Dear Snarky, I need some advice. For the past 10ish years, my brother-in-law has said and done many hurtful and (in my opinion, very rude) things to me. I am so frustrated and exasperated with […]
There Goes My Saturdays
It was the loveliest of respites. My home for months had been free of a whirling dervish of emotional turmoil where a spouse’s mood can go from jubilant elation to anger and then dive into […]
Dear Snarky – A Yoga Fart Cloud is Hurting My Business
Dear Snarky, I need your help with a very unique problem. I recently opened my own yoga studio after years of working for another studio in town. My employer didn’t take my departure very well […]
Lost and All Alone Without My Phone
It’s truly amazing to me how quickly we’ve all adapted to being in a true love forever relationship with our cell phones. As in we can’t bear to be apart. We must know where our […]
Dear Snarky – The Sister Guilt Trip
Dear Snarky, This past weekend my siblings and I had a family meeting about my sister. I’m one of four sisters. (I’m the youngest at 48.) Our middle sister has always been a nightmare (not […]
High Waisted Pants – Just Why?
It’s the time of year where summer is supposed to be over but you’re still being seared alive by the sun. Now I do realize that the autumnal equinox isn’t until September 23 but my […]
Dear Snarky – My Mom Told Me I’m “Too Fat” To Be in the Family Holiday Card
Dear Snarky I’m stupidly devastated by the stunt my mom pulled. I say stupidly because I don’t know why I’m surprised because she has been hurting me for a long time with her behavior. I’m […]
A Window and Wasp Adventure
You know the saying “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Well, if that adage is true then I’m 100 percent insane. I say this because I recently ventured back […]
My Questionable “Greatest Achievements.”
Because the internet gods hate me, I’ve been getting emails from a company that’s selling virtual training on how to become a “real writer.” (Currently hoping my newspaper editor didn’t sign me up for this.) […]
Dear Snarky – My Bridesmaid Had a Major Glow Up and Now I Don’t Want Her In My Wedding
Dear Snarky, I’m writing you because I’m too embarrassed to actually share this thought with anyone I know. But I think I’m being a bit of a bridezilla. 18 months ago I asked one my […]
My Life Needs the “Power of Oxi”
I love to talk. Basically, it’s my one true gift. This is why when I had to decide what to do with my life in regard to college majors there weren’t exactly a bevy of […]
Dear Snarky – I’ve Got Debutante Problems
Dear Snarky, I have a huge decision to make. Due to the behavior of my ex-husband my daughter’s debutante season is in question. Three weeks ago I sent him a text him asking what the […]
Embracing the Frump
I’m a frump. Well, I’m not actually a frump or at least in Kansas City I feel frump free. But once I get off a plane in Orange County, California I’m definitely giving off frump […]
Getting Out of a Summer Funk
I’ve been suffering from summer seasonal depression. When the thermometer hits triple digits and the humidity is so thick you feel like you’re being suffocated by a Wooly Mammoth covered in mayonnaise it’s time for […]
Dear Snarky – My New Mother-in-Law Invited My Ex-Husband to my Wedding
Dear Snarky, I’m still reeling over what happened at my wedding. I’m a 36-year-old divorced woman with two children. I recently got married for a second time to a wonderful man. The problem I’m having […]
Dorm Room Make Over Drama
Dear Snarky, I’m in a difficult situation and I really need some advice. My daughter is headed to an in-state university (not a bougie college) next month. She has a roommate that she sort of […]
A Retired Dance Mom Revisits Her Past
I’ve had a lot of different jobs in my life and some I excelled at others, well, let’s just say they didn’t exactly fit my talents. One job, and I do mean job, I totally […]
Killer Vacations
I’ve been thinking a lot about the vacations I’ve taken over the years and I’ve come to a shocking conclusion. My family has been trying to kill me. I’m actually stunned it’s taken me this […]
Poolside Confessions
I just got done lounging at my local swimming pool where I engaged in some serious people watching. Because I’ve reached the age where my life wisdom cup runneth over I had to resist the […]
Dear Snarky – My Daughter Was Abandoned By Her Husband on Her Honeymoon
Dear Snarky, I’m so angry and sad for my daughter right now I don’t know what to do next. She got married three weeks ago and had just the most beautiful wedding. It was a […]
AI is Coming and I’m Not Afraid
I know a lot of people are freaking out over the rise of AI (artificial intelligence). Currently I’m not one of them. At this point in my life I’m about ready to put out a welcome […]
If There’s a Chore Chart is it Really a Vacation?
