Sheila Moss

The Purple Suitcase

February 1, 2010

I’ve been getting ready to go for months—years, actually. I’ve been buying odds and ends as I think of them, little three-ounce bottles, new underwear (as you don’t want customs officials to see your old underwear), a sunhat, travel clock, and all the other weird gear listed in the travel agency’s “must have” list. I’m [...]

Read the full article →

Interview with Mrs. Claus

January 1, 2010

[Editor’s note: This column was supposed to run last month. Pretend it’s December.] Mrs. Claus, we know you are very busy at this time of the year. We would like to ask you a few questions to help people know you a bit better. It has been said that behind every great man is a [...]

Read the full article →

Do It Yourself – Easy Assembly

November 8, 2009

Like Goldilocks and the three bears, we tried out all the chairs for size. This one was too big, this one too small, this one too stiff, this one too hard. Finally, we found a chair that was “just right.” The way my luck usually runs, I figured it would be out of stock, but, [...]

Read the full article →

Girls Who Wear Glasses

August 4, 2009

I became a girl who wore glasses when I was just a little thing, about seven years old, if my memory serves me correctly-and it’s possible that it doesn’t as that was a long time ago. I always had to go to Charlotte to an eye specialist as my vision problem was not something that [...]

Read the full article →

You Might Have Swine Flu If…

June 1, 2009

We’ve been hearing a lot in the news about a disease called swine flu. Laughter is always the best medicine for flu or any other illness. From the funny farm, these are the symptoms: YOU MIGHT HAVE SWINE FLU IF. . . * You always pig out at food bars. * You got a traffic [...]

Read the full article →

The Hospital Experience

June 1, 2009

I always figured I would end up on the orthopedic surgeon’s operating table sooner or later, but I thought it would be for a knee replacement, not for a cervical disc fusion in my neck. But here I was, asking-actually begging-to have my neck slashed. Shows what pain can do to you. On the big [...]

Read the full article →

Home Alone – April 09

April 1, 2009

Day 1-I come home from work and find the garage door partly open. “What’s going on?” I wonder. I go inside to check and find a strange dog in the garage.  Whose dog is that? “Get! Go away! Shoo!” I guess I will just leave the garage door open until it decides to leave. I’ve [...]

Read the full article →

Mind Your Peas

March 1, 2009

Have a bad year and wishing for better luck next year? Try eating some black-eyed peas. Black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day are a southern tradition. There seems to be little agreement on how this custom began, though, or why a food as humble as black-eyed peas might be considered lucky.

Read the full article →

The Gas Crisis

November 1, 2008

A few weeks ago we had a gasoline crisis in the area. The media reported that we are on a major pipeline that brings oil from the Gulf. The report mentioned there could be about 25% less flowing because some oil refineries still are not back to normal since Gustav. Immediately phones started ringing, people [...]

Read the full article →

Losing It

October 9, 2008

My honey has some excellent qualities, but keeping up with his cell phone is not one of them. He has misplaced his phone so often that I have lost count of the number of times. The other day it happened again. We were in the car heading home after work when he reached for his [...]

Read the full article →

A Dog with No Name

September 1, 2008

We went to a breeder and picked her out even before she was old enough to come home. She was cute, I must admit, really cute. Before you ask, she is a Shih Tzu, a small frou-frou dog from a breed originating in China. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a puppy at [...]

Read the full article →

Hooked on eBay

August 9, 2008

I’m so tired I can’t hold my eyes open, but I can’t fall asleep. I might miss my final bid on eBay. It all started about a week ago when I decided that a turquoise-and-silver necklace would be a nice accessory to have.I put “buy turquoise necklace” in a search engine and eventually found myself [...]

Read the full article →

Getting the Kids Back in School

October 1, 2007

School days, school daze—it’s almost all I hear at this time of the year. Kiddies are all excited about their new backpacks crammed with number-two pencils, three-ring binders, wide-ruled notebook paper, football trading cards, yo-yo’s, and whatever else they can sneak in. Yes, I’ve had those calls from the school about the rubber snake too.

Read the full article →

New Car or New Toy

September 1, 2007

There is no point in arguing with a man when he gets that “I-want-a-new-car” gleam in his eye. My man got that gleam in his eye nearly two months ago. By now, it is no longer a gleam, but more like a laser beam.

Read the full article →

Not Amused by Amusement Parks

August 1, 2007

I was practically certain that I was too old for amusement parks. My spouse loves amusement parks. He is a big, overgrown kid who still wants to ride on the rides. I tolerate them. We heard about an amusement park in Chattanooga. It is not too far away and it seemed like a good weekend [...]

Read the full article →

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Pot Melting

July 1, 2007

How do you know when it’s going to be a bad day? For starters, it might be a bad day if you wake up to the sound of the smoke alarm going off at 5 AM in the morning like I did the other day. With the alarm screaming, I hit the floor and ran [...]

Read the full article →

Mentioning the Unmentionable

June 1, 2007

One of life’s most useful but least discussed items is toilet paper. We take the existence of toilet paper for granted and have pretty much forgotten about the days of catalogs, newspapers, shucks, leaves, corncobs, and other alternatives used by our ancestors. Who had the idea of making this product and how did it come [...]

Read the full article →