My family had lunch with my friend Suzanne and her crew the other day. The last time I saw her was two years ago, when Truman and I drove two hours to her small town to visit with her and her two boys. Truman was barely 3 then and he tornadoed through their house, destroying a lamp and nearly giving...

Since I discovered I was just two degrees separated from Paula Deen, I thought I’d channel her this weekend when I was preparing our picnic lunch. Well, sort of. We had packed all sorts of sports equipment – balls, mitts, Frisbee – and a blanket to sit on. I wanted the food to be just as thoug...

It’s hard to believe that just one week ago it was snowing here. It soared into the mid to upper 70s this weekend – a perfect setting for the Exceptional Foundation’s annual chili cook-off. We had never been for some reason but had heard thousands of people turn out to our small Homewood Park ...

Want to know where Coco Conundrum got her name? She came to us - quite unexpectedly - early one July morning. She was in the yard and screaming her head off. Just a 5- or 6-week-old kitten at that time, she hid in the bushes and eventually ran out into the woods in the backyard. We talked to her reg...

  My husband has been with the TV station so long that the only time they call him in on weekends is if there is a big story, like when Birmingham abortion clinic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph was finally captured. So when the station called him Saturday and asked him to co-anchor the Sunday morning n...

WANTED: Cat NAME: Coco Conundrum. Aliases include Baby and That D@am M.F.’ing Cat DESCRIPTION: Black, shiny shorthair coat. Gold eyes. About 10 inches tall. Enjoys playing at all hours of the night , climbing the drapes, and chewing paper. Curious to a fault. DOB: Approximately June 2008 FAMILY HI...

My husband asked what to get me for Christmas and I said a day. A day to get this out-of-control hair cut. A day to have these wild brows waxed. A day to have a makeover and actually match my foundation to my skin. A day to slowly walk through the mall and touch fuzzy sweaters and try on cool jeans....

Last night I had the most intense dream about my mother. She was dying, like the last memories I have of her. I don’t remember what the dream was about, just that I knew her time was limited. But it was so tangible I felt her sprit long after waking. It wore me like a blanket for most of the morni...

Truman and I had a concert at the house earlier this week. He was beating on the homemade drums and I was belting out a punk rock version of the Alphabet song (think Ramones) on the Tinkertoy microphone. It was awesome. We told Rick all about it when he got home and he gave me that look that I’m s...

You would not BELIEVE all the sugary crap my son got for Valentine’s Day. The first wave came days before Friday, when my in-laws brought my son a dozen mini cupcakes. He had four in the eight hours they were with him and begged for more after they left. Then there was the pre-K Valentine’s par...