Slice of Life by Vanessa Renderman

SLICE OF LIFE: Shattering Powerball dreams

May 19, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

Seven minutes. I was seven minutes late to buy my chance at hundreds of millions of dollars.

It was 9:07 p.m. Wednesday when I rushed into a Schererville gas station and shouted, "Powerball! Is it too late?"

The attendant shook his head.

SLICE OF LIFE: Emphasis on beauty leads to ugly outcomes

April 28, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

If you watch TV, you've probably seen the latest Dove commercial.

It shows women describing themselves to a forensic sketch artist who cannot see them.

"I would say I have a pretty big forehead," one woman says.

SLICE OF LIFE: A kid at heart in a grown-up world

April 14, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

In just over a week, I'll turn 33 years old.

That felt like a lie, typing 33. You know who is 33? An adult. And most days, I don't feel like an adult. I feel like a kid, like Tom Hanks in "Big," but without the loft apartment and trampoline.

I'm a kid in a grown-up world, eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for dinner and sliding around the kitchen in socks while other people have a mortgage and read for leisure and jog.

SLICE OF LIFE: Easter brings a time of renewal

March 31, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

Comedian Jim Gaffigan, a Region native, does a bit about holidays.

His Easter joke is a conversation that goes like this:

"Easter. The day Jesus rose from the dead. What should we do?" he asks.

SLICE OF LIFE: Irish eyes are rollin' at Ireland memories

March 17, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I originally wrote, "Top o' the mornin' to ya!" to be cute, but I just read on the Internet that people don't really say that in Ireland.

Just like they don't wear green every day, mainline Guinness or sustain themselves solely on potatoes.

SLICE OF LIFE: Living a Pinteresting life

March 03, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

Hello. My name is Vanessa, and it has been 22 minutes since I last logged in to Pinterest.

I know you're out there, fellow Pinterest addicts. Raise your calloused, glitter-pocked hands.

For those who haven't ventured into the world of Pinterest, it's basically a website loaded with pictures of stuff that people post from blogs, websites or their own handiwork.

SLICE OF LIFE: There's no place like the homeland

February 17, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

Back in the day, when I was young and dumb and swiping my credit card so often that the numbers turned soft and rounded, I went to Europe.

Well, I went a couple of times, hence my decision a few years ago to cut up all my credit cards and put them in an envelope dramatically labeled "Never Again."

But this isn't a story about my love/hate relationship with credit cards, which I have since learned are to be respected and are quite necessary when you want to rent a car.

SLICE OF LIFE: Bingo is its name-o

February 03, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

There we sat, our keisters numb against the banged-up, brown metal folding chairs.

Half-empty Styrofoam cups of pop and a chocolate-smudged Snickers wrapper lay on the table like the aftermath of a junk food tornado.

We were nearly three hours into Bingo night, my first foray into the subculture of dabbers, bell ringing and church carnival-style pull tab games.

SLICE OF LIFE: Living life in automatic drive

January 20, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

I'm starting to hate little modern conveniences.

Oh sure, it's annoying when an automatic faucet in the bathroom doesn't read your wave, and it can be alarming when a toilet mis-interprets your lack of motion as motion.

But, over the holidays I had an encounter with an automatic air freshener the could've cost me my vision.

SLICE OF LIFE: Lysol-ing through the holidays

January 06, 2013 12:00 am • By Vanessa Renderman vanessa.renderman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3244

A freshly cut Christmas tree. A roasted turkey. That office supply smell Scotch tape leaves on your fingers when you're wrapping presents. They're all scents that remind me of the holidays.

I've got another one for the list. Lysol.

With my folks in town, our household has grown to six. That means six people are bringing home germs at the end of the day, like awful little invisible souvenirs from department stores, work and visits with loved ones.