I've been writing here for coming up on ten (!!) years, and I can still count my very favorite posts on a single hand. That means either that those posts are beyond stupendous and/or meaningful, or that a lot of what I write here is utter drivel. Let's not think about it too hard. One of incidents that will always hold a special place of combined hilarity and horror in my mind was detailed in this post from seven years ago wherein my darling daughter discovered that the human body is terrifying and disgusting. A lot of time has passed, and I still ever-awkward in my sharing of Information I...
As promised earlier, here's a handy-dandy FAQ I made for you to help in getting through this season of fundraising with good cheer. Hint: Be nice to the kids who come knocking on your door, even if you're not buying anything. Also: Can I interest you in some grapefruit...?
So before I forget, allow me to direct you to my latest recipe over at Alpha Mom, the perfect option if you kind of secretly love old-fashioned chicken casserole type things but are 1) gluten-free, 2) a fan of spices other than salt, and 3) religiously opposed to recipes that involve canned soup. This one is our alternative to chicken pot pie, but it's topped with (gluten-free) cornbread. If you're not gluten-free, make the cornbread with regular flour; I don't judge. Also, have you ever noticed that sometimes you ask me questions, or say "hey, can we see a picture of that?" and I don't...
Sometimes people ask me about the secret to success when it comes to a blended family, and usually I laugh and laugh and then ask them what they mean by "success," and also, have they actually MET my family...? But I think I've figured it out. The key is to make All Things Family mimic the child's natural propensity for mood shifts. Even-tempered kid? Keep things on a nice, regular keel. Not-so-even-tempered kid? Hit the outlet mall. Where else can you go where---when your mother inquires about where to find that shirt in the window, and when the sales associate informs her that that's the...
I think we all know I've been a little out of sorts for a bit. ("O RILLY?" you say, because you are mostly nice and only a little wanting to poke fun at my uncharacteristic use of understatement.) Various... things... and medications... have left me feeling... well, let's say... unfulfilled. ["Hey Mom," said a child of mine, a few days ago, "I've been reading your blog and apparently you hate everyone and everything. How's that going?" Testament to my priorities: I just felt self-satisfied that this information was obtained from my blog when said child LIVES WITH ME. I must be doing a...
Today I am tired of all the ways in which my family of special snowflakes is so extra snowflakey and specialish. Today I just want to be a regular family with regular issues and all of the same stuff that everyone deals with because half-grown humans are dealing with hormone poisoning and incomplete frontal lobes. This means you get to delight in the one way in which our family is just like any other, and that means that over at Alpha Mom I'm helping you to clarify when you're allowed to exist and when your teenager needs you to just stop it, seriously, GOD MOM. Now if you'll excuse me, I...
Sometimes I share stories because it's something I want to be sure to remember, myself. Sometimes I share stories because I think they're funny. Sometimes, there's something that causes me to have MANY MANY FEELS and then part of the way I deal with that is by sharing (either for solidarity or because misery loves company or whatever). And then, sometimes, I'm just here to make you feel better about your own parenting choices. Just another service I offer! This went up at Alpha Mom yesterday, and already a couple of commenters called it an excellent "Pinterest antidote," which made me laugh....
I continue to be a giant barrel of fun wrapped up in a drooling, spontaneous nap. Perhaps I should try to enter a new line of work, such as mattress tester. (Not that I'd be all that good at it; turns out I can sleep just about anywhere.) Now I have a new thing to keep me awake, though! Woooooo! Lucky me. Have I ever mentioned (once or a hundred times) that I have terrible skin? More specifically, I have finicky, easily insulted skin, as befits a delicate flower such as myself. As a teenager I had the occasional pimple, no big deal, but my acne has continued to worsen in adulthood until it...
I have two sort-of-parenting-related things for you today: 1) I'm coming clean and I've donned my fireproof suit; over at Alpha Mom I'm explaining why I feel justified in snooping on my children. Now I just sit back and wait for someone to explain to me why I'm a terrible person, right? Because that's how the Internet works. 2) While I am merely angering random people online, some other folks are doing awesome charitable things while being rockstars. For the entire month of October, my friends Asha Dornfest and Christine Koh (co-authors of Minimalist Parenting) are donating 100% of royalties...
