Jul
21
When I only had one child and all her toys fit in a laundry basket, keeping the house clean was pretty easy. Now I have two kids that have way too much stuff, one house that is way too small and not nearly enough time to deal with working, parenting, chauffeuring, cooking AND housekeeping.
My solution?
Put the kids to work!
Well, that was the idea but it mostly amounted to me asking them to do various things around the house and them complaining and/or procrastinating and generally resisting anything resembling a chore.
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Jul
11
A few months back, my daughter and I were going to a tea house with her best friend and her best friend’s mom. We were early so we sat in the parking lot listening to a This American Life podcast while we waited.
I didn’t catch the whole story but it seemed to be about a dying mother who, thanks to annual letters she had written in advance to her daughter before she died, managed, for better or worse, to shape and impact her daughter’s life from beyond the grave.
Listening to this story made me sad. My own mom had died unexpectedly in an accident when I was 13. In all the years since her death, I’d only ever thought about all the things I’d never gotten to say to her. It NEVER ONCE occurred to me that maybe there were things she would have liked to have said to me before she died.
How is it possible that I’d never considered this?
And it got me thinking of all the things I’d want my daughter and son to know if I was going to die tomorrow. For days afterward things popped into my mind faster than I could even remember them. I needed a BRAIN TIVO…
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Jul
06
Sue, I have known you
for so long
If I were more musical
I’d write you a song
Instead you get this
Please don’t feel dissed
We don’t “talk” every day
like we used to Get the whole story »
Jun
28
I’ve lived in Florida my entire life. I’m a native. I practically grew up in the Florida Keys, spending innumerable weekends down there at my grandparent’s house and later at my parent’s place. But even being that lucky…there is one thing I’ve never, ever done—swim with a dolphin.
Two weekends ago, I finally got to do both at Discovery Cove and let me tell you, it was both amazingtastical AND surreal. While holding onto her fins and having her pull me through the water, all I could think was I CANNOT BELIEVE I AM SWIMMING WITH A FREAKING DOLPHIN—A 25 YEAR OLD DOLPHIN!!!
Also? I got to kiss her!!!
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Jun
20
Another Father’s Day has come and gone and while I like to give the father of my children a special day so he knows we all appreciate him, I kinda hate these types of holidays. You know…the ones where it’s implied at every turn that you must spend a bunch of money to show your love and appreciation.
Because my husband and I share a mutual distaste for pretty much all gifting holidays aside from birthdays and Christmas (the latter hanging by a very thin thread, I might add) we have a casual agreement to not make too big a deal out of these “special” days.
But alas, while I seriously do NOT want greeting cards, flowers, candy, balloons or a necklace from Kay Jewelers for Mother’s Day, I tend to break the agreement every year and get him something from the kids.
As I pondered what we should get their daddy for this day in which he’d probably be happiest to just be free of excessive chatter and the standard eight frillion daily requests, I considered some of the typical Father’s Day gifts:
Despite working in IT, he only wears a tie to work maybe twice a year. Additionally, it’s my thinking that ties remind people of work and nooses and other lame things.
So no, no ties. Not even ones with Captain Kirk or Yoda on them. Get the whole story »
Kids and Their Neverending Wants: Total Ingratitude or Totally Normal?
A friend recently mused over whether his children appreciate what is given to them after his younger child complained of not getting ice cream at the end of a whole day devoted to her and her wishes. This made me think a lot about my own children and whether they appreciate what they have, particularly as we’ve experienced the same type of ingratitude around here, too.
In my estimation, we live a typical middle-class (what’s left of it) life—we can’t afford a lot of luxuries but we are able to have most of the things we want and pretty much anything we really need. It should be noted, though, that my husband and I aren’t particularly materialistic people so our lifestyle may be modest by typical American standards.
Regardless, there are trips to theme parks and family vacations and modern computers and iPads and iPhones and Netflix and cable TV and super-fast fiber optic internet access and health insurance and quality organic food in the fridge and a scooter and two decent cars and big birthday celebrations and dance classes and t-ball and basketball and cheerleading and scouts and way too many Lego sets and several ridiculously expensive American Girl dolls and frequent outings for ice cream and the movies and a Wii and a Nintendo DS and a house full of toys.
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