October 30, 2020

11+ things grandmas do when no one else wants to or can (2020 edition)

October 30, 2020/ Lisa Carpenter

Several years ago I wrote a post on things grandmas do when others won’t. Upon publishing that, many experienced grandmas commented with additional tasks to add to the list.

I’ve intended to update that post to include those comments for quite some time and have simply never gotten around to it. But considering the amount of spare time Covid restrictions have afforded most of us, I’ve finally done it.

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…

January 25, 2018

Throwback Thursday: Long live Grandma's hoya

January 25, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

This #TBT piece by Lisa Carpenter originally published May 9, 2013 on Grandma's Briefs.

I've never been very good at growing houseplants. Because of that, I felt quite nervous and unduly obligated when the care of an elderly houseplant was informally included in the deal when we bought our current house nearly five years ago.

The sellers told us upon our agreement to buy the house that they were leaving the plant they had inherited when they bought the house, a plant started by the original homeowners when the house was built in 1975. Story was, according to the sellers — who had no information on what the plant was, only a stern warning to not let it die — that the plant bloomed only once a year and "thrived on neglect." I'm pretty good at neglecting plants, yet I still...

July 07, 2017

Beat-the-heat treats (a Friday Flashback feature)

July 07, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

A few years ago, I posted a piece on chilly treats for hot days, noting how darn hot it was in the desert while visiting my grandsons (which at that time meant just Brayden and Camden as Declan was yet to be). Today it's desert-style hot at my house. In the mountains. And I'm craving something cold, something to beat the heat here at home.

I figure much of the country seems to be suffering a hot spell as well, and though I can't share an actual treat with each and every one of you as I would like, I can share the directions for doing so on your own. Preferably with grands.

Here it is: Today's Friday Flashback, featuring a few tasty ways to cool you and yours. Enjoy!

BEAT THE HEAT TREATS
Originally published July 16, 2013 (with names updated to my grandsons' real names, as I recently revealed them here):

The temperatures in the desert during my visit to see Brayden and Camden were, as I expected, ridiculously high. Spending time in the pool or at the water park was a great way to stay cool, but because we're not fish, other ways to chill out had to be devised.

frozen treats