I was flummoxed to read an advertisement in a home schooling magazine that said, “You can expect exceptional writing from happy students!”

Huh? Nobody in my experience had a happy childhood, and I know quite a few exceptional writers. Happy children would not have the memories necessary… Read full post »

For family get-togethers, I’ve become the maven of low-cost entertainment.  This year, the big hit at Thanksgiving was the plastic spoon catapult.

 http://www.ehow.com/video_4950873_build-catapult.html

All you need are some wood scraps (easily available from my neighborhood carpent… Read full post »

While walking, the morning after our Thanksgiving feast, my younger daughter’s husband came up with an idea for teaching world history.   Americans are taught US history year after year after year in school, but only one year, during high school, is devoted to studying world history. That… Read full post »

Shakespeare’s play, MacBeth, is not historically accurate:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth,_King_of_Scotland

MacBeth was a good king who ruled long and well.

That’s not relevant to watching the play – it’s just the sort of detail that adds to my enjoyment of the… Read full post »

My grandmother smelled like wintergreen. She was the only person I knew who smelled like that. I liked her, so I didn’t mind the smell. I asked her why she smelled like that. She showed me a roll of wintergreen lifesavers, and gave me one.  It tasted awful.  I ran to… Read full post »

There was nothing wrong with my client’s computer.  If she only wanted it for writing and book keeping, she would have been fine.  But it was a 5 year old computer with only 514 meg of RAM, and a small hard drive.  And she wanted to do email and browse the… Read full post »

I’m slowly learning that when I do magic for my grandchildren, the props must be indestructible. Plus they must not have any tricky switches or secret compartments that will let my grandchildren figure out how the trick is done. Also, there must not be any slight of hand because they like… Read full post »

I just got this email, and it appears legitimate.  The video is good, too.

 From: joaniboomer <joaniboomer@aol.com>

 20, 2010 9:25 am

Subject: Fwd: Help Susan G. Komen just by watching a video!

  A  few weeks ago, 135 Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders representing… Read full post »

After the accident, which included a concussion, my husband and best friend were relieved that I had not had a personality change.  I was puzzled by their concern.  These are people who like me – wouldn’t they like me if my personality changed?

All my life, I’ve met peop… Read full post »

I live in the kind of neighborhood where break-ins are usually at gun-point, and the intruders / thieves force their way in through the front door.

A few weeks ago, I came home to my peaceful quiet living room, took off my shoes.  Then I entered my kitchen, which… Read full post »

This is Magic Week.  Members of The Society of American Magicians do free shows at hospitals around the country. Sometimes we all meet in a room and magicians take turns presenting to a group. At other hospitals, we go room to room.

At Children’s Hospital we had some wonderful skeptics… Read full post »

The Mütter Museum in Philadelphia is where medical science in the United States started. These early doctors were not fascinated with normal.  

They concentrated their early studies on what made them curious. Conjoined twins, shrunken heads, deformities and severe injuries.  M… Read full post »

Over the past year, I’ve been to 3 physical therapists and 3 chiropractors, one rehab doc and a massage therapist. I go to yoga and Pilates and Feldenkrais classes every week. I do Egoscue exercises every morning. I’m the most active person I know. I have a little more mobility than… Read full post »

I have not played board games for decades.  I never liked Monopoly.  I figured the name was because the game monopolized the players’ time. Checkers, Chinese Checkers, and Clue intrigued me. Especially Clue because in a sense, it was always my turn. Either I was hunting for clues or h… Read full post »

At first, I liked my mother-in-law.  That was before I married her son. She was on good behavior. She was civil to me, at first, after our marriage – until I refused to name our first daughter Laura.  She always wanted a daughter to name Laura.  I don’t like the name… Read full post »

I’m a long-distance grandma – about 3000 miles distant. I get out to CA to see my grand twins once or twice a year.  I was about to give up on corrupting them.

My mother gets along great with my daughters – they agree that I’m a hopeless hippie.  I… Read full post »

First the acknowledgment – I got free tickets from BlogHer to see the movie Secretariat. I’m sure they gave out the free tickets because they hoped people would blog about the movie before it is released.

Second, the caveat – I don’t see the point of watching horses, dogs, ca… Read full post »

Philadelphia has distinct neighborhoods.  I live in a primarily Polish, Italian, Lithuanian neighborhood with an influx of educated out-of-towners. Yesterday I rode my bike through a middle class African American to a less-well-off neighborhood with a well-stocked hardware store.  To get to… Read full post »

Don’t take my word for anything, if you can do an experiment.  

That was my rule when I taught chemistry.  And that’s the rule in my kitchen.

I was showing my niece how to make RoRo’s Schnecken, a treasured family treat that RoRo said is… Read full post »

I thought about writing an ode, but this information is too important to wait until I count syllables and perfect the meter.  My husband, the alien, is sleeping through the night. This is not just since his escape from the hospital. He’s sleeping through the night for the first time in… Read full post »

I’m getting angry emails from a reader who is sure that if I don’t sue the hospital that nearly killed my husband that the hospital will endanger future patients.

She imagines that a lawsuit will make them rethink their policies, and change their evil ways.

Instead, mal-practice lawsuit… Read full post »

I’m getting pretty good at mat Pilates. Roll-ups. Seal. I can even sort-of do Teaser, which is a kind of sit-up where you pretend you have helium balloons attached to your chest that pull you up to sitting from lying flat on the floor.

Mat Pilates is primarily work with… Read full post »