Rita Arens's Blog, page 13
June 16, 2015
The Hunt for the Elusive Cabot
A month and a half ago, Beloved and I began merrily ripping apart the deck on the back of Chateau Travolta. It's a big deck, around the size of my first Kansas City apartment, and it had railings and a rickety pergola, as well.
Since then, we've braved torrential rains and searing heat to tear the deck down to the joists and begin building it back. (If you like home improvement posts, I'll be blogging this when it's done.)
Nothing has been as entertaining as the search for the elusive Cabot A...
June 9, 2015
In the Moment
When I lived in Chicago, my grandparents died in very close proximity. Collapsed by grief on the airplane home for their funerals, I remember feeling, really feeling, the texture of the seat and being surprised by it. Being comforted by it, by doing just this one thing, feeling the material.
Only in times of extreme grief did I give myself permission to live in the moment, back then.
I have a bad habit of cataloging all the tasks in every area of my life when my body is engaged in manual acti...
May 20, 2015
May 11, 2015
We Didn't Start the Fire
We sat behind a family at the Billy Joel concert. Mom, dad, older sister, her husband, younger sister, her bestie, son, girlfriend. The girls, at least, had clearly grown up listening to their parents' Billy Joel albums, because they kept getting each other's attention and doing dance moves choreographed sometime between size 6x and the juniors section.
I loved watching them. Also, they were almost the youngest people there. Beloved and I, at 41, were bringing down the average age of the crow...
May 5, 2015
A Lot of Thoughts on a Ton of Stuff
I haven't been here because I've been at BlogHer writing a ton lately about ... so many things. If you're so inclined ...
How Jill Nystul's 'One Good Thing' Blog Became Her 'One Good Life' Memoir -- Jill talks about one good thing every day to a crazy-huge audience. She's just released a memoir to tell the world why. How to Sound Like an Authority Figure -- It's an art and a science, right? Marriage Contracts: Should We Have Marital Term Limits? -- I wrote this post a few years ago, but I re...April 24, 2015
The Piece of Glass
Somehow my life has become reduced to a rectangle of plastic and glass that I hold in my palm.
When I first got it, I both mourned the actual clickable buttons of the obsolete Blackberry and longed to stroke the smooth glass screen of my brand new iPhone 4.
Now there are days when I want to use the piece of glass to tell the world something, but I tap and I tap and nothing happens. It can reduce an adult human to tears. It's now a 5S. I guess this matters.
Why? When the glass is unresponsi...
April 21, 2015
Make Some Noise
Last week, BlogHer Co-founder Lisa Stone talked to President Obama about women, wages & the future. Here are the highlights, along with commentary from members of the blogging community. Pretty cool, eh?
April 14, 2015
I Like Things Made of Wood
Hey y'all. A cool company in Missouri sent me a wooden watch. I reviewed it on Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews here. It's less than $150 and totally cool. You should check it out.
Fun with Photoshop!
April 9, 2015
The Children's Menu
"Do you want the children's menu?" the hostess asked, flicking her eyes over my girl on her eleventh birthday. It seemed awfully small for The Cheesecake Factory, a place with a menu that sells advertising. We took it, anyway.
When we got to the booth, the little angel informed us she is no longer allowed to eat from that menu, as it is for children ten and under. We told her she probably wouldn't get arrested or anything, but she seemed proud of the fact that it was LEGALLY AGAINST THE LAW f...
April 6, 2015
THE OBVIOUS GAME Giveaway updates
Congratulations Rachel Patrick for winning a copy of THE OBVIOUS GAME in my Rafflecopter giveaway!
The Goodreads giveaway is still open until tonight.
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