Help That Really Helps - The Charity Problem

Does anyone out there remember Band Aid? Back when I was growing up their hit single "Do they know it's Christmas?" was a wake up call to all us MTV crazed teens and pre-teens that not only was there a big scary world outside of America, but there were places that were out of the pizza delivery zone. Horrors! Many of us, after recovering our composure with a big handful of chips washed back  with a new liter sized bottle of Coke, begged our parents to send a turkey to Africa to feed the starving babies. We were going to save the world!

Fast forward 25 years and what do you know, not only are there still starving babies in Africa and around the world, but we have witnessed even greater horrors like what happened in Darfur. We sent our turkeys and our biggest rock stars delivered them, so what the hell happened?

Do-It-Yourself Gifts #1

Or maybe this should be #2 with my post on making vanilla as number 1. Of course my kids would be rolling around laughing at that. 'Two' is apparently the funniest of numbers especially when referenced as #2. Anyway, that's another blog post ...that probably is best read with air freshener.

So here we are in the midst of the holiday season. It's a swamp of shopping, wrapping, delivering.  We buy, we give, we return, we regift. It can get so hectic you may catch yourself building fortifications out of ginger bread and candy canes, not that I would know anything about that...*whistle* *whistle*.

I do like giving presents, but you all know, it gets costly to give something to everyone, including your son's cub scout den mom, the UPS guy you are on a first name basis with because of your QVC habit, or that arresting officer who was nice enough to hold your hair back.

Embracing Failure

To paraphrase and old saying, success has many parents, failure is an orphan. It's no wonder. Who wants to stand up and admit to being short sighted, duped, acting hastily, or just being down right dumb. I'll bet not to many out there. We have our pride and we want to protect it.

Yet the very sad truth is that we pay a huge cost to keep that pride intact by repeating the same failures over and over and over. In some cases, like for pilots, the cost of making a mistake can be very high. Surely we can do better.

In a great stroke of awesome some very brave folks are

Listen to the Silence

After several months of quietude, I'm sure many of the wanderers that happen on this blog may wonder if it has slipped into that limbo zone of non-renewal. I must admit that to some degree that it has. However this is not because I have abandoned it. No, not at all! As my writing life evolves I am, I think, learning what works for me. And in my writing life that means following the muse that's talking.

During my 'time off' from this blog, I have written several stories. This was very good and productive work and has helped me to finally decide to

Independence Day

I was wrong. Lordy was I wrong. Strep did not leave our house, but rather slid under the bannisters and wrapped itself in the warm corners of our skin waiting for a moment of over-extended of summer fun. When conditions were right it spilled into the opening created by minor sunburns and not enough sleep to explode all over the backs of several baby tonsils. No number of salt water washes would flush it out and I lost another two weeks to doctor visits and ice cream pampering. I loathe you Strep. I will not forget this summertime attack. Your relatives are not safe.

Um...Oh yeah! Despite that we did manage to get out to see fireworks with

Being Better - The Problem with Rules

What a relief. Last week saw the end of school here at our house. The rush to finish up work, especially for my oldest who was diagnosed only a few weeks prior with Asperger's Syndrome and dysgraphia, included copious amounts of fist pounding anguish as we tried to plow though enough assignments to pass. Needless to say that factored heavily into my creativity nodule being shocked into paralysis. At least I did manage some small amount of off-line story work, but I digress.

One of my favorite things that I have learned from my Aspie son is a healthy distain for how things are 'supposed' to be. As a creative sort myself I was already predisposed to fight the tide, but the task of

Cohousing!

Sounds like a step in a relationship cycle doesn't it? Somewhere after pre-engagement but before marriage. It's not that. Any of you all remember living in a small town? Or say (like me) remember watching something like that on TV? Cohousing is a planned effort to create that same supportive community environment in a small neighborhood setting. On its face it is sort of an odd notion. Building a group of houses around the idea of a proverbial campfire, with

Free Food!

It's quite a busy week here. I have spent a fair amount of time reading and writing off-box in addition to doing battle with pricker weeds out back, and on the hill, and in the front and give me that flame thrower right now! ... Ok...yes...I'm breathing....So it has been a time filled with much work, but I have emerged from the jungle with a nugget of wisdom, and it's one you can eat. 

Now I am sure that everyone knows that if you put in a little time and effort you can do a fair bit to feed yourself with a few seeds and some good dirt. But when is the last time you really thought about getting your hands dirty with this business? I'm not gonna harp, but ... just consider the potential.

Hack Yourself with Scent

Ah the brain... you are my enemy! Just the other morning in fact, I was on my third pound of M & Ms and thinking to myself, 'this loosing weight thing just isn't working out like I planned.' So after a good 3 hour fist shaking harangue at the mirror punctuated by bites of velvety Belgian chocolate ice cream, I considered maybe I should put a little more thought into this mind/body war of wills.

