Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

OLD QUESTION

It was the era of bra-burning and street protests, the time when the Equal Rights Amendment was on the nightly news, and only one more state (Illinois) was needed for ratification. The word of the day was women’s liberation. Guys had to tread lightly. Many women were acting out in fierce and hostile... Sign in to see full entry.

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Tuesday, January 30, 2018

SWIMMING LESSON: THE STENO POOL

I was 18 when I moved up from the mail room to the steno pool at Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co., in Seattle. The building on Terry Avenue in the downtown area – a couple decades before the space needle was built for the 1962 World’s Fair – was several blocks up the hill and a few blocks north of... Sign in to see full entry.

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Monday, January 29, 2018

ON TARGET

After breakfast with my boys I headed to Target for a few necessities: multi-vitamins, cold tabs, dishwasher detergent pods, and Cheerios. I meandered the aisles of the store, which is under renovation at the moment, searched the men’s and women’s departments for thermal knit underwear – to no... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sunday, January 28, 2018

THE PERM

Went to Beauty Brands – “the” place to go for a coiffure. I told Mandy I didn’t want a super curly poem, that I hate the Brillo pad look, but I was tired of the long straight stringy look. Long story short, two hours after I walked in, I walked out with - you guessed it – the next best thing to... Sign in to see full entry.

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Saturday, January 27, 2018

BABY STUFF

There’s a story on my news feed about a mother who came home from work to find her baby girl’s head had been shaved by her mother-in-law, without so much as a by-your-leave. Brought back a 60-year-old memory that’s still a bit of a sore point. It seems my mother-in-law thought my 15-month old baby... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 7:36 AM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, January 26, 2018

HILLBILLY ELEGY

The Center: 1-25-18 -- Write Your Own Story session. Ibbie was back after a bout with the flu and wrote another wise and funny bit about camping trips and swimming in the river, about a joke she made that backfired. At nine she was prone to carsickness, especially on those winding roads in the... Sign in to see full entry.

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Thursday, January 25, 2018

WHEN IT’S NOT WORKING FOR YOU

It might have been 2001 or 02 when I came across an online advert for a writer’s workshop being held at some retreat center around Mt. Hood in Oregon. One of the headliners was to be Ursula LeGuin, the fantasy-science fiction author. I had some vacation time coming, signed up for that week off and... Sign in to see full entry.

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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

PNEUMONIA WEATHER

After a cold snap, when a kid has reached the bitter end of her patience about being stuck inside, there comes a day when the sun is out and it warms up to maybe 50 degrees and it’s okay to get outside in just a windbreaker and no hat. Sometime during the hike through the woods or halfway through a... Sign in to see full entry.

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Tuesday, January 23, 2018

THING 1 AND THING 2

Thing 1 A cleanout specialist plumber named Kurt showed up right on time, got straight to work, cleaned out the blocked pipe (100-year-old cast iron pipes accumulate gunk) and sold me a can of enzyme cleaner. He was out within an hour and a half, and I can now run the kitchen sink, the dishwasher... Sign in to see full entry.

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Monday, January 22, 2018

HAPPY MONDAY

When I worked a 40-hour week, the weekend was the busy time in my working mom schedule. Weekends were for catching up with the laundry and shopping for groceries, cooking some things in advance, ferrying kids to their activities, maybe a movie on Saturday afternoon, and all those surprises that come... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective.

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