Tales of the Ordinary Days

Me and my brothers (and yes, two of us were later recipients of braces) I think I have mentioned this before in my blogs. I grew up with brothers. Painful at times, but fun most times. I do know that I have thicker skin because of it. At a young age I was taught the art of fighting back physically, and mouthing back when Mom wasn't listening. I could scrap and hold my own with the best of them. I climbed trees and skinned my knees while battling to keep up with my older brothers and their friends. The forever little sister. I am now going to confess things my mother didn't know. Mom's typical response to our fighting and verbal sparring was very standard. "You three need to work out your problems on your own." A true travesty in today's culture of the forever helicopter mom. But she kept her word. We really did have to work it out on our own. There were great life lessons learned and I had bruises to prove it. Now confession time. Sorry in advanc...

Garrett, Ben and I assembling the dorm room Yesterday was moving day to UNL for Big Bad Ben. It was a good day. No tears. No angst. Just time for change and a rite of passage. Good for Ben and good for Mom. Earlier in the week, I worried of the pending fire drill that seemed imminent. As is typical for my middle child, little planning or packing had occurred in advance. Although Ben assured me he had it handled, I projected chaos on our scheduled 4:00 p.m. Friday move into Harper Hall. My organized self decided to follow Ben's blind lead and kick in Plan B, if necessary; make sure he took clean underwear and his backpack and then make a second trip to Lincoln later with all the things he forgot. I'm officially thankful for the short 40 mile commute. But Ben surprised me. With his dad's lead on Thursday night, he cleaned out his room and packed Home #1 for school. Based on Ben's hoarding ways, this was an unbelievable achievement to complete in just a night. Pick...

Skutt Football 2014 This morning began like any typical morning. At least what a "normal" Monday morning feels like to me. The alarm went off at 4:45 as a stark reminder of Garrett's 6:45 flight back to Denver. After a quiet and dark drive to the airport, I dropped Garrett off and headed home. Grant was the next who needed to get out the door. Today was the first day of official football practice for Skutt Catholic. Two-a-days with the first practice at 6:30 a.m. For the last 8 years, the start of high school football has been our official sign that summer is over. Somehow this pivotal date always sneaks up on me like a pouncing cat on an unsuspecting mouse. Boom. Today I acknowledged in disbelief that it really was August 11th. Planning for our busy May, full of graduation milestones, seems like yesterday. I am still cleaning up from the party. But such is life. This creep that starts slowly, but ends quickly, happens to us every year. This morning I was startl...

As Garrett and I sat in a work meeting, he noticed my top. One he hadn't seen before. "Is that new?" was his question. "Yes", I said excitedly. "It came in the mail yesterday!" After remembering that I had the same response regarding a maxi-dress the night before, he answered as any male would. "You have a problem." I then asked the obvious question every female would ask. "Do you like it?" His answer was a smiling "yes". Affirmation. No problem noted. I discovered something called Stitch Fix on FaceBook. Someone liked it and the concept peaked my interest. An on-line personal stylist. The tag line advertised was "your partner in personal style". The more I read, the more I wanted to try it out. As I have indicated in prior blogs, I love clothes and fashion, but I hate shopping. I find large stores and large inventories overwhelming. I don't even like on-line shopping. Although this is my...