Last week, I broke up with Resistance. It was a very public breakup. It should have been on the cover of Us magazine. In an effort to gain sympathy and support, and probably to shame Resistance a little more than is really mature, I posted a break-up letter (in the comments) at The Write Practice. Resistance didn’t take the breakup like a man. He knows that throwing things wouldn’t really get him very far. Instead, he played on my sympathy. He called me asking very detailed questions about how to separate lights from darks when he does laundry.  Whether that new red shirt could […]

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It’s been a long couple of weeks. My writing time last weekend was spent whittling my work emails down from 1,600 to Inbox Zero. I have been at my desk, working, before 5:30 every day this week. I fell asleep, fully dressed and glasses on, at 8:00 the other night. My writing has suffered. But it’s all worth it.  Because this morning, I am hitting the road to Jon Acuff’s second Quitter Conference in Nashville! You might have seen that I attended the first Quitter Conference last July.  In fact, if you ‘re reading this blog (which, well, you kinda […]

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Borsch. I know most of you immediately think of that jar of watery, vinegary pink broth with floating hunks of slimy ex-cabbage.  That stuff should be outlawed.  No self-respecting Ukrainian would even try to call that Borsch. No, real Borsch comes in as many forms as there are Russian cooks.  Each one makes their Borsch a little differently, and as an honorary Russian/Ukrainian (by the grace of my children), I am no different. My borsch is an amalgamation of at least three different recipes, taking ingredients and techniques from each, and getting a little better each time. The latest improvement: […]

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Our house was an ugly duckling. Looked like it popped right out of That 70’s Show.  Antique brass everywhere.  The fake kind. Instead of popping a champagne bottle, we popped a paint can. But we didn’t stop at paint…. The kitchen ceiling, for instance, was lower than everything else by about nine inches.  It was covered with a textured wallpaper to mimic an old-fashioned tin ceiling.  Then it was painted cream. A 3×4 hole in the ceiling held a fluorescent light fixture that you’d expect to find in a dungeon.  The whole thing was “trimmed out” with strips of some […]

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Reactions to the new blog have been enthusiastic, but the thing that sticks out most to me is how each one of you brings a different perspective and asks a different question. A couple people wondered if we really moved to a new house.  Nope.  It was a metaphor.  Maybe not a very well-spelled-out one.  Sorry for that. A couple people asked if I got fired.  Quit?  Planning to quit?  Thankfully, no, I still have my stressful but important day job. To Quit or Not To Quit Even though I complain about it a lot, I have a pretty good gig.  (Yes, […]

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