• cookies,  essay,  Girl Scouts,  humor,  life after 40,  memoir,  women

    Cookie monster!

    I’ve gained three pounds since this year’s Girl Scout Cookie sales began. It’s probably not fair to blame my debauchery on sweet little girls whose only goal is to sell mouth-watering cookies to help fund troop activities, earn badges and defray costs. Forget dirty bombs and germ warfare. Our overseas enemies could learn a trick or two from the Little Brownie® Bakers. There is something so seductive about a Samoa cookie wrapped in a warm caramel blanket, hugged by chocolate and toasted coconut. My husband and I are convinced that there must be an addictive ingredient in the Thin Mints which intensifies if you freeze them before devouring. I first…

  • Denver,  humor,  life after 40

    Sunny disposition

    It’s this time each year when winter is in full swing, the days close in darkness at 5 p.m. and the wind chill is 0 degrees. Originally from Colorado, where it can snow 12 inches one day and be 50 degrees and sunny the next, I need to actively remind myself what it is about this season that I love, now that I live in Indiana. It’s not uncommon for skies to be overcast for days on end and for freezing rain to accompany or precede beautiful snow. So, here goes: 10 things I like about winter, in no particular order: snowflakes, falling snow, crunchy hard-packed snow, all things snow-related…