Ways your parents' behaviors shaped who you are today

When she'd run out of steam, Stella rubbed her hands over her face. "Goddamn it."

"That's a lot of bitching, whining, and venom to pack into a quarter of an hour. 

She sounds like a very talented woman."

It took Stella a minute—a minute where she let her hands slide into her lap 

so she could stare into Roz's face. Then she let her own head fall back 

with a peal of laughter.

"Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, she's loaded with talent. Thanks."

"No problem. My mama spent most of her time—at least the time 

we were on earth together—sighing wistfully over her health. Not 

that she meant to complain, so she said. I very nearly put that on her 

tombstone. 'Not That I Mean to Complain.'"

"I could put 'I Don't Ask for Much' on my mother's."

"There you go. Mine made such an impression on me that I went 

hell-bent in the opposite direction. I could probably cut off a limb, 

and you wouldn't hear a whimper out of me."

"God, I guess I've done the same with mine. 

I'll have to think about that later." 

Blue Dahlia

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By Humyra khandoker - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76617469

Whether your parents were your best friends or you barely knew them, 

your relationship with Mom and Dad had an impact on who you are today.

MSN

Patio Designs to Get You Thinking About Summer

"I've been toying with redoing the patio."

"First I've heard of it," Jolene muttered.

"I saw them putting on one of those herringbone patterns out of bricks 

on one of the home shows. I liked the look of it. You know how to handle that sort of thing?"

"Done a few like it. I can take a look at what you've got now if you want."

"That'd be just fine." Will pushed back from the table.

Blue Dahlia

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You won’t want to go back inside after seeing these patios.

Family Handyman

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"What are you doing planting oleander for my father?"

"My job. Putting in a new patio, too. Your stepmama's already talking about getting new furniture for out there. And a fountain. Seems to me a woman can't see a flat surface without wanting to buy something to put on it. They were still talking about it when I left the other night."

Blue Dahlia

Ford Resurrects a Legend

She stepped out with him, then studied the black Mustang. "You own a car."

"This is not merely a car, and to call it such is very female."

"And to say that is very sexist. Okay, if it's not a car, what is it?"

"It's a machine."

"I stand corrected."

Blue Dahlia

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By Stahlkocher - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=308499

Steve McQueen's speed machine gets a muscle-y 480hp upgrade.

The Mustang Bullitt is cool. But it would be cool whether it was called the Bullitt or the 5.0 SVO or the GT Dark Green Edition. Its coolness is innate and not tied to the time Steve McQueen ripped up the streets of San Francisco in a mean green Mustang back in 1968.

Popular Mechanics

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"So, you're into classic cars."

He settled behind the wheel. The minute he turned the key the radio exploded with Marvin Gaye. Byron turned it down to a murmur before cruising through the lot.

"Sixty-five Mustang with a 289 V-8. A car like this isn't just a mode of transportation. It's a commitment."

"Really?" She liked the creamy white bucket seats, the trained-panther ride, but couldn't think of anything more impractical than owning a car older than she was. "Don't you have to spend a lot of time babying it, finding parts?''

"That's the commitment. Runs like a dream," he added with an affectionate stroke to the dash as he merged into traffic.

Holding the Dream

A Fulfilling Career

The story Nora Roberts likes to tell of her transformation from harried homemaker to 
published novelist reads like something from one of her novels: 
Stuck at home with her two young sons during a 1979 snowstorm, 
the Silver Spring native started writing longhand, 
and the epiphany hit: 
“ ‘This is it . This is the thing I am meant to do.’ 


Nora Roberts @ WP

________________

By Melchisedek ABAKA [CC BY-SA 4.0 

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons47

Why Having a Fulfilling Career Makes Me a Better Mother

Before I became a mother, I was a woman with my own dreams, ambitions, and creative desires, just like anyone else. Then when my son was born, the role of motherhood was thrust upon me and all of a sudden I had two new identities to cater to, but how would I manage both without sacrificing one for the other? 

MY DOMAINE

________________

She needed this job. 
Not just for the salary—and it was generous—but for the structure, 
for the challenge, for the doing. Doing more, she knew, than circling the wheel
she'd fallen into back home.

She needed a life, something more than clocking time, drawing a paycheck 
that would be soaked up by bills. 
She needed, however self-help-book it sounded, 
something that fulfilled and challenged her.

Blue Dahlia

The red revolution

'Titian knew what he was doing when he painted that color.'  

Blue Dahlia

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New book celebrates all things ginger and what it really means to have crimson locks

A new book, Ginger Pride – A Red-Headed History Of The World, examines what makes red hair so special – and confirms they really are a unique breed.

The Sunday Post

Mentions in Nora's Books

"Last night, when I got home, and went in to check on the boys. I heard her first. 
She sings some sort of lullaby."

" 'Lavender's Blue.' It's what you could call her trademark." 

Taking out small clippers, Roz trimmed off a weak side stem. 
"She's never spoken that I've heard, or heard of, but she sings to the children 
of the house at night."

" 'Lavender's Blue.' Yes, that's it. I heard her."

Blue Dahlia

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"Lavender's Blue" (sometimes called "Lavender Blue") is an English folk song and nursery rhyme dating to the 17th century. It has been recorded in various forms since the 20th century and some pop versions have been hits in the US and UK charts.

(wikipedia)