Betty Werth
-
-
Betty Werth: For toilets, it's all name
People frequently ask me where I get ideas for my columns. After this one, you may not want to know. Because this one is about toilets. I didn't get the idea there, though. It came to me at a local home store when my husband and I wandered past a display of sale toilets and they all had names.
Continued ... -
Betty Werth: Looking back at big, bad 2008
The wonderful thing about a new year is the opportunity to "start fresh" with a new slate of possibilities, potential and purpose. You can cut loose your mistakes, saying "goodbye" to the things at which you didn't succeed in 2008, and plunge ahead in a new direction, saying "hello" to a whole raft of excellent adventures in 2009!
Continued ... -
Betty Werth: No bailout for Santa
In this serious worldwide economic downturn, did you ever ask yourself why Santa isn't on Capitol Hill asking for a bailout? He faces a huge demand for product, a lot of it bought on credit, and has to meet payroll for his factories and delivery company just as the economy is frying faster than Frosty in Florida.
Continued ... -
Betty Werth: Marketing Thanksgiving
Now that we're past all of the Halloween hoopla, it's time to think about the thrills and chills of Thanksgiving. Except there aren't any, unless you count the excitement of learning, late Thanksgiving night, that your digestive tract has finally conquered the bushel of mashed potatoes and tankard of giblet gravy you joyfully stuffed down during Thanksgiving dinner.
Continued ... -
Betty Werth: Heading into home stretch
With one month left to listen to Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain sling mud at each other, it won't be long before we can't stand either one. We wade into this morass every four years and we know how it goes. In fact, I know it so well I don't have to listen to the candidates; I can fling it on my own.
Continued ... - Sunday, September 14, 2008
-
Betty Werth: Technology, species evolve
Humans are constantly evolving, which may be why we can master the mathematics of technology but not outrun a tiger. Over time we develop the skills we need to survive. Had we not built our brains instead of our legs, you wouldn't be reading this right now; you'd be watching for tigers and hopping from bush to bush on thighs the size of tree-trunks. (And if you ARE doing that, no offense.)
Continued ... - Sunday, August 17, 2008
-
Betty Werth: Admiring Olympics from my sofa
I've never been an athlete, but I watch them on TV. I don't know about you, but for me sports are like spandex shorts. They look better on other people. I don't know whether it's my attitude, lack of coordination (I can fall lying down) or luck that hampered my development, but my athletic growth never got any bigger than a wart. So when the Olympics are on, I am a junkie.
Continued ... - Sunday, July 20, 2008
-
Betty Werth: Lower summer job expectations
The first job for a kid often is "summer employment" that gives him or her a little pocket jingle. But almost no organization is looking for a "summer boss" to collect a huge paycheck and sit in a large, air-conditioned office doing bossy stuff. No, most summer jobs begin at the bottom.
Continued ... - Wednesday, May 28, 2008
-
Betty Werth: Graduation worth attention
Ahh, graduation. It's a strange ritual, when you think of it. You put on a shapeless "gown" that looks like a choir robe from the 1950s, stick a nylon-covered piece of cardboard on your head, and with 50 or 200 or 500 others dressed exactly like you, sit through a ceremony that except for minor particulars is a lot like every other graduation ceremony in America for the past 100 years.
Continued ... - Tuesday, April 29, 2008
-
Betty Werth: Twin themes of golf and taxes
Steve was all set to fill in our tax return a few weeks ago and then decided to go hit balls in the yard. The course wasn't open yet, but that never stops him. Golf is all he can think about. In fact, every time I brought up taxes, he brought up golf, as if the topics are related.
Continued ... - Tuesday, April 1, 2008
-
Betty Werth: The art of looking good
You've seen those studies that say "The average American spends two years of his life waiting at traffic signals." I want someone to do a study on how long we spend looking for our glasses. I suspect I have already wasted five years looking for my glasses, and I've only had them for six.
Continued ... - Monday, March 3, 2008
-
Betty Werth: This is a 'hot spot' -- really
When it comes to the best spots to live on God's green earth, northern Michigan is sometimes referred to as a "best-kept secret." That "secret" is particularly well hidden right now when, at first glance, this looks like where hell finally froze over. But once the snow melts and spring arrives, it's hard to find any place prettier.
Continued ... - Thursday, January 31, 2008
-
Betty Werth: Reality show makes sense
As I was lying on my couch one day I came across a home fix-up show. The camera panned in on a pale whale of a house -- shabby, overgrown and stuffed to the dormers with junk. A van roared up and 60 minutes later the house was clean, trim and looking 50 years younger. I wonder if they make people calls?
Continued ... - Thursday, January 3, 2008
-
Betty Werth: The 'perfect' New Year's Eve
Have you ever had a "perfect" New Year's Eve? The kind that was so much fun you want to do it again the exact same way? And no matter how hard you try, you can't repeat those same exact steps, regenerate that same euphoria, re-align those same stars?
Continued ... - Thursday, December 6, 2007
-
Betty Werth: Turkey lore: Read it and eat it
If you are a red-blooded American, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas you will be having turkey for dinner. Statistically, it's almost un-American not to. Ninety percent of American homes serve turkey for Thanksgiving (!) and 50 percent also serve it for Christmas. (The turkey industry obviously does pretty well but I wonder about the actual turkeys. Do they get their cut?)
Continued ... - Thursday, November 8, 2007
-
Betty Werth: Deer: Trying to keep things even
Over the years I have written about the firearm deer season from a number of different angles. I have examined its purpose, its history, its credo, its grip. I have looked at its food, fashion, weapons and accoutrements. From where I sit there's only one critical point of view left.
Continued ... - Thursday, October 25, 2007
-
Betty Werth: Halloween is your chance to be fat
I don't know just when this happened, but Halloween has been taken over by adults. Having declared it too unsafe and/or pagan for kids, adults have snatched the holiday away like taking candy from a ... yeah. Exactly.
Continued ... - Friday, October 12, 2007
-
Disturbing signs of the times
I don't know much about football, but when U-M and Notre Dame teams both lost one weekend, and the Lions won, one of my co-workers said, "Good heavens. It's Armageddon." I knew God would send a sign, but I never thought he'd do it through sports.
Continued ... - Friday, August 31, 2007
-
Betty Werth: No predicting this summer's great weather
It has been a spectacularly beautiful summer if you like 80-90-degree temperatures, brilliant blue skies, and enough sun to freckle an albino.
Continued ...
-
Betty Werth: For toilets, it's all name
Recording Superstar Whitney Houston Dead at 48
Fans 'Speechless' Over Houston's Death
Romney Tops Santorum in CPAC Straw Poll
First glimpse of Blue Ivy Carter
Absolute Lin-sanity
Hate to be Rude: Bubba Watson
Peek inside Barbie's closet
Test on Comforter in Powell Unit Shows Blood
Angry Dad Shoots Teens Laptop
Hero Driver Saves Kids From Burning Bus
Funeral to be held for Powell boys
Sandusky on having to stay inside and people turning on him
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Woolly Mammoth Caught on Camera?
Did JLo 'Assault' Marc Anthony on Camera?
Christie Brinkley's Runway Slip
Toddler forced to run half-naked in snow
Halle Wants to Leave the Country
Northern Lights shine above earth
Plane makes perfect belly landing
