Growing Up

My Mother-in-Law died the Wednesday before Mother’s Day 2020 of COVID-19. The hardest thing is that the last time any of us saw her in person, she was well. At 90+, her memory was shot, but she was happy and physically well. (The image in this post is from the last time I saw her, […]

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Serious Illness

5 Wordless Ways to Comfort Loved Ones

May 28, 2018

We all want to comfort the ones we love, especially our children, when they are upset or stressed but not all parents, or all kids, are comfortable talking about feelings. For that matter, a lot of times kids genuinely don’t understand what is upsetting them. There are times that trying to force a conversation makes […]

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Mom & Mother's Day

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Your Wife

Gift Guide: DO Something

May 4, 2018

You aren’t likely to go wrong with the classics like flowers and breakfast in bed, and if she doesn’t like those you almost certainly already know. But there is something I suspect would make most women happy that most never put on a gift list: finish something on their honey-do list. If she has been […]

When Mental Illness Strikes Close to Home

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Mental Health

Social Issues

When Mental Illness Strikes Close to Home

When mental illness strikes close to home, it can be hard to know what to do. The first, and sometimes hardest, step is recognizing that it really is mental illness. When mental illness gets scary, it’s more than depression or anxiety. In the cases that impacted our family, it definitely involved delusions and paranoia. Thankfully, it […]

Books

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Then and Now

Then and Now: Used Bookstores

When was the last time you went to a used bookstore? My parents took me to them all the time when I was a kid because they “couldn’t afford to buy all my books new.” Their words, not mine. At some point, probably when I moved to a big city and wasn’t reading as much, […]

After School Activities

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Why Scouting is Great for Your Kid

I am a Scout. I was just at Scout camp last week. I have been one since first grade, and I will be until I die. Literally. When I turned 21, I paid for my lifetime membership in Girl Scouts. Naturally, we only have sons. So, my personal experience as a youth is in Girl […]

Faith

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Tough Topics

Discussing Hot-Button Topics

Originally published on The Moderate Mom. “Never discuss politics and religion” is reasonable advice for day to day harmony, because the topics bring out such strong feelings, but it has led to some unpleasant long-term side effects. People truly do not understand how people can have different belief than they do because people do not […]

Make Movie Choices That Don't Reinforce Racism and Misogyny

Culture

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Movies

Social Issues

Make Movie Choices That Don’t Reinforce Racism and Misogyny

Read this article for more complete details, but the simple reality is that when Hattie McDaniels won an Oscar in 1939 for her role in Gone With the Wind, racism was so deeply ingrained in American life, and in every aspect of Hollywood, that the first black winner of an Oscar wasn’t even able to attend the premiere […]

When was the last time you ate something new?

Cooking

Cooking and Diet

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Health and Wellness

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When was the last time you ate something new?

Kids aren’t the most experimental eaters, generally speaking. Sure, if it’s sugar-coated they’ll go for it, but they tend to stick to their favorites and it’s hard to get them to experiment. But when was the last time you tried something really different? I make a point of eating different foods just to push myself, and […]