For about two days last week, I tried really hard to care about putting on makeup. Two days. And then I cracked. Good thing I've never had to quit meth or smoking. I'm not much of a makeup person. I only started wearing mascara in 8th grade because of peer pressure. The feel of it [...]

Confession time: Not only do I not want school to start and summer to end, I'm actually scared about it. Okay, maybe scared isn't the right word. "Scared" conjures up how I feel on those nights when I'm checking closets, armed with a baseball bat. And I can't say I'm that keyed up. But I [...]

"What are you watching?" My 9-year-old daughter has just caught me watching The Bachelorette. Normally this is an activity I'd reserve for after the kids have gone to bed, but it's summer, and "after they've gone to bed" is practically when I go to bed. "It's called The Bachelorette. It's a horrible, horrible show where [...]

I've never been to BlogHer. I didn't go this year for numerous reasons. For one, I've lived through two Illinois summers and suffered through multiple visits that always seemed to coincide with a heatwave, and lately I'm against torturing myself if I can help it. For two (I know that's wrong, but does anyone know [...]

"I'm having that feeling again." My 9-year-old daughter has her arms wrapped around my waist. One cheek is pressed against my stomach. I've just spent the last hour reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to her and her brother, and now I'm trying to extricate myself from the area. She's gotten out of bed [...]

The other night, we went to a baseball game. Reno has a Triple-A team called the "Aces" (original, right?), and my friend gave us some really good tickets. One of these days, my kids will go to a game where they have to sit where "normal" people sit. So far, every game they've attended has [...]

This is the follow-up post on how to throw a kick-but Harry Potter birthday party (we did this when my daughter, Elfie, turned nine). Part One describes all the prep work. It's really not as scary as it sounds... So this post is meant to walk you through the actual execution of the party. Basically [...]

So I know I promised to do my next post on the execution of the Harry Potter party, but I had to show you guys this. Remember how I fell off the broom? Well first, let me back up. Some of you may remember last 4th of July when I was at my dad's cabin [...]

Thanks to my lack of organizational skills, we left my daughter Elfie's 9th birthday party planning until the very last minute. Not a big deal if my husband and I weren't insane. Unfortunately, we've set a precedent of throwing wildly fantastical theme parties for her birthday, complete with treasure hunts that involve multiple adult actors [...]