Last week was a whirlwind of social engagements and a throwback to my twenties.
During and around the COVID-19 pandemic, I purchased three businesses from women in their 70s who were ready to retire. Two were flag companies, which I merged into FlagandBanner.com, and the third was OurCornerMarket.com, a website specializing in plaques and memorials. At the time, I was in my late 60s and thought, “I will never retire” …
Not sure if that title will make men more or less eager to read this blog. Menfolk, consider yourself warned.
Every now and again, I get asked to tell my story in front of an audience. When I get these kinds of requests, the first question is always, “Which story of mine do you want to hear?”
Because so often our names fit our personality, I have often wondered if we pick our baby’s names or if, somehow, from the other side of the universe, our naming is sublimely picked by who-knows-who (or what).
This past week, I have laughed myself 10 years younger. It started during my Miami work week, when my daughter and granddaughter visited me at the beach for Spring Break. We did the usual things; dined on stone crabs, cruised South Beach, took an everglades tour, and went to Mai Kai, a tourist show of hula dancing ladies and fire throwing gents, all in grass skirts.
So often I think of the Royals as fodder for the tabloids. But after learning about Queen Elizabeth II, her job description, and watching the ceremonial funeral and pageantry on Monday, September 19, 2022, I realize how much more they are. On that day, the people of Great Britain were united, gracious, and courteous as thousands of peaceful onlookers fell silent in respect and reverence for their Queen and their country. I heard one Brit say, “Today I am proud to be British.”
As the smell of Fall fills the morning air and the end of another year approaches, I begin to let my mind wander. One of my weirder thoughts is, “What’s going to be this year’s Word of the Year (WotY)?”
What a week. School started, traffic increased, my baby had a baby, my kitchen remodel culminated in my house, we had sweeping staff changes at FAB, my husband got mad at me, I interviewed a nun, and I had another spot of skin cancer removed.
Unlike the winter of 2021 when Arkansas had a rare 14-inch snowstorm, this past week we had a typical winter accumulation of 4–6 inches.
Besides finding out my melanoma was stage one and confined to only my nose, the second-best Christmas gift I got this year was a new puppy.
Don’t look too closely, unless you’re gross like me and want to. No, that is not a red Christmas decoration in the picture above. It is an amelanotic melanoma that Dr. Chris Shewmake dug out of the tip of my nose. Gross!
The Dallas Cowboys football team is about as close to a pro sports team as Arkansas gets. We Arkansans relate to them because their current owner, Jerry Jones, and their former coach, Jimmy Johnson, both harken from Arkansas. And their alma mater, the U of A, is a feeder school for the team’s new recruits.
From the looks of things in our Miami sewing department, cruise ships are back in business.
Not to be part of the sheeple, but if everybody else is, I guess I, too, must weigh in on the Smith/Rock altercation at the Oscars.


