Once a month, I meet with my Bunco* group. We have a meal – usually accompanied by a drink or two - followed by a mindless game of dice with the tantalizing possibility of prizes.

*For those not yet in the know, Bunco is a social game where players take turns rolling three dice in rounds to score points.

The biggest takeaway from this monthly gathering, however, is how much I learn from this group of smart and fun-loving women.

I’m sitting in my recliner today with Tosh on my lap on what is my first real day “off” since semi-retiring a couple of weeks ago. That’s OK, though, because the things I filled my days with were enjoyable and things I needed to do. But today is the first day at home to catch up on some things around here. I’m in my recliner because it is storming outside, and thunder always makes Tosh very anxious. In fact, she usually runs to her papa, David, at the first crack of thunder. But since he’s gone, I’m the next best thing in a storm.

We are traveling today to see family in Iowa. It’s a beautiful day, even though a bit chilly. We’re using my favorite car diffuser, the Belle Aroma® FlashScent USB Aromatherapy Diffuser, with my favorite essential oil, lavender. Tosh is calmly riding on David’s lap close to the diffuser. Did you know that dogs don’t have any problems with lavender? In fact, it can have a calming effect if they are having an “episode.”

How did you and your family fare during the pandemic? I’ll be the first to admit it changed me and my family. In fact, my husband stood up in front of a large group of people recently and stated, “it changed me! I have a dog now! A tiny INSIDE dog!” Yes, that was quite a change for us. Let me explain how it came about, as she was not a pandemic dog in the strictest sense of the word.

Were you given an allowance as a child? My earliest memory of an allowance was $.35 every two weeks, and I had to put $.20 of that in the donation box, so that left me a whopping $.15 that I could spend on candy, etc., for two weeks. I was recently reminiscing with a younger friend who has four children, ages 12 to 20. He told me he didn’t think his kids even knew money came that small! Hahaha!!!