Call me Ms Memory, given my recent article: 21 WAYS TO REMEMBER PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING! But last week I go upstairs before my dentist appointment to change into something cooler. I take off my sweats, brush my hair, and then head downstairs to get going on my bike. Halfway down the stairs, …
UNRELATED ANNOUNCEMENT: See my article Interfaith Seders & a Heavenly Flourless Chocolate Cake. Join the convo at the site with comments! Here’s what triggers a mighty sadness for me: Juxtapostition of happy-sad. If on a normal day in March I hear about a young boy’s bike getting stolen, I’m sad but …
Unrelated announcement: My new post “Divorce, Downsizing, Dating & Death.” Share your thoughts. In a previous post 10 Days in New York: Lessons Learned, Worries Amassed, I mentioned seeing a flier that said simply “Sarah Needs a Job .com.” I was so intrigued by this that I went to Sarah’s …
Are the doors locked? Am I on the right train? Is there spinach in my teeth? There’s spinach in your teeth; but isn’t it too late, too awkward to tell you now that we’ve been talking for 20 minutes? Have I re-read the email I wrote enough times to hit …
Each time Casey and I come home from a walk, he barks for a treat. And each time I throw a kibble in the air for him to catch. He never does. After he roots around, veering off toward Kansas City, I telll him he’s getting colder; then he turns around …
There’s a lot to learn during 10 days in New York. I learned I can go far north or south on dedicated bike lanes. And once a day someone grouses at me for wheeling crosstown on the sidewalk, not that I blame them. But I do blame the guy who tried …
Unrelated announcement: How Couples Resolve the Thermostat Wars & Other Domestic Battles Sometimes I think my memories are based solely on photographs. My kids won’t forget anything the way they record themselves every time they change clothes, then post and tag the results on Facebook. Come to think of it, I’m …
UNRELATED ANNOUNCEMENT: See article 7 Easy, Delicious Aphrodisiac Recipes. A variety of search terms leads Googlers to my blog, some weirder than others. My voyeuristic pleasure from reading a daily list of these terms is infused with a measure of guilt. Generally, we Google in the privacy of a bubble that …
Unrelated Announcement: Check out my recent Home Goes Strong article “Brain Food . . . Simple Recipes to Delight Your Palate & Your Mind.” How do I strike a balance between time spent living and time spent documenting? For example, when traveling, my anxiety about documenting rises. Should I sit …
If you’ve read my post “Choosing my Parents,” you know how much I adore and admire my 92-year-old mom. Nonetheless, now that I’m 65, you would think I wouldn’t get annoyed when she talks to me in a tone. Not an unpleasant tone, one that’s off-putting only to me. As …
I like Oprah not Opera. Country not Classical. I prefer Silence to any Music at all. I choose Breakfast at Tiffany’s over My Dinner With Andre. I’m all about Story, not at all about Historay. Some words whose meanings I never retain Are insipid, insidious and Machiavellian. I’d rather eat turkey than …
Riddle: Every family has them, what are they? Answer: Nicknames that are too embarrassing to expose outside the home. After coffee with friends, I return home, open my front door and call to my bassety beagle Casey, “Casemaster General, where are you?” To say he’s non-responsive overstates his activity level. …
At times it’s a challenge to dream up worries to write about. For one thing, my busy blogging schedule helps keep my usual disaster scenarios at bay. For instance, I haven’t worried about bedbugs since yesterday. Other times I get excited about three ideas at once and can’t settle into …
Unrelated Announcement: See my article 50 TIME-SAVING TIPS FROM SMART, BUSY, HIGHLY EFFICIENT WOMEN (AND MEN) “Saturday Night Live” ought to do a skit about their contrived lovefest at the end of the show. What up with the forced hugging? Sometimes the embraces look genuine, like with Taylor Swift the …
(Whether you are my age or pre-memory loss, please share this with parents and friends who’ve crossed the line.) What was I was just thinking to write about? Oh yeah, memory loss. That sounds like a bad joke, but it’s what I actually said to myself when I opened this …
In seventh grade my friends and I were not part of the popular crowd of girls who looked sexy in gymsuits and paired off with boys. Instead, we immersed ourselves in a world of make-believe. We were three couples: me and Ricky Nelson, Phyllis Kirschner and Tab Hunter, Shessie Einbinder and Pat …
Like me, does everyone become as frozen as Michelangelo’s David whenever they think of all their photographs fading in plastic bags, on sticky non-archival album pages, and loose in various boxes, chests and drawers? Not to mention all those out-of-control digital photographs? Recently I wrote a series of three articles for …
UNRELATED ANNOUNCEMENT: Check out my article, “29 Great Tips for Choosing the Right Picture Frame & For Hanging Artwork and Family Photos” What was I thinking when I ordered the book 1,000 Places To See Before You Die? Here’s what inspired me to look at it. My friend Karen told …
The quest for happiness is popping up everywhere these days: in books, college courses, blogs and on Oprah. In the same way my oldest daughter, when she was little, shared her life with invisible companions Sibby and Babby, Worry and Quest for Happiness accompany me wherever I go. Like sibling …
Valentine’s Day, 1991, New York City. My then-(China hand)-husband and I knew a young Chinese couple. The sweet wife Mei Ling, who was exquisite to look at with her porcelain complexion and appleseed eyes, sometimes babysat for our daughters. On this particular February 14th, she had plans to go out …
Following one’s daughter on Twitter carries risks for a worrywart. Especially when that daughter tweets all day long. Last weekend my daughter (the tweeter) threw a birthday party for herself at a bar where I knew she would be surrounded by loads of friends. It never occurred to me anything …
Unrelated announcement: Check out my Home Goes Strong article Thinking About a Valentine Dinner? How About Red, Pink, White . . . & Wine With a Heart? In How Annoying Am I Part I, I outlined how annoying I am to my daughters. After posting that, I observed another annoying pattern …
Everyone has been inviting me to their Ugly Sweater Parties. Everyone has been inviting me to his or her Ugly Sweater Party. Even though “everyone” sounds like a truckload of folks, the singular “his or her” is grammatically correct. (Worried, I confirmed this with the grammar police.) “Their” sounds more …
PART I: HOW ANNOYING AM I TO MY DAUGHTERS? Repeating myself “Mom, you’ve told me that ten times!” Asking too many questions Just after exchanging I love you’s and mwah’s at the end of a phone convo, suddenly a string of questions spills out of my mouth like bubbles from …
Unrelated announcement: A MAGICAL USED COOKBOOK SHOP & A DIVINE COOKIE RECIPE I’m addicted to worry. Not long ago, I wrote a Huffington Post post, Worry Less: 10 Lessons From Cognitive Therapy, in which I advised, “Be aware that rumination and obsession are like drugs, in a bad way. They activate …
RELATED ANNOUNCEMENT: SEE MY HOME GOES STRONG ARTICLE, 11 More Great Ways to Deter Break-Ins, Readers Speak Out. It was Christmastime. I was ten years old and playing on the adding machines in my father’s office. I walked down a narrow hallway to show the secretary my string of numbers. …
It’s been a longie since my last Tip Day. I’m worried you’ll think I’ve run out of tips. To be honest, I’m a little worried myself. So today, when a positive thought visited me, I wondered how I could put a worry spin on it. Then I remembered long-neglected Tip …
UNRELATED ANNOUNCEMENT: Check out my article, FOUR 4-INGREDIENT ENTREES . . . QUICK, EASY, DELICIOUS & HEALTHFUL! A few days ago I went into the basement (scary basements, a whole topic unto themselves) to put away an old file and came across an article I wrote while deeply involved in …
Unrelated announcement: See my daughter’s amazing appetizer recipes in my article: 7 EASY ELEGANT CROWD-PLEASING APPETIZERS. When I was a kid, I thought if only I could wear a suit of armour, I’d be safe from predators. Then, when I learned about conductivity, I gave up the idea, realizing I’d …
Unrelated announcement: How I Organized my Home, De-Cluttered my Life & Learned 21 New Tips Some call the holiday season Chrismukkah, others say HanuKwanzMas. Then there’s Festivus with its unadorned aluminum pole, miracles and airing of grievances. I say Hanukkah simply on its own can cause confusion, starting with: which of …