Recently I overheard a lady mention that she skips Monday when it comes to exercise. Any other day is fine but Monday is just too hard to face knowing exercise is also a part of the humdrum. I laughed when I heard this and thought to myself, “How do you skip Monday?” Once more, “Out with the old and in with the new” is upon us. We will begin to pack away all of our Christmas treasures and store them […]
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There is nothing better than the sights and smells of home at Christmas time. All of my childhood memories come flooding back each year. Remembering Santa Claus arriving on Christmas morning brings back such nostalgia. I am, perhaps, a kid at heart. I love all the memories of the colored lights at my grandparents and the clear lights at our home. Now, I can’t help but find a place for both. I can recall all the times we got to […]
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I come from a long line of jokesters and story tellers. My great grandfather, Pa, whom my own father is referred to by Eva and Ben, was quite the story teller. My father and uncle take after him in their own story telling talents and good humor. My great grandmother, whom everyone lovingly called, Big Mama, loved to tell jokes and laugh. Our family lineage is full of hilarious light hearted people; not because they never fell on hard times, […]
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Hallmark romanticizes cold weather with it’s perfectly matching plaid outfits, pristine snow boots and a cup of hot cocoa steaming in one’s hand; perfect hair and untainted soft complexions complete the look. That is not at all how we looked growing up. Most of our winter clothes smelled of horses, hay, dogs and chickens. Our winter coats and pants were stained with years of wear and tear and our mud boots were just that, covered in mud, horse manure, and […]
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There is just something majestically wonderful about this time of year. It comes with such splendor that no one can deny Christmas is upon us. Oh, there are scrooges and bah-humbugs out there, but overall, most people enter into the Holiday season with joy in their heart and a spring in their step. My mother, being one of these holly-jolly celebrators, suggested my sister and I should take the kids and head off shopping for some early yule tide enjoyment […]
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On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart, the kitchen is where to find it. -EB White My recipe box is over one hundred years old. It was my great grandmother’s. It sits on top of a produce crate I have in my kitchen. Although missed by most, it often catches my eye. There are not many days that go by when I do not open it up and pull out family favorites for supper […]
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Thanksgiving was just a few days away, and I was teaching one of my last workout classes before the holiday. We all knew we were going to eat way too much food and probably relax more than we should. Consequently, a good hard workout was on the menu, I mean, agenda. During our workout, we all started sharing our Thanksgiving plans and dishes we would be serving or taking to our gatherings. I told them we would be joining my […]
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Several years back, my folks bought a fixer-upper home way out in the country. Let’s just say the land was the only thing beautiful about it. Dad could see the end result, but Mom, on the other hand, she just saw all the 90’s wallpaper and a worn out establishment. Normally, I am like my father, I can see the end result, but less than three-hundred square feet of living space had my vision impaired. New home-owners were living in […]
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I have been told many times by those who now have empty nests to enjoy every season of raising kids; it all goes too fast. I would have to agree with them. People seem to miss those young years and relive them when they see young mothers chasing after a little one. A new found friend told me a couple of weeks back that it sure is quiet when they’re all grown up. She told me to make sure I […]
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We live in a society today that teaches us someone else is to blame for my shortcomings; it is someone else’s fault as to why I am the way I am. I really wish this philosophy would have been adopted in the Stockdale household while I was growing up because then the blame would have always laid elsewhere, and I would not have had to own any of my mistakes or my own personal shortcomings. It would have been smooth […]
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