first
By Lisa Batten Kunkleman I could write all day about our menagerie and explain that Hubs and I usually have three dogs, one cat, and two horses. That number changed when our college kids flew back into our empty nest bearing two more critters. A puppy named Tucker and a kitty named Zor. Let’s just […]
By Lisa Batten Kunkleman Families all over the place are experiencing reverse-empty-nest-syndrome. The birdies are flying back in from college with either big plans for work, internships, and trips or perhaps big plans for lying on the couch and playing video games. A summer of recuperation from the rigors of college life, they might […]
By Lisa Batten Kunkleman Parenting young adult children is a whole new experience. If you think parenting and protecting children from birth through the teen years is tough, look out for the twenties.There’s a huge difference between being invincible at twenty and cautious at mid-life. I’m definitely in the cautious at mid-life stage when […]
My News Addiction By Lisa Batten Kunkleman Okay. It’s confession time. I need to explain why my housework is more Oscar than Felix, my fridge contains six-day-old rotisserie chicken carcasses, and supper may be breakfast food again. I need to admit the reason I haven’t published a book isn’t lack of fodder or writer’s block. […]
By Lisa Batten Kunkleman My hometown lost a treasure recently. A popular music teacher and friend to so many, Carol’s unexpected death left people speechless, unable to fathom the senselessness of the loss. Unable to accept that someone took her life. For those of us fortunate enough to know Carol, we each have cherished memories […]
Goldilocks and the Seven Dwarfs Meet Rudolph With the Big Red Snout By Lisa Batten Kunkleman Before strokes and who-knows-what caused speech aphasia leaving Daddy (Papa Carl) with only about twenty-one words, he was a funny fellow. Downright embarrassing to his wife and kids at times with his humor. He liked to watch us squirm. […]
By Lisa Batten Kunkleman “Lisa I just realized I’m old. How did that happen?” Mom says. I say, “Beats me. You may be up there chronologically but you sure don’t act it. You and Betty White are ‘Da Bomb Diggity’.” Today is Mom’s birthday. Number eighty-something. Unbelievable. She can’t believe it either. If […]
Squabble, Tiff, or Spat: Just Fix It It’s amazing how a small thing can turn into a large, loud, ridiculous argument in a flippin’ fuschia minute. (That’s a play on red-hot minute) Mere seconds before, life is coasting along fine and suddenly, one person’s mouth opens and says something without knowing it will be taken […]
Woe is me. I’m having a pity party. And for what? My oldest daughter just called asking me to run errands with her. This morning, my husband invited me to have an early lunch with him. I turned them both down. Am I crazy? People want to be with me and I turn them down? […]
