The woman on the youtube video says that rolling out a pie crust is quite simple and not at all a daunting task. The woman on the youtube video is full of lies. I’m rolling and flouring and doing everything she says to do, but my crust is cracking and crumbling and falling apart. I call one of my sisters for confirmation that I am not a complete and total reject who somehow missed out on the cooking and baking gene. She reassures me that her pie crusts fall apart as well, so I take a deep breath and continue on. I have been preparing for this moment for days.…

When I was a little girl my family and I lived in a farmhouse in the country. It had a long driveway lined with cottonwood trees, plenty of fresh air, and little else. No cupboards in the kitchen, an upstairs that was literally crumbling, and when my parents first arrived, walls covered in soot. It also contained a family of mice that made its presence known by squealing when we sat on the couch and left droppings in the clean laundry. By the world’s standards my mother had nothing during this time. Nothing but a note on the fridge that said, “ Keep your lives free from the love of money…

One of my guilty pleasures is watching Hallmark movies with my mom. It’s what we do together. I’m pretty sure my mom pays for cable just so she can get the Hallmark channel. Any time I visit the answer to “what should we do tonight?” is always, “is anything good playing on the Hallmark channel tonight?” Sometimes she even tapes the movies for me. You know, ones that she thinks I really need to see. Like, “A Princess for Christmas.” Obviously. The movies always have a happy ending, and are guaranteed to never give me nightmares. They allow me to spend a couple of hours in happy-land. I’m not sure…