Announcing ... my new book!

Announcing ... my new book!

Guess what? I’m finally able to share all about my book I’ve mentioned a time or two since I began working on it in the early months of summer (and Covid!). The publisher had asked that I keep details on it under wraps until close to publication date and now that publication date is near, the wraps are off!

Yes, after a LOT of hard work behind the scenes for the past several months, I'm excited to finally announce that The First-Time Grandmother's Journal: Inspiring Prompts to Celebrate Your Experience with a New Grandchild publishes February 4, 2021. That’s mere weeks away!

Read More

Flashback: Sink, swim, or hold on!

Flashback: Sink, swim, or hold on!

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…

Read More

Flashback: 10 signs of aging gracefully

Flashback: 10 signs of aging gracefully

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…

Read More

Throwback Thursday: 10 life lessons grandchildren help us remember

Throwback Thursday: 10 life lessons grandchildren help us remember

Dear readers: As my three grandsons from the desert will be visiting PawDad and me (and the rest of our Colorado family) this weekend, I thought it only fitting to share again one of my all-time favorite photo-filled posts featuring Brayden, Camden, and Declan. I hope you enjoy this #TBT feature, which originally published here on Grandma’s Briefs February 10, 2015. Thank you for reading my rerun.

With all that we do for our grandchildren, they do for us so very much more. Things such as reminding us of important lessons we've learned yet often forget to put into practice. Things such as these.

Read More

The Saturday post: How do you want to be remembered?

The Saturday post: How do you want to be remembered?

Happy Saturday, friends!

Today I’m sharing with you a brief video bit I came across, from New York Times best-selling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal on kindness. It’s a thoughtful, thought-provoking piece that earned “Winner of Best Animation” at the Peace On Earth Film Festival in 2011.

Read More

Letting go

Letting go

Letting go

I saw this sentiment on Instagram Sunday and was immediately smitten. It’s bold and brief (my favorite sort of inspiration) and gorgeously displays the grandeur of fall (my favorite season).

It’s a lovely reminder of the need to let go. And I have a lot of letting go to do.

Much of what I need to let go is related to…

Read More