For the first time, my family and I are participating in a CSA, which stands for "Community-Supported Agriculture." We bought our "share" in a farm in upstate New York. Every Wednesday, June through October, I drive to a nearby church and pickup our weekly bounty.

I know a number of married men who go on solo vacations. I call these "mancations" because they are typically activities that no women I know ever go on.

We had overnight houseguests this past weekend -- relatively new friends so I don't know too much about the couple's childhoods. I don't recall how it came up, but I learned that the wife was a champion Spit player amongst her friends growing up. (For those of you who don't know, Spit is a fast-moving card game that is kind of like two-handed solitaire.) I, too was a Spit champion in my youth, ultimately taking to play my friends, and later my children, left handed because playing righty caused me to win too quickly.

If I don't watch out, I think that my family and friends are going to nickname me "The Garlic Lady" since I so frequently suggest its use to "cure what ails you." The last time I blogged about garlic, I wrote about putting it on the bottom of your feet -- yes, feet! -- to fight colds. Since then, I've become a big proponent of garlic tea, which is much easier than garlic-in-socks, and it works faster.

My new favorite way to create great taste at home is by using flavored extracts. We've all used conventional flavorings such as vanilla, lemon, almond, mint, etc., in baking and perhaps coffee. But my local gourmet market opened my eyes to a whole new world of delicious extracts. Now my home pantry stocks extracts such as hazelnut, coconut, blueberry, apricot, maple and strawberry. And there are many more we haven't gotten to try yet.

Sometimes the silliest -- and least sophisticated -- things can make a difference.  At dinner recently, Allen Klein, author of The Healing Power of Humor, shared this playful exercise to dispel tension.  We were talking about traffic in New York City, but it can be used any time you're stuck with absolutely no ability to change the situation, or simply want to dig yourself out of an emotional rut...

We recently hosted a Time Management seminar for our company's team members, run by time management master Ken Glickman

Don't assume that Big Box stores have the best prices. The toner ran out on my friend's laser printer at home, so he went to his neighborhood big-box store (happened to be Micro Center; he lives in Minnesota) to get a new cartridge. $90 they wanted! They had a new laser printer in the store for only $70! This could not be right. So he went home and went online. Not only could he get the cartridge for $24, but he could get a "toner refill kit" (a bottle of toner and instructions) for $13. Okay, shipping was $5 and he had to wait a few days to receive the refill, but that's less than the tax would have been on the $90 cartridge.

I don't mean this in a bad way, but if you are a parent, Mother's Day or Father's Day isn't really "yours" -- your day to spend as you wish -- unless your parents are deceased or live far away. Otherwise, your day is spent making things special for your own parents.

As I write this, I'm feeling very old and very young at the same time. My #2 stepdaughter just graduated from high school.