Articles written by Valerie Preston

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About me - Valerie Preston

I am a 60 year old retired woman and lover of life, living in a rural setting with plenty of land to explore with my dog, but few social outlets nearby. I have always loved to write, and now that I have the time I can enjoy the luxury of doing some creative

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Autos > Fuel Economy How to increase gas mileage: 2 of 22

Driving a car these days is like feeding a hungry monster. Every time you turn around it's time to buy more gas and the price is higher. Yet how much you pay for gas is not equal to the prices at the stations. A good deal of how much you are shelling out for gasoline has to do with several factors beyond price, such as your ...
Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Memorial Day: 2 of 15

Like many Americans, Memorial Day was always to me a day to honor our fallen and living soldiers of war. As I grew up, it never had any actual personal significance, except to honor my brother, who returned from 3 years of duty in Vietnam so many years ago. I always felt it was a special day, and out of loyalty to our countr...
Creative Writing > Memoirs Memoirs My true garden story: 117 of 287

I loved my new home. I was a young woman then, buying this gorgeous mobile home on my own, and it was all mine! I gazed about me with pride, taking in the glorious details. I had just moved in, and I loved the privacy the lot afforded, as it was set back quite a distance on a cul-de-sac in a mobile home park. My front yard w...
Jobs & Careers > Office Politics Mental Health: Working with crazy clients and loving it: 5 of 9

As far back as written history, we have evidence that there has always been a segment of the population that has been labeled as "crazy", both deserved and undeserved. Think of the "witches" burned at the stake. The extent that a person is crazy can be plotted on a bell-shaped curve, in the same way all human attributes and ...
Health & Fitness > Diabetes Diabetes (Type II): Symptoms and treatment: 9 of 14

TYPE II DIABETES; A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD We don't always have choices about whether or not we will have good health. An example is Diabetes. It is a genetic disease with effects on the body that can be devastating. In Type I, it is present at birth, and may emerge later rather than right away. For some, legs or eyesight are lo...
Parenting & Pregnancy > Parenting Tips Tips for parents raising children with special needs: 12 of 18

Being a retired Coordinator of Services for Children with Special needs in the State of Georgia, I find there are so many things I want to tell parents, that I could write a book about it. This will be a brief synopsis to give you some ideas to meet your child's needs for activities, therapies, equipment, socialization, and ...
Arts & Humanities > Philosophical Concepts The importance of love in finding a life purpose: 11 of 16

I remember when I was in college, over 40 years ago, reading a study which examined the implications of monkeys being raised on a surrogate cloth monkey mother, v.s. those raised on a wire monkey mother. Both groups showed dysfunctional behaviors, but those raised on the wire monkey displayed significantly more negative and ...
Politics, News & Issues > Food & Agriculture Consumer view on agriculture: 26 of 33

I feel I am quite fortunate in that I came, by no plan of my own, to live on a crop farm in rural North Carolina 3 years ago. Having lived in cities all of my life, I am privileged to smell the sweetness of hay floating on the breeze, to see the freshly plowed fields and observe, over the seasons, food growing and crops bein...
Relationships & Family > Love & Relationships How to start dating again when you're over 50: The female perspective: 16 of 20

Becoming single again at 50 changed me completely. Now, 11 years later, I look back and I am delighted at who I've become. I can see the fears, hurdles and the triumphs I overcame over the years while trying to like my aging self and date again, as a "senior single". It made a New Woman of me. Yep, and you probably feel like...
Creative Writing > Reflections Reflections: Where does your inspiration come from?: 125 of 126

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29553903@N08/ Dancing with Lizzy To me, Life is like the song of a dolphin, indecipherable but amazingly joyous, and deceptively simple. My inspiration for living is like that song, but I didn't understand that until my senior years, age 60 to be exact, when I held the fins of a Dolphin named Liz...