Blog Posts for Author

Quality Toilet Paper: The Secret to Every Happy Family

VickyDeCoster — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:40:13 -0800

Everything changed in our house the moment I brought home a twelve-pack of expensive toilet paper to replace the generic facsimile I had been purchasing for years from the large discount chain store down the road.Oh, I knew we’d come a long way from the early days in America when settlers were forced to use corn cobs and pages torn from the Sears catalog, but I was quickly growing tired of the ...

Brooms, Caldrons, and an Unwilling Participant

VickyDeCoster — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:37:07 -0700

The third time I showed up to grade school in the same costume, my friends started to wonder if my mother was nurturing a secret fascination with witches. As I once again stood awkwardly before my second grade classmates in my dyed bed sheet turned dress, raggedy wig, and black hat that had miraculously survived a run-in with the neighbor’s cat the year before, they shook their heads. My ...

Manners: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

VickyDeCoster — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:42:14 -0700

You remember everything you were taught as a child, don’t you? No elbows on the table. Sit up straight. Don’t chew with your mouth open. Say thank you when someone does something nice for you. Begin every sentence with “May I please …?” especially when you are hungry for more mashed potatoes at the dinner table.Last week when I headed to the grocery store, another driver cut in ...