The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less

Writer's Resolution Enough's Enough! No more shall I Pursue the Muse and scorch the pie Or dream of Authoring a book When I (unhappy soul) must cook; Or burn the steak while I wool-gather, And stir my spouse into a lather Invoking words like "Darn!" and such And others that are worse (Oh, much!) Concerning culinary knack Which I (HE says) completely lack. I'll keep my mind upon my work; I'll learn each boresome cooking quirk; This day shall mark a new leaf's turning... That smell! Oh Hell! The beans are burning!

Sometimes when your life seems most out of control, you know there's a direction. I don't mean you can't have free will--in fact, that can be the most important part.

At that moment we knew that as long as we used our brains, we were not victims. By striking out to write our own ticket, we would grow up to be like our mother, winners.

From then on, we knew there could never be a problem bigger than Mom's ability to solve it.

My mother didn't like to hear profanity, and she certainly never spoke it. She had always told us that swearing was the sign of a lackluster vocabulary and, worse, a stunted imagination. "There are so many interesting words to use, along or in combination," she said, "that I don't know why anyone would fall back on one-syllable obscenities.

Every time I pass church I stop and make a visit So when I'm carried in feet first God won't say, "Who is it?

Sometimes t feels like I live in a circus and all the animals are loose.