I’m about to go up against all the advise and instructions you have ever heard about cleaning your Dutch ovens…….DO IT!!! Scrub it, soap it up, make it clean, and then rinse it good and oil it up and put it away.

We had a meal the other day that might have tasted good if there wasn’t so much ick in it from other meals. I know the general advise about Dutch ovens is to burn it out and scrap it out so you wont ruin the seasoning, but yuck! I do not enjoy crunching something unidentifiable from a

Do you ever have a day, a week, when you just don’t feel like you’re worth much? A time in your life where for whatever reason you wonder, do I contribute to the world? If I disappeared would anyone notice? Have I done anything that would make a difference in my family, in the world? Have I reached my potential? Do I have true meaning in my life?

I was watching TV the other night and it was a documentary about using dogs to help with recovery and therapy especially for kids. This woman had a

When we first learned we were going to become grandparents one of our sons was asking what we would like his kids to call us. I know lots of family have traditional names or cultural names or even names that the grandparents pick out themselves. Labels haven’t ever meant a whole lot to me. I’ve never cared if I was called Mrs. or Aunt or whatever, so I didn’t really have an opinion about what the grandkids should call me. My husband didn’t care either.

So babies are born and the parents just

It happens every where, the pressure whether intended or not, to be the best Mom. The problem is, what does being the best or even a good mom mean?

I remember as I was raising my kids the constant pressure, whether real or implied, to have myself or my kids involved in a myriad of things. One sport was not enough, they should do all the sports. Good grades are not good enough, they have to do all AP or honors courses. Playing only one instrument? Heaven forbid, lessons on at least 3 and by

How many choices do you make in a day? I’ve tried counting it up and the number gets quite high. Let’s think about a few………

What time will I wake up? Do I hit the snooze? How will I greet the day, happy, sad, angry, disgruntled? Do I make up the bed? What’s for breakfast? Do I eat? What toothbrush? What toothpaste? Shower or bath? How do I do my hair today? Gel? Makeup? Perfume? Purse or bag? What to pack for lunch? Go out to lunch? How much cash do I need? Drive or walk or bus? Chores before

We were sitting at dinner last night, our usual Sunday night dinner as an extended family, and my phone would not stop buzzing. It irritated me and it really irritated my father in law.

After giving it much thought over the last while I’ve come to believe that not only do we think we must answer each and every buzz, ring, text and summons but we also get very impatient when someone else doesn’t immediately answer our buzz, ring or text. The text messages yesterday were from my sister, and