We humans like ‘perfect’—perfect hair, perfect weather, perfect kids, perfect WiFi, perfect cheese plates… According to one website, the perfect cheese plate must have the following: Homemade wheat…
joyclevelandDecember 20, 2020
In my corner of the world, I’m looking at brightly-colored leaves that are hanging onto branches for dear life. Many of their cohorts have floated…
joyclevelandOctober 23, 2020
Can we 'talk trash' for a minute? Years ago I lived in a community that only allowed one 33-gallon bag of garbage per week. (I…
joyclevelandAugust 3, 2020
A few weeks ago, I was mowing. In Iowa, mowing is a fact of life. We were months into the spring season and rain and…
joyclevelandJune 24, 2020
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just push an ESCAPE button? That’s how I felt on a particular evening in 1998. My kids were…
joyclevelandMay 8, 2020
Many years ago, I lived in 'Crazy Town.' I was a full-time, stay-at-home mom for seven years. By 1995, I had four young children, a…
joyclevelandApril 28, 2020
I think it’s safe to say I’m shaking in my tennis shoes. This ‘feels’ like my first day of kindergarten. I’ve just read articles on…
joyclevelandApril 14, 2020
Last week, I was struggling to get off the couch. I knew I needed a strategy to survive the long days, weeks, and possibly months ahead. Can you relate? If…
joyclevelandApril 3, 2020
As I stood by the kitchen window on a cold and dreary March morning, I glanced at the darkened horizon. Was today really the day…
joyclevelandApril 3, 2020