Topics
Home Safety – Poisoning
NAME: Lily
Status: Waiting for cicadas to go back underground
Glee: Bonus $10 in jeans pocket
Peeve: Beady little red eyes
While I may whine about the occasional dateless Saturday night or boyfriend-less dinner party, the reality is, as a single woman I kind of have it made. And all it takes to make me appreciate this anew is spending time with a friend who has a toddler.
Toddlers have their own version of an eating disorder, in that they put EVERYTHING in their mouths. My friend C. said she has to treat her house like a fatal obstacle course, since, when it comes [...] Read More
Stretching and Running
NAME: Z
STATUS: Sore
GOAL: Less sore
PEEVE: Joggers who smile
GLEE: Dropping a size
With Spring in the air, I decided to kick my fitness plan into the next gear with short jogs a few times a week in our neighborhood. My on-again, off-again morning ritual with Comcast and the overly perky exercise ladies has improved my energy level but I want more.
Actually, I want less. A size or three less.
So off I went, with running shoes slightly out-of-date, and trotted for about 20 minutes. My goal is to get up to 30 or 40 minutes. My new goal is to [...] Read More
Stretching Q&A with Jennifer Kimball from Girls on the Run
Jennifer Kimball, along with many other interested women (and few good men) founded Girls on the Run Nashville in 2007. The program uses running to deliver life-changing experiential learning lessons about self-esteem, healthy living and positive relationships to 3rd-8th grade girls. Girls on the Run Nashville began with 15 girls, and expects to serve 220 girls in 2011. Jennifer’s passion, energy, determination and love for the girls and the program is truly contagious.
Q: I can barely run a quarter mile. How can I build up my stamina?
A: Run a quarter mile today and then add a little more distance each [...] Read More
Etiquette: Work It
NAME: Lily
Topic: Etiquette
Glee: Cool spring nights
Peeve: Cicadas
In New York, maybe it’s S.O.P. — standard operating procedure — to let the door fall closed on any random member of the female gender because you can’t be bothered. But that ain’t how we play down South, brother. You say “thank you” and “ma’am” and you speak when spoken to. You would think that would be a fairly simple lesson any simpleton could easily pick up.
You would be mistaken.
Allow me to explain: We have a new manager at work whom I’ll call “S” for short (and for “Satan”). I’m not saying I [...] Read More
Budgeting and the Art of Stretching your Dollar
NAME: Z
STATUS: Counting quarters
GOAL: A financial cushion
PEEVE: Pennies
GLEE: Paid-off credit cards
Our son Troy usually wants to stay in the car when I stop to buy a few groceries because if it is “that time of the month” I will pull out a plastic baggie filled with quarters (mostly) and count out $1 stacks of them.
He finds this embarrassing.
We try to stick to a spending plan. I like that phrase better than “budget,” just as I prefer “nutrition plan” to “diet.” By the end of the month, our cash flow is a bit weak. If I can pay [...] Read More
Resume Preparation: Work It
NAME: Lily
Topic: Resumes and interviews
Status: Perusing food photos
Glee: Pictures don’t have calories
Peeve: You can’t eat pictures
Lately I’ve had The Band Perry’s song “If I Die Young” running through my brain. Of course, the sharp knife of a short life is nothing compared to the dull blade of an empty resume. That seems to be my major hurdle to gainful employment these days.
With so many people in the market for a job, how can my paltry two years of post-college experience ever measure up?
I decided I should do a little research on the topic, but all that did was depress [...] Read More
Skincare: About Face
NAME: Z
STATUS: Nostalgic
GOAL: Drink more water
PEEVE: Tramp stamps
GLEE: A good moisturizer
Swimsuit season is almost here. Oh goody. While shopping for a suit that fits, I couldn’t help but remember that teeny bikini of yesteryear – and all that skin it exposed.
We were a little crazy back then because we didn’t know any better. We worshipped the sun and did not protect ourselves from it. Slathering baby oil over our young bodies, we’d lay atop a picnic table just to get three feet closer to the rays.
Dumb and dumber.
I’ve lost one friend to melanoma and I have several [...] Read More
Headaches: About Face
NAME: Lily
TOPIC: Headaches
STATUS: Head-poundingly good
PEEVE: Bosses who treat you like you’re an idiot
GLEE: Bosses who get transferred
Around 3 o’clock every afternoon, you can hear the shake, rattle and roll of the pill bottle being pulled out of my co-worker D’s purse.
“Headache,” she’ll say, or point to her head and grimace if she’s on a call.
Of course, working in a medical center, she gets the requisite lectures on the dangers of ibuprofen – kidney failure, death, etc., etc. Sorry to be so flippant, but I just kind of don’t get that stuff.
Me, I’m lucky. Never had a real headache. Even [...] Read More
Dental Care Gum Recession: About Face
NAME: Z
STATUS: Receding.
GOAL: Getting my herbs and tomatoes planted.
PEEVE: Learning I’ve been wrong.
GLEE: The smell of hyacinths outside our front door.
Honestly, you’d think by now I’d know how to brush my teeth.
The last trip to the dentist, a few months back, included a mini-lecture on opening a new toothbrush more often for optimum health. I can take direction, especially when it comes from someone other than my husband, and toothbrushes are inexpensive so I’ve got no
trouble tossing one filled with billions and billions of bacteria into the trash on schedule.
A month ago, though, I felt that unwelcome twinge, mostly [...] Read More
Sinuses and Allergies: About Face
Would it be unladylike of me to sit at the reception desk at work with two tissue twists sticking out of my nostrils? I feared as much. Yet some days, that’s pretty much all I want to do. I think it gets worse at night, with the drip-drip-drip of my nasal passages. When my left side gets stuffed up, I lie on my right. When my right side gets stuffed up, I lie on my left. The only thing worse than the constant draining is the constant whining – mine. [...] Read More