Why is it that I can think something so vividly, imagine myself effortlessly extinguishing bad habits, conquering phobias, or blossoming into a charming social butterfly, yet

Delicious with a Side of Red

There are few things I like more than a fruit dessert. And if there is any more sure a sign that nature has her engines up and running then the spring crop of berries mounded in hoards of red piles at the market... well I just don't know what it is.

Now I know that I'm a day late for Mother's day, but after eating this I was just too drunk on the sweetness of raspberries to post. But to make it up to you I'm gonna share this little confection reminiscent from my days as a dessert chef. What you see above is

Feed the Crows

This spring I have started a new venture. In addition to sweet little song birds, hummingbirds, and occasionally my own children, I have started to feed the crows.

Now wait! Don't call the neighbor cops on me just yet. My CCRs may say I can't raise chickens, but they say nothing on feeding any fowl that just happens to wander into my backyard, no matter how verminy they might think them. Yet, I suspect though that if folks saw crows the way I do they might not be so quick to rack that shotgun. Heck, they might get

You Are Invited!

So, I have managed keep writing for a few weeks now, and I think that I may have proven to myself that I can be consistent! Well...ok...at least sort of. Anyway, I figured that if I am going to keep at it, it is about time that I let you all in on what brought me here. Let's face it, there are tons of blogs, many no doubt by better writers than myself, so why should you waste those precious minutes on the pot clicking around here?

One second...I have that answer...it's down here...in the bottom of my bag...behind the lipgloss...and... and under the Costco coupons... ARGH!

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

"I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great satisfaction." - Clarence Darrow. paraphrased


A decade ago I went with my kids to their toddler tumbler class. All the parents were jittery and distracted. There was a new girl in class too. Come to find out she would become a regular part of our group over the next 2 1/2 years that we lived there. Her father had been on one of the top floors of the World Trade Center and was among the many that were never found. In the days that followed that event, I also learned that our neighbor up the street had been a pilot on one of the planes forced to fly into those same buildings.


Weeks later I remember fighting fear and going into the city. There witnessing the firetrucks race by with their sirens wailing, American flags waving behind in signal of another body from their brotherhood pulled from the rubble. 

Getting to the Truth about Dietary Supplements

Ok, who else takes fish oil? Not long ago I went to the doctor and learned that my cholesterol was high. I also can't sleep at night, my pants are too tight and at certain times during the month a demon has started to jump out of my mouth and bite people. I'm getting old. Ever since the world moved to digital clocks, it has been just hellish trying to hold back the hands of time. Some mornings I even must admit I've felt rightly bitch slapped by him, which I suppose is better then a groping .... but then again...

Anyway, I'm sure like a lot of folks loading up on the green tea or exchanging the prime rib for chicken, you have had a moment standing in the supplement asile. Perhaps you found yourself staring up at

Share the Love

Many of the good things in life can be acquired, like the vanilla or the movie, given enough hard work and a little bit of luck. But the truly great things come at no cost and can be found, like the butterfly in All Quiet On The Western Front even in the bleakest of moments.

Now, I'm trying to dodge a bee that has wandered into my house this Easter afternoon. Yes, it might sting me, but even so I'll have my daughters lovely egg above to cheer me up. She painted it a few days ago up at a local retirement home with our 4h group.

I could have mountains of stuff, but the moments watching my kids paint eggs for

Saving Grace

You have had a crappy day. You know the kind.  Your dog left you in debt for another family with leather cushions. Your boyfriend just told you he's going back to the sister wives you never knew he had. Your team lost in overtime, Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals. Oh god... *sob*

We all know the pain.

Yes, you could cocoon in a well ventilated panic room with a pint of soft butter and a tub of fresh red wigglers... however, there is an alternative. Recently I had the pleasure to stumble upon the

Spoonful of Heaven

Well, it took longer that I thought to give strep the almighty boot from my home, but rolling up the kids like tubes of toothpaste seems to have finally squeezed it out of them. So what good could come from such misery? Not much so far, but none the less I still have something awesome to share.

Look in your cupboards. I'm willing to bet somewhere in there you have a sad little bottle of brown glass. Maybe the label is a faded, peeling, or even stained with a few buttery finger prints. Yes, that's right vanilla. Once believed to have sprouted from the blood of an immortal Totonac princess this divine spice has become the

From Wordpress to Blogger

So after briefly dabbling with wordpress, I am now here at blogger, and having eradicated strep from my children's delicate innards I should be able to cobble together a regular posting schedule. Yes that's right, I'm shaking my fist at you rhino viruses. I think that I'm going to shoot for once a week, and if I can maintain that, I'll push for twice. Healthy kids, and no further midnight disturbance from the dreaded hurty toe and I should be good!