Lifestyle

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The Stand

Welcome to fall! Wait. Is it? I’m miraculously 3 weeks ahead on writing columns, so all I can tell you, people of the future, is that today is the 3rd day of October, and the temperature is a chilly 92 degrees. I call that fauxl – faux fall – an autumn imposter, if you will. The dates say otherwise, but the soccer fields still say deep summer, offering me sweaty crossed legs and heat induced headaches as I sit and swelter, the grandkids and their unaffected young bodies able to run up and down the fields at a normal pace. The cracks in my front yard are wide enough to envelop a giant wildebeest or a smart car. I find myself ever careful as I water the flowers, lest I disappear into a giant crevice. The dogs linger by the back door instead of frolicking as dogs should, their eager-tocome- inside snouts fogging the glass as the drool of a too hot day dribbles and dries on the doors with a whitish cast. These are things I probably complain about most every October, come to think of it. This is Texas, after all. We should change our state nickname from The Lone Star State to The Stubborn State. Welcome to Texas, the land that holds onto summertime like a bull rider trying to hit the buzzer. But a final summer rally is not the only thing that attacks us around this time of year. It’s the season of pink, pink washing, that is.

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By Dina Moon

Hope Does Float

I am a big advocate of prayer. Wait! I saw you. Did you just roll your eyes at me? Now, I am no spiritual guru. If you are looking for someone who can quote the Bible, I’m not your girl. If you are wanting to sing all the songs we learned in Vacation Bible School together, good luck. I didn’t go. Contemporary Christian hits of the 80s-90s – I don’t know any of them. But if you’ve been kicked around by the world a good bit and just want an understanding shoulder to cry on, baby, pull up a chair. I will make the coffee. BYOC – bring your own creamer. I don’t use that nasty stuff. I can force you to have faith once again. See, this is a story about an introvert who is now a Bible study table leader.

Ask Aunt B

I just started college. Now I am even more confused. I don’t know what I really want to study. So of course, I really don’t know what I want to do when I finish school. Where do I even start to figure out these serious questions in my life?

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7 Warning Signs for Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose. Diabetes can cause serious damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels over time. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t make enough insulin. The World Health Organization says about 422 million people worldwide have diabetes, and 1.5 million deaths are directly attributed to diabetes each year. Catching diabetes at its earliest can help individuals avoid longterm damage to the body and improve their overall health. This means recognizing signs that suggest the presence of diabetes and its precursor, prediabetes.

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Green Buttons

Parenting is hard. If you were perusing the newspaper, just hoping to find a magic cure for sibling rivalry, teenage angst, or raging hormones, you’re about to be disappointed. Being someone’s parent is very much like managing an automated factory that makes buttons, for instance. The employee who runs the button molds always runs late. Half of the time he doesn’t place the plastics in the right cylinders. The red buttons all have blue streaks, and the brown buttons wind up a putrid green. The woman who is over the packaging machine typically forgets to line up the backer boards, causing the cutter to snap most of the cartons in half. And, as the manager, with a floor full of putrid green buttons and chopped up cellophane causing you near decapitation as you slide to and fro, trying to negotiate a retreat to the fire escape, you cannot help but blow a fuse or two here and there. But, the machine operators weren’t trained on molds and packaging. Messing up royally is the only way they will improve. So, you trudge on, blowing occasional fuses and sliding on broken button packages, just trying to stay employed in a cruel world. This, my friends, is parenting. At least, this is how parenting seems from the inside out.

Ask Aunt B

B Dear Aunt B, I am recently retired. I am already so bored that I am not sure what to do. I am used to being the one everyone goes to for advice, and now I am asking an advice columnist for answers. I don’t mean any disrespect; I'm just lost. Is this all there is?

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You Can’t Handle the Tooth

Things that should always crumble: streusel topping, a certain brand of cookies – minus the e, generations old newspapers stored in cedar chests, healthy soil, and ancient societies attacked by Visigoths. Something that should never crumble - one’s teeth. Yet, that is where we find ourselves on this day. I have crumbly teeth. Bad teeth are hereditary, although I don’t think this is my particular dilemma. My 92-yearold paternal grandmother passed away with her original chompers in pretty good condition. My dad had partials, but not until he was well into his 80s. And, my mother passed into the next glorious world with all 28 teeth intact. So, what gives? Turns out, my molars, specifically my chemo and radiation compromised molars. We’ve managed to cohabitate for over 15 years, but this year 4 of those little boogers have decided to attempt a mutiny on the mouth bounty. In that “give myself a pep talk” world I live in, this situation has become increasingly difficult to paint in a rosy hue. But, how did we get here?

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Forney Messenger

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 936, Forney, TX 75126
Physical Address: 201 W. Broad St., Forney, TX 75126
Phone: 972-564-3121
Fax: 972-552-3599