This blog is the second part in a series, following January's " Boost Energy ". I am summarizing the work of Gretchen Rubin in her book " The Happiness Project " and my reaction to it. I once read a quote that the person we marry is responsible for 90% of our happiness, and I believe that to be true. I also remember my sister Fran telling me that you needed to have a really strong relationship with your spouse BEFORE you had kids, because kids have a way of adding stress t

This is a different type of blog for me. Rather than create original material based on my interests/experience, I am sharing the writing of another person and then my own reaction to it. There are twelve chapters to the book, so I plan to make this the first installment of a 12-part series. Many years ago, I read about this book (The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin) in a magazine article and then went out and bought it and read it. This book was published in 2009, s

Those of you who keep up with my blogs read about the project I did last year to search for a wedding venue  for Katelyn's wedding. I thought it only fair to tell you how the event went now that it's over. Katelyn and Sam danced the night away as a fitting end to the celebration of a lifetime Katelyn and Sam ended up choosing the Gloria Ferrer winery just outside Sonoma, and that was a great choice. One of the things I learned is that it makes a big difference to have good p

Our family's relationship with Liberty School started in 1998, when Brian was 4 years old and we were searching for an elementary school....

I tend to wait until I have some experience with a topic before blogging about it, so now that I am more than five years into retirement,...

A first for me, writing two blogs in one day! We'll see if I actually finish it. The dates on the photos show that we first toured the...

This blog has been a long time coming, as I have more experience growing raspberries and this is my third year of pruning them...

I typically wait to blog about a topic until I feel I have some level of expertise, and in the last six months I have spent a lot of time...

Float Fest tickets were offered for a small additional fee on top of parade tickets, so we decided to extend our stay and see the floats...

This is the view we've had of the Rose Parade for the last 30+ years. We crawl out of bed after a late night and cuddle under warm...

It's only been 38 years since I graduated from Cal Poly, but I finally fulfilled a long-time wish to help decorate the Cal Poly Float at...

This blog has been a long time in the making, but a few recent events caused me to bring my computer on vacation so I could work on it. ...

If you were to peruse my blogs in order of writing them, you can see how my interests vary over time. The latest thing taking my time is...

It's been awhile since I wrote my first blog on Vermicomposting, or the hobby of raising worms. I recently met a young woman who is...

A few years ago I discovered a book called "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman, and among the other things I learned, one of the most impactful...

One of my first blogs was about making jam, and I created it because it was one of those things that I learned how to do rather late in...

It's interesting when you think about the criteria for where you want to live. I think it's fairly rare to have that choice when it's...

While Katelyn was here for the holidays 2023 she took the opportunity to clean out my "snack cabinet", pantry and refrigerator. I think...

It's 6:00 in the morning, the 9th day since I tested positive for Covid. Given the pandemic started nearly 4 years ago, it's actually...

The Deviled Eggery Garden Network is in it’s 2nd year and provides regular delivery of produce, flowers, and herbs to the Una Vida...