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Margaret's sisters tease her: "When did you become such a cleanliness nut?" Barbara is always saying to Margaret that she needs to do a YouTube tutorial on how to properly clean and teach her.  Yes, Margaret has become a cleaning machine. It helps too that her apartment in New York City is small, making cleaning a breeze. If only her late mother could see her now.  On the other hand, Barbara's mother was disappointed that Barbara wasn't a better cleaner. Barbara had little interest, perhaps, a reaction to her mother's intense interest and pride in having a spotless home. "We...

With rising inflation, many of us struggle to make ends meet. So, when we recently inventoried how we spend (or rather waste) money, we both realized that too much goes toward high-priced restaurant meals.  We scratched our heads trying to think of clever ways to continue to eat out, though less frequently, and trim the fat, so to speak.  Yes, we could stop eating out completely. But this is major depravation of a big pleasure for each of us and part of our social lives. We crave this kind of getting together as much as the free fresh-baked bread often...

At some point we each have thought, we wish we were richer. Maybe, have another income stream as prices rise, especially if our writing dries up. Our co-mingled anxiety has led us to wonder how easy or hard it would be to retrain ourselves in our 70s and find a new job.  We have a great work ethic, lots of life experience and like being around people, especially younger ones. In fact, we may each rewatch The Intern with Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro to help us teach younger folks, including millennials, that we-and our peers--represent a fabulous applicant...

  In today's world, especially during the pandemic lockdown, we seemed to take our energy out in the kitchen. Peeling and husking. Shucking and kneading. Twisting and braiding. Pureeing and sautéing.  We had the time to spare. Cooking became a passion rather than something hastily tacked on to the list of things to do each day, especially when there wasn't much to do but work. Home cooked food provided tangible evidence of human contact, feelings and comfort during those dark days.  Pre-pandemic (remember those days?), some of us loved cooking for ourselves, family and friends. We did it to the...

Excuses. Excuses. We are all guilty of using them, but some folks are chronic repeat offenders. There, we've said enough! Alibis are designed to get someone off the hook; either the person who needs the excuse uses it or someone else will make excuses for that person. A classic example: "The dog ate my homework" is recycled in myriad versions by someone who didn't meet a deadline of some kind or messed up in some way. Sure. Blame the helpless canine that can't talk and defend themself. By our 70s-and probably far earlier--we think we've heard enough variations of excuses...