Women Who Eat Chocolate

New column freshly posted on The Holmes Bargain Hunter Did 2013 not just arrive on golden wings yesterday? I blinked and it was gone along with several milestones and fresh ones looming on the horizon. Time flying is an adult’s business because when you are young you can hardly wait for things to happen – becoming a teenager, getting a driver’s license, graduating. As an adult the moments and events fly by and you scratch your head as another rounds the corner at full speed. I’ve compiled a list of things I want to accomplish in the new year or have accomplished this year. Maybe it’s just a list of wishes that if I work hard enough, will come true as the moments move along and I try to grasp them: 1) I wish for a reverence for taking care of my body. When we’re young our bodies work. Period. As we get older we start feeling little tweaks here and there and realize that, hey, we might want to start taking care of the shell we walk around in. There’s a good chance it might give up b...

My newest column on The Holmes Bargain Hunter touches on whether we actually feel Christmas. I'm choosing to revel in it.  Christmas week, in all its grandeur and preparation, has arrived on hushed wings in the night. As we are rushing around to gather last minute stocking gifts and food to prepare, the time to celebrate our Lord – tiny yet mighty – has arrived in full flush. Twinkling lights meet my eyes as I gaze upon the nativity scene I put up every year. Bought back in the 90s, my manger scene is lovely with its rustic stable and glass figurines. Every year I threaten to paint the baby Jesus hair because I know that someone made a mistake somewhere. Baby Jesus was definitely not a blonde. Even so, he is nestled deep in his manger while Mary and Joseph stand guard, a stout shepherd herds his sheep nearby, and the colorful wisemen are so very nearly there to bring their gifts from afar. Along with gifts and sparkly lights on the tree, this nativity scene is here to remind me ...

This column is near and dear to my heart. Newly posted on The Holmes Bargain Hunter .  This morning, I have a very large mug of java steaming beside me as I type - on a computer with working Internet. This is the norm, it’s a taken-for-granted luxury that I know will be in my cupboard for me to pull out and brew every day of my life. I know when I turn on my computer the Internet will hum into working order. It’s called comfort and the knowing of things that will be. This morning, someone will get up and get dressed, head very early into work hoping to get a cup of coffee there because their cupboard is nearly bare. This person will look very normal, dressed in what our world deems “regular” clothing. They will drive into work in a car that is decent, and will get them to and from where they need to go, but never very far. That mysterious noise it is making might eventually get louder and you don’t want to be on the road when that happens. Taking it in for service is not a ch...

New column freshly posted on  The Holmes County Bargain Hunter :  As you read this, Thanksgiving will be but a memory from 2013 and Christmas will be coming full force upon us. I’m taking a moment to feel the silence and wonder of this holiday season. Before I put my tree up and let the twinkle lights take over the room, I want to embrace December and all its quiet grace--because once I let the madness in, it’s all over.  I want to seize the pockets of solitude--those ones before the pressure of finding the perfect gift turns my brain into mush. Every year I decide that the gifts won’t be the focus. Every year I find myself trying to be equal and creative with gifts, yet that awful feeling of “there aren’t enough presents under the tree” tries to creep in. I’m killing that monster this year. My kids are gracious receivers and have told me that they don’t want tons of gifts, just a few meaningful ones. I like the way this is going. It hits me square in the face though...

This Monday morning washes over me like a warm, fuzzy blanket. I’m curled up in my chair, coffee steaming beside me, while I contemplate my life and craziness it has been lately. Soccer season, for us and our senior son, is over. We went on a deep tournament run that ended one game shy of that elusive state berth. What a wonderful season it was, but as with anything that keeps us busy and happy--what happens once it’s over?  It’s hard to look ahead and see what might be on the horizon because it’s easy to stay in the now. Now was easy--work, attend games, cook supper when I could, repeat. I didn’t really look ahead because I was enjoying all that was around me. After we came home Saturday night, mentally tired from the game, I sat on the couch and let the tears fall. Another milestone done, my baby the senior is done. I have watched my last soccer game as a parent. He will graduate in the spring and we will officially be empty nesters. Saying that it hit me hard wouldn’t quite get ...

You can find this article of mine on The Holmes County Bargain Hunter . There’s been lots of talk lately in our small town about a dollar store that will soon be making its appearance. I’ve heard both sides of the story and from what I’ve gathered it’s split down the middle about 50/50 for approval. Sounds like a political divide, doesn’t it? That being said, the question people are asking is this: “Why does Berlin need a dollar store? It will make us look tacky!” This is not my opinion. If you want my opinion, I love dollar stores and everything about them. Value, convenience, not walking 12 miles to get what I need in a giant store, and did I mention value? They have everything you need in a bigger store but packed into a tighter space. They also accept coupons -- what could be wrong with this scenario? The argument is that our town will be tainted by the presence of a dollar store. That Berlin is too high end for one and that it will ruin what our town is. These feelings I have ...

