Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Sock it to Me?

           I’ll admit it; I like cute socks. And goodness knows, there are plenty out there.

          But here’s my gripe: Too many of them have the cute part where you can never see it!

          Here’s one of my favorite pair:

 


        And here's another. It says, "I'm silently correcting your grammar."

          But unless you wear it with shorts, which I would never do, no one will get to read it. (And they might be silently correcting my fashion choice.) When I wear shorts it’s usually during warm weather, so I wear sandals.

          And the rest of the time, I wear long pants. Thus all the clever “tops” are covered.


          If it’s Christmas and cold, you can pretty much guarantee they’ll be hidden under long pants, if not boots, to boot.


          So you’ll just have to assume that if you see me wearing socks, there is something pretty brilliant written on the top part.

 Have you subscribed to my Youtube Mom channel, yet? Hundreds of quick, easy life hacks. What are you waiting for?  

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Step This Way

           You can’t believe what I’ve joined. It’s a family step challenge. On my cell phone. Now, mind you, our grown kids are fitness fanatics (they did not get this from me) and St. Bob actually enjoys working out.

          But I’m always running around, you know—speaking the language of running errands—so I figured I’d keep up just fine. Nope. Within a day or two these fanatics are posting 11,000 steps, 9,000 steps, 7500 steps, and I am posting 349.

          I am not accustomed to losing by this much, which is why I have always avoided this very sort of competition. So, as one does, I immediately looked for an explanation, and here’s what I’ve concluded:

          These wackos have all started teaching salsa dance classes.

          Or, they are tying their cell phones to the pendulum of a clock, or to a squirrel.

          Or, some enterprising person who spins advertising signs on the corner has one that says, “Will spin your phone for $10,” and has a dozen phones duct-taped to his sign. My children are his best customers.

         Or, my kids are driving all about, but they have terrible shock absorbers, so their phones are bouncing along, accruing “points.”

          My phone, meanwhile, remains in my purse, unaware that I am walking through Sam’s Club-- a true warehouse-- going up and down the stairs with laundry, or walking laps in the kitchen as I cook.

          So I have a new challenge idea. How about we compare scores on Wordle?  I have 15,722.  Anyone? Anyone?

          AND I walk around in my Youtube Mom videos sometimes, so I can bring you short, fabulous life hacks right here.

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Well, the Nerve!

          Have you ever slapped yourself silly? (Or, in my case, maybe I was silly to begin with). Here’s the deal:

          I had skin cancer removed from my nose, then laser to reduce the redness. After all, I’m enough of a bozo already—I don’t need to look like him.


          But here’s where the plot thickens: As your nerve endings heal, they tingle. Not a lot, just enough to feel as if there’s some lint, or a hair on your face. Or, in this case, on your nose.


         So everywhere I go, I feel as if I need to brush something from the top and tip of my nose. So I’m brushing and slapping away, but it remains. And then I realize: Oh. It’s not a hair. It’s nerve endings re-awakening.

          So if you see a women socking herself in the face, it’s probably me.

          Have you subscribed to my Youtube Mom videos, yet? I just need a dozen more to hit the 10K mark!  Take pity on my rosy-nosed self and help me pleeease?

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

The Last WHAT?

           Our son, Brandon, from Los Angeles recently flew in around midnight, so his brother picked him up. We were in bed as he went into the kitchen and saw the 20 or so little figures of Jesus I was planning to give my Seminary students. They’re about an inch tall:

          Nearby I also had a weird little toy frog that I found in the back yard (tossed by a neighbor kid? Dropped by a hawk?) Well, you can’t let a pile of fun props go unnoticed, any more than you can not put googly eyes on your bananas.  So, even if though it was after midnight, Brandon created a wrestling match:

             The following night he created Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper, complete with table, table legs, plates, and food all made of paper:

                And I don’t have to tell you which one is Judas.


             This guy has been making art from odd materials ever since he was in kindergarten, when the wax coverings of Babybel cheese became dragons, knights, giraffes and monkeys. What can I say? I love the way his brain works.

          Be sure to watch short life hacks on my Youtube Mom videos, right here.