Last week, in my blog titled “Cuba’s Secret World” I shared a customer’s flag story and video. In doing so, I realized I never wrote a blog about my 2016 trip to Cuba.

For a person who likes change, I’m in a rut.
FlagandBanner.com is over 45 years old, I’ve been married for over 35, and I’ve lived in the same house for three decades. This rut, I don’t want to change. I love my life. But I would like a new creative project to work on. For me, business is my creative outlet. I like building things and solving problems in groups but only if I have the final say (self-awareness is a virtue).

I wanted to wait a week longer to tell everyone the good news but, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I can’t keep a secret, especially a good one.

This is an unexpected trick I stumbled upon that has added some pizazz to my marriage and that I’ve shared with a few friends. Surprising to all of us, it works.  (And, no, I am not talking about anything sexual.)

Sometimes I feel like I am shouting (my metaphor for writing) into the wind. Therefore, when I get a reply of any kind on my blog, I like it. It is nice to know people are reading my weekly posts, even if the knowing is sometimes coming from a not-so-nice comment or an unsubscribe.

How much can one really manifest through the power of positive thinking? According to all the self-help books I read, it is a lot.

Such is the nature of a busy life, when you must travel 2,000 miles to northern California to make time to see neighbors and friends that live two blocks from you in your hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas.

To be a good grandmother and expand my grandchildren’s world view, I took them to New York City over spring break. When I returned home, I found a lot had changed.

In preparation for my Up in Your Business interview with local celeb Lisa Fischer, I listened to several of her Lisa Fischer Said podcast episodes and learned that Lisa is a sufferer.

It is not every day you hear “Help! Help! Help!” screamed from your basement by a workman. But that is what happened this week.

In 2007, I turned 50. For my mid-life crisis, I pondered a facelift, a boyfriend, or a new car. I opted for a used, 5-speed, convertible Mini Cooper. Driving it, with the wind blowing in my hair, it checked all the boxes: fast, fun, and dangerous.

Why is New Year’s Day so full of optimism? It’s just another day on the calendar; or is it?
On New Year’s Day we close the books on business, Christmas, and the Winter Solstice. Though the days from January through March are often cold and snowy, they are also getting longer and brighter, so it feels better; like a time for self-improvement, a time to plan for springing into action.

Like everything in my Libra life, there is the constant balancing of the scales. Before Christmas, I worked hard; during Christmas, I played hard; and afterwards, I crashed hard.

I didn’t just turn into a Grinch; I’ve always been a Grinch.
It is not the family and fellowship that makes me Grinchy; I love that part. But rather, it’s the consumerism and decorating pressure that feels burdensome.

In my COVID fever fog last week, I heard through an open window the non-mechanical hacking of Grady splitting wood for our fireplace.

Has your Christmas cactus forgotten how to bloom?
Though this may sound like a metaphor for one’s aging brain, it is not. It is a serious question, pondered by many persons this time of year.

A “girl’s girl” is not a usual descriptor for me. But, one night a month, I attend a Girls Night Out (GNO). I have been dining with the same group of ladies for years, really decades. This one, in the above photo, I have known since 2nd grade: Kathleen Nowell-King.

God luv ’em. That’s all I could say after last week’s disappointing ending to the Texas A&M vs Arkansas Razorback football game.

Need to get your party started? Call the McCoy Clan.
Ever wonder what that smooth-talking son of mine looks like on the radio? Meet son Grady McCoy IV who, with the rest of his family, is having the time of his life while celebrating the newlyweds Olivia and James in the photo above.

Another “McCoy Boy!”Meet Arthur Ellis McCoy, weighing in at 8lbs. 3 oz. on Tuesday, August 16th. He is beyond precious.