Leigh's Views

I was having coffee the other day with a friend of mine. After we'd been chit-chatting a while, she mentioned something about how she now was 'breaking the law' to save a buck. I paused for a moment, unsure how to respond to this revelation. She then went on to explain that after trying her level best to cut costs to fight inflation, her household budget still wasn't working. Thus, she'd shopped around for cheaper car insurance. Finding none, she called her current company to try to haggle for a lower rate. They told her to download an app, they'd send her a thing to put in her car and she'd get a discount based on her driving patterns. Sounded easy enough to her, she'd never gotten a ticket or been in an accident, therefore, she had to be a great driver. Right? Turns out she was wrong. After a few days of using the app/thing in her car, she checked the app and discovered she had a really low score. Digging deeper into the information about the trips, sh

  Okay, I know that the title of this blog sounds like the opening of a bad joke. But the other day, as I was walking down the street, I noticed these guys trying to park a trailer in a yard. Now, you might be thinking how hard can that be? Well, let me tell you, extremely. This particular yard is surrounded by an eight-foot-high sturdy wrought iron fence. And a gate that once opened left a space which, from my vantage point, appeared to be only about an inch wider than the trailer. So there they were, a guy driving a truck, two guys trying to guide him into the yard. The guy on one side yelled that the truck needed to turn to the right, the other was yelling that the truck needed to turn to the left. The poor driver jiggling the truck back and forth trying to do both. Until the inevitable happened - a loud crunch ringing out as the trailer and the fence collided. Resulting in minor damage to both the trailer and the fence. Now, at some point, the driver should've realized how impo

So the other day I was chatting with someone from another country. I mentioned something about chicken fried steak. And her response was 'Wait, what? Is it chicken or steak, because it can't be both!' Well, that threw me. To me, chicken fried steak is a normal Thursday night meal. Nothing special, nothing unique about it at all. How does she not know what that is? But as I reflected on this a moment, I realized that when I travel a lot of foods I eat I have no idea what they are. To me, they seem so exotic, fun, extraordinary. Like this plate of grilled sausage-like something, I had in Greece a few years back. This meat concoction was divine, sweet, spicy, with a yogurt dip and veggies on the side. So many flavors hitting my tastebuds all at once, I was in heaven. However, to those who live in the area, I'm sure it's nothing to write home about at all. Like my chicken fried steak - this was a normal Thursday night meal in Greece. And this is why I hate the word '

There I was a few weeks ago, standing in my booth space, waiting for customers. It was late afternoon, the rush long gone and almost none remained at the event anymore. An elderly woman the sole person walking the aisle. I watched as her slow,  measured steps took her the length of the building, never stopping to look at anything. Until she got to me. Dressed in dark grey slacks, cream twin set sweater with her short white hair elegantly poofed just right, she had this air of elegance.  As she entered my space, she patted my arm and said something about not wanting a book. But she would like to chat for a moment because she loved my curly hair as it reminded her of her daughter. Of course, I told her 'No problem'. I realize how lonely it can be when you're older, especially if you live alone. Which may or may not have been the case with this woman, I'm well aware. I let her ramble on for a while, about her life in this small town. How she'd never been much farther t

 Okay, I know. I'm an author. I do reviews of books, not movies. But today, I'm making an exception. First, let me explain, why this movie out of all of the movies in the world. It's about adoption, finding one's birth family, and every emotional twist and turn involved. And I went with my sister. Which in itself is a rather big deal. We've known each other for less than a year, yeah, I know that sounds odd. However, I was adopted, thus, it's only recently I've connected with a small part of my birth family. So I could relate to this movie, it felt like the storyline was my life in a way. There were so many places I found myself muttering, "I feel that way", "I've done that", "I've said that", or "I've heard that from so and so". And being there with my sister made the movie even more special. Having a few more moments with her are always a blessing since we've missed out on so much. Beyond that, I feel

I've been working on my schedule for fall events for the last week or so. Various places I'm headed to over the next few months so I can sell my books. And as I've been going over the emails from the various organizers, I realized something. Almost all of them are requesting I have holiday decorations for my booth/table. Uhm, okay. Not something I've been asked to provide in previous years. However, I'm game. Well, I was until I pulled my rather meager collection of decorations out of my attic. There I was, sitting in a pile of mish-mashed weirdness, and knew there was nothing in the bunch which would be presentable to the world. Yup, since I moved into my home, not a single Christmas has been spent in it. And my plans this year are to be somewhere other than my house as well. They say home is where the heart is. And I guess my home is somewhere down the road since I'm always traveling. And as I continued to stare at those decorations various thoughts popped int