My mom died yesterday. In typical fashion, she managed to do it so that she wouldn't ruin Tenzin's birthday (July 2nd) or the 4th of July. She was basically in a coma for the final 24 hours, but I could almost hear her figuring it out so that no major holidays would be adversely affected. [...]

My parents' kitchen is seeing its final days of organization because no one knows exactly where everything goes -- things are slowly being put back in places where they "fit."I decided to spend the night there, without any of my stuff, and realized I won't have any "girl's" toiletries to borrow pretty soon.I hate seeing [...]

I had one of those "I cannot believe this is my life" moments today. Like when you're paying the mortgage and you suddenly realize you're married and own a home. Or when you're driving to a birthday party and suddenly realize you have two kids. They're "Holy crap, I'm actually a grown-up" moments, and I [...]

My hairdryer broke today. As far as I know, you can't fix a broken hairdryer. I think it's one of those things you generally just ditch and go buy again. I actually went so far as to toss it into the garbage, but Tenzin suggested I ask our hair dresser about it -- maybe she [...]

I will be breaking my children's hearts on Sunday morning.After a week of swimming in Vegas and a Saturday packed with three birthday parties, I'll be letting them know that their Nan isn't getting any better. Is never getting any better.They already know something is wrong. They're not stupid. They've been asking me to sing [...]

I've been thinking about that old, philosophical question, "If a tree falls in a forest. . ." It's come up because I've been wondering: If something bad happens to you and you don't complain about it to anyone, did it actually occur? I suspect the men are going to have a much harder time with [...]

Newt and Elfie are "graduating" from kindergarten and preschool next week (which is quite an accomplishment, what with the number of courses they had to complete and the scores they had to achieve on the exit exams). This event prompted the standard conversation between Tenzin and my mother that goes something like this:Nan: "So I [...]

So it looks like Tenzin will be joining the ranks of the unemployed soon. This has less to do with the economy/downsizing and more to do with his employers just generally being assholes. I've been thinking about what I'd do if one of them called the house, i.e., gracefully pass Tenzin the phone, tell them [...]

So I went to a funeral today. Not something I'm terribly happy writing about, for obvious reasons. The woman who died was the mother of my childhood friend. She was perfectly healthy, had just been to the symphony with her husband the night before, and last Sunday morning, he woke to find her dead. This [...]