It hasn’t seemed much like fall lately, although the leaves are littering my yard in that lazy way that they do. The weather has been warm – downright hot – and when I get hot in October I start to get angry. Not at anyone in particular, just myself. I want to walk outside and feel a crisp breeze with just the right nip in the air. I want to clean my flower beds without breaking a sweat, and so far, I haven’t been able to do that. Come January, when the snow and winds are howling, you won’t hear me complain about the cold because I LOVE winter and everything it brings – snow, wind, blizzards – everything.  Fall means crockpot time – soups, stews and cuts of meat braised for hours until fork tender. I haven’t much felt like using my crockpot because it hasn’t been cold enough. I know, I know – you can use a crockpot year-round and believe me I do. Maybe it’s just cooking in general. Ever get that feeling that your family may never eat a good meal again? That you might just set u...

You can catch this post on my column at The Holmes County Bargain Hunter   Blinders, that’s what we need - like horses trotting down the street so things to the left and right of us don’t distract or upset us. So we can travel through this world blindly, untouched, unmoved by people and things around us. So our world stays sterile and unruffled. That’s what we need, blinders. Our world, the one spinning on its axis as we speak, as it hurtles us round and round so fast that we stand still, has lots of different people in it. There are people that we love, the ones that we gather close enough to count the hairs on their head. They are the ones who exasperate us to the point of exhaustion, but our love and the commitment of life we have given to them keeps us in the game. It keeps us close to that burning fire of love we have, even though it sometimes dims to a flicker. We must fan that flame so it burns bright enough for us to see it even through the dim, shadowy places ...

Newest column from The Holmes Bargain Hunter : Fall is simply the best time to gather your loved ones and hop in the car for a little ride. The leaves are bursting with color, the air is pleasantly cool, and you just need to get outdoors. When I was young, we took lots of car rides down winding back roads. You never quite knew where you would end up, but it never mattered because each turn and patch of woods we traveled through was more magical than the last one. Deep hollows, ridges splashed with the fire of stately trees, and huge rocks you could climb all the way to the top on. We would stop, sometimes, and walk around. Leaves, rocks, small sticks found their way into my pockets and would be carefully placed in my box of treasures when I got home. Usually, we would end up where there was ice cream, and a cone with big drips down the side found its way into my hands. Here in NE Ohio, fall has a bounty of things to take part in. But fall, especially fall, is when Ohio b...

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” ~Ghandi We must stop the rhetoric . The hate-speak . And the posturing . We are blinded by our hate . By the monster it turns us into. By the hideous words we spew . Those of us, who live day by day. Side by side. We hate those in power . We rage and spit fire while the innocent get blamed.  It's a war that sets me on fire . My heart. My mind. I am not blind, yet I want to turn off the world so I can breathe again. And not feel the hate that burns my skin . 

Esabelle Eden, First of all, can we just stop and reflect on the fact that I HAVE a 23 year old? I still feel as young as I did when I had you, but the years have moved along and you are now one year older than I was when you were born.  You were but a sparkle in my mind so long ago. I knew you would arrive sooner or later, but when you did it was in a big way. With your full head of ebony hair, and huge brown eyes we lost our hearts to you. You still have the fire you always had. You are a survivor, a debater, a thinker, an advocate for change and justice, and full of compassion. I’ve decided this year to give you some words of advice as your turn 23 – words I wish I had heard.      1)  Stop thinking you’re getting old. After the hotly anticipated age of 21, it may seem as if it’s all downhill from here. Stop it. Right now. As women, we are powerful. Be thankful for the body and strength you have now. Own it. Live it. Take care of i...

A fairly recent column in The Holmes County  Bargain Hunter . What is risk to you?  Risk: the possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger. There is a quote I love that I remind myself of every single day: “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” Repeat that to yourself several times until the meaning becomes entrenched in your brain.  Most of us don’t like risk. We play our lives safe and sound, never stepping out on a limb to reach for the fruit on the very end. We stay ensconced in our safe homes never really feeling the slap of excitement that comes from doing something slightly scintillating. We see others doing mostly the same, every now and then someone breaks the norm, and we say to ourselves under our breath, “Man, I’m glad that’s not me. I would never be so stupid to attempt something like that. They are really putting themselves at risk.” For most of us, we’re one financial misstep away from ruin. Paycheck to paycheck is our daily bread...