River got laid off from his job on Monday this week. We’re still trying to get our feet under ourselves. No severance pay for him, but one more partial paycheck. Meanwhile, the need to continue to make payments marches on. The house we bought, our first, which seems like just yesterday. The pre-school for our […]
Yesterday, I mentioned to River that our kids have been wreaking havoc on our toilets, and we need a consistent means of keeping the bathrooms clean, non-nasty, smelling at least something like neutral. He fully agreed, acknowledging an awareness of our children’s role in the process of smell and yuck, and said that he would […]
For the last few years I’ve felt like the private investigator of my own life. I’m searching, patiently waiting, looking things up, trying to remember who this person is I’m researching. Who was she before she got married? Who was she before children? Before this move, that relocation, this drastic life-changing moment?
On the radio this […]
My sister Kate has been traveling in southeast Asia with an experienced traveler, Michael, as her guide and companion. Somehow, she has been managing to blog about the experience as she goes.
I have especially been enjoying her accounts of the bathrooms as they progress from plumbed areas of civilization to towns where the common toilet […]
Yesterday, while walking children home from school, while we were learning some choice words in Spanish from our Mexican neighbor friend, Irazu, she asked if she could come over to play. I told her my gut response, which was, “No.”
“Why?” she asked persistently.
“Because… my kids need to come inside… today,” I said, realizing how lame […]
After living for a couple of months now with two active Tamagotchi toys, and three youngling human “parents” who are fickle about their nurturing skills, I think I may have reached the end of the magic. The spell seems to be lifting.
It first showed signs of dispersal when the battery abruptly died in one of […]
As a gift during the recent holiday season, my kids received a book of hangman puzzles. You scratch away a little silver circle near each letter you’re guessing at, to reveal either a number corresponding to where that letter should go in the blank spaces below, or a little man’s face with the tongue jerked […]
Something about this time of year makes me want to abandon all knowledge and possessions and just wander off into the woods to see if I can survive. Days go by and I’m not sure if I remembered to eat, or if the sun actually rose. Sometimes it’s because I was focusing so hard on […]
This is what my youngest son is singing these days as he wanders around the house, doing chores, craft projects or playing with mini monster trucks:
deck the halls with bells are holly
fa la la la la…
’tis the seasons to be jolly
fa la la la la…
gone we now our decka carol
fa la la la la…
strike the […]
I’ve been carrying around this plastic, electronic egg in my pocket for a couple of weeks now. Occasionally it beeps and complains. Sometimes it emits a series of hip-hip-hooray-sounding electronic riffs. I’m hooked.
My live, human children, who are unlikely to gain an additional younger human sibling, are now directing their jealousy at the plastic, electronic […]