A new study (who else winces when they see those words?!) from Brown College declares that grandparents and adult grandchildren who share close emotional ties have less symptoms of depression. Dang, I would have been happy to take the funding for that study and share that info; it’s a no-brainer. We found that an emotionally …
OMT! Blogs
I don’t like telling people no, but I do and I will, especially if it means that by saying yes, I’d shortchange you, my lovely readers. Recently, I was approached by two companies to do reviews of their products. One company I had never heard of (nothing wrong with that) and one company I knew. …
Hands in the air: how many of you make or have ever made your own brown sugar? Me? Not so much. I feel a little embarrassed and confused. How is it that I have never ever made my own brown sugar (or vanilla ~faint~)?! I mean, I’ve been baking since I was 9-years-old. I’ve been …
Fear can paralyze strength. Fear can belittle wisdom. Fear can create chaos. Fear can manipulate truth. Fear can amplify insecurities. Fear can mute goodness. Fear can blacken day. Fear can expand deceit. Fear can wither boldness. Fear can crush action. Fear is slippery and insidious and able to enter our spirit like a virus, exponentially …
Dreams are hard work. Taking the first step towards your dream is usually the easiest thing you’ll do in the journey, but even that step takes a hard swallow and shaking off the what-if voices that may surround you. Yet, as hard as that may be, it’s the slog in the middle that will have …
Dearest Sweetest E, You’re gonna need friends as you stiff-arm your way through life; pick them well and they’ll be the lifeblood of your strength. Good friends make you believe you aren’t alone in the expanse of this world. Good friends are there even when physically absent, hell even in death. Good friends tell you …
As Boy grew, we kept a growth chart right inside his closet door. I first wrote about it here. The last entry was dated right before he left for college. 6’2.25″ We grow ’em tall in my family. On Boy’s last visit home, he brought Sweet E, and we decided to start E’s chart beneath …
If you were allowed one parenting do-over, what would you use it on? Or shall we never speak of that which shames us? ~gulp~ Parents make mistakes. Truth. Parents can make mistakes daily. Hard truth. Parents are learning as they go. Worst-kept parenting secret ever. So, what would be my parenting do-over? Let me start …
I love Christmas foods. Fine, I love food…but there’s something special about the food you only eat during a specific season, like at Christmas. It’s during late June and early July that I start my Christmas cravings. And just in case you don’t want to do the math, that means that I need to wait …
Daddy and I were kindred spirits in so many ways, yet in as many others we were were diametrically opposed. He passed when he was 60-years-old and I had a young family. I’ve missed him many times over the years and am grateful for all he taught me. 10 Things My Father Taught Me 1) …