My parents could be labeled average people, they were steadfast citizens with a moral compass and an honest bias. Growing up, my siblings and I never encountered drinking problems, violence, or infidelity from within our family. I was lucky to have been born to them.
Recently, as I was checking-in on our company Facebook page and reading some of the comments made on the half-staff notification for Ruth Bader-Ginsburg. I was taken aback by the lack of civility and misspellings. When I asked my staff about it, they shrugged helplessly and said, “We think it is Russian bots.” What?!
Understanding the importance of art to our society is subjective. There are so many mediums that speak to a wide variety of people in different ways. For instance, I love big, vibrant paintings and ballet, my kids and now my granddaughter love singing and theatre, and my son-in-law’s family is filled with musicians.
Well, I finally did it. I fulfilled a promise to my late girlfriend, Sarah Smith, and had the dreaded colonoscopy. The diet modification for this procedure begins a week in advance and, on the day before, you are instructed to consume only liquids. This is some good advice, because that night’s prep is eventful, and not in a good way.
Have you ever noticed that schoolteachers are good at everything? They are task oriented, organized, trained to think linearly, good communicators, punctual, dress appropriately, work well in groups, and are often optimistic by nature. Anytime I see “schoolteacher” on a resume’s list of prior jobs, I want to hire them. Out of necessity, I have recently been looking at a lot of resumes and hoped, with the current school situation, there might be a few teachers wanting to change careers but, so far, no luck.
Last month, in another blog post, I wrote that FAB had some exciting news to share and I could not wait to tell everyone. Also, if you remember, last year I asked my readers for suggestions on adding a new product line that would complement FAB by having merchandise synergy and a peak season in the winter months (opposite FAB’s summer peak in flag sales). Thank you for all the good product suggestions …
It has been years since I played in the rain. Recently, a rain event began in panic and desperation as I tried to stop flooding into our warehouse that has over $250,000 worth of inventory in it, but ended in a carefree, childlike feeling.
I am a crossword puzzle geek. And if you are a crossword puzzle geek, you know that the questions asked and words used are repetitious. Because of this repetition, the more puzzles you work, the better you get at solving them. And the better you get, the more you are able to graduate to harder puzzles.
You know, mothers know everything. Early on, I knew -and my mother knew- my first born, cherub-like son was probably gay.
A month or so ago, I could tell Grady needed a vacation, so I planned what I thought would be an easy get away to the nearby Mountain Harbor Resort on Lake Ouachita. It’s a place full of memories for our family.
The slow pace of life and small friend groups brought on by the pandemic have turned me into a bit of a bore (not that I mind); never in my life have I watched so many movies.
Being a lover of people’s stories made it practically impossible for me to resist purchasing Elon Musk’s biography.
Sometimes you just buy something you really love and want to share the good news with friends and neighbors. Well, that is how I feel about my new wrist weights.
Lying face down, nude, with my eyes closed, the masseuse said, “I invite you to relax, concentrate on your breathing, live in the moment, and love yourself.
As my modesty fell away, I floated away.
This past flag season, which is the second quarter of every year, it seems everybody in America was looking to represent themselves with a flag.
I know, I know, I know, enough about the new sober Grady. I promise I will stop sharing his good news soon, because later this month I have some exciting news to share with everyone. I can’t wait! Stay tuned.
About Grady, one more time:
For a man who reads but never posts on Facebook, I was curious (later shocked) when my husband kept asking me, on our anniversary day, “Have you seen Facebook today?”
At first, I thought it was just the flag business that was seeing unprecedented sales. But, after noticing all the bare shelves in other retail stores and after asking around, I realized that this phenomenon is all over the place. People are shopping and spending their eating-at-home savings and newfound stimulus money like crazy.
When I first started Flag and Banner, I waitressed at Sir Loin’s Inn to supplement my income. I was young and my boss at the restaurant, Mr. Aaron Ross, was a business mentor, of sorts. One day, I asked, “What’s it like to be the boss?” I’ll never forget what he said because it’s proved true over and over again. He said, “Being the boss is doing all the things you can’t pay other people to do.”
A year or so ago, I lost a close friend to an illness that, if caught, could have been cured thanks to early detection.
I’ve long been a believer in the power of saying “Yes.” So, that’s what I did when my neighbor walked by my house recently, on a beautiful, crisp morning, and asked me if his son, Nick Shoulders, could perform on the steps of my big front porch.
What did you do on your birthday? I mean your *real* birthday; the day you were born. I imagine you popped out crying, then fell asleep, and suckled all the rest of the week.
Dogs are great but that doesn’t mean everyone should have one, especially young people whose lives are in flux.
That is why, when son Jack came home from a dog walk in the woods with friends and announced he was thinking of adopting a dog he just met, I was vehemently opposed.
As the shipping boxes began to pile up by the recycle bin, so, too, did my guilt. How many trees had to die in the fulfillment of my consumerism? Shipping a single item per box with all its packing waste is not exactly earth friendly, but I rationalized that I was saving on fuel and reducing air pollution. It seems that, in all of life, there is a trade-off.
My current Netflix binge-watch, with some never-seen-before footage, is Greatest Events of WWII. While I watched this mini-series, I thought of my dad; a young man who fought in this war and was shot down and lived 2 years in Stalag Luft III, a German prison camp.
