Dear friends,It is State Tournament time here in Nebraska and Larry is very excited because he and our three sons will make their annual trek to Lincoln to watch the boys’ finals on Saturday night. They always stop and buy snacks to sneak in, eat at HuHot, and have a great time together. My ...

Dear friends,My name is Mary Moore Conley. Recently, Deb Warth White read my post on How and Why You Should Write Your Memories. What caught her eye was my high school basketball photo, and she suggested I join the “I Played 6-on-6 Basketball in Iowa” Facebook page. So I did! She was also ...

Dear friends, Do you still get to visit your childhood home? I’m 73 and the youngest in my family. My parents have been gone for several years, and the farm where I was raised was sold long ago. We just passed it on the way to visit relatives a few days ago, taking in all that has stayed the ...

Dear friends,I am not a writer. I know because I’ve read good books! I am a blogger, though, and I’m just now getting used to saying that. For a long time when people complimented my blogging, I always felt as though we were talking about a third person. In today’s post I want to tell ...

Dear Friends,Mark Twain said there is a great deal of human nature in people! I have a perfect example I want to share with you. It was a week before Christmas that year (before 9-11), and I was on a three-hour layover in Atlanta, on my way to Pensacola, Florida, where our son-in-law was ...

Dear Friends,I believe each generation thinks theirs is a more difficult time to raise children. I remember the decade that teens started using drugs for the first time, and unprepared and distraught parents wrote in to a popular advice column saying that if they had known what was in store ...

Dear friends,Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Since tax time is coming up, I rather like what Margaret Mitchell wrote in her book, "Gone With the Wind," "Death, taxes, and childbirth! There’s never any ...

Dear friends,Although it is early February, for some of us it is time to kickstart our gardening. Usually, for me, this only means planting onions from seed, but for the first time, I’m also going to start sweet potato plants from scratch. Well, from sweet potatoes!What a proud ...

Dear Friends.Are you happy? If so, what makes you happy? Most of us would put our family and friends at the top of the list, but I’m fairly certain there are other things around us contributing to our happiness far more than we realize.The beginning of the new year brought suggestions to ...

Dear friends,If you are one who wants your countertops completely empty, this post is not for you. I have never had a hidden little cupboard shelf that will pop out and up for a standing mixer, so I don’t know what I’m missing. I did learn years ago, though, that my friends who had to dig ...

Dear friends,If you’ve read my posts, you know that I’m often telling you that I like to learn new things, but now I’m going to admit that I sometimes “get stuck” when I should be trying something new. It is like my brain can’t go there. It is just too hard. I’m 73, so that could ...

Dear friends,Who would believe we've still been taking care of our harvest in January? In this case, it was the potatoes. We don’t have an ideal storage place, although we manage to keep them where it is somewhat cooler than the rest of the house. Tiny sprouts had started to form and ...

Dear friends,I’m not the world’s best cook. Far from it. So, if someone says I make the world’s best caramel popcorn, I’m going with it!The first time I realized it was extra good was when I gave some as a Christmas gift to the principal of my children’s school. She called and told ...

Dear Friends,Doesn’t the word, homemade, make you think of a creative, resourceful person? I have always wanted to be that person who could make Christmas presents that were actually practical and appreciated, but the truth is, you need to start way ahead of time or it most likely won’t ...

Dear friends,An extravagance I indulge in is buying precooked bacon. Besides feeling guilty about the price, one of my sons doesn’t like it and says he prefers REAL bacon. Surely, some of you understand that once you’ve started using precooked bacon, you never want to go back to that ...