My kids both have fall birthdays so we have moved through what I refer to as “the birthday season.”
When they were toddlers I started a tradition to begin celebrating as soon as they wake.
Continue readingCategory: My Stories
THE TIME I BOUGHT A HOUSE FOR ITS BOOKCASES
In 2005, I had no business buying a house. But I felt like that was the next logical step to make me into a responsible adult.
Much like today, the market was hot. Houses were overpriced, and you had to get an offer in immediately or the house wouldn’t be available the next day.
I strongly considered a house in another part of town. But they declined my offer. When I drive by that house, even today, I wonder how my life would have turned out differently if they had accepted my offer. Because I’m so glad they didn’t.
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I’m back with some vacation and book recommendations after traveling to the East Coast during early July.
Earlier this year, we purchased an RV (motorhome) for travel and fun. It has been one of the best decision we’ve made, and even during the pandemic we have still been comfortable traveling because we can keep to ourselves both on the road and at campsites.
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I recently found myself drawn towards this book:
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
by Marie Kondo
by Marie KondoI have watched a couple of episodes of her show on Netflix and knew I was included in her target audience…
Continue readingThis post is from my own archives from a different, older blog. Watching This is Us and Rebecca’s memories of cradling Randall as the sun came up reminded me of savoring my own children in a certain chair.
(From 2014)
I am writing this so I can throw away an old chair.
When I moved to Dallas, Texas after college not knowing a soul in that city, I bought a small chair/loveseat set at Pier One for $500 total – a lot for me at the time, especially for something so itty bitty, but it fit perfectly in my first itty bitty apartment at 17878 Preston Road.
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A family friend “Fred” often recorded his reflections in the back of his books. “MY BOOK, MY NOTES” he announced before noting reflections, disagreements, favorite paragraphs etc. I do this with a dog-ear to a page and on this blog but not to Fred’s detail.
Fred and my dad would exchange books, several at once. My friends do this too. Recently, my parents passed me a book of Fred’s they found while cleaning out shelves. They thought I might enjoy reading Fred’s notes in the back of The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son before I was to pass it along to Fred’s daughter. Fred had also noted in the front of the book that it had been a gift from her, Christmas ’13.
And yes I did enjoy Fred’s notes in the back – so much so that I ended up reading the book itself. I loved this book. How Conroy writes about both the horror and humor of his dysfunctional family is completely fascinating.
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