The main attraction of the past week and this week in Iowa’s major winter sport, basketball, where most of the interest of local citizens has been and will be focused on the University of Iowa, which finally went down in defeat, though the career of the charging Czechs of Clutier in the ...

As a 6-year-old kid, the farmer’s auction barns fascinated me. There were no dress codes, what you drag in on your boots left with you along with something else, and the smell was unimaginable. But that’s ok! Going to the sale barn wasn’t like going to church. Sitting in the ...

My grocery bills have been a challenge recently, so I’ve tried to be better about planning. Quite honestly, it’s been fun. Well, some of it has been. Because of the economy of grocery shopping, I’ve found the need for stricter strategies and more miserly meals. In this vein, I have three ...

Life changes us. Sometimes in increments, like accidentally stepping off the curb. Sometimes in ways akin to falling off a cliff. It’s these cliff-changing moments that transform us in ways we could never have imagined - before. It’s like falling from one world into another - into a life so ...

I lived in perhaps the greatest period of time, the 50s & 60s, besides all the other great things of this era, we also lived and were raised in the period called "Small Town, USA." The small town where there were no upper, middle, or lower classes. All the same. Band Concerts, ...

Years ago, I worked as a counselor in a prison when an inmate I’ll call “Kerry” (not his real name) told me a very shocking…and yes, the sobering story of his life. He and his wife had a high-needs daughter, putting an insurmountable strain on their marriage. Finally, they had it ...

I didn’t pay much attention to football for much of my life. But then I gave birth to three sons who adore the sport. I watched them all play while they were growing up, and now I watch with them in front of the flat screen on Sundays (and Mondays and Thursdays - September through the second ...

Last year, Americans spent $23.9 billion on Valentine’s Day gifts! On what? My frugal mind goes to a card (probably homemade) and a marshmallow-filled chocolate heart. But some gift offerings blow my mind! For about 200 bucks, you can buy a portable tabletop fireplace! I didn’t notice ...

Here’s fun, catchy phrases, like “The Quick Picker Upper” (by Bounty), “Finger-Lickin’ Good” (by KFC), and “Where’s the Beef!” (by Wendy’s). Some phrases we know well, like…“Have it Your Way!”, “Like a Good Neighbor…”, “Snap, Crackle, Pop!” and “You ...

I've been learning some things about my adoptive hometown and the people that populate it. First of all, Gladbrook is not afraid of cold weather. The good souls of my hometown go out in subzero weather to deliver goodie bags. I sit shivering in my home because I am freezing all the time. To ...