One of the things that is so stressful to me this time of year is traveling back and forth to relatives’ houses. I hardly ever host Thanksgiving dinner at my house because, well, my house is a bit too small for everyone to be crowding into. Usually we end up at my aunt’s or my mom’s which are both over an hour away from where we live. The best part of the drive is listening to the kids try to sing the songs that come over the radio. The littlest one hasn’t quite figured out how to pronounce a l

Thanksgiving is that time of year where we get together and spend time with our loved ones. We get the best recipes out of the old recipe books and make sure that everything is done just the way it always has been. Thanksgiving is also the time of year where we get to see family and friends that we may not get to see very often. And we all know what happens when we see people we haven’t seen in a while. It’s time to catch up and see what’s new with everyone. In the true spirit of the holiday, le

Welcome November! We all know what this month brings. Turkeys, Christmas Carols and people losing their minds the day after Thanksgiving. Well, that and figuring out what makes you thankful. I feel like people have lost sight of what this part of the season is really about. New Years is about new beginnings and letting go of the past. Christmas is about family and love. Halloween is for the kids. Thanksgiving is getting a bad rap in my mind. So, while you are prepping the turkey and getting the

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that sneaks up on me every year. Every year I tell myself that I am not going to get caught by surprise. That I’m going to have the turkey bought and the dressing ready to go. I keep telling myself this and now its only two weeks away and I haven’t gotten anything ready. I don’t have the turkey bought. I don’t know what kinds of pies I’m going to bake. Should I do candied sweet potatoes or mashed white potatoes? Should I brine the turkey this year or should

Thanksgiving. The idea of the traditional American Thanksgiving always makes me think of a couple of things. Stuffing myself until I can’t move and all I want to do is take a nap, watching the Macy’s parade on TV and spending time with family. We usually did Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house. She had the formal dining room and the large living room, and she was the best cook in the family. Of course, I think I’m the best cook in the family now, but our house is too small for all of that. So

This past Monday was Veteran’s Day and I feel that thanking Vets for their service to our nation only one day in the year is not fair in contrast to what they have given us. I know that our lives are busy and that times are hectic, but I want to do better. I am always striving to be better than I was the previous year and I think this year I’m going to add this to the list. I am going to try to go out of my way to thank Vets for their service. I feel like supporting our troops is something that

With the holiday season right around the corner, its that time of year when everything starts to blur together for me. I have trouble keeping the holidays separated in my mind. Of course, part of that problem might be the fact that department stores want you to open your Christmas presents while you eat your turkey and dressing and wearing your Halloween costumes! I wish that the holidays were like they were when we were kids. Just a little more space between them. I can’t really say anything th

Veteran’s day is always a hard day for me to describe. I have family that have served in our military, but I never have. When I was in high school, I was required to take the ASVAB. We weren’t given any warning about it. Just one day during our junior year we were brought into the auditorium and there were several men in Air Force uniforms handing out test booklets. I scored remarkably well for a woman and was instantly on their radar. They wanted me to become a linguistics expert. Even then I

Building a home is stressful. We know. It’s tough on everyone. Don’t worry, we’re all in this together. If you’ve never gone through the process, it can be even more stressful. There are so many things that need to get done and it seems like the stages either come together too quickly or take way longer than it should. All of this just adds to the stress. And then there is worrying that everything is going to be perfect for your dream home. You’re investing more than money into your new home. Yo

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I think it has a lot to do with pleasant memories from when I was a kid. I loved dressing up on Halloween. I was never very popular in school. So getting to dress up and pretend to be a princess or another magical character was something that made me feel like I was as special as the kids that were popular. Halloween was also a lot of fun. I got to stay out past dark, which my parents never let me do, and eat tons of candy, which my parents also

I love Halloween. It is my second favorite holiday. I don’t love it for the typical reasons. I love that kids get to be kids on this day. They get to use their imaginations and pretend to be anyone they want to be. My youngest is dressing up as Elsa from Disney’s Frozen this year and she insisted that I paint her fingernails “ice-blue" last night. What can I say? She’s a bit of a diva. Besides the nail polish, she had to save her sister from a frozen heart about fifteen times before bed. That is

This morning as I drove my girls to school, the sky was a cool iron-grey. You know that weird blue-grey color where the clouds are heavy and there’s a light drizzle. This color only appears in this area when its cold. During the summer, rain clouds are dark and come on suddenly. When its cold they seem to creep in almost like fog. I hope it doesn’t affect the game tomorrow. Tomorrow is Arkansas State University’s homecoming game. Its kind of a big deal around here. ASU is one of the biggest coll

Everyone has a different memory of their hometown. For me the memories are of driving around and laughing and joking. Of Friday night football games and Saturday afternoon movies. For some their memories surround their school and the activities that they were in. Everyone is going to have something different that inspires nostalgia. No matter what your memories are about or what inspires you to remember them, your hometown will always have a special place in your heart. And of course, the home t

You’ve probably heard somewhere before that the South is serious about football. Well, its true. Many of my memories from high school revolved directly around the game. Now that I am older, I don’t get into the whole experience as much, but I still get nostalgic about those days. This week is Arkansas State University’s homecoming week and that got me to thinking about what makes me love my hometown. It’s not something that can be just rattled off in a couple of sentences. It’s the whole experie

This is the time of year when people start traveling more. Or at least it seems that way to me. Summer may be the traditional time to travel with the kids being out of school, but my family always did the longer trips in the fall and early winter. It was just easier to travel then. Remember, the South has that awful oppressive heat until mid-October most of the time. So, when the weather starts cooling down is when we actually want to get out and about. This time of year is also when we start pl