January 10, 2021

Announcing ... my new book!

January 10, 2021/ Lisa Carpenter

Guess what? I’m finally able to share all about my book I’ve mentioned a time or two since I began working on it in the early months of summer (and Covid!). The publisher had asked that I keep details on it under wraps until close to publication date and now that publication date is near, the wraps are off!

Yes, after a LOT of hard work behind the scenes for the past several months, I'm excited to finally announce that The First-Time Grandmother's Journal: Inspiring Prompts to Celebrate Your Experience with a New Grandchild publishes February 4, 2021. That’s mere weeks away!

April 01, 2019

Grand wonder

April 01, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Grand wonder

A trifecta of grand: grand view, grand sons, and a grand quote.

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 346 link party for grandparents

Hooray for the GRAND Social! Thank you for participating!

March 22, 2019

Flashback: Sink, swim, or hold on!

March 22, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This flashback feature originally appeared on Grandma’s Briefs March 4, 2010. Update: I’m still holding on “with a steel-plated grip because I have no other option.” How about you? Thank you for reading my rerun.

Back in the '80s, before the real estate market crash that marked the end of that decade, I worked for a mortgage company. Business was good, and we were rewarded well by the company's owner.

One of the bigger rewards we once received was a day offwork ... and on the owner's boat. On a day we should be processing loans, the entire office (it was a small office) would get to don bathing suits and hang out at the reservoir, on a boat, sipping beer in the sunshine.

I didn't want to go. I really did not want to go.

I didn't want to go because despite having been born in Minnesota…

March 08, 2019

Flashback: 10 signs of aging gracefully

March 08, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This piece on the secret to aging gracefully originally appeared on Grandma’s Briefs on March 24, 2013. Six years later, the signs still resonate with me. I hope they do with you, too. Thank you for reading my rerun.

When it comes to aging gracefully, forget the face creams, hair colors and exercises — the physical manifestations others see as we rack up the years. Instead, I prefer to focus on a different kind of trait that others see, one I think trumps the physical when considering how gracefully others are aging and how gracefully I'm aging myself.

That trait? It's attitude. For, as age is just…

January 17, 2019

Throwback Thursday: 10 life lessons grandchildren help us remember

January 17, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: As my three grandsons from the desert will be visiting PawDad and me (and the rest of our Colorado family) this weekend, I thought it only fitting to share again one of my all-time favorite photo-filled posts featuring Brayden, Camden, and Declan. I hope you enjoy this #TBT feature, which originally published here on Grandma’s Briefs February 10, 2015. Thank you for reading my rerun.

With all that we do for our grandchildren, they do for us so very much more. Things such as reminding us of important lessons we've learned yet often forget to put into practice. Things such as these.