In recent weeks, I have found myself bombarded with numerous situations that have caused me to question the values of others and just what on earth they could possibly be thinking. These "others" range from adolescents all the way to older adults. I'm not saying that I'm doing the total superiority dance. No, not totally. But geez, what are some of these people thinking?

At the risk of hurting feelings and outing some people I actually care about, I won't go into details here. Rather, I will stick to the point I am at now, which is one of reflection. As parents, we all hope to impart some sort of wisdom upon our children . We hope to ingrain in them the things that we deem important, indeed even necessary, for them to lead a fruitful, fulfilling life. In attempting to impart this wisdom, my husband and I often find ourselves at odds with today's materialistic society.

Don't get me wrong. We, too… Read More

Here's the email that I sent out to the Babes regarding our meeting to discuss Bill Bryson's book, The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid:

I hope to see as many of you as possible this Thursday here at the old ranch house. For those of you with little ones: if you

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It's been a little while since I've filled you in on any of the goings-on of my Book Club. We have such a great time. I've written before about how to start a book club and about the different ways to select the books, how to choose members, etc. One tradition that I haven't mentioned before is the email that goes out the week or so prior

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When I was growing up, I had a mother who was quite accomplished at numerous things. She mowed the lawn, re-wired lamps and ceiling fixtures, and re-finished a Baby Grand piano that still stands in my living room today (and is as much an exquisite piece of fine furniture as it is a beautiful instrument for our talented daughters...). She won golf tournaments, sat on boards of directors, helped economically disadvantaged folks complete their tax returns and was the first Eucharistic… Read More

This is the second of a two-part post regarding my visit to a local food kitchen with a group of 8th graders this week.

• Finally, the only rather disturbing note of the day was the copious abundance of

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This week, I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying seven 8th graders to a soup kitchen in our fair city. Our school sends a group of 8th graders on the first Monday of each month to the Willa Gill Center, and my sister and I volunteered on the same day, so we could share in the experience together with our daughters. Though I just referred to it as a soup kitchen, the facility where we helped out provides assistance to… Read More