(re-run) I have too many hats. Most of them were store inventory since I had a brick and mortar costume business for kids – field trips, book reports, etc. I sold on Etsy for five years until they became a corporate company with plans to streamline the buyer’s experience. Just click a button and order… Continue reading Hat Trick
Month: August 2025
Just Sing Hey Jude
(re-run) What’s the song you sing when you are in a bind and need to calm yourself down, without the benefit of drugs? You are going into surgery, you have run out of gas along the side of the highway, you are waiting for a phone call from your tardy teen? For me, it’s a… Continue reading Just Sing Hey Jude
Same Old Grind
(re-run) Advanced bruxism – that’s what it’s called when you clench and grind your teeth in your sleep. I didn’t know I had it until my dentist noticed my worn lower teeth at a check-up. She made me a mouth guard to save them. I know when it all started. It was in the big… Continue reading Same Old Grind
Another Dog Story
My water bill for the beach house arrived. It was $2500. Someone had left the hose running in the front yard. It could’ve been me. It could’ve been my neighbor. At any rate, I finally got the adjusted bill with $1900 taken off. Yes, I still have to pay $600, but that is much more… Continue reading Another Dog Story
Worst Fake Friend Ever
(re-run) When I moved to suburbia in the Bay Area, I joined the town’s Newcomer’s club and then joined the babysitting co-op within the club. We were all new mothers with one or two children, and the thirty of us traded babysitting with coupons while our little families grew bigger. My two-year-old daughter bonded with… Continue reading Worst Fake Friend Ever
The Dog Whisperer
(re-run) My son moved in with me. He’s managed to get the super anxious, high-strung Jack Russell terrier to roll over onto her back when she sees him coming. She allows belly rubs to happen. This is huge. I’ve been massaging Daisy Dog ever since pandemic life went online with Zoom. She knows to sit… Continue reading The Dog Whisperer
Sneaking into the Pool
(re-run) While student teaching in Venezuela, my roommate and partner in crime learned how to have fun with not much money. One of the American teachers had stolen a couple of striped beach towels from an upscale hotel, and she had been sneaking into the hotel pool for years. “Just carry the towel and act… Continue reading Sneaking into the Pool
Do You Want a Cookie, Little Girl?
(re-run) She ran a personal ad in the Contra Costa Times: Single white female looking for single Asian man. Her two previous boyfriends had been Asian. James called and left a message with his phone number on a Friday night. The next morning Pam checked her phone messages. She liked his voice as she listened… Continue reading Do You Want a Cookie, Little Girl?
The Tennis Shoe and the Broken Window
(re-run) It was senior year in high school. I was on my last semester of PE, my least favorite class. I maintained a straight-A average in all other classes. But not in PE. It alternated between a B and a C. I was feeling good. We were in our next-to last unit, the physical fitness… Continue reading The Tennis Shoe and the Broken Window
What Zillow Doesn’t Know
Every now and then, Zillow will send me an email telling me what my house is currently worth. It’s down $200,000 from last year. What Zillow doesn’t know is that the photo of my house on their website is woefully out of date. That green grassy lawn is long gone, replaced by drought tolerant plants… Continue reading What Zillow Doesn’t Know
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 