Finally, he’s gone.

Before he handed over power to the military not long ago, when I learned this morning that Egypt’s autocratic 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak had refused to quit, stunning and angering hundreds of thou… Read full post »

Ever since my father was diagnosed just before Christmas with advanced dementia -Alzheimer’s Disease, although none of my family can bring ourselves to call it that - it seems a floodgate has opened in his mind.  If I look at him, I can almost see the words flying out of his… Read full post »

Here are a few things I’d rather do than watch the Biggest Waste of Time Ever, aka The Super Bowl:

- Voluntarily put myself through a wood chipper, even if I knew that halfway through it would malfunction and I’d be partially ground up until someone figured out how to… Read full post »

Since 1963, Congress has required the president to proclaim February American Heart Month.  Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are our nation's number one killer.  In addition, February 4 is National Wear Red Day, part of the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women Campaign.&n… Read full post »

It’s cold and icy here in Columbus, Ohio.  Windy too.   Schools are closed. As I type this I can hear a repetitive banging noise from outside, the sound of loose siding flapping in the wind.  I sure hope it’s the neighbor’s house and not mine/… Read full post »

In 2003, not long after George W. Bush kicked off the Iraq War based on an astounding lack of foresight, flawed information and what seemed to me to be more than a little hubris, I was having coffee with my friend Anita, who supported the invasion.  Almost everyone I knew agreed/… Read full post »

I suppose I could attribute it to cosmic justice.  I’d called in sick to work the other day, although I wasn’t.  Hi boss, have I told you lately you’re the best?!  (In fairness to me, I just couldn’t handle the thought of the blizzard of phone calls I’d be… Read full post »

NOTE:  The term “recording artist” as it appears in the following, is used very loosely and covers anyone from a tone-deaf janitor with access to his library’s free wi-fi service to Usher’s current little “friend.”

I&rsqu… Read full post »

When my kids have a day off from school, I sometimes also take a day off from work so we can spend some quality time together; nothing fancy, just hanging out at home and bonding.  Any wise parent who has a full-time job knows it’s not the big Disneyworld-type moments that… Read full post »

I've been reading with mild and intermittent interest the discussions that began today, continued into the evening hours and seem to show no signs of abating as the night wears on, about blogging tastes, what works for some readers, what turns off others, and the furious debate that ensues when feath… Read full post »

By the time a person reaches a certain age, he or she has (presumably!) learned a thing or two about social etiquette and polite conversation.

For example, just because someone is wearing a bandana, it is not acceptable to ask him how chemo is going.  An anorexic usually won’t laugh if… Read full post »

I was idly flipping through my newspaper at work yesterday while I listened to my caller rant about how his auto insurance rates had increased since last year and why it was my fault.  I don’t quote insurance rates.  I don’t raise insurance rates.  I don’t give a rat&/… Read full post »

On my drive to work the other day, I tuned in to a radio quiz show.  People who make the final cut on quiz shows impress me because I’m rarely able to respond on the spot to any kind of question whether I know the answer or not.

There’s about… Read full post »

There should be a better way to detect bad guys.  

After listening to all I could take about the attempted murder of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, along with the six others that died and fourteen who were wounded, that was the only conclusion I could draw.  People can point fingers, blame… Read full post »

He was huge.   Not just tall – I’d guess about 6’5” – but proportionally enormous.  He was a mountain of a man and the sweat was running off his vast expanse of hairy skin like melting streams in a spring thaw.  And there was a lot of skin.  His… Read full post »

This past Christmas I couldn’t bring myself to shop for my children.  Partly that’s because I didn’t feel like dealing with the throngs at the mall, Wal-Mart or even my favorite local haunt, Mo’ Fo’ Yo’ Do’ Pawn Shop, Tanning and Ped/… Read full post »

For anyone who loves an addict, the holidays can be a particularly miserable time of year.  The pain is uniquely excruciating; it's different from the sorrow one feels the first Christmas after a loved one has died. Or the gnawing feeling of absence felt by the family of a soldier stationed… Read full post »

This is a heartfelt Christmas message for anyone who loves an addict or whose life has been touched by addiction.  Loving an addict is difficult any time of year but during the holidays, the feelings can be downright overwhelming, a mixture of grief and anger, confusion and despair.

For a… Read full post »

The other day I read an article in my local paper about President Obama’s unemployment benefits extension.  Several jobless people across the country were interviewed.  Some are living out of their cars.  Others are hairsbreadth away from foreclosure.  Those with children/… Read full post »

Just when I thought I could get a creaky, arthritic leg up on my dismal financial affairs (in time for Christmas, a first!) I called T-Mobile the other night while I was making spaghetti sauce.  My cell phone bill was due.  

The amount is always the same - $248 -… Read full post »

Being somewhat of a hypochondriac, when I first came across the warning catch phrase  regarding ovarian cancer detection a couple of years ago (ovarian cancer – it whispers), I tallied up my own symptoms and much to my surprise, I had most of them.  In fact, I’d had them for qui… Read full post »

The Food and Drug Administration thinks Americans are stupid, knee-jerk morons.  Make that illiterate, stupid, knee-jerk morons.  That’s the only explanation I can come up with for what the FDA is going to require of cigarette packaging by June of 2012. 

    … Read full post »

Although some voters will be upset come Wednesday morning - maybe even suicidal, depending on their political affiliation - no matter how things turn out at the polls, I'll still have something to celebrate:  the one-year-clean anniversary of my daughter Mariclaire.

A year ago, her entire existe… Read full post »

When my husband Keith died suddenly at 40, leaving me with three young children and eight months pregnant with our fourth, I assumed that  would be the defining moment of my life.  With the distance of years, I began to think maybe the worst thing that could ever happen to me… Read full post »

It's a strange thing to feel like I'm just getting to know my 21-year-old daughter, even though she's lived with me for most of her life.  It's not that I was a neglectful parent or a workaholic, spending all my time at the office.   Rather, it's that a good chunk… Read full post »