The Fourth of July weekend of 1999 is one summer holiday I can clearly remember, although I’d rather not. My son, Jake, promised to house sit during this particular holiday weekend to watch his friend’s three Rottweilers. Only afterward did he remember that we had an annual … [Read more...]

Who put your Pringles in a can? And why’d they do it? Because if you put your hand in there, it’s not coming back out. Who thinks up container designs and do they give out awards for the good ones? I was out of toothpaste one day, so I gave the tube a Herculean squeeze and out … [Read more...]

It had been nine months since Hurricane Katrina; I finally sold my crusty, mold-soaked home and car in the soup-bowl city of New Orleans. With the population cut in half and businesses not open, a single, middle-aged woman with gray hair and decorated arms displaying Goddess … [Read more...]

When I was a girl, I was cursed with long, skinny arms and legs and no middle. I was thin as a rail and would’ve blown away in a stiff wind. With that body came a head filled with fearlessness and not a lick of sense to temper it. I was willing to try any stunt, race any race, … [Read more...]

I've bought very few lottery tickets (being necessarily thrifty), but each time I spent a dollar or two, praying that I'd win "big", I had a specific fantasy for how I'd spend my winnings... always in the millions, of course. Remember Miss Ellie on the TV drama, Dallas? I wanted … [Read more...]