We all know we should exude it. We’ve all heard it about a gazillion times. We understand that it is, without exception, the right thing to have. An attitude of gratitude. Hmm. This zippy little year called 2020 certainly has put the concept to the test, to be sure. For so many ...

November is pretty impressive for a month that comes in second to dead last, am I right? Lots of people like the 11th month best. Well, many people; okay, like four. This is probably because there are some undeniable detractors for the poor, put-upon month. For instance, this year it ...

I’m not going to lie. I feel more beat up than a Philadelphia-based poll worker counting votes last Thursday afternoon, you dig? Oops, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to slip in that “you dig.” In fact, the only thing I’m considering digging these days is a hole. A really big one. So I ...

WFH. Now there’s an acronym I’ve only recently become familiar with hearing and using. WFH — work from home. It’s not a novel concept, mind you. For eons, lots o’ companies all over this big blue rock — huge corporations and even teeny weeny Ma-and-Pa type shops — have ...

As luck would have it, I happened to be working on a little sumthin’ sumthin’ at my day job this week as it relates to email and telephone decorum. Given our status of not being able to touch the other humans with a 10-foot pole these days, it seemed only fitting to shoot off a few ...

“You know it. I know it ... and the American people know it.” Eagle-eyed readers will recognize that phrase as a favorite go-to line of Bob Dole. You remember Bob Dole, right? He used to be kind of a big deal. A retired American politician, statesman and attorney, he served in both the ...

Things are hard for everyone right now. I mean, every day is basically just a juggling act to deal with the disaster du jour. Let’s face it, the world is pretty much in shambles. I mean, between the cataclysmic climate, the persistent pandemic and the economic upheaval, there’s just a ...

Ahhhhh-tum. As in, don’t look now but autumn has reared its rustic orange head. And even though the air is chilling, the daylight’s dwindling and the leaves are super-nova-ing toward their collective final resting place (apparently, my kitchen floor?), little else seems typical about good ...

I set off some spooky speak the other day by asking some pals: “Does anyone know if we’re still having trick or treating?” I unwittingly sparked a controversial candy convo in zero flat, as in the Zoom glares zapped my way were anything but Zen, ya dig? Suddenly, it was: “Of course ...

It’s taken all this time, but they’ve finally taken hold. My quarantine quirks have officially become habits. According to the wellness site “Healthline,” “it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and an average of 66 days for a new behavior to ...

Well, it was bound to happen. It is, after all, the worst year, like, out of all the years. OK, maybe not EVER in the history of people-kind. But it’s got to be up there in at least the top three or so. I mean, how can anyone deny that we have been truly living life on one gigantic hamster ...

It’s the ugliest word in the English language. I realize that’s a fairly bold statement — especially from a self-proclaimed words girl. But let’s face it, there’s hardly a more offensive, explosive, dangerous and destructive word than “hate.” Sure, there are a gazillion ...

I’m just sitting here reflecting about how it is the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. You know about Ordinary Time, right? I know I’ve discussed it previously, but as a refresher: Catholic Christians have our own cool calendar of seasons, yo. In fact, I’m pretty sure lots of JC fans, ...

Don’t look now but COVID-19 has prompted yet another unforeseen onslaught: the constant rerunning of certain classic television sitcoms. I mean, they’ve trotted out some treasures that are trending higher than Trump’s Twitter, a’ight? I’m not clear on who decided which shows would ...

Well, finally. He’s gone. Man, I didn’t think he was ever gonna leave. Talk about an overstayed spring break, sheesh! I mean, that kid’s been home for what, like, five months now? Well, four months and 27 days ... and 17 hours and 42 minutes. It would’ve been five months on the nose ...

You know how people always ask what you’d take with you if you were stranded alone on a desert island? Nope, that’s not a typo. So, by the by, what is a DESERT island, exactly? Is it like the Sahara — only smaller and plopped in the middle of the Dead Sea. Because, I’m thinking, if ...

I know, I know. I’m sort of shifting direction. Last week I gave you lots of suggestions for avoiding certain topics related to a certain issue dominating certain lives. Like, um, the lives of all those of all the humans currently residing on the third rock from the sun. In my last ...

You need not be particularly religious, spiritual or faith-filled to have heard of them. You don’t necessarily have to be predominantly good or bad, either, BT dubs. They are likely as identifiable in the secular world as the pious one. So, surely you’ve heard of the seven deadly sins, ...

There are a lot of things in my life about which I’m pretty sorry. For instance, I’m sorry for still going to my senior high school prom with the boy who dumped me on my 18th birthday three weeks earlier. I mean, I already had the dress and everything. Besides, I thought for sure it’d ...

I can hear him now. Clear as a bell. He always said it twice, con mucho gusto in the second iteration — for emphasis, natch. “I hate to wait. I HATE to wait,” Pop always lamented in a long line or between extended pauses of meal courses at restaurants. He was really just voicing a ...