(re-run) Many moons ago, when I was the mother of three young children, my husband (now ex) said, “Let’s remodel the kitchen.” I stupidly agreed, not realizing that I would be the one to suffer through six weeks of no kitchen sink and six weeks of feeding my family with no way to cook anything… Continue reading The Flying Hammer and the Cleaning Lady
Category: holidays
Hold the Crunch
(re-run) Jim’s job was to put the crunch in the new peanut butter, Jif. One machine chopped the peanuts into slivers, and another machine used pistons to plug the slivers into the creamy product. Jim also had to taste test peanut butter that had been sitting on a shelf for three months in 100 degree… Continue reading Hold the Crunch
Almost Toast
(re-run) Marlene and her friend Beth came out to California from New Hampshire after college to work for Bank of America. They each made a new friend, and each new friend brought another friend to the party (plus one more) until they were a group of seven recent college graduates, living in the city of… Continue reading Almost Toast
Spinning a Spider Story
My strength and toning instructor loves to tell us trivia while we work out. Last week she said spiders are the most active between 6 and 8 p.m. and that the female spiders go out looking for food at that time. The males follow. Isn’t that just like a male anyway, to wait until we’ve… Continue reading Spinning a Spider Story
Popsicles, Light Carpet, and Stitches
(re-run) It was Labor Day weekend. We needed to get a handle on the mess in the garage. I asked my oldest to watch my youngest while we parents worked outside. She was nine, in 4th grade already for a week, and the baby was almost two and a half. Then a series of unfortunate… Continue reading Popsicles, Light Carpet, and Stitches
Airport Surprise
(re-run) She wanted to surprise him. They had both left Hawaii at different times to go home for Christmas and would meet up that night when he picked her up from the airport. He liked lingerie. She had bought a new thong for the holidays, red on one side, green on the other, with two… Continue reading Airport Surprise
Hold the Crunch
(re-run) Jim earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He took a job with Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati, which had just started buying up food brands, like cake mixes and peanut butter. Jim’s job was to put the crunch in the new peanut butter, Jif. One machine chopped the peanuts into… Continue reading Hold the Crunch
Worst Roommate Ever
(re-run) By the time I graduated college, I’d had somewhere close to 37 roommates: the first two in the triple room my freshman year, the next two in another triple when I changed dorms after one quarter, my solo roommate all of sophomore year, then the string of roomies after I moved into the sorority… Continue reading Worst Roommate Ever
Snow Day
Many of my Medicare friends are moving or contemplating moving to retirement communities. A big one close to my town is called Rossmoor. It’s a huge gated community built back in the sixties and contains 6700 residential units surrounded by open space. At least one resident in each unit must be at least fifty-five years… Continue reading Snow Day
Shake, Rattle and Roll
(re-run in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Loma Prieta quake in 1989) Twenty earthquakes happened under my town yesterday. The biggest one was under the posh community of Diablo, three miles from here. They are calling it a swarm of quakes. The quakes are just big enough to get your attention or wake… Continue reading Shake, Rattle and Roll
