“Eat Dessert First” is a classic bit of tongue-in-cheek advice. I’ve arrived at a guilt-free variation on this for special days: skipping boring proteins, etc., and going straight for a dessert that I’ve long eyed. Last night (to review: it was my 61st b’day) for dinner, I ate Oh, My God, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie […] Read More

I’ve been attacked! I’m so excited! In my reading about blogging, I’ve often run across the suggestion that an ambitious blogger post an attack on someone well-known to create some controversy. So I attacked Sarah Palin–with total sincerity–but didn’t see my star rise any higher as a result. Now, out of the blue, I find […] Read More

This morning I installed the new DVD player that my husband and I gave each other for Christmas. (It only arrived a couple of days ago; I haven’t been procrastinating that long) It was really pretty simple to do; took only about ten minutes from package ripping to hearing the familiar ringing tones of the […] Read More

Welcome to Katrina and good luck on your resolution: 30 pounds off in 80 days. http://trina-80days30lbsisitpossible.blogspot.com/. I think that your announcing your goal as you have is going to help make it happen. I have no doubt about it: you’re going to accomplish this. Keep us up on how it goes. Add to del.icio.us - Stumble It! - Subscribe […] Read More

I adore Claxton fruitcake. Not everyone does. Some of my subtle, understated friends give me a hard time about this preference (also for milk chocolate over the bitter stuff.) I have boldly refused to back down. This year I was given bars of my favorite cake by both my mother and my friend Carrie. A […] Read More

Here’s the tree I posted about yesterday. Never said I was a designer, just a lumberjack. Add to del.icio.us - Stumble It! - Subscribe to this feed - Digg it Read More

This was my brother Franc‘s tongue-in-cheek advice when I was expressing myself this morning on the seasonal frenzy. He said: “Don’t let the calendar kick you around.” Hearing that bold bit of wisdom, I realized I had already taken action to beat the calendar at its game. Bob and I decided this weekend that we’d […] Read More

Alcoholics Anonymous has a bumper-sticker slogan: “One Day at a Time.” Best approach to holidays, in my view, is to have a much shorter term goal: One Step at a Time. I just now sawed down a Christmas tree (we live in the woods) and hauled it into the house. As is often the case, […] Read More

Small triumphs are important to acknowledge to ourselves — and all of cyberspace, of course. Shining example: I got up this morning in time to get my car to the fixer by 8:45. Usually, I sleep from about 1:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. But maybe rising at 7 doesn’t qualify as small; this is probably […] Read More

So how’s the holiday prep going? And getting all the work done before daring to take time off? Still staying calm, happy, festive, and organized? One thing at a time, I tell myself. I seem to have gotten the idea this year that if I simply buy enough boxes of Christmas cards and sheets of […] Read More