Author Archives: Ann Kirsten

I live in a state where masks are now required pretty much everywhere. And, as if our world wasn't separated into factions before, it certainly is now. There are pro-mask people and there are anti-mas...

I've been a nana for over nine years now and I am still amazed at how much I learn from my grandkids. Recently, I spent time with the two youngest and once again they taught me more than I could ever ...

Have you ever thought about the fact that the sub-groups in our world are what make it so beautiful? Science fiction movies have tried to show us what the world would be like if everyone looked and ac...

Depression cakes were invented by resourceful moms during the Great Depression when milk, sugar, butter and eggs were in short supply. Moms still managed to find ways to bake for their families withou...

There is a phase of child development that I call: The pre-PRE-teen years. The pre-teen years start at age nine and continue until thirteen, but I'm hearing more parents say that their child has start...

I told a bird to shut up today. My husband's reaction was, "May I assume that you are fed up with being isolated?" I had to laugh because he was right. The poor bird was singing a lovely song but I wa...

In the past, celebrating Mother's Day was as easy for dads as heading to mom's favorite restaurant for a meal with the kids (Mother's Day is traditionally the busiest day of the year for the restauran...

We have made big strides in bringing mental illness out into the open. People are more apt to talk about their struggles with anxiety and depression and that's a very good thing. But, then what? Are w...

There's a new coffee craze that popped up seemingly out of nowhere. In laymen's terms, it's called whipped coffee, but in South Korea (where it first went viral) it's called "Dalgona" (named for the K...

One of the hardest aspects of the Corona virus is how it is affecting kids. I don't mean that the illness targets them, because so far that's pretty rare, but news of this scary virus is filling a lot...