Draft 2021

wild and unbidden golden globes invade my yard manes flashing sunshine

Orphidiophobia That's what I've got. An abnormal fear of snakes. There is some controversy over whether fear of snakes is an innate response for survival or whether it's caused by a frightening experience in one's youth. Some studies even suggest fear of snakes develops, at least in part, due to exposure to negative information about snakes. Of all the phobias to which I play hostess, I would have to say my snake phobia is among the top three or four. It may even be number one. I've never had a bad experience with a snake, nor do I remember being exposed to scary stories or information about snakes. No, my fear of snakes is most definitely visceral. So, you'll never guess who has moved into my neighborhood. Okay, maybe you will. Yes, I have the auspicious privilege of hosting a nesting colony of garter snakes in my very own backyard. Whoopee. Yes, a nest of vipers - okay, garter snakes - lives in the broken masonry under my back porch. I wish they had chos

Why, yes, he is unschooled.

In my frenzy of debt disposal I've been manically reading every personal finance blog, frugal living blog and get-out-of-debt blog I can find. An interesting idea proposed on many of them is to ditch the second car and become a one car household. At first blush, this seems impossible. But after careful consideration I can see that it could work for us. We're kind of living a trial run right now. Last month my son totaled his car. He graduates from Iowa State University in a few weeks, but until he has a few months of full-time work under his belt - and in his bank account - he won't have the down payment for a new (old) one. ISU is in Ames, Iowa, about 45 minutes from Des Moines, where we live. My son has to travel to and from Des Moines several times a week for appointments and his job. What to do? Since we don't want to take on another car payment, even short-term, the obvious solution was for us to share one of our two vehicles with him. Translation: he has the famil

I think I need investment advice. How much would it cost to make a sizable investment in bean futures? As in green bean futures. You see, my old dog Wally, 12, has always been a chow hound. The technical term for this is "food motivated," which doesn't even begin to capture Wally's never-ending quest to ingest. In his long lifetime Wally has indulged in more different foodstuffs than I can remember. Off the top of my head: two whole boxes of Crispy Creme donuts, several boxes of Raisin Bran cereal, two boxes of chocolate covered cherries, a delightful combination of hay and rabbit poop, an entire tub of glucosamine chondroitin chews, sticks of butter left out to soften, and more cat poop than I care to admit. He even managed to eat two small NylaBones intended for our puppy. If you don't have a dog, NylaBones are considered indestructible. Most of this either caused massive vomiting, diarrhea, or both. In addition, he regularly hoovers up any and all crumbs, usua

In the history of a marriage there are always those few instances that, while forgiven, are never quite forgotten. My poor husband has been the perpetrator of a few of those. One that stands out in my memory happened nearly 20 years ago at Christmastime. It seems like yesterday. When my grandfather, my mother's father, died, I received my grandma's pots and pans, everyday dishes, and various kitchen tools. I had just moved into an apartment off campus and needed all those items. I didn't give them much thought at the time, as I didn't really cook much beyond heating up the occasional can of Campbell's WonTon soup. That was my air-popped popcorn and diet Kool-Aid phase. It's a wonder I survived. Anyhoo, two short years later I was married and my homemaking instincts kicked in, at least the cooking ones. I discovered a love of cooking that's stayed with me all these years. And that's when I began to appreciate my grandmother's things. Not so much the p

Earlier this year I offered to pay my girls for some of our routine household chores. I am unable to keep up with everything myself because of my EDS and fibromyalgia so I need more help than I care to admit. Sarah brushes/furminates the dogs and cats weekly, gives medications as required, and cleans the bathrooms. Melissa vacuums and Swiffers the kitchen and bathroom floors, dusts, and makes a dessert each week. It is such a relief to know that these jobs will get done. And while the girls used to help do these jobs, now I don't have to "ask." Of course, they both help out a lot more than this with animal care, dog watching/walking, laundry, dishes, etc. I would have to say that next to having guaranteed clean floors and bathrooms, the best bargain by far was Melissa's dessert making. We have had cookies, brownies, cakes, and more. It's been wonderful. One little thing I've noticed, however, is that Melissa takes after her father in the kitchen. My husband i

http://carlanthonyonlinedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/bobby-sherman.jpg I woke up with Bobby Sherman this morning. Not literally, of course. Gee, I wonder how old he is now?  At least 70, I would think. No, I opened my eyes with the refrain of "Julie, Julie, Julie, do you love me?" running through my head. I'm a little young to have been a true Bobby Sherman fan, though I remember watching the TV version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers  - Here Come the Brides . I must have been only 5 or 6 at the time. But I really stumbled upon Bobby through one of my sister's record albums. Remember those? My two oldest sisters are 12 and 11 years older than I, which means they left for college when I was in kindergarten and first grade, respectively. In those days, I'm sure, they didn't have record players to take away to school, which means their records were left at home - where their adorable little sister could play them over and over and over. They didn't o

We have a profusion of tulips and daffodils and other flowering bulbs in our yard, but it never seems quite enough. Every fall we plant more bulbs, and every spring we realize we need another 100 or so for the next year. It's especially hard for me to pick a bouquet. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but it's almost impossible for me to go out in the yard and remove the beauties. I'm always concerned that I'll pick too many and there won't be enough left in the yard. Silly, I know. Fortunately my daughters don't have that problem. They keep me well-supplied with gorgeous bouquets throughout the spring and summer. I wonder how many thousands of flowers I would have to plant to eliminate my worry of cutting too many so I could gather my own bouquets? I still have a couple of years before I have to find out.

So, it's been three full months since we started our "no holds barred" debt reduction. At first it was difficult just to experience what felt like "limits" on myself. Not that there were all kinds of things I wanted to buy - I just don't do well with rules. But I have to admit what felt like a straight jacket at first now feels incredibly liberating. We budgeted for absolutely everything and eliminated lots of unnecessary spending. I reduced Netflix to streaming only and the newspaper to only four days a week. We eliminated one of our trash cans (we paid for two), I haven't renewed any magazine subscriptions, and we were able to knock $30 a month of our cell phone bill. I no longer buy sparkling water unless we're traveling (I got a SodaStream for Christmas this year). This alone is likely saving me more than $50 a month. Every extra penny - what some people call "found" money - goes toward debt. My husband and I each get $100 a week. This

Our neighbor's Magnolia tree in full glory I'd like to say I was on a planned blogging break, but I'm afraid that's not true. I've had several preoccupations this past week; some good, some not. Since I'm a dyed-in-the-wool pessimist, I'll start with the not-so-good first. I take a medication for my EDS pain called piroxicam. Basically it's a prescription anti-inflammatory. It makes quite a bit of difference in my daily pain level - except for headaches. I didn't think I got headaches that often, but that's probably because I had devised a great little over-the-counter cocktail for getting rid of them - two aleve, followed an hour later by two ibuprofen, followed 30-60 minutes later with two Excedrin. That and a nap would often blunt the pain if not get rid of the headache outright. So, what's the bad news? I have to give up my aleve and Excedrin. Completely. Apparently, they are too similar to the piroxicam and taking them would be akin to