I keep an electric hand mixer around for small jobs or when I just don't want to lug out the heavy Kitchen Aid.  I've been nursing ...

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house and kitchen, the cookies were baked and frozen -- to prevent the spouse from snitc...

Once upon a time, I was a Christmas decorator at a local house museum.  It was then that I began making Christmas decorations.  A good frie...

Remember that old knock-knock joke?  Orange you glad I didn't say banana?  Well, I made a new Christmas cookie that's no joke -- Or...

With apologies to T. S. Eliot and J. Alfred Prufrock, I cannot measure out my life with coffee spoons because I don't drink coffee. Re...

Winter is almost here, at least in most parts of the U.S., so why am I writing about ice cream?  This year on Thanksgiving, I served ice cr...

I love words.  As a writer and an editor, I guess that's not much of a surprise.  Written or spoken, words are what get me.  I've ...

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere, and not a pie in sight!  Pumpkins have invaded the courthouse lawn in Sycamore, Illinois, so it must be P...

Front porch wreath, burlap wrapped for fall Today I am relaxing and working at home on this rainy Monday to recover from a whirlwind we...

I haven't had a lot to write about lately, but I thought today I'd share a couple of images. My office is a little cubby under ...

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."  When Socrates said this, I doubt he was talking about my dinner table, but he might as w...

In the fall of 1981, Mrs. Haggard made the best coffee cake I had ever tasted.  I was in my first year of graduate school. Mrs. Haggard ...

I have been a hooking fool, ya'll.  Since my last post about my crochet square project, I have made fourteen more squares.  This ha...

You may remember my very blackened Spanish chicken from about a month ago.  It was flavorful but not very pretty. Recently, Ann, from On S...

Well, I finally did it.  I dumped an old friend.  After nearly 24 years, we'd been through a lot together, but he just wasn't holdi...

My husband was out of town this past weekend, so I decided it would be a great opportunity to repaint his office and the attached sitting r...

Late last week I received a large envelope in the mail.  Inside was a notebook.  It was the Traveling Notebook from Chantal Loves Vintag...

My daughter and I were sorting through old photographs during her recent visit.  We had a drawer full of photos from my husband's famil...

This morning, Alfie and I went on one of our rambles around the prairie and the countryside.  I've written about the prairie before ...