Ordinarily, I do not make New Year’s Resolutions. That ensures I never have to deal with the added stress of achieving goals and the guilt that comes with not following through on fragile but usually ill-fated good intentions. This year is different and my awakening came when I was changing the sheets on our bed the other day. I currently have three sets of sheets…
Dear Santa: All I want for Christmas this year is . . .
For the most part I’ve been a very good girl this year, more nice than naughty and I’ve generally tried to be a better person throughout the year. By Santa standards that should qualify me for plenty of loot under the Christmas tree but the truth is I don’t want or need a single thing. I’m incredibly lucky and the happiest I’ve ever been in…
Don’t trust movie critics. Be your own judge.
I love going to the movies. Well, no doubt it has a lot to do with the warm popcorn and the bucket of Diet Coke I treat myself to, but the bottom line is I really enjoy a matinee with my honey or a couple of girlfriends. One thing I’ve learned, however, is that movie critics and I don’t always have the same taste or…
Tim Hortons . . . I told them so and they listened!
When Tim Hortons was taken over by the American/Brazilian financial conglomerate Restaurant Brands International (RBI), I was afraid their new marketing strategy would dilute our unique Timmie’s Canadian brand. And it did. Big time. One of my biggest fears was that they’d start selling burgers, a food item so typically American and so far from Timmie’s culture of Canadian red mittens and road hockey commercials…
The Dutch House is an engaging fairy tale by a respected author
Author Ann Patchett has a strong reader following. Her latest novel The Dutch House was an engaging story and well-written. It’s set in a suburb of Philadelphia with side trips to New York City. The book’s title refers to a stately, slightly eccentric old mansion built during the 1920s by the VanHoebeeks, a family of successful Dutch immigrants who made their fortune selling cigarettes to the…
You CAN teach an old boomer new math. Or maybe not.
The problem began when I couldn’t answer the simple skill-testing question to enter a contest. Penguin Random House Canada is running an online contest to win a free book and here’s the skill-testing question required to enter: (6 x 4) / (4 – 2). I stared, I pondered, scratched my dark roots, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what the /…