Haven’t been hit by lightning yet! Articles

Just be there, even if they sleep through it

This past weekend was Chickadee's Fall Break from school, so she came home on Friday afternoon and is headed back today. Four entire days to love on my girl! Four entire days of quality time and family togetherness! Sort of. She got home around 4:30 on Friday and went to bed. She got up around 9:00 and had some dinner and watched TV with me for a little bit, then went back to bed. She slept until 2:00 pm (!!) on Saturday, then headed in to work a shift at 4:00, but then came right back home because they'd double-scheduled, and... went back to sleep. Sunday she slept until 1:00 pm, had some...

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Both falling apart and coming together

I just realized the last thing I wrote about was my eye infection (Hi, I'm Mir, and I'm SEXXXXXYYYYY), and then I promptly went silent for another week because my neck was all jacked up. Longtime readers may recall that 11 years ago I crashed my car into a dump truck and the dump truck definitely won. Chickadee still has the smile-shaped scar and I still have a neck that periodically greets me in the morning with HEY REMEMBER WHEN WE HAD WHIPLASH? LET'S DO THAT WHOLE "CAN'T MOVE" THING AGAIN. So the eye thing responded well to antibiotics and then I woke up with my neck locked; if you would...

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What you see is what you get

It's been a pet peeve of mine for forever, the way people sometimes recoil from labels or admitting that there's anything less-than-perfect about themselves or their special snowflakes. So it should come as no surprise that I have some things to say on the topic of whether or not special-needs students should disclose in their college application essays. I know. You're shocked. It's shocking. [Sidebar: Maybe less of a good idea to discuss your laundry habits, as I'm not sure a certain child of mine would've been accepted to her school if they knew that she just didn't do laundry the entire...

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Because everyone LOVES politics!

By the time this next presidential election is over, I never want to talk about politics again. Ever. Or at least for a day or two. I have mixed feelings about politics in general. It's complicated. (Related: I called my senators during the filibuster last night, and because I'm polite I left my name and number along with my message. Neither of them has called back. I am relieved, but also annoyed.) Nevertheless, when you're trying to raise kids to be good global citizens, the "pretend it doesn't exist" option is... probably not a good choice. So today I'm attempting to field a question...

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Trying to brightside

I don't know about you, but for me, reading the news lately is pretty much making me hate everyone and everything. My perspective on recent events is neither new nor substantially different than the many smart people who've already written about what's going on, but when has that ever stopped me, before? If you have kids and you're following the Brock Turner case, I humbly offer you some talking points for your family to try to eke a tiny bit of good (education) out of something awful (miscarriage of justice).

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Battling the verklempt

I am nothing if not illogical when it comes to my children, so after telling you last week how graduation didn't hit me the way I thought it would---because it's a Very Big Thing, y'know---of course this morning I'm on the verge of tears because Monkey started his summer job. As in, working. For money. In a lab. LIKE A RESPONSIBLE GROWN(ISH) PERSON. I need a minute. I considered taking a picture of his shoes, per tradition, but it was clear that I was already irritating the snot out of him as he got ready ("Mom, I have everything. STOP ASKING.") so in the end I opted for discretion. Feel...

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Here we are adulting

Hey! How was your weekend? Didja do anything fun? Things were pretty uneventful 'round here. I mean, um, I'm pretty sure there wasn't anything good on TV, though my firstborn did graduate from high school. That was pretty much the most exciting thing ever for a million reasons, chief among them that I will do almost anything to see her looking as happy and proud of herself as she did on Saturday. It got even better on Sunday, when everything was over and we bid the relatives adieu and commenced spending the entire day lounging around in our pajamas. Not that the rest of it wasn't great, you...

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Recent discoveries, in no particular order

Graduation is on Saturday, and so I will just be over here Cleaning All The Things and Cooking All The Things and Crying About All The Things, if you need me. However, I'll leave you with a few items I've noticed of late, because I am nothing if not helpful. 1) Wishing you could lose a little weight, but feeling stupid for being shallow and wishing you could lose a little weight? Solution: Have one of those fancy keep-track-of-everyone's-profile bathroom scales, and then one day while trying to flick some lint off the scale with your toe before weighing yourself, somehow accidentally tell it...

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That about sums it up

As we continue barreling down the road to graduation (AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE), life refuses to stop, regardless of the MANY MANY FEELS that seem to be popping up everywhere. Sheesh. To top it off, today is Otto's and my 9th anniversary. I'm not entirely sure why he's still here, but I do bake a lot of cookies and stuff, so who knows. He continues to be my anchor in the very best sense of the metaphor: my strength, my favorite, my dependable partner in everything, really, but most notably in late-night-television-watching-and-tormenting-the-dogs-with-popcorn. Everyone should have an Otto. But not...

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Things I Might Once Have Said

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