My BFF is an accomplished pianist and vocalist. When my kids were young, she took each of them to the piano over a period of time to see if they had any innate musical ability. My youngest son took to it like a duck to water. At her advice, we found a teacher and he started regular lessons at age 7, in the 2nd grade. (I looked for a picture of my son at the beginning...

I confess, I’ve been a bit down lately in regards to my author life. I feel so invisible online. I feel like my books are invisible on the shelves. I’ve tried harder to make my presence known and yet every time I do the things that other people say work for them, they don’t work for me. And I don’t even mean book sales. I just mean getting my...

  I’ve never really had a problem saying No. If asked to do something I didn’t want to do, I found a way to decline, albeit not without an occasional twinge of guilt. But my current season of No isn’t like that. In the past few weeks, and as I look ahead to the next few months, I find myself struggling to say No, even when it is evident that to...

Saturday was supposed to be the end of our bathroom remodel. I was going to take pictures, create a cool before/after collage to post and relax. But it was not to be. Right at the end, literally the very end, we had an issue with the old sink plumbing while trying to hook up the new fixtures. Thankfully, there is now tile on the bathroom floors and in the closet, for...

I’m getting ready to put my house back together after the bathroom is finished. (Look for the “reveal” post next week!) Then I need desperately to clean the dust caked on every surface! Graduation and all its activities are ramping up now. Awards ceremonies, recitals. Each one the last of its kind. My in-laws arrive on the 29th. My sister and her...