Chad freed me yesterday from any responsibility for taking our Christmas tree down.  It was mid-morning on a Saturday and we were enjoying our Saturday routine: Listening to our favorite podcast Too Beautiful to Live while hanging out (which for me usually involves latch hooking, as was the case this day). Chad told me that…

I’m pretty happy with my last blog post (https://amyluedtke.wordpress.com/2023/12/31/movin-right-along/). It wasn’t terribly literary or insightful, but it did capture a charming little domestic Chamy anecdote about me being impatient with Chad’s preparation of a breakfast waffle.  Too bad it was all a lie.  Well, not a lie, exactly–I didn’t intentionally invent any content or attempt…

“You better get a move on that,” I directed Chad one morning while we were making our breakfast.  It’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever said to him.  I was feeling flustered and frazzled and short on time. Understandable, but the “that” I was specifically referring to was a frozen waffle. A frozen…

I had just been thinking that morning about how I had a lot of life lessons learned from being in a long-term marriage that I could share to help others better navigate their romantic relationships.  And then later that day an older* woman tossed her husband at me while we were at the gym.  “Don’t…

I was complaining.  It was a lovely night, in almost every way. My good friend Sandy and I were taking in the Winter Lights display at the Arboretum on an early December evening. It was a little chilly (as was to be expected) but nothing extreme–even my wimpy Winter averse self could handle the temperature.…

“The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let things go.” –Facebook I’m not above finding wisdom in an inspirational quote I see on Facebook. So when I saw the above quote, accompanied by a beautiful photo of colorful autumn leaves, I got inspired to think (and of course, blog) about…

My mom’s hair was always styled–curled, set, permed, etc. It never just was. My mom’s hair was always doing something, always actively in or reaching toward a state of refinement or display. My mom always had a plan for her hair.  I’m describing my mom’s hair as if it had a life of its own…

Can Barbie subvert the patriarchy? Perhaps, especially as imagined in the new Barbie movie.  But based on my childhood experience, I know one force that Barbie can’t overcome: a bossy older cousin, at least when that cousin is me.  I was way into Barbie as a kid. I inherited several from my older sister, Jenn,…

I recently pulled one of my mother’s favorite tricks: The Exploding Can of Soda in the Freezer.  Yes, I put a can of Coke Zero in the freezer to quickly cool it, forgot about it, and hours later found its frozen contents all over the freezer. (Okay, the frozen Coke Zero wasn’t really ALL OVER…

I have successfully grown a Chia pet! (Not sure “grow” is the right verb…Raised? Sprouted? Conjured?) I didn’t plan to be a Chia pet parent, but we received a Groot Chia pet years ago–pre-pandemic–from our Loot Crate subscription service for geekly merchandise.  I kept waiting for a special time to start Chia Groot, and finally…