Oh em gee. Did you get your "wrap" from that music streaming service with the horrendous user interface? Me neither. I much prefer the native app on my iPhone. In fact, I'm writing this with my "Writing Juice" playlist coursing through noise-cancelling headphones. It's a mix of my favorite tracks from Led Zeppelin, Deftones and

Punctuality and punctuation get me going. Mrs. McBigTime and I have been in a partnership for so long that we shudder to imagine online dating. Not to yuck anyone's yum, but even imagining what sort of cringy MySpace malarky I'd have on my profile makes me nauseous. "I'll cook you dinner if you cook me

The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I baked a few weeks ago have been enshrined into the permanent rotation. Cooking and baking are like art and science, left brain and right. The former is boundless, untethered from the rules and formalities in baking. What happens if you add too much or too little of one thing

Sometimes, when I tell someone about my family dynamic, it strikes them as peculiar. “Are you and your wife going to have any more kids?” Absolutely not. One sixth grader is enough, and we have a mountain of cats—five of them. Add in our frenetic border collie, Rosie, and the house is full. My parents

The holiday season is underway. I say this with confidence because November’s arrival ushers in auto-rejections to any time-off requests as a retail employee. It’s a timeless tradition where work-life balance is shelved for bending to consumerism’s staggering demands. Every year, I promise myself it will be my last in the suffocating, anxiety-riddled suck. It

Unless you asked me a direct question about food or sports, I was a child who was very shy around adults. Fighting a reputation for being “rude” to small-town folks because I couldn’t even muster please and thank you on Halloween or at the grocery store was tough. The best way to hone interpersonal communication

If taking the initiative were easy, plenty of us would be gliding through life on a constant ascent to achieve our dreams. Me, I’ve always romanticized retirement. For someone born to two entrepreneurial spirits without a lazy bone in their bodies, the leisure and freedom to slack off sure seemed like a life I’d rather

Sometimes, life is stressful. It isn't always tailgating parties and Daisy Dukes like Morgan Wallen sings about. Most of the time, going through a day makes me realize a lot of music is just pandering bull crap. It feels more like Hank Williams Sr. and his crushing, heartache-laced blues. Bills are piling up, and my

“Dirty Ernie” finally kicked the bucket. Ernest Hubbard was my mom’s dad and had one hell of a biography to tell. Ernie lived to the ripe age of 87 and filled those years from Shawnee, Oklahoma, to Northern California with every story and trinket imaginable.  He was the ultimate girl dad, though his four daughters

Bo McBrayer brings the spice with his Week 4 fantasy football advice, giving you the musings and information you need to keep your lineups "hot-n-ready." It might be weird, but I romanticize cookouts on television more than anything else. Whether I’m hosting or taking part, sharing homemade food is an essential thread in the fabric