(This column first appeared in The Press Enterprise and on January 12, 2012 and on ROTWNEWS.com on January 14, 2012.) Resist the Urge to Cut Back on Advertising Despite the Economy Planning a wedding is a little bit like drowning. As a future mother-of-the-bride, I...
(This column first appeared on ROTWNEWS.com on January 1, 2011 and in The Press Enterprise on January 14, 2012.) For our family, 2011 marks the year our daughter, Lauren, and her fiancé, Kyle, got engaged. Atop Coit Tower in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve, Kyle...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on December 19, 2011.) One of my family’s Christmas Eve traditions is a White Elephant Gift Exchange. For the uninitiated, the cruel process goes something like this: Purchase a gift worth $5. Wrap it up so it looks...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on September 12, 2011.) My family and I survived another move. Although we're still unpacking boxes and, in the process, have uncovered more junk than the professional organizers on Hoarders, things are finally...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on August 15, 2011.) Long before anyone realized the potential business applications, I created a Facebook account to reconnect with high school friends. The official label for those of us who signed up before anyone...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 31, 2011.) As an only child, I was a little late to the sharing party. Playing at home, there was no need to go halves or wait my turn. So when my classmate, Charlotte, grabbed the Colorforms from me during...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on July 18, 2011.) Overall, I'm a very safe driver. In fact, if you ask my kids, they'll eagerly tell you how irritating it is that I so closely follow the rules of the road. I drive the speed limit, observe stop signs,...
(This column first appeared on June 19, 2011.) For the past two years, we have bitten the financial bullet in order to buy annual passes to Disneyland for family Christmas gifts. Selecting the handy dandy interest-free monthly installment option, we don't buy the...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on March 14, 2011.) I was required to take a torturously boring class in high school circa 1982 called Data Processing. (The fact it was held in the math department should have been my first clue that I was in trouble.)...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on January 31, 2011.) We used to spend Saturday mornings at the Denver Suds-n-Duds, where I played with miniature bottles of Borax and tiny boxes of Tide while my mom fumbled with quarters and battled the ramshackle...
(This column first appeared on RIMOFTHEWORLD.net on January 17, 2011. I couldn't have been better prepared for our stint on Supermarket Sweep than I was on the morning the cable game show taped in 1991. My teammate, Donna, and I had brushed up on trivia and even...