So it's day six with the puppy. My intention was to post a "Daily Puppy" photo, but trouble with my computer and the fact that the puppy has been kicking our asses has prevented such frivolity. I haven't felt this out of sorts since we brought the original boy-child home.I'm not entirely sure what we [...]

Tonight, the kