SIGNS OF VICTORY

Towns across America, large and small, have a certain electricity in the air during football season. I work at a small school district in a small town. Friday Night Lights begins when the first bell rings on Friday morning. Our players walk the halls in their jerseys. The Cheerleaders gather in the library to make …

THE MISSING INGREDIENT

Do you have a favorite dish that just can't be switched up? Like don't change a thing? Not even the brand of one of the ingredients? For us, it's hot chicken salad. I was introduced to hot chicken salad when I was a struggling single mom and my dear friend would frequently have me over …

THE WISH BOOK

I started my day out in denial. Instead of tackling a looming chore list, I stayed in bed with a cup of coffee and a Christmas catalog. It's the only catalog I get all year. I'm not much of a shopper. I either impulse-buy power cords and discount shower curtains at the Dollar General or …

MY PARKA

I'm just a little giddy to finally be an official Friday Night Lights mom. It was the last game in the regular season. Ninth grade players joined the big guys… stood out there with that senior high team in a showdown with our fiercest rivals. And we took the win! Warriors are headed to the …

FORGOTTEN

Today’s list of the forgotten: glasses, school clothes, football mouthguard, and epi-pens. I’d like to say it’s unusual for my son to forget that many things in one day. I’d like to say that’s where today’s list will end, but I also like to say, “day ain’t over yet”. If he forgets only one thing …

BOXED SET

Raise your hand if you’ve ever punished your kid by taking away his book. Nothing feels weirder… “Alright, that’s it! You aren’t using your time wisely. Hand over the book.” And yet, those are the words I have spoken to our one and only Colemanator. He loves a story. He especially loves a series of …

PATHWAY TO POWER

This season of thanks can be a real pain when it comes to moods. Like the less than grateful mood I had when I came down my driveway today and it was littered with limbs. I recently downsized my vehicle. I only have a year left of taxiing my teen before his license restrictions are …

CRUISE CONTROL

When I was learning to drive, my dad would say, "quit jackrabbiting!" Punching the gas and then the brake is many a young driver's approach to maintaining a steady speed. I did it with the added challenge of a standard shift clutch. Hashtag whiplash.   Sometime in the 70's my grandfather, a lover of luxury sedans, …

THE UPROOT

"What happened to your plants?", Doug asked this morning.  Well, I was cleaning off my desk and I repotted the plants. There aren't any plants on my desk. And I didn't actually clean anything off of it. I had one of "those" Saturdays last week. Doug was on call and Coleman scored a homework bye …

MRS. BOEN’S MISSING MARKERS

Substitute teaching is not for the faint of heart. I wear my cocky little LHS Faculty ID like a badge of courage… even though they chose the prank photo that has Michelle Boen’s fingers making bunny ears behind my head. I kissed being taken seriously goodbye a long time ago, but seriously; the bunny ear …