Guess who gave me a letter

My daughter is adorable.
Last Friday I ended up going to the Boy Scout district office to pick up merit badges for an upcoming Court of Honor. I normally don’t go, but our friends (who do normally go) asked us to help them out. On Sunday, we turned in our reimbursement form to the bishopric. Yesterday, [...]

Read Full Post »

TaxAct or H&R Block… or Another Way?

We have complicated taxes. Really. If it weren’t for our rentable basement, we’d have simple taxes, but because of the rental, we have complicated taxes.
For the last two years, I’ve gone to H&R Block to do my taxes. They do a great job; the only catch is that I have to leave my leg behind. [...]

Read Full Post »

Conhecimento-based Love

I’ve been pondering lately what makes marriages tick. Why do certain marriages fail where others succeed? Mostly, I’ve been wondering what I can do to arrive at 50+ years of being happily married.
We recently hit our fifth anniversary with all the bumps and bruises of any marriage, and we’re better for it. I can honestly [...]

Read Full Post »

See the Big Picture

I’m a huge fan of home improvement shows. I love watching what people do to repair their homes and build on what they have. Same with the home buying shows. I just find them fun, and it’s nice to dream even if it is only vicariously. But I saw one yesterday that just left me [...]

Read Full Post »

What to do?

Am I the only one who feels this way? Don’t get me wrong; I love January, but I always get so… what’s the word … bored? Unmotivated? It’s like the empty calendar is staring me in the face and laughing.
It probably doesn’t help that most of the resolutions I made for the New Year are [...]

Read Full Post »

Mental Illness: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Something occurred to me recently, and I’ve really struggled with facing it head on. I’ve spoken out frequently about the need for the mentally ill to share their stories both as a way for others to understand and for themselves to be understood, but I’ve been somewhat dishonest with myself.
All this time I’ve spent asking [...]

Read Full Post »

Mental Illness: This needs to continue

Wow.
That’s about all I can say. Wow.
The response to yesterday’s post on postpartum depression has been overwhelmingly positive with dozens of links, hundreds of hits, and many heartfelt thanks. I’m somewhat surprised by the energy of the responses, particularly the gratitude expressed for the honesty of the writer of that story. And it’s obvious to [...]

Read Full Post »

Magleby’s: Not worth $0.84

I had $20 in gift certificates to Magleby’s, a restaurant near our home, and we decided to try them out on Saturday. We had heard fantastic things about it from some good friends, and, unfortunately, it all goes downhill from there.
We ordered an omelet for me (ham, bacon, cheese, and mushrooms with NO ONIONS!!!!), their [...]

Read Full Post »

Mental Illness: Postpartum Depression

I’ve been writing this series on mental illness for more than 6 months now, and we’ve finally come to the end. This last post is the story of someone’s experience with depression, specifically postpartum. At seven typed pages, it is easily worthy of a series on its own, but here it is in its entirety. [...]

Read Full Post »

Blow Money and Compulsive Shopping

It really seems that Nosurfgirl is guiding this current discussion on money right now. That’s a good thing since I want the information to be useful. So, once again, this one goes out to Nosurfgirl….
In my last post on money matters, Nosurfgirl mentioned compulsive buying or stress shopping. It’s a plague that affects many people, [...]

Read Full Post »