Remember your mom bundling you up so much you could hardly walk around outside?

This is one of the poems I wrote for my children's book: "Lettuce Bee Silly." If you have kiddows around, they might like to watch this short video.

Remember your mom bundling you up so much you could hardly walk around outside?

This is one of the poems I wrote for my children's book: "Lettuce Bee Silly." If you have kiddows around, they might like to watch this short video.

Men are weird when they're hungry....

especially tall ones. I learned this early in my marriage to Terry. When it was dinner time he used to always be ravenous and, quite frankly, I didn’t like him when he was that way. He was six feet, three inches of uncontrollable hunger and he’d drive me nuts! He didn’t act mean or cranky like some men do; he just acted like he’d skipped his meds. He’s sort of a combination of Cramer (in the sitcom Seinfeld) and Barney Fife (in The Andy Griffith Show). But when he’d get hungry he’d be like those two characters on speed. He’d dart around the kitchen trying to get closer to the pending meal. He’d find difficulty concentrating and our kitchen just wasn’t big enough for both of us, when he’d be famished.

A famished man definitely acts differently than a famished woman. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Swanson didn’t think to name their large portioned TV dinner, Hungry Woman Dinner, even though an average lady can put one away with no problem. No one addresses the idea of a hungry woman because, quite frankly, we never are. That’s because we snack. From the time we are youngsters; we spend more time in the kitchen and therefore have more access to food than men do. If we work outside of our homes we carry with us a snacking pattern gleaned from generations of female snackers. I would bet that more business women have snacks in their drawers at work than men do. And men don’t have purses (a natural snack satchel) to tuck treats.

In chapter five of “The Joy of Being Disorganized,” I talked about meeting Oprah and what fun it was to find out she was a self-confessed SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive)! It was a moment where a real life celebrity became just like you and me. Dining can be like that too. You don't have to eat at the tables of Paula Deen, Rachael Ray or Giada to savor gourmet tasting food.

You can make it yourself! In this cooking video I show you one of the easiest ways to bake salmon-- that heart healthy source of omega-3 fatty acids. Doctors call it “brain food” but I just call it delicious.

Throw in a sprig of rosemary (which always goes well with almost any fish) in and enjoy! Here's my simple recipe with video to follow.

When you've scooped all you can out of a mayonnaise jar, there's usually enough left in the jar to make a creamy salad dressing? All you have to do is add some yummy ingredients, to the jar and shake it! 

Watch the video and see my secrets for making a delicious creamy salad dressing.

 Christmas this year is going to be different for most of us, especially if we're used to traveling to see family. Surveys say most people will be staying home during the holidays because of the pandemic. A great gift idea that's easy to mail is money and I've developed a great way to give money with a sense of humor. It's called"Stick it Right on the Money Gift Giving Kit,." Here's a quick video on how this product works.

Do you want jewelry for Christmas? If you do, why?

Have you ever thought about it? Why do women like jewelry?

Is it because we need attention? Jewelry can certainly do that. After all, it always tells some kind of story.

When you see a big diamond on a woman’s hand, do you assume she’s rich? When you see a diamond necklace or bracelet on a stranger, do you think it could be fake? When Marilyn Monroe sang Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, she made us want them to be our friends too, even though they can’t talk or listen like a real friend can. The slogan Diamonds are forever implies that at least they’re loyal and not like a dog that goes off and dies on you.

The tourist industry (to include the airlines, hotels, restaurants and all the places tourist want to go) is in my prayers every morning and night. We have a good friend and owner of our favorite restaurant, who had to close it because of the pandemic and the Washington State edict, “no more than 50% capacity.” It hurt my heart to see a vibrant and bustling restaurant go under along with our favorite waitress in the world and the best fish and chips anywhere, ever. But there are other types of businesses that are seriously affected by COVID.

THE FASHION INDUSTRY

When I think about all the places we loved to go but can’t, like church, lectures, the theater, the movies, meetings, concerts, celebrations and a million other activities we used to get dressed up to attend, it made me think about another industry that’s got to be hurting; the fashion industry. After all when we’d go out, we’d dress up.

“We have to be there in half an hour. Are you gonna wear that?”

“How dressed up should I get?”

“Well, I’m gonna wear my black dress with the ruffle on the hemline, and I’m wearin' heels.”

“Whoa, okay, I’ll change my shirt and wear my new pants.”

Now that we can’t go anyplace, I’ve been thinking about the reason behind dressing up in the first place. Why the heels? Why the black dress?

I was getting my hair cut the other day and Billy Jo, my stylist (hair cutter) got a call on her cell phone in her apron pocket. The conversation went like this:

“My Shop, Billy Jo speaking.”

I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end so you’ll only get Billy Jo’s responses, although you can kind of hear between the lines.

“I’m cutting a client’s hair.”

“Fine, but I can’t talk right now.”

“I’m busy until 5. It’s 2:15, did you take your pills?”

“Okay take them now. I’ll be home about 5:30.”

Billy Jo disconnected the call and put her phone back into her pocket. She rolled her eyes as she picked up the scissors and began cutting my hair again.

“That was my mom wanting to know how I am. She acts shocked when she hears I’m working and she never leaves a message if I don’t answer right away.”

It made me think about my mom getting frustrated when her mom would call her when she was busy and how distracting it was when my mom would call me at especially busy times. She too would never leave a message saying: “I hate those damn machines and I refuse to talk to a machine.” It made me think about what I do to my kids. For one thing, I quit calling them when I learned how to text. That gives my kids an easier time to put me off when they’re busy. And just like my mom and Granny, I have no idea when my kids are busy, so I understand the chain of unwanted calls through the years.

I wonder what they did in the olden days when there were no telephones. One thing, the old parents lived with the adult children in many cases so an aged mother could see that her adult child was busy and could leave her alone. Two, with the whole family living together, I’d think there’d be a tendency for every member to want to seek more private space. These days we live apart from each other and so, in my opinion, we need connection more than our ancestors did. 

I was at the store a few weeks ago and I watched the reverse of a mom seeking connection with her adult child; it was a four-year-old seeking attention from his mother. She was reading the label on a cereal box and he was looking at the pictures on a box of Corn Flakes which was at his eye level. It went like this: