Our last wave of visitors to the condo this summer included my daughter, Jess and her boyfriend Justin from Tennessee and my sister-in-law, Sandi and my niece, Stephie from Illinois. When the Allen family gets together we do two things: first we eat, then the women shop. Allen women are tried and true bargain shoppers. […]
A few days after we got to my in-laws’ condo in Florida, Dad opened a little box on the hall table and pulled out the tiny mailbox key. He took the key and headed out the door, down the sidewalk to the laundry room at the end of the building. Inside the laundry room he […]
David and I are always talking about “unintended” consequences. As you go through your day, you never know what seemingly meaningless act on your part will have a life altering effect on someone else. 26 years ago we bought an antebellum house in a yet-to-be up and coming area in downtown Murfreesboro. In the 1920’s, […]
When the kids started driving, I was always worried they would wreck my car either by crashing into another innocent driver or by creating carnage on the interior as they rode about town slurping Slurpies and eating double decker tacos. Today, the roles were reversed. Since my back and hip have been being a pain […]
In the Allen family, I am the fisher woman. Every summer I would head out to the fishing dock with my three kids, four fishing poles, a tackle box, four hand towels, a sharp knife and a box of frozen squid. It is a true test of your momma skills to put your three kids […]
Our family has been summering in Florida for the past 20 years. Every June we packed our computers, printers, boxes of files, office supplies, suitcases for five, toys, blankets, pillows and three children into our Suburban and headed south with five bicycles hanging on the bike rack bringing up the rear. The trip to the […]
Two minutes. For all of you out there still in the throes of “time out,” you know exactly how long two minutes is. On a daily basis you tend to a child in the middle of a nuclear meltdown by sitting them firmly on the “naughty” mat and setting the timer on the microwave for […]