7 solaces in my sucky, stress-filled season

/

hope versus despair

My husband was laid off at the end of September. Again. It's been less than a year since we were in the same boat. Once again, we're worrying about paying for PLUS loans, prescriptions, and more. All because "the company chose to go in a different direction with the department."

Such circumstances stink. Even more so when additional stinky stuff was packed into the months between Jim's layoff last year and this year's job loss.

What stuff? you may wonder. Well, soon after my husband found a new job last fall — yeah, the job he just lost — one of my dogs was diagnosed with...

Read More

Saturday movie review: A Family Affair

/

The documentary A FAMILY AFFAIR is one of those films I'm glad I watched but certainly wouldn't say I enjoyed it. Or liked it. In fact, I didn't like the subject — a grandmother, no less — one single bit.

A Family Affair movie

Yet I couldn't stop watching this film by Danish documentarian Tom Fassaert, who filmed a fascinating attempt to figure out his grandmother, a famous model in the '50s. Primarily, Fassaert hoped to...

Read More

Saturday movie review: Miss You Already

/

MISS YOU ALREADY is about girlfriends. Life-long girlfriends. True BFFs.

Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore play Milly and Jess, who became quick chums as school girls and shared milestones major and minor ever since.

Now, as adults, adventurous and outrageous Milly has a gorgeous husband, a lovely family, and a high-power position. More grounded and even-tempered Jess has an adoring yet less glamorous hubby, a more earthy career, and struggles endlessly with fertility issues.

Miss You Already film

Milly and Jess balance one another. Milly encourages

Read More

From the archives: Four for fall

/

Having blogged for more than seven years, I have oodles of goodies stored away in the Grandma's Briefs archive, goodies that rarely see the light of day because they go way, way back. At least seven years or so.

Today seems a perfect day to pull out some of those well-seasoned posts, a few of my favorite fall-themed features you just might have missed.

fall recipes and fun

 

14 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT OCTOBER

My shortlisted October loves... in no particular order:

1. The sun has shifted south. Whereas summer...

Read More