The science fair was this week, and I've never been so happy to finish "projects that I'm not involved in." While it's lovely in theory to allow your child to conduct and then create a presentation of an entire project on his/her own, the practical execution of said theory never shakes out the way you [...]
Happily Saying Goodbye to 2012 — and Still Being Happy
December 31, 2012 – Posted in: Bright Side of Life, Chronic Pain, Complaining, Mouths of Babes, Newt, Personal InsanitySo here's the current status: I'm officially a Christmas casualty. After, I'm assuming, intense gift-wrapping sessions and several nights of marathon dishwashing, I've done something really bad to my back. I can't lift my arm over my head, so I haven't taken a shower in four days. I'll just let everyone use their own imaginations [...]
How to Teach Kids about Sex: Go See Les Mis and Leave the Kids with Dad
December 29, 2012 – Posted in: Elfie, Mouths of Babes, Movies, Newt, Parenting, Personal Insanity, Sex, Tenzin, Thank God Your Father's Home, TV, Worrying, Worst Mom ReviewsI went and saw Les Miserables with a girlfriend the other night. It was an amazing movie, but for some reason, I still feel like I could just nitpick it to pieces. I'm starting to think this could be my calling -- professional life nitpicker. Too bad I can't get someone to pay me for that... [...]
Eating Big, Playing Hard, and Shopping Small
November 24, 2012 – Posted in: Elfie, Grosser than Gross, Holidays, Jasper, Logan's Story, Newt, Reno, Shopping Hell, Vacation, Worst Mom Randomness, Worst Mom ReviewsWell, we've survived Thanksgiving weekend (so far). I'm not calling it a complete success until we get everybody out of bed and off to school Monday morning after nine late nights and Wii-filled days. Here are a few highlights from the last few days... •I finally put a crowbar in it and got Elfie some new [...]
Some Small Moments in the Great Outdoors
November 19, 2012 – Posted in: Bright Side of Life, Elfie, Family, Growing Up, Jasper, Newt, Parenting, Personal Insanity, The Great Outdoors, Things To Do with KidsMy kids drive me crazy for so many reasons, but one of my major beefs is how they'll fight me about going outside and then become horribly devastated when it's time to come in. Yesterday, we walked (the kids rode their bikes) to the field by our house. It's not far, but because we live [...]
How I Bumped my Head and Lost my Mind
November 12, 2012 – Posted in: Chronic Pain, Elfie, Family, Grief, Logan's Story, Mom dying, Momless, Newt, Personal Insanity, Sappy Tammy, Tenzin, Thank God Your Father's HomeOne of my favorite lines of all time is from Young Frankenstein (coincidentally just viewed by the kids and me the other night -- they were, of course, totally impressed). Dr. Frankenstein and Igor have just pushed a coffin out of a grave, and Igor says, "Could be worse. Could be raining." Cue thunder clap [...]
My Son, the Next David Plouffe
November 3, 2012 – Posted in: Autism Recovery, Bright Side of Life, Elfie, Homework, Nevada, Newt, Newt's Story, Personal Insanity, SchoolOne thing I love about our kids' school is that because they're a charter, they can do crazy assignments whenever something interesting comes up. The other day, my son, Newt, came home looking like he'd won the lottery because his teacher had signed him up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). If you're an adult, [...]
I’m Sure My Son Isn’t TRYING to Make Me Insane…
October 18, 2012 – Posted in: Conservatives are Funny, Crazy Tammy, Elfie, Foot in Mouth, Losin' It, Mouths of Babes, Newt, Parenting, Personal Insanity, Politics, Stuff I Probably Shouldn't be Thinkin', Tenzin, Thank God Your Father's HomeSo this is basically how our morning went... Me (pointing at a photo of people shaking Joe Biden's hand on the front page of the newspaper): Hey, look -- if I would've gone to the Biden event yesterday, that could've been me. Newt: You're in there? Me: No, I could've gone. And my friend had [...]
My Kids Went into Target Alone — and They Survived!
October 9, 2012 – Posted in: Bright Side of Life, Dogs, Elfie, Growing Up, Jasper, Newt, Parenting, Personal Insanity, Shopping Hell, Things To Do with KidsSo yesterday, I took Jasper (the puppy) to pick up the kids, and on the way home, I suddenly remembered that I needed to stop at Target. The problem? Unless we could somehow fashion a fake, green, service dog outfit for Jasper, there was no getting inside with all four of us. And there was [...]
The Best Anniversary Present Ever
August 9, 2012 – Posted in: Bright Side of Life, Cleaning, Elfie, Holidays, Mawage, Newt, Personal Insanity, TenzinLast night I came home from a friend's house to find this: Now to the untrained eye, this may look like a mere desk with some random (really random) stuff on it in a typical suburban home. But to me, it was -- don't laugh -- the best anniversary present evah. Today is our fifteenth [...]
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