Laments About Arthritic Adventures

Pharmacists, Not Diamonds, are My BFFs

Friends in Pharmaceutical Places

Pharmacists, not Diamonds

Marilyn Monroe famously and breathlessly proclaimed that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Well, that may be so, but for middle-aged gals like me, pharmacists are the preferred BFFs.

And man, I don’t mean to brag but I’ve got multiple friends in pharmaceutical places!

And lately, I’ve needed them. Read more

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Play the Field or Play for Keeps?

Hoops or Hubby?

Play the field or play for keeps

With the National Basketball Association season winding down and free agent trading time gearing up, I’m considering my options. Should I play the field or play for keeps? Stick with Handsome Hubby or …? Read more

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First a Concussion. Then a Cook

Ina Garten and Grandma Ida Helped Too

First a concussion. Then a cook

First I got a concussion. Then I learned to cook. It’s true, but like most truths, there’s more to the story. It actually took a concussion, a TV show, and echoes from the past to get me to care about cooking. Read more

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Sartorial Sins of the Flesh

Leggings, Yoga Pants, and Holey Jeans

Sartorial Sins of the Flesh

I may sound old-fashioned, but I think some of today’s lapses in sartorial style are downright sins. The way we dress and adorn ourselves would surely make my mother and grandmother shudder and shriek!

In Grandma’s day, Read more

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Middle-Aged, Mid-Week Grouchies

7 Terms and Trends that Torment

Mid-week, middle-aged grouches

Nothing’s really wrong, but I’ve got a bad case of the middle-aged, mid-week grouchies. And I need to vent. Read on. You might just relate. You might get a chuckle. At the very least, as my delightful 92-year-old second cousin Marvin used to say, “It couldn’t hurt.” Read more

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Endangered! Red Meat Carnivores

Beef Brisket Bye-bye

Endangered! Red Meat Carnivores

I come from a long line of now-endangered red meat carnivores. My grandmother made a mean Cornish game hen, but it was her Hungarian goulash and stuffed cabbage (stuffed with ground beef) I most fondly remember.

My mother’s signature recipes were chili con carne, roast beef, steak smothered in buttery onions and mushrooms, beef and peppers, and brisket. Oh, yes, the brisket. Read more

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Millennials Don’t Give a Sheet

And They Don't Make Their Beds Either!

Millennials Don't Give a Sheet

I couldn’t sleep last night. As I tossed and turned, I read an article that got me in a dither: Millennials don’t give a sheet! That’s right – they are rejecting top sheets. So, of course, I got up on the wrong side of the bed today, and as I made the bed, I decided I wanted to vent about, of all things, all things bedding!

A lot has changed in the world of bedding since I was a little girl. First, there’s this sheet crisis! Read more

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10 Tech Commandments for Oldsters

Do Unto Others As Thou Would Internet Unto You

10 Tech Commandments for Oldsters

The 10 Commandments serve us well, but in these Modern Times, I modestly propose an electronic update – 10 tech commandments – to the stone tablets Moses first delivered!

Yes, in the “good” old days, the world was simpler, slower-paced, easier to understand or at least, so we recall.

In today’s fast-moving tech world, we middle-aged muddlers need new guidelines to navigate the world AND the worldwide web. And I think our kids could use a few helpful hints as well. In fact, you might want to show them Tech Commandment Number 5. Better yet – needlepoint it on a pillow for their bedroom. Read more

I Hit It Big on Antiques Roadshow

At Least in My Dreams

I hit it big on Antiques Roadshow

Inspired by the glory of Antiques Roadshow, we’ve all got one. That one precious item we believe is valuable beyond our wildest dreams. The one that if we chose to sell it would put us, our kids, and our future grandkids on Easy Street FOREVER.

It could be that ugly oil painting your grandmother bought years ago at a yard sale that now smolders in the attic; or that old coin your father gave you for your ninth birthday, admonishing you to “hold on to this.”

Or it could be, as in my case, Read more

Happy 100th (Blog) to Muddling Me

It's My Party and I'll Smile if I Want to!

Happy 100th Blog to Me

A moment of celebration! Muddling through Middle Age just hit the century mark! This is my 100th blog, my 100th “light lament” for women (and men) of a certain age.

And since it’s my party (or at least my blog), I’d like to pause, not cry as Leslie Gore did in her hit 1963 song “It’s My Party,” for a moment of reflection. Read more