Merry, merry, Christmas, everyone! So that I may spend more time with my family I am sharing a post from last year, written by my daughter Alexis. As I wrote last year, she is cute, witty, and a terrific writer. Plus, she and her hubby are parents now, so perhaps this is a timely story […]
Help find the owner of this 1964 East TN Class Ring
December 15, 2013 By 20 Comments
Friends, I need your help. My husband has found an old ring and I’d love your assistance in finding the owner. Keith has been finding treasures these last few months as he enjoys the waterways in our new home in East Tennessee. A popular activity in this area—made more interesting this time of […]
Spending less at Christmas yields more joy
December 9, 2013 By 8 Comments
What do you really want to experience this year for Christmas? Less stress? More joy? If that is true for you, here is one way to get there: giving fewer gifts. I’m referring to reducing the number and scale of presents, which is not to be confused with your charitable giving. This can be […]
Discovering Joy: It’s up to you, but not about you, Pt 2
November 13, 2013 By 23 Comments
Welcome to the second half of Discovering Joy. If you missed the first, you can read it here. I wrote previously: I learned that really getting the most out of Allume (a recent blogging conference I attended), or any other gathering in life, really learning to discover joy right where we are, is that it is up to us, but […]
Discovering Joy: Turning neuroses into new roses Pt 1
November 11, 2013 By 20 Comments
Let’s see a show of hands: Who wants to go to a gathering of hundreds of strangers, where you don’t know anyone in real life, many who are more accomplished in their careers than you, have more friends, are more famous, well-spoken, fashionable, thinner, and especially aren’t just so darn plain-Jane average like you? Nobody? We […]
Today you can be their gift: Speak up!
October 22, 2013 By 15 Comments
Have you ever felt nudged to speak up, share something, to offer help or hope, or simply to introduce yourself? Did you act on that nudge, or did you squelch it, thinking it might make you look foolish, put you in the uncomfortable situation of being rebuffed, or worse? Our little but loudly yipping […]
The Myth of Talent: How a mistaken belief is holding you back
October 7, 2013 By
When you were little, you probably believed in one or more myths: the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus. For the most part, those myths were pretty harmless, except for the anguish and heartbreak you suffered when your older sibling or classmate gleefully broke the news that those beloved characters didn’t exist. As adults, […]
How to create a deeper connection with your husband
October 4, 2013 By
Do you ever feel like you and your husband aren’t really connecting? Do you sometimes think it doesn’t matter what you do, that it won’t bring you closer anyway? To the contrary, it does matter, very much. You just need to know the secret password. There’s an old cartoon classic, Ali Baba Bunny, in […]
The inevitable transition of seasons
August 28, 2013 By 11 Comments
Seeing your little one off on the first day of school. Waving goodbye as your baby heads to college. Giving your daughter away at her wedding. Seasons. Our lives are full of seasons and the small and large In-Between times. I wrote previously about stubbornly refusing to let go of summer, as though […]
Dear weary Mom, hang in there!
August 19, 2013 By 25 Comments
I don’t know about you, but I am a weary mom today. Usually when I hear that term I think of bleary-eyed young women adjusting to their new role as a parent. But moms at any stage can feel tuckered out, worn down, full of worry and just plain overwhelmed. Moms of […]
