The end of a 99 cent era
Today’s news that the entire 99c store chain will close struck a blow to my well-being. I have many, many happy memories that grew from my visits to their stores.
In “Maude”, Donna writes the story of her paternal grandmother’s life, beginning on the day of her birth in 1892. A story filled with highs and lows, she reveals a woman who experienced the best life had to offer and the worst events imaginable. Through it all, Maude clung to her faith and kept on going.
In 1906, I was barely over fourteen years old, and it was my wedding day.
My older sister, Helen, came to my room, took me by the hand, and sat me down on the bed. She opened her mouth to say something, but then her face flushed, and she turned her head to look out the window. After a second, she squeezed my hand and looked back in my eyes.
Today’s news that the entire 99c store chain will close struck a blow to my well-being. I have many, many happy memories that grew from my visits to their stores.
People often ask me where I get the ideas for my books. For me, it’s usually sparked by something in my life or the life of a friend or maybe
Most moms remember well when they were trying to toilet train their toddlers. The child in question discovered early on that the best way to gain their parent’s complete attention
I have a half-dozen moments in my memory that are enormous– unforgettable. They’re the kind that come as a surprise and make you remember exactly where you were and what
I only met my mother-in-law one time. From family descriptions, I knew she was once beautiful but in her sixties, she looked pretty much like most grandmothers. I was aware
I’m into it. When the kids were little, I dressed them up in home-made costumes. One year, Melanie was a Geisha, several years, a princess of some sort, a pilgrim.
Devout Christians, Mary and David Gentry, fall victim to a series of crimes and mishaps in their comfortable, upper middle class Michigan suburb. David convinces a doubtful Mary to move to New Jordan, a walled, secluded, community being built in Georgia and designed for Christians only. There is literally no crime, and the houses don’t even need locks on the doors.
In the third of The Manhattan Stories, it’s 1930, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains are home to a town of renegade Mormons.
When Alexandra Merritt inherits a Las Vegas casino worth three hundred million dollars her life is turned upside down. While trying to learn every phase of the operation, she has to contend with a wild variety of Vegas visitors.
In hopes of bringing the high rollers back to Downtown, Mayor Oscar Goodman plans to build a high-rise, glittering casino. He invests everything he has to buy the property and raises the rest of the money from old friends–friends he once defended in court. If his plan doesn’t succeed, he stands to lose more than his life savings.
When newly divorced Ellen has trouble sleeping, her friend, Alexandra, tells her, “Get a dog.” A visit to the local shelter brings Skip into her life.
The stories shared with me about Lena, my husband’s mother, were extraordinary. I heard many of them over the years, tales told to me by her son and his father, accounts that were often shocking, sometimes heart-wrenching, and always fascinating.