Freaky Frugalite

I’ve seen a noticeable increase in articles, posts and Twitters about “grammar police” lately. Most of the stories run this way: a person will write about the importance of proper grammar and spelling, and the commenters usually criticize and whine that English is too difficult and that proper English doesn’t matter, anyway. Au contraire. Proper [...]

I think I have seen it all. Did you know that there is a test for expectant mothers to determine if the baby will be a boy or girl? What do you think about how to determine the gender of your baby with a simple gender test? Think it’s for real? Apparently, it’s a urine [...]

A little rejoicing in our house today…. we read in the news that the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI Institute) will stop scanning the skies for alien life forms. Apparently, their funding has been hit. The Mountain View, California, Allen Telescope Array has been switched off and placed into hibernation, as of April 22, [...]

Yeah, I’m still here. Posts across all my blogs have been slim. Well, more precisely, non-existent! I haven’t had any free time lately. I have a huge scroll of “Things to Do” on my desk, getting longer and longer by the day. THANK YOU to all you wonderful people who supported my daughter and I [...]

I finished my third biographical book about Susanna Wesley, mother of Reverend John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, and Charles Wesley, the brilliant hymn writer. I’m obsessive like that, I guess. When I want to know a topic of history, I cram it all in. I once read four books about Queen Victoria, one [...]

The painting is FIVE HUNDRED years old. People are *still* wrapped up in the Mona Lisa. I was an art major in school. I took art history, art theory, art art art. Overwhelmingly, there was this strange fascination with Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The adoring attention always baffled me. It’s a very nice painting [...]

I had to write an article about dishwashers recently, and did a little digging into the invention. A woman named Josephine Cochran invented it, in 1886! Our dishwasher is our favorite kitchen appliance. I have never owned one before I made room for it in our kitchen renovation in 2010. We LOVE our dishwasher! Before [...]

The Old Geezer had a great blog post about boredom. He noted that in this modern world of electronics and gadgetry, some people still complain of boredom. Boredom was an infrequent condition for folks living in the “olden days,” as their lives were so filled with hard work that leisure time was scarce and precious. [...]

I rarely if ever drive at dusk and at night (never ate my carrots as a kid), but I had to run an errand the other evening and was out later than I thought. Both my son and I noticed the beautiful moon hanging over the horizon in the darkening sky. It seemed to appear [...]

Hmmmm…. tell me if you think this is possible: You filled a cup with water and turned it upside down on a smooth surface. You quickly twisted and lifted the cup, and the water remained on the counter- suspended without any support- in the shape of the inverted cup. Is this REALLY possible?! My husband, [...]