Our tax return comes tomorrow.  It's nice.  Some of that money is earmarked for lame grownup things like car payments and siding and whatever.  But a little bit of it is set aside for something impractical.  Something fun.  Something we don't usually justify.  I wasn't sure what it would be, but I was excited.  Oh, the possibilities.

And then the ( Read more... )

As the holidays approach, I've been doing a lot of thinking.

I like Christmas as much as the next person, but I'll be celebrating Solstice this year. Truly celebrating it. December 22 is the longest night of the year-- the darkest point. I'll be reflecting on that darkness and what we've collectively gone through this year.

2011 has been bipolar, at ( Read more... )

A little over a year ago, I was having coffee with another mom I'd met during kid storytime at the library.  I had just been offered my current job and had accepted and was really excited.  She wasn't, really.  "What about the kids?"  I explained that we were looking for the right daycare for them and her jaw dropped in horror.  "DAYCARE?!  YOU'RE ( Read more... )

It doesn't get any better than this.  Really.  It doesn't.

-It's 54 degrees outside.

-The leaves are turning.

-It's Friday evening.  The whole weekend is out in front of us.

-We're going to Broken Twig to spend some time with the fam.

-Next weekend, we're going to a childhood friend's wedding.

-The weekend after that, my mom's clan gathers up north for ( Read more... )

Driving to work on Friday morning, my favorite radio station stopped their regular programming to do a 9-11 program. They had media clips of news coverage and remarks from local people and newscasters on what they were doing when they learned about the whole ordeal.

Ten years ago, I was just starting my first year of college. I was 17. We were at ( Read more... )

Driving home tonight, I heard a rather dumb but extremely catchy pop song on the radio. It had a line that said, "la la la, whatever. la la la, it doesn't matter. la la la, oh well. la la la ( Read more... )

It's a quiet saturday night here. After a really busy work week and some much-appreciated help from my mom because the kids were sick, we're taking it slow today. I went to fire up my work laptop and Doug stopped me. New household rule-- one day a week needs to be a rest day. When possible. Deadlines are deadlines and that rule may be set ( Read more... )

...coffee with an old friend I haven't seen in years ( Read more... )

After yesterday's fiasco at the park pool, we filled our inflatapool here at home. THere are currently 900 gallons of water slowly warming up in my yard as we speak. Yesterday that water was redonk cold and today it has warmed to a state of awesome. Chilly enough to be refreshing, but warm enough to not induce hypothermia. I HAZ A POOL, COME ( Read more... )

I last updated in March of 2009. While it looks like something amazing was happening, I had to go back and check my email to see what was going on. I'm not surprised that I don't recall... I've blocked out a lot of 2009. Here is the cliff notes version of what happened between then and now.

• Most of 2009 sucked in the biggest way ever.  I drank a ( Read more... )