Boo is screaming in frustration as she tears off the three layers of clothing I’ve just struggled her into. “I hate all that stuff! Why are you making me wear all these clothes? This is the worst day ever!” The temperature outside is dropping from a cool [...]
Everyone’s heard of the Tooth Fairy. Maybe even the Sugarplum Fairy, of Nutcracker fame. Our household is starting to crowd up with fairies of all sorts. But...does it have to be filled with only the good ones?
I swear I’m going to hurl rainbows if I have [...]
My four-year old is turning on the charm, head tipped to one side, eyelashes fluttering, smiling apple cheeks swelling with cuteness. It’s not working. “Sweetie Bug, I can’t do a puzzle with you, right now. I have to finish my work, first.”
Her face falls [...]
If you've ever spent time in the grocery store studying labels (and what parent doesn't, at least once), you know how frustrating it is comparing all of the information on one box to fifteen other choices, nearby. Wouldn't it be helpful if there were a mark' [...]
Hey SAHMs and WAHMs--any of you considering going back to work? Hey working moms--want a job in a new field? Need a class or two to refresh your skills and improve your résumé? Can't easily get into a State college or University? Don't want to [...]
Big sister Boo is going to a birthday party at Pump It Up, next weekend, one of those warehouse jump house party places. When The Bug discovered she wasn't on the invitation, she vowed that would be where she'd have HER next birthday [...]
There are countless kind, child-friendly ways to get a little one to clean her room. But none of them are working, today.
It's time for some Tough Love action, kiddies.
The Bug is at the age where she can dress herself in something suitable for the occasion, even [...]
I am not a happy camper. And I don't mean that figuratively. I'm really not good at it. I don't hate the outdoors--much to the contrary. I just know too much about what's out there. And what I don't know for sure, my imagination fills in. With' [...]
I'm sure you're all thinking about it. But I haven't seen a post here, yet. And parents, this needs to be said, especially at a time when even "God hates Twitter", according to blogger Christopher Null. The next time you' [...]
I spend a lot of time while teaching my Geography courses talking about the wrongs in the world that need righting. Genocide in Darfur, gangster oligarchs ruling Russia, global climate change, the "ghettoization" and disenfranchisement of poor all over the world. And the more we [...]
When my husband and I were first married nine years ago, he once commented that his kids would never, EVER watch anything but NOVA and Wild Kingdom. I remember raising my eyebrows at this statement, coming as it did on the heels of his wild ride [...]
None of us likes to admit we're in the wrong. Not me. Not ever. And yet, we all know in our heart-of-hearts when we've hurt someone else. Frustratingly, those moments sometimes come at a time when we're defending ourselves from what we perceive as someone else's [...]
It was written in my best lipstick on the shower wall. Impossible to miss. And a pain in the ass to clean. Which is why it stayed there for days, imprinting itself indelibly on my fractured consciousness. If it hadn't been written by someone I had' [...]
Do you have a husband like mine? The kind that knows in his heart of hearts that you're 100% committed to your marriage, but some part of him still worries? He can't help it. He loves you too much.
My husband and I graduated the same year [...]
This afternoon, I caught a colleague of mine in the hallway. We've been busily moving our offices in preparation for renovation of our building and every time I've seen him, he's been with a student, so we haven't spoken much lately. I asked after his [...]
Once upon a time, John Green, author of the book Paper Towns, invented the concept of the Nerdfighter while video blogging with his brother, [...]
