My sister-in-law, Julie, wrote a post on her blog about Trader Joe’s which reminded me of a story about shopping there one afternoon. How lucky am I that I’m within walking distance of one of my favorite stores? As I was checking out, the good looking, young man at the register asked, “Find everything you need?” He had curly dark hair, green eyes and was adorable, which I think is a prerequisite for working at TJ’s. Anyway, the little devil that sometimes sits on my shoulder suggested some things I may need that I couldn’t find on the aisle, but I just smiled and said, “Yes, thank you.” After I paid, and was putting away the receipt in my wallet, I heard my checker ask the elderly man behind me the same question. He was at least 70 years old and didn’t hold back his thoughts. He said, “Well, if you know of any pretty, 40 year old ladies, that might be interested in spending time…” I didn’t quite hear his whole response, maybe because the laughter inside my head was so loud. That little devil must have jumped right from my shoulder onto his. Who knows maybe that old man was checking ME out, as I was checking out the checker? I love that store!

Money troubles have woken me up before but today was a different kind of awakening. Still in snooze mode, I heard, “Mom, can I have $10?” My sleepy brain started to calculate. How many lunches does ten bucks buy? A field trip? Did I miss a notice in the crumpled up paperwork from his backpack? I asked, “What for?”
“To pay this kid.”
“For what?”
“A bet.”
“What kind of bet? $10?!” Continue Reading »

“Look a dime,” I said to my son and niece, as we strolled to the school yard. I expected the kids to act like fans fighting over a home run ball that gets knocked into the crowd. Instead I received a mature and loving response from my eight-year-old niece, who said, “You keep it, you saw it first.” Happily, I picked it up and put it in my pocket. Continue Reading »

Bernie and Dan were two of my favorite eliminated players and I was so happy to see Bernie take the $100,000 prize. I was even more excited to see Kelly and Ali competing for the big prize. If you haven’t caught on, I’m all caught up in the results of the “The Biggest Loser, Couples” Everyone looked incredible and the women stole the show. Last night’s final episode inspired me to do the best I could today at boot camp. That was until we ran to the dreaded hill, ran up the dreaded hill in a variety of ways, forward, side stepping and backwards (I never knew quads could tire so quickly from one movement), just to do five sprints up and down the steepest part of it. I inevitably ended up at the back of the pack. Continue Reading »

“The Biggest Loser, Couples” finale is tonight. I’m excited to see if a woman finally takes the title. The last four contestants are very strong competitors. Even though it seemed like Kelly was the quiet one, she showed incredible strength. Only a very strong woman would be able to begin this challenge with her ex-husband. Ali and Mark both came back from being eliminated to show how strong their will was at home, training and dieting on their own. And the biggest threat, Roger, who was a football player, is of course, competitive by nature. Continue Reading »

“How does God communicate with you?” An interesting question. When people were asked, many of them answered, they receive signs. Signs, miracles, coincidences, feelings of deja vu, gut feelings, intuitive voices all come from God. A few months ago, I attended a friend’s birthday celebration. I knew I didn’t want to stay too late and told myself I would leave the party by midnight. Continue Reading »

If you ask women to name components of a perfect date, I have a feeling “good hair” tops the list. My hair looked good as I met my writers’ group after work. We headed toward the Valley and decided to take Ventura Boulevard until something reasonable and somewhat healthy presented itself. I love cruising Ventura. It reminds me of my “Valley Girl” days. We landed at Le Reina Plaza and ate at Pomodoro. We were met with a quick, friendly server, who knew we had a show to get to. Continue Reading »