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Whistle While You Carpet Clean

As I sit here, on my bed, we are having our carpet cleaned in the other room. The carpet cleaner, a man we will refer to as CeeCee, knocked on our door a little past 9 a.m. He has the mustache of either an evil villain or a silent-movie star or both. It is precisely the type of bushy, curly mustache my 4-year-old daughter has been begging me to grow ever since seeing “Peter Pan” and falling in love with good ol’ Captain Hook. “Mommies can’t grow mustaches,” I told her. “Yes-huh,” she countered. “Grandma has.” I’m just going to leave that one alone. Once we ...

A Musical Disney Challenge For The Kids

Ah, the words of that happy-go-lucky song many remember, lent by the voices of Nathan Lane (Timon), Ernie Sabella (Pumbaa), Jason Weaver (Simba the Cub), and Joseph Williams (Simba, as an adult) in the popular Disney movie, The Lion King. I am sure just hearing the title of that song, paints the picture of the three characters prancing and singing through the jungle, living the translation of the song’s title, that being, “no worries.” There are many, if not all, of the songs that came from Disney movies that will do that, but sometimes we might be a little confused on which ...

Aida Faces A Constant, Unrelenting Pain

Let’s meet Aida. She’s 51, gainfully employed until recently, married to Steven for 28 years, and has four grown children together. Three are on their own, two married with young children, and one son living at home. She’s 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 138 pounds. She has dark hair with a touch of gray and dark eyes. She comes dressed smartly in a suit, comfortable looking shoes, and a touch of make-up. Aida’s call a few days earlier sounded concerning. I’d asked if she was all right, and she stated that hours earlier she’d been crying angry tears. What I heard was ...

Common Sayings May Not Be What We Mean

Often, we say things that really do not mean what they say. The summer we had an exchange student from France we found out just how many of these we said. It seemed like he was always confused and he showed it by his expression. He found some turtle wax on the table and asked about it. Do we really wax turtles he wanted to know? I explained that was just the name of the product. No, we did not wax turtles with it. It was for the car. A friend lent me a book that had a lot of idioms in it. The part that really intrigued me was the part about the idioms from the Bible. I had no idea ...

Musing About The Joys Of Living With Molly

Monday. Stretching over the far side of my bed, I could watch the dog’s rhythmic breathing. So Molly was still alive. Thank you, God. But why hadn’t she awakened me at seven (or earlier) as was her wont? It was almost eight o’clock. Frightened, I called to her. Relieved, I saw her immediate response. Long football weekend. Perhaps that just exhausted us both. (I know I always have to play each down with the teams.) I was happy again when I saw her join me for our regular walk for the papers. She was frisky and frolicking, eager to get to her breakfast once we ...

Warren Should Exit The Race

After dismal performances in both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire Democratic primary, placing third and fourth place, respectively, Elizabeth Warren has about a 1/1024th chance of winning her party’s nomination. Yes, in politics, anything is possible — including unlikely comebacks from flailing candidates. But there’s no denying that Warren’s presidential campaign is losing steam. Without momentum, donors will go elsewhere, ensuring her one-way ticket back to Massachusetts. What went wrong exactly? It turns out that the former Harvard professor had “a plan” for ...