There are many dangers of growing up on a farm. Not scary dangers, mind you; fun dangers. The kind of dangers that nearly kill you, but you have more fun nearly getting killed than playing with dolls, riding bikes, and non-lethal boring things the city folk do. For instance, the time we climbed into the corn bin to jump in the corn and my brother M...

I can vaguely recall a time when I could sneeze without wetting myself. That was before I had children. All you hear about is how wonderful having children is. Oh sure, that is true, but somehow people forget to tell you about the after effects, such as incontinence, saggy breasts, hemorrhoids, stretch marks, fatness, larger feet, weird varicose ve...

So, let me get this straight, studies indicate that when children are eating healthy foods they do better academically, are more alert, and have more energy throughout the day. If this is the case then why do the schools give children unhealthy food choices on a daily basis? This seems contradictory. When I worked as a school nurse I would often be...

Oh joy, another holiday is upon us! I know I'm suppose to be focusing on the meaning of Easter or whatever holiday it may be, but I'm to busy boiling eggs, painting eggs, buying plastic eggs and candy, stuffing plastic eggs with candy, eating some of the candy I'm stuffing in the eggs, planning an easter menu, clipping coupons, buying groceries, co...

Was it a sign from Mother Nature that I was not meant to live in northern Minnesota? I sure thought so! I grew up on a hog farm in between Faribault and Northfield. So I was surrounded by fields, with some patches of trees here and there. I loved growing up on a farm in southern Minnesota and after my first summer living up north I was ready to hea...

I'm not sure why my odd (yet brilliant) brain decided to even think about this in the first place. I think it stemmed from the fact that things are not very fair when looking at annoying things we have to deal with in life due to our sex. I mean, think about it. Women have to grow breasts, menstruate on a monthly basis, be pregnant for 10 months (I...

(I wrote this a couple years ago for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It is one of my favs.) Whether you know it or not, there is a great underground debate about which mom is the best and which is the best for the kids. Are working moms better than stay-at-home moms? Or vice versa?  I've always been a working mom but there have been many moments...