I’ve just been accumulating a list of awesome things and annoying things that I’ve noticed lately. Annoying: Especially now, with the house next door on the market, strangers often park in front of our house. I don’t mind that. I welcome a new family. What I hate is when they choose to park with their … [Read more…]
I have a pet peeve that’s decidedly rooted in Our Modern Times. I really hate how bossy we all are with our various devices. I know that this is irrational. I know that even if Siri’s answers to goofy questions can be comically charming, “she” is an inanimate object. And yet the necessity of please, … [Read more…]
These days, I really do spend quite a bit of time alone. I work at my computer or I write or I wash dishes, and sometimes I don’t really see or talk to anyone beyond my family all day. Also, normally, I don’t take my sweaty, just-worked-out self out into the world. I sweat in … [Read more…]
J’s got a busy week this week, including two different dress-up occasions. Once upon a time, my children liked to wear dresses. That was long, long ago. We had years of princess stuff and pink and sparkles, and at the time, I wondered if we’d ever come out on the other side of the Princess … [Read more…]
The rest of our spring break was relatively uneventful. I sent each of the girls off on far-flung trips so that they could get very wet and cold. In J’s case, a friend brought her along on a rafting trip. I wanted to go, but J has hit genuine adolescence now, and she asked, “Please … [Read more…]
Recently we embarked on a bit of a religious education enrichment program at home. There was some volunteering, there was some research, there was. . . not a tremendous amount of follow-up. I should really get back to that sometime soon, I know. But the one unquestionably successful portion of the religious education program was … [Read more…]
J’s transformed overnight. Suddenly her hair is so long. Our family policy with hair, generally speaking, is to ignore it. Once in a while it will look raggedy enough that I’ll suggest a trim, and usually the girls demur, and I drop it. I just don’t care enough for it to hold my attention for … [Read more…]
Last weekend, I finally made it to one of M’s soccer tournaments. In the household division of labor these days, I’ll often head to a gymnastics meet with J while Cute W will go to a soccer tournament with M. This makes sense: Cute W is the hard-core soccer fan, and his better sense of … [Read more…]
Me to 13-year-old M: “Hey, can you please add a sentence to that thank you note for the [gift you just received]?” M: “Oh my gosh, Mom, I was just going to do that!!” Me: “Okay, great. . .” M: “I mean, it’s like you don’t trust me to do anything.” Me: “I just wasn’t … [Read more…]
This recent snowstorm was pretty dang irritating, if you ask me. First of all, if there’s going to be a bunch of snow, I think there should be a snow day. Right? We didn’t lose any school time to snow this year at all, so it’s not like we didn’t have room in the snow-day-budget. … [Read more…]
