• baking,  Christmas,  priorities

    Merry Snowy Christmas

    Christmas has come and gone like a whirlwind in a snowstorm. It’s my family’s first Christmas without my mom. She passed away on June 5 unexpectedly. While I thought about her often throughout the season, it wasn’t until we all sat down at the dinner table Christmas Eve that I felt a tight squeeze on my heart. Mom loved all the dishes prepared from my Grandma Rose’s recipes. I missed her entrance into the house and her comments on how wonderful it smelled. I mailed out more Christmas cards than in past years, although many were mailed after Dec. 25. I felt a greater need to either touch base or…

  • 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…

  • transplant,  writing

    Nothing “blue” about blueberries

    I found blueberries on sale at the local grocery store and brought them home. I had a blueberry almond bar recipe that I wanted to try but could never find the time. We ate some of the blueberries on ice cream and they were awesome but the majority of them sat, washed, in the fridge. Over the weekend, my husband had a grand idea, “Why don’t you make a blueberry pie?” After getting a trusted recipe off of the Internet, I went to the store, got a few ingredients and made two pies. The house smelled like blueberry heaven after I put the pies on top of the stove to…

  • customer service,  non-fiction,  relationship

    Rant of the day

    Okay, call me old fashioned but is it too much to ask to have a real person check you out at the grocery store? I know every business is looking to cut costs but I don’t see the savings. By the time I attempt to scan each item (3-4 times because the little bar code doesn’t register), look up and punch in produce codes, and enlist the one real checker’s help in entering coupon codes, and show her my ID for the bottle of wine, I could have gone through the line with the human checker 3 or 4 times. Let’s think about other “service” industries where we wouldn’t appreciate…