Yesterday, I used a free movie ticket and treated myself to Hector and the Search for Happiness. I don’t know about you, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve been looking for happiness.  Sometimes, it’s just there, in every breath, like the day I […]

This past weekend we were in Chicago for my nephew’s wedding.  I lived outside Chicago for a year or so when I was growing up, so it’s always fun to go back and see how things have changed.  And boy, have they changed!  Yet somehow, […]

There’s a stereotype of homeschoolers that “do” school every day in their pajamas.  Sounds kind of great, in a way. While it may be true for some homeschool families, it rarely happened in ours. Unless, of course, someone was sick and took a detour into […]

Up until two autumns ago, if you asked me what I would want for my last meal, without hesitation, I would have said ravioli stuffed with butternut squash and cooked with toasted walnuts in a brown butter sage sauce.  Yeah… that exactly. After that, well… […]

Last week I relaxed.  Sort of.  That is, I relaxed when I wasn’t lying on the floor of my bathroom with stomach trouble. I had a couple recipe related posts planned, but for almost 5 days food looked, smelled and sounded awful.  On the bright […]

We’ve had a tentative dip into fall here.  Several days of cool weather, followed by a brief sub-freezing snap, rebounding with a LOT of days of almost summer-like rain and sun.  I’m glad I didn’t put on my flannel sheets just yet.  It’s been kind […]

She breezily walked into my room and plopped down on the bed. “Do you know what I woke up to this morning?” she asked. I thought maybe a pesky stinkbug had worked its way through a window crack, or the cat had fallen asleep on […]

I had a difficult and highly disappointing conversation with one of my sons the other day.  After ending the discussion, I was just…. wrecked. I try to remain optimistic most of the time, but some times are just harder than others, aren’t they?  I’m only human with limited […]

  Sometimes fall days are just perfect, full of sunshine and breezes that smell like the air is sweeter somehow.  That’s what I like about fall. That, and roasted pumpkin seeds!  Around here, it’s usually the 3rd week in October that the leaves reach their […]

One of my dogs is getting older. Well, both are, actually (indeed, aren’t we all?), but one is getting measurably older.  Her back legs are lagging when she walks or runs, her eyesight and hearing are failing; she’s just feeling the effects of time. And […]