I'm trying so hard to keep up, which is probably why things keep going wrong.

I worked all day on Sunday, but I didn't think to send a certain email that I really should have sent.

I got rear-ended on my way to work on Monday. This technically wasn't my fault, but I know better than to be on the road during the busiest time of the morning. I left at 7:30 when I should really be up and out by six. I had too many things to do.

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Nobody really wants to hear the boss gripe about pet peeves, but let me tell you the one thing that saps my life force faster than anything.

It's when I'm asked to weigh in on something that someone else could decide, especially if I've already asked that someone else to take care of it.

"I wasn't able to reach them. Would you like me to try again?"

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Back in Atlanta after some time away, I am catching up on the changes.

I walked past a new development on the way to another new development and saw tidy signs to the left of each front door of a row of townhomes. "Private Residence," each sign proclaimed, in white lettering on a black background. A compulsive reader, I couldn't help scanning each one as I went by: Private Residence, Private Residence, Private Residence, Private Residence.

I chuckled, imagining my own tiny home in Maine, a house that couldn’t possibly be anything else, with a "private residence" sign in front of it. I could put one next to the lilac bush, or maybe by the boat wintering alongside the driveway.

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When I was a music teacher, I had to present some counterintuitive ideas to parents who wanted to instill a love of music in their children.

Rather than advocating for a romantic, passionate affair with the instrument, I took a much cooler tone.

I suggested that practicing music is just like brushing our teeth. We do it whether we want to or not, and then it's done.

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It's always funny to hear personal finance experts try to avoid using the word budget.

"It's a spending plan!" As if a budget isn't a spending plan.

We humans are easy to fool, and we like being fooled. It's worth it if we get the results we're looking for with respect to what we're trying to accomplish.

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