Want to make a New Years resolution but don’t know how to start? I’ve used various methods to beginning new goals, and the one you choose isn’t as important as just getting started, and to stop procrastinating. Here are 5 different ways to start the change engine before January 1st: 1. Tic-tac-toe goal board This …
Hosting overnight guests for the holidays means having to serve them breakfast (or brunch if you do things right and sleep in). Nobody wants to spend time cooking in the morning instead of chatting, playing board games in a bathrobe, or staring at a wall as you recover from the night before. Now’s your chance …
As the nights get longer I am more prone to couch lounging and making excuses not to participate in winter exercise. “But it’s already dark!” “It’s too cold out.” “I’m too busy with Hanukkah/Christmas/Festivus/Groundhog’s Day/National Meatball Day.” There is an instinct to hunker down and bow out of things that seem uncomfortably cold and unmotivating. …
Each December I accompany my husband to his company holiday party. I get to see his coworkers and their significant others play shuffle board and eat mediocre beef. It is a ritual that ends with us watching his boss open his gift from the employees, which is always some hunting weapon or a gadget that …
We always cut our own Christmas tree. We like supporting local farms while having the excuse to take the kids for a beautiful drive through the nearby countryside. It’s a tradition we all enjoy, and this year we had to visit three farms before we found one that was a) open, b) had trees that …
Are you the kin keeper in your family? I am the one who usually arranges dinners and holiday get togethers, vacations and group gift giving. The person to whom communication is directed when everyone is trying to figure out where to go or what to bring. My house is the place where we congregate to …
So far this year I’ve diagnosed myself with hypothyroidism, magnesium deficiency, muscle wasting, metabolic syndrome, and pyogenic granuloma—just to name a few of the things I’ve been searching the internet for information on. (Don’t even get me started on the things I am finding wrong with my children!) Googling for internet self-diagnosis can be dangerous …
It’s here! Halloween through Easter is open candy season, which means that there are bags of candy around, and if you open them they may get eaten. Maybe a bag will be obliterated during a commercial break or while you think you are asleep at night. Even if you don’t want any it will find …
We were at Target picking up a prescription when my 7 year old daughter spotted this wacky first aid bag on clearance. She immediately wanted to make a first aid kit, but the only thing I bought for it that day was a little box of band aids. I didn’t want to spend $50 filling …
When I was a much younger and wilder me I used to call in fake sick to work at my retail sales job, claiming a maiming or exaggerating cold symptoms. I wouldn’t do this all the time, but when I needed a day to wallow on my futon, or sneak away on an impromptu road …