Hi Y’all, I’m Beth
I’m Beth Gramling Sanders, an empty nester, married since 1986, and mom of two wonderful grown women.
Way geekier than most women my age, along with my oldest daughter, Elizabeth, I stood in line for 12 hours in 2007 for the very first iPhone.
Hi Y’all, I’m Beth
I’m an empty nester, way geekier than most women my age. I consider myself too old to be a hipster and too young at heart to be a geezer. I’m a Christ follower, life-long St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan, crossword puzzle nerd, wordsmith and all-around technology freak and early adopter.
I was a stay-at-home mom for 14 years, as my husband, Jim, and I raised our two daughters. I enjoy my girls as adults more than I ever dreamed and love being free from enforcing curfew, nagging about homework, and throwing down a four-course dinner every night.
This blog is my personal thoughts and insights on life, family, faith, the expression of experiences and wisdom gained through 60+ years of life, and things I enjoy.
My professional self is on my website, aptly named BethGSanders.com.
Latest Post
When Life Throws You a 12-6 Curveball
Y’all know what a 12-6 curveball is? You do if you’re a baseball fan like me. Imagine you’re at bat and you see the ball coming toward you. You can tell it’s not a 100-mph fastball and it looks like it’s just in the right place to connect with the sweet spot of your...
3 Reasons I’m Not a Petrie or a Cleaver
I love to watch old sitcoms like The Dick VanDyke Show, Leave it to Beaver, and The Andy Griffith Show. They are relaxing to watch, as the characters' problems, always wrapped up neatly in half an hour, would earn a #FirstWorldProblems hashtag in today's world....
Why What I Don’t Know is Totally OK
Y'all are going to think there is something wrong with me. So a few caveats are in order before I tell this story: I'm an intelligent, educated woman, and have, in the past, supported myself quite well. I am not a backwards ninny who has to ask her husband's...
Bad News and Good News
We're about two weeks into the unemployment and, of course, there are big changes around here. Some good, some not so good. I wrote about it last week. Bad news first: We're in only-spend-money-on-necessities mode. That means no extras; no restaurants, no...
Clean Out. Move On.
Earlier this week, I wrote about Jim's sudden layoff this past Tuesday morning. One of the things that made it difficult was that he and the others were asked to leave the building immediately and make arrangements to pick up personal effects after business hours. So...
Rethinking Necessity
Taken on Greers Ferry Lake. A place that always feels peaceful. Early this morning as I got ready for work, I tweeted this: Getting in the shower & forgetting to put the shower curtain inside the tub: the new mopping the bathroom floor. #emptynesters #fb — beth g...
Insomnia and Creativity: Story of My Life
Insomnia. It comes and goes, and I never know when it’s coming or when it will go. It perpetuates itself; the longer you go without sleeping, the more you worry because you’re not sleeping. The anxiety keeps you awake, so you can’t get to sleep, because you’re worried...
Stan Musial, Daddy, and The Jersey
Stan Musial died today. And it made me cry. Stan Musial, for those who aren't baseball fans, is the greatest Cardinal who ever played the game. He played his entire career — 22 years — in St. Louis. His statistics are impressive, to be sure, as he was the consummate...
For Gracie: Godspeed, Tiny Puppy
If we're connected on any social network, you know by now that we lost one of our four dogs on Christmas Day. We're not really sure what happened, but the best guess is that she had an illness we didn't know about and just found a place in my mom's back yard to curl...
The View From 54
I never try to hide my age; I'm proud of each and every year. I always say, no cancer survivor complains about growing older. I cherish and revel in my birthdays, because each one is another little triumph over the big C. For those of you who dread getting older,...
Post-Election Thoughts: Sportsmanship Award or Penalty?
Thank goodness this election is over. Never in all my years of voting (and that's quite a few) have I seen such divisiveness and bitterness. I've seen rifts between friends over who is voting for whom. Over the past few months, many of my Facebook friends have talked...
5 Ways to Get Ready for the Empty Nest. With Charts.
One of the things I'm proudest of is the fact that Jim and I will celebrate 26 years of marriage next month. No small feat to find someone who will put up with me for that long. We have learned a lesson or two in the process, so I thought I'd share a few. First, you...
Favorite Things: September Baseball and a Cool Breeze
This week we took our second trip to St. Louis this season to see the Cardinals play the Houston Astros. We got on the road early as we had booked a stadium tour at 2:00 p.m. Each trip is awesome in its own way, but this one may be the best yet. We stopped in at the...
3 Things to Understand About Teenagers
Yes, it is possible to communicate with teenagers — in fact, I believe most of the time they really want to invite us into their world. But what happens when they do? When they want to share their ideas about music, clothes, activities, do we call it stupid or let...
Godspeed, Srannie
If you’re a mom, you feel what your children feel. When they are tiny and they have colic and cry, you’re at least as miserable as they are.
Memories: Old and New
Parents of young kids, take heart. Your best times with your kids are yet to come.
Kitchen Redo: Phase Two
We aren't quite to "after," but the new cabinets are in. It took an entire day, and, of course we're going to have to do some touch-up painting. And some drywall work as, shockingly, our furdown is not completely plumb. Haven't used the stove or oven yet, as we have...
Kitchen Redo: The Beginning
We've been living with an outdated kitchen since we bought our house in 1991. Built in 1978, the kitchen was, and still is, of that vintage, complete with the lovely harvest gold stove and double ovens. The cabinets are original as well and the countertops date back...
Balls, Strikes and Memories
Today I think about my dad on the 19th anniversary of his passing. He taught me most of what I know about life, love and how to be a good person. He also taught me 99 percent of what I know about baseball. I don't even remember when we started watching games, I must...