In our small Arizona mountain town of Prescott — pronounced “Preskitt,” rhymes with biscuit — there are two Fred’s grocery stores. In our family shorthand, they are “North Fred’s” and “Rehab Fred’s,” because the latter happens to be near a lot of drug and alcohol rehab places, which we seem to have a lot of […]
So, you have a dream, and it’s not going well. You not only feel like you’re up that special creek without a paddle, there’s a hole in the boat. And you can’t swim, and you just saw an alligator. And you’re having chest pain! What do you do? Well, if you’re in the little mountain […]
If you ever want to strike terror into the heart of your kids, I can recommend two ways: One is to yell, “Where’s the Midol?” and watch them scatter. The other is to sing the opening theme song of the old TV show, “Hee Haw.” The words are simple, but the delivery is everything: “Hee […]
Trend watch: I am seeing fewer of those ads that use the phrase “weird trick.” Like, “lose a pound a day with this weird trick!” I guess people are sick of the old weird trick angle. Now, the big thing is, “You won’t believe,” or “You’ll never guess,” or “this will blow your mind!” It’s […]
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, I was riding on a tide of victory. Molly and I won a ribbon in our very first Rally Obedience trial! This victory was particularly satisfying because in the last thing we attempted, the Canine Good Citizen test, we bombed. In that test, if you fail one […]
Josh was late for school today. This is only the second time this year, so that’s really good for us. Usually he gets there with as many as one to three minutes to spare. I hate being late. And yet, I am often late. Something always happens. For one thing, the act of picking up […]
I just vacuumed my kitchen table. Don’t judge me. I was vacuuming the wooden floor, using the attachment, and I noticed some crumbs on the table. Then I went ahead and vacuumed the countertops. They look pretty good. I’m tired, I’m in a hurry, I have more work to do this morning than I can […]