By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell (Spoiler Alert: In case the title doesn’t tip you off, this article was written in satiric style. But make no mistake about it. It is based on…
BLOG: Moving Right Along
The Halloween Dilemma
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell Our kids always knew what they wanted to be for Halloween. Or at least they never outwardly pondered their costumes. As a matter of fact, our daughter…
Back to School: Extreme Edition
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell Buying backpacks, spiral notebooks, and folders festooned with kittens is one thing. Shopping for comforters, coffee makers and Twin XL sheets is another. No doubt about it,…
Am I the only person who likes to cook on vacation?
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell Our family gave up hotel vacationing a long time ago, and instead have been going the rental route. Stan, the kids and I manage quite well in…
How to Get into a Hammock
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell You’re on Day 3 of vacation, that delicious zone where you are 98% relaxed, and you’ve got more vacay ahead of you than behind you. You’ve slept…
Stuck in the Middle with…Who?
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell I was at a convention last week, and as it was nearing the end, I heard a guy tell the people he was with, “I’m tired. I’m…
Why Won’t Our Kids Talk to Us?
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell I don’t know about you, but even if my teenaged daughter and I haven’t had a screaming match that day, she’d still rather text me than call…
When did my SPAM get so boring?
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell When did I go from penis and breast enhancement SPAM, to cures for gout and high cholesterol? Or cutting my electric bill and thinking about reverse mortgages?…
What Do Star Wars, Melanoma & Candied Orange Peels have in Common?
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell I am writing this on May 4, 2015. And if you’re a Star Wars fan—and especially if you’re Howard Yermish fan—you already know what is meaningful about…
Why My Keys Hang from a Big Gold Hoop
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell I will never forget that day in December 1988. I had just given birth to my son—my first child—the month before. It was grocery shopping day, so…
Kraft Foods’ Dirty Deed
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell What is the most disgusting food you can think of from your 50s or 60s childhood? Hamburger Helper? Spam? Fizzies? According to Michael Moss, it was Kraft…
Who are You Sleeping With?
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell Confession: I’m sleeping with someone besides my husband. And Stan’s okay with it because he’s sleeping with this guy, too. We’re sleeping with Fred. He’s our dog. Once…
50 Shades of Betty: My Strange Sophomore Sleepovers
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell When my friend Carol and I were sophomores in high school, we’d have sleepovers most Saturday nights. When we slept at her house, we’d share the double…
A World without Chocolate? Say it Ain’t So!
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell Okay. I don’t want to alarm you, but industry specialists are predicting that by 2020, we could be in for a major chocolate shortage. And though 2020…
What do Baby Boomer Women REALLY Want?
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell I’m not an expert, but I did publish a magazine for and about Baby Boomer Women for seven years, plus I happen to be one (a Baby…
Who You Need to Meet with Before You Send Your Resume
By Guest Blogger Peter K. Studner Each time you make it past the resume review stage and interview with a potential employer, the meeting seems to go really well. But…
There’s a reason why the term “Helicopter Parent” was coined
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell It occurred to me recently, that back when my husband and I were college-shopping with our now-26 year old son, it was a shared responsibility. It was…
The Friends I’ve Never Met
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell Lately, the first place I hear of a celebrity passing is Facebook. It’s not that I don’t keep up with the news. It’s just that so many…
Your Dog Doesn’t Like Your Date? What do you do?
By Kris Rotonda, Guest Blogger While one-third of all married couples started their romance online, (according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), only 23% of those who…
A Glimpse into My Journey
By Tobi Schwartz-Cassell I came to Elsie at a time when I had some heavy duty medical issues. None of them were related, and there were a number of doctors…