I need to take moment for a personal aside to my mom, who’s had a heck of a spring and summer… Mom, to prepare for next spring color, I planted a bed of Shirley Poppies in your honor. I’ve always loved the crepe paper poppies for sale on Veteran’s Day, but never realized they were [...]

I used to be a teacher; now I am a virtual professional. I used to be a runner and a backpacker; now I am a gramma who hikes a lot, camps in a popup camper rather than on the ground, and rides my bike with my grandkids. I used to sew most of my clothes. [...]

Like most families, ours experiences a concentration of annual family milestones,  from mid-August through late October. The preparation is similar to the holiday rush that is Christmas for our clan. Some are marked with a card or phone call, while others require gifts, purchased and or handmade. In case the cards/gifts/phone calls/Skype chats don’t arrive [...]

Or, “Live from the ‘Land of Lincoln.’ Here the lawns are already lush and green, you can hear a cardinal (the bird!) singing while sipping your morning coffee, and mold grows like it has been lovingly cultivated. The sun is a huge red ball at dawn as seen through the permanent scrim of humidity. The [...]

READER WARNING: If you don’t care about baseball, skip this post, one of my periodic updates on our son’s progress through the Los Angeles Angels organization. I may have imagined such a night, but I couldn’t have scripted it any better than it happened. It’s true that you just can’t make this stuff up. We [...]

Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you this much: a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

Finally, baseball begins tomorrow for the Angels, and I’ll be there rain or shine. After a delightful winter spent doing repair projects and painting with hubby at a property we have listed for sale, I’ve mostly worn the same paint-encrusted duds five days a week. I look forward to scrubbing the primer off my hands and [...]

I am not great at recalling dates, phone numbers, that sort of thing. I DO have a knack for names, and when I saw Google’s visual tribute today, November 8, the name of the man who discovered X-Rays popped instantly into my head. And, what timing. Due to his insatiable appetite for things inedible, we’d [...]

While many Virtual Assistants already do offer these services, some VAs and clients may actually be wondering, SHOULD they? Social networking became the trendiest way to stay connected in 2008. As a result, clients in many industries are seeking VAs with proven expertise to manage their social media presence. As a hot new niche market, [...]

Feeling too busy? Not busy enough? Maybe all you need is a little gingerbread house.