This Stop Willoughby

It's true, I'm a nicknamer and I have been for as long as I can remember.  It all started when I was a baby.  I'm not sure if I didn't know my parents' given names or I just couldn't remember them, but I started calling them "Mom" and "Dad".  Whether I coined these terms isn't clear (although I'm pretty sure I did) because I've heard other people use them when referring to their parents.  In any case, you guys are my friends, so feel free to use them within your own families. My husband has a first name.  I've seen his birth certificate, so I know what it is, but I don't use it.  I usually call him "honey" or some other term of endearment.  Lately, especially if we're working on a project together, we call each other "Louis" and "Billy Ray".  It comes from the movie Trading Places, where, at the end, Eddie Murphy says "Looking good, Louis" and Dan Aykroyd replies "Feeling ...

The names of all participants were put in a hat and after some thorough mixing, I had my daughter draw one at random.  Want to know who won?  It's ~K~!  Congratulations, ~K~!  I hope you enjoy your running t-shirt! Willoughby

Yesterday started out warm and breezy.  The sky was a clear brilliant blue, save for the occasional white cloud drifting by.  It was as close to the perfect summer morning as you could hope for. As the day wore on, the temperature and humidity rose sharply.  The air felt thick and heavy under what had now become a dull, gray sky.  Even a short walk to the park had transformed into a perspiration inducing task.  It was downright dreary; clear that rain was on it's way. There is nothing quite like a good summer rain and no better place to view it than a covered porch, so we sat outside and waited for it to begin.  From time to time a dark cloud would spill a dozen or so big drops, but that was about it.  Eventually, we gave up waiting and went about our evening. Mr. Willoughby was at the back of the yard near the pool when he called up to me.  He told me to step off the porch and come look at the sky.  It was amazing, he said, and I neede...

We spent a recent evening in our backyard enjoying a bonfire and doing some star gazing.  From time to time, we would see a plane fly overhead and wonder about it.  Where was it coming from and going to?  Just for fun, we would imagine all sorts of destinations. But then we started to ponder the science of it.  We saw at least a half dozen planes that night and they were all little more than dots in the sky, so we had to assume they were flying at cruising altitude, approximately 30,000 feet.  The closest major airport is about 60 miles away.  Would a plane have climed that high in that distance or were the planes we were seeing coming from a more distant airport?  This led to the biggest question of the evening.  How far away, in land miles, could a plane be seen?  Let me clarify.  Let's imagine there was a super bright light that shined from the bottom of the plane, back to the ground.  We can agree that the light would mark a ...

You can never have too much motivation when you're trying to achieve your goals, right?  That's what Mr. Willoughby and I thought when some people we know decided to take up running.  To give them a little extra encouragement, we designed and printed some t-shirts for them.  It turns out that when other runners saw them, they wanted a little extra motivation, too, and we've been busy at our screen press ever since. They are now available on our Etsy store, The Cabbage Rose , but we also wanted to have a giveaway.  If you're already a runner, trying to become a runner, know a runner, or just like free t-shirts, enter the giveaway and you could win one!  We'd love to give you some extra motivation! Are you motivated to enter?  Here's what you need to do: Entry Rules 1. You must be a follower of This Stop Willoughby, or become one. 2. You must click on the link to The Cabbage Rose , browse the running shirts, and then come back and leave a comm...

Because we have a bar on our back porch, we get some pretty great bar related gifts.  One of our favorites is a set of dishes in the shape of the letters B-A-R. They're great for drink garnishes like olives, cherries and lemon wedges. On Saturday, we had a small dinner party for my parents 55th wedding anniversary and we used them to serve finger foods.  As the snacks were consumed, the dishes got moved around.  I didn't notice it until my daughter walked up to grab a few pistachios. She stood looking at the dishes and smirking.  Then she started laughing. I asked her what was so funny. She told me to look at the dishes. That was when we noticed they no longer spelled B-A-R. They spelled...... (wait for it) (wait for it) ....they spelled B-R-A. Do we know how to party or what? Happy 55th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!  May you have 55 more wonderful years together! Willoughby