January 31, 2019

Throwback Thursday: Age of reason(ing)

January 31, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

I've always found it kind of odd when older women say they're one age, then it's found out they're actually older. I've read of this happening with celebrities and non-celebrities, where they've insisted for years that they're this old, then the truth came out upon the woman's death that they're that old, shocking adoring fans or family.

May 18, 2018

Movie review: Book Club

May 18, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

I have never read the infamous 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James. I'll try not to judge (too much) those who have. From all I've heard, it just seems too trashy—not fun-trashy just trashy-trashy—for my tastes and time. There are far too many other books on my to-read list and far too little time in which to tackle them for me to squander even seconds on trashy-trashy.

The four 60-something, forever friends of BOOK CLUB initially seem to agree with me on such. Diane (Diane Keaton), Vivian (Jane Fonda), Sharon (Candice Bergen), and Carol (Mary Steenburgen) have met monthly for decades to discuss books—reading selections made on a rotating basis—men, and more. 50 Shades of Grey is not the sort of selection the refined readers read. Initially.

May 17, 2018

Throwback Thursday: 6 things I used to know how to do but no longer can

May 17, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

This #TBT feature originally published on Grandma's Briefs May 5, 2015—and elicited some fun comments; check out those here. Thank you for reading this rerun!

Practice indeed makes perfect. I quit practicing, though, thus quit being able to do a few things I once really enjoyed. These things.

Crochet. I learned to crochet a basic afghan when Jim and I first married nearly thirty-three years ago. Our gift to one of his sisters and her family the second Christmas together was an afghan I worked long and hard to complete by…

March 10, 2016

5 products and pastimes that BABY boomers

March 10, 2016/ Lisa Carpenter

My husband recently turned old. Well, older. Old enough that since the birthday celebration, we've marveled in disbelief more than once that we've reached the age we have.

"I'm still working on figuring out what I want to be when I grow up," I told him. To which he high-fived in agreement.

baby boomers

My husband and I have raised a family, kept our wits about us our nest emptied, become grandparents, managed relatively successful careers (so far), successfully stayed together for more than 35 years (so far). We have a mortgage — and PLUS loans we'll pay on til death closes our account.

Grownup responsibilities. Yet on the inside, my husband and I fail to feel like grownups, fail to...

May 05, 2015

6 things I used to know how to do but no longer can

May 05, 2015/ Lisa Carpenter

Practice indeed makes perfect. I quit practicing, though, thus quit being able to do a few things I once really enjoyed. These things.

6 things I used to know how to do but no longer can

Crochet. I learned to crochet a basic afghan when Jim and I first...

January 12, 2015

Gobsmacked, plus GRAND Social No. 139 link party for grandparents

January 12, 2015/ Lisa Carpenter

Gobsmacked

On Saturday, I was smacked in the face unexpectedly with the realization that in exactly six months, my baby, my youngest daughter, my little Andie who makes me laugh so hard will be thirty years old.

mom and adult daughter

Well, not exactly six months, as Andrea will celebrate the milestone birthday...

November 08, 2014

Saturday movie review: 'Elsa & Fred'

November 08, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Ah, new love. There's the goose bumps, the first kiss, the exhilaration, the dining and dancing and deciding when the time has come to spend the night together. And, of course, there's the baggage of past relationships and the awkwardness of introducing a new love to the ol' family.

Or so it goes for young lovers in the movies.

Elsa & Fred

So goes it for older lovers in the movies now, too, namely in...

June 05, 2014

A hairy issue

June 05, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

troll doll

I have worn my hair long the majority of my life. From my earliest years, when my mom would cut my bangs straight across my forehead and the rest would hang long down my back, to my high school years, my childrearing years and all the years since. Not Crystal Gayle long, but longer than not. Always.

Except for one year. In...

January 22, 2014

This is what 100 looks like

January 22, 2014/ Lisa Carpenter

Bubby's kindergarten class recently had its 100th Day Celebration. Under the direction of their fabulously creative teacher — otherwise known as Bubby's mom and my daughter — my eldest grandson and his classmates marked the 100th day of school by attending class dressed as "oldies" (perhaps because they were no longer newbies) and sharing items that represented 100 to them.

I'm not sure what items Bubby shared, but my grandson proved...