Before I begin today’s column, I’d like to add a postscript to the column I wrote a couple months ago. The one about raising teenagers and the CVC’s CampFIRE youth leadership experience. If you read it, you’ll remember that I was fighting my 8th grader on going to camp. I knew all the pain would [...]
I like to think of myself as a voracious reader. Isn’t that a great word? Voracious. Rolls off the tongue. I probably would be a voracious reader if life didn’t get in the way. Work, family and friends tend to conspire to lure me away from my towering stack of books. I generally have anywhere [...]
Parenting a teenager is not for weenies. Those of you who have undertaken it know the struggle is real. Those of you who have only been teens should remember the awkwardness, the endless moments of humiliation, the fear of being noticed, the fear of being unnoticed. It's just brutal. The surging hormones mean teens are [...]
I love March. It means so many things. Daffodils (my all-time fave flower) from the American Cancer Society. The chance that spring (my all-time fave season) might actually arrive. March Madness, which pretty much annually features the Kansas Jayhawks (my all-time fave team). In addition and most importantly, it’s the month of my birthday! [...]
I’m back! Four pounds lighter, perhaps a few inches smaller and feeling very pleased with self for surviving the Whole30. Thanks for the votes of confidence! Today, I’m using my column for something other than what’s become a bit of my personal blog post. Instead, I’m going to share both my disappointment and my hope. [...]
Happy New Year! Yep, 2017 has entered at full throttle, complete with hideous cold and deeply unfortunate wind. We’ve all become complete wusses after the last few winters and as someone who has been a proud Wyoming resident for 24 years and 7 months (but who’s counting?), I don’t remember it being quite this cold [...]
It’s the Christmas season! Yippee! You know how I know this? Not because the decorations are up in stores. That happened in September. And not because the snow finally started flying, although that did help. Nope, the Christmas music has started on the radio stations. At least the radio has the decency to wait until [...]
I’m a big fan. Whether it’s pigs, chocolate, Chardonnay, Jane Austen novels or Chicago-style deep dish pizza, I am all in. No one can doubt my enthusiasm. In fact, for Halloween one year, I had a t-shirt emblazoned with “Go, Ceiling!” and had pom poms, a little skirt and made up pro-ceiling cheers. Get it? [...]
I am the parent of two boys, ages 11 and 14. I came to the parenting gig late so I had plenty of time to watch my friends raise their children. I also had plenty of time to be incredibly judgmental about what I saw as their mistakes and shortcomings. In my head I was [...]
I’ve recently returned from a trip down south. Douglas, to be specific. It’s Wyoming State Fair time and my boys were fortunate enough to have had a great Sheridan County Fair so we joined the parade of livestock trailers down the interstate. As I was musing on the subject for this column, I couldn’t help [...]
