March 22, 2019

Flashback: Sink, swim, or hold on!

March 22, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This flashback feature originally appeared on Grandma’s Briefs March 4, 2010. Update: I’m still holding on “with a steel-plated grip because I have no other option.” How about you? Thank you for reading my rerun.

Back in the '80s, before the real estate market crash that marked the end of that decade, I worked for a mortgage company. Business was good, and we were rewarded well by the company's owner.

One of the bigger rewards we once received was a day offwork ... and on the owner's boat. On a day we should be processing loans, the entire office (it was a small office) would get to don bathing suits and hang out at the reservoir, on a boat, sipping beer in the sunshine.

I didn't want to go. I really did not want to go.

I didn't want to go because despite having been born in Minnesota…

March 08, 2019

Flashback: 10 signs of aging gracefully

March 08, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This piece on the secret to aging gracefully originally appeared on Grandma’s Briefs on March 24, 2013. Six years later, the signs still resonate with me. I hope they do with you, too. Thank you for reading my rerun.

When it comes to aging gracefully, forget the face creams, hair colors and exercises — the physical manifestations others see as we rack up the years. Instead, I prefer to focus on a different kind of trait that others see, one I think trumps the physical when considering how gracefully others are aging and how gracefully I'm aging myself.

That trait? It's attitude. For, as age is just…

January 25, 2019

Friday Flashback: 30 grandchild firsts only grandparents celebrate

January 25, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This flashback feature originally appeared on Grandma's Briefs April 8, 2014. Thank you for reading my rerun.

There are numerous firsts in a child's life worth celebrating. The milestones Mom and Dad celebrate, though, may be a wee bit different than those Grandma and Grandpa celebrate.

Here are 30 firsts in the life of a grandchild that warm a grandparent's heart and warrant a happy dance:

September 14, 2018

Flashback Friday: Bacon, eggs, and Bubby

September 14, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This flashback feature originally appeared on Grandma's Briefs September 6, 2011—back when Brayden was called Bubby, Camden was but a babe, and Declan wouldn’t arrive for three more years. Thank you for reading my rerun.

When I visited Bubby and Camden last month, one of the things Bubby wanted us to do together was make cookies. Because it was so darn hot in the desert—even in the house—I convinced Bubby that it would be so much more fun to make and eat...well...bacon and eggs!

July 06, 2018

Flashback: 9 things I've kept 'for the grandkids'

July 06, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This Flashback feature originally appeared on Grandma's Briefs July 22, 2010. Thank you for reading this updated rerun!

My daughters have been grown and gone for quite some time now, but there are a few useful and/or enjoyable things from their childhood that I just can't throw away..

I'm pretty sure—or at least I'm bound and determined—that these items will one day come in handy, that they'll one day provide fun and frivolity for my grandkids.

9 THINGS I'VE KEPT 'FOR THE GRANDKIDS'

1. VHS tapes of children's movies and shows. Space Jam, Fluke, Casper and more. I can't see throwing away tapes I know kids love, but I sure don't plan on replacing them with DVDs or Blu-Ray discs (except for the…