Category Archives: Shallow Reflections

Discovering your passion after 60

Does being over 60 inevitably involve a fizzling action? I’m living proof that indeed it does not.

Do you dare to dream small?

Bucket lists are fashionable, with people grasping to fulfill lifelong dreams. I don’t know about you, but I am intimidated by some of these lists that look like a ‘to do’ list for overachievers. And comparing my aspirations with these dynamos makes me feel pathetic. Not one to tarry in shame and humiliation, I have […]

The day the dishwasher died

If you are old enough, you remember where you were the day of the Kennedy assassination, or when you heard the news that Elvis Presley died. I’ve added a new date to my list of traumatic events: the day the dishwasher died. Our Kenmore Elite was 13 years old, so I should have seen it […]

How do you judge a grocery cart? Take this quiz to find out!

Remember the hilarious movie “Date Night” when Claire (Tina Fey) and Phil (Steve Carrell) go out to a restaurant and analyze other couples’ actions, playing a game called, “What’s Their Story?” I have to confess something. I do this when I grocery shop. I examine the contents of people’s grocery carts, and make up possible scenarios […]

Do you suffer from decision fatigue?

Do you have trouble with the multitude of decisions involved in carrying carry out mundane activities? Like grocery shopping? Here is how a typical trip to the grocery store evolves for me. Before I leave home I choose the week’s menu, make an organized list of the items I need to create these culinary delights, and skip off to […]

Who was Erma Bombeck and why does she still matter?

When I started writing my blog, I found it particularly difficult to compose my bio. I wanted to say that my writings were the love child of Erma Bombeck and Jerry Seinfeld. But I felt too presumptuous putting anything I wrote in the same league as Erma Bombeck. Following the example of my blogging friend Roxanne […]

Six practical tips for exhausted parents

Parents are getting burned out these days with children and babies awake at all hours, making uninterrupted sleep a bygone memory. There is a lot of professional advice for parents about how to stave off fatigue. But my family and friends tell me they have abandoned the experts, and are living in a state of sleep-deprived despair. How can these desperate […]

Joy to the World!

Luke 2:2-20, New International Version (NIV) 2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of […]

Can the Generic Holiday Steal Christmas?

There is a lot of emphasis today about ensuring that the Holiday-That-Happens-on-December-25th is generic. I was curious about this, and contacted the Boss of All Holidays, also known as BAH. I scooped an exclusive interview for Shallow Reflections™, and I think you’ll find his or her observations all-encompassing. Me: Why is it so important to avoid […]

12 Christmas Gifts for What Ails Us

How are you doing with your Christmas shopping? Tired of buying ties, electronics and cheap plastic stuff for people who have everything? One evening while watching a Christmas commercial followed by a drug commercial, ten of my remaining brain cells leaped like lords. What if we bought Christmas presents for what ails us? This would create a whole […]