An Organ for your Pocket

January 11, 2010

I have to tell y’all that when I met my husband he had three organs! As I became more organized, I made sure he became less so. I made him get rid of two of them. But, my husband’s remaining organ weighs 300 pounds and has to be moved with a dolly. Do whut??? Ohhhh [...]

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Tattered Lace Curtains

January 10, 2010

On a recent walk, before the weather got so cold, we ventured into the Solana complex near Southlake. Years ago I often exercised on the hiking trail they had for their employees. No. I didn’t work there, but no one ever stopped me. That’s where we saw the beautifully entwined trees that I photographed for [...]

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My Muse, Or Inner Child, Loves The Library

January 9, 2010

[Editor's Note: There is a "voice" that talks to me inside my head ... some would postulate that there are several voices in there. The one I recognize, I call Muse, but other people might call Her the "Inner Child." She is definitely that. Talking to Her is a bit like talking to a seven [...]

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All Warm Inside

January 8, 2010

Is it cold at your house? Around here it is the coldest it’s been in thirteen years! If you live in the north, I know you snicker when we complain about a couple of days of wind chill in the teens, but Texans aren’t always physically or mentally prepared for the Arctic blasts. Last night [...]

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Are We Addicted To Cell Phones?

January 5, 2010

Do y’all think that we spend too much time on those cell phones of ours? Sometimes it seems like folks talk on them all the dadgum time. This fella was riding in a parade here in Denton (I showed you pictures of the North Texas State Fair Parade back in August), and he couldn’t stop [...]

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Lover’s Embrace

January 3, 2010

Sometimes I hear my Grandfather’s voice whispering stories inside my head. Yesterday, my husband and I took a walk and found two trees that had grown together. As we marveled at those trees, hugging like a pair of old lovers, Papaw’s slow East Texas drawl came through loud and clear. Pardon the length of it, [...]

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A Gas-tronomical Adventure at Chef Point Cafe

January 2, 2010

A five star restaurant at a gas station? Yes, you can find that in my neck of the woods. Chef Point Cafe is nestled inside this Conoco Station located on Watauga Road in the Texas community of Watauga … population: 24,005, SAA-LUTE! Oops, my Hee Haw roots are showing. Nowadays, most gasoline stations are attached [...]

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