Category: memoir

Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer Do, Month # 4

Posted in animal adoption, animal rescue, California, caregiver, dog training, humor, memoir, relationships, sisterLeave a comment

The rescue dog and I are entering our fourth month together. I’d like to say that all is well, and it is, if you disregard her climbing on the kitchen table when no one is looking, or peeing on the rug when it’s raining outside. Oh, and let’s not forget the day I gave her… Continue reading Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer Do, Month # 4

So This is Retirement?

Posted in animal adoption, animal rescue, author, California, caregiver, dating, dogs, friends, humor, memoir, relationships, social security, taxes1 Comment

I took social security early last year. Don’t buy into the hype that it’s better to wait. I won’t start losing money on my decision until I turn eighty. By then I’ll have Medicare and won’t be paying $15,000 a year for health insurance. “How’s retirement?” you ask. I am busier now than ever before.… Continue reading So This is Retirement?

Look Up! Get Some Face Time

Posted in author, California, cell phone, chiropractor, doctor, guns, humor, mass shootings, memoir, relationships, school shooting, technology, textingLeave a comment

As I stepped into the waiting room at my chiropractor’s office, three women and one guy were looking down at their cell phones, sitting in a symmetrical pattern in a u-shaped group of chairs. Feeling giddy from my 55 minute massage I said, “Well, this looks like a blog post to me! You’re all on… Continue reading Look Up! Get Some Face Time

To Smoke or Not to Smoke

Posted in California, dating, firsts, friends, high school, humor, memoir, relationships, smoking, sorority, worstLeave a comment

My friend Kelly hasn’t smoked a cigarette for 75 days. After thirty-seven years of the puffing habit, she is proud of herself. Chantix helped. Wanting to quit helped more. Wanting better health and to be a good role model for her kids helped the most. Kelly craves a cigarette after finishing a meal. It’s a… Continue reading To Smoke or Not to Smoke

Two Bird Baths, One Fountain

Posted in birds, cats, dogs, gardening, humor, insects, memoir, nature, relationships, treesLeave a comment

I love my yard. When I first bought my fixer house on a fixer third acre, the yard was full of rocks and rose bushes. Now it has trees, plants, bushes, flag stone, one fountain and two bird baths. The fountain is an advertisement to creatures near and far to come into my fenced yard.… Continue reading Two Bird Baths, One Fountain

It’s Up to You, Millennials

Posted in assault weapons, children, congress, Florida, house of representatives, March for our lives, memoir, Millennials, NRA, politics, relationships, school shooting, student march, teacher, teaching, vote, worstLeave a comment

The shooting at the Parkland, Florida high school is more rotten news you don’t want to think about. But it happened, and those kids are pissed. They lost 14 friends, two coaches, and a young teacher who was engaged to be married. A disgruntled nineteen year old with an assault weapon took them out in… Continue reading It’s Up to You, Millennials

You Can Take the Girl Out of Iowa

Posted in best, food cravings, fruit, humor, memoir, relationships, VenezuelaLeave a comment

At the end of my ten-week student teaching in Venezuela, one of the teachers said that I could probably come back to teach at Campo Alegre the following year. She said they were always looking for American teachers. “You can stay with me during the summer,” she said, “until you get your apartment.” The American… Continue reading You Can Take the Girl Out of Iowa

Designer Dogs, 200th Post

Posted in animal adoption, animal rescue, best, blind date, California, caregiver, dating, dogs, firsts, honesty, humor, internet, memoir, online dating, relationships, worstLeave a comment

As I watch the end of the Oscars with a little dog cozied up in the chair with me and my sister asking when she can go to bed, I think back on the man I met the other night, the one who wants to get a Doodle Dane, a cross breed between a Great… Continue reading Designer Dogs, 200th Post

The Chicken Church and Other Tableside Travels

Posted in California, caregiver, dancing, dogs, flying, friends, humor, memoir, music, relationships, travel, vacationLeave a comment

I used to travel, back in my twenties before marriage, before kids. Now I stay home with an older sister (who would otherwise be in a nursing home), one normal dog, and one little weirdo. But I still get to travel. My friends are in Austria, Indonesia, Hawaii, Tahoe, and Guatemala, as we speak. They… Continue reading The Chicken Church and Other Tableside Travels