I’ve been reading a lot on social media about families that vacation together en masse. People are sharing their trips to Walt Disney World with three dozen of their closest relatives to beach vacations where […]
Hello Sunshine! 🌞
This author update is full of summer fun! First, Killer Dance Mom is out – as in buy a copy right this very minute out! Y’all I’m so excited about this book for so many reasons. It’s […]
Dear Antarctica
Summer is my least favorite season. Yes, I know that I sound crazy saying this. But it’s the truth primarily because I hate being hot. Those temperatures this past winter when it was in the […]
Dear Snarky – The Problem of the Axe Throwing Bride
Dear Snarky, I’m devastated by a friend’s behavior. I was recently asked by a sorority sister to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. I very politely declined because I’m working on my Ph.D., and I […]
I’m All Ears
I’m worried that we as a civilization are losing a very profound skill. This talent, dare I say art, is flagrant eavesdropping. To back up my claim I have three main reasons why this expertise is facing […]
Dear Snarky – My Parents Have Backed Out of Paying for My Wedding
Dear Snarky, I’m freaking out that my wedding is going to bankrupt me. I’m getting married in December and everything has been picked out from the location to the caterer and flowers. My parents have […]
Advice & the Tow Truck Driver
I like to think that I give good advice. In fact, I believe most people feel that they’re very adept at dispensing wisdom. Weirdly, I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone tell me that they […]
Empty Thoughts Laced With Cat Hair
I’m approaching my first full year as an official empty nester and by official, I mean no children coming home for school breaks or summers. My kids are gone, well they’re both still on my […]
Dear Snarky – Should I Go “No Contact” With My Mother-In-Law
Dear Snarky, I’m furious at my mother-in-law! My husband and I have a five-year-old daughter who’s starting kindergarten in the fall. We have enrolled her in kindergarten at the public school close to our home. […]
When Your Daughter is Your Truth Bomb
Having a daughter, especially if that daughter is the Gen Z demographic, is not for the faint of heart. This is because I have experienced that these young women have no problem with expressing their […]
Dear Snarky – My Mom Wants Me to Rearrange My Life Around Her Cosmetic Surgeries
Dear Snarky, I need your help standing up to my 59-year-old mother. She’s going in for her third cosmetic procedure in the past six months. This one is a deep plane facelift and as she […]
Emotional Turbulence is Making Flying Even Worse
What’s going on with people on airplanes? I ask this after reading about a man who decided to act like a baby because a baby was crying on the Southwest flight he was on. (Three […]
Dear Snarky – My Brother’s Fiancee Wants Me to Go on Ozempic Before I’m a Bridesmaid In the Wedding
Dear Snarky, I need your help with my future sister-in-law who I now hate with all my heart. The reason is because she told me and her cousin – both bridesmaids in her wedding – […]
Mirrors, Mirrors Everywhere (and Louis Vuitton stores)
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and thank goodness for that. I say this because paying $13.75 for a can of Diet Coke doesn’t need to become a trend that infiltrates the rest of […]
Clothing Optional
I hate thinking about fashion probably because I’m not exactly a fashionista. My style is more about wanting to look nice but also refusing to suffer for the sake of a current trend. Long gone […]
Dear Snarky – My Mother Got On My Computer and Into My Medical Files
Dear Snarky, I’m so angry at my mother I’ve had to stay at a friend’s house for the last two days. I’m 24 years old and I moved back home after I graduated. I’m employed, […]
Gardening Can be Murder
Over the almost forty years I’ve been married my husband and I have engaged in a divide and conquer theme. This means each of us became CEO in areas of our life that we have […]
This Cookie Monster Isn’t Happy
Umm, how did I not know about the Raspberry Rally? It’s the newest Girl Scout cookie flavor that’s so amazing boxes are selling on sites like Ebay for $40 per box. Apparently, it’s a Girl […]
Back on the Toilet
Emails. So many emails about the column I wrote regarding my feelings about the bathrooms at the old KCI versus the new KCI. I now think I could do a Ted Talk about it and […]
Bad Airport Memories are Flushed Away
I had one of the last flights out of the old Kansas City airport and as I waited to board I used that time to bid adieu to my nemesis – the egregious bathrooms in the […]
Am I Suffering From Arrested Development?
I think I’m having a Benjamin Button moment. Do you remember the movie? It starred Brad Pitt as a man who was aging backwards. Except in my case, I’m not turning back the hands of […]
Dear Snarky – My Mother is Dating My Boss
Dear Snarky, I’m about to tell my mother to F off. For years I have put up with her dating men that are in my life. Not guys in friend group but men I interact with. […]
My New Boss Scares Me
I have a new boss and she’s really demanding and I hate to be this blunt, but she can be mean and has zero boundaries. She’s also all up in my personal business like you wouldn’t […]
Dear Snarky – My Mom Thinks I Shouldn’t Trust My Stepmom
Dear Snarky, I need your help with my mother who is being very irrational and it’s hurting me financially. I was forced to move back in with my mother and my two young daughters after […]
Older and Not Seeking Your Approval
Why are people disliking my aging face? I’ve just had another slap upside the head (metaphorically speaking) about having a countenance that is not exactly youthful and it’s really starting to tick me off. Truth […]
I’ve Got Tip Fatigue
One of my husband’s favorite sayings during any vacation excursion is that he’s “being bankrupted $10.00 at a time.” Most especially if we were at a Disney park where I can count on this phrase […]
Bin There Done That
Clear acrylic bins are having a moment. And by moment, I mean they’re now ubiquitous in the home organization arena specifically in regard to corralling clutter in your refrigerator. This annoys me for a variety of […]
Dear Snarky – My Ass of an Uncle Ruined My Engagement Party
Dear Snarky, I need your input on a recent situation I’ve had with my mother. I’m newly engaged and my fiancé and I held a small engagement party (20 people) at one of our favorite […]
Super Bowl Rituals of the Nervous Fan 🏈
(Image courtesy of http://www.anniesbarn.com) As you’re celebrating on Sunday with over-the-top Super Bowl parties I’ll be doing something a little bit different. Don’t worry I’ll still be watching the game but it’s going to be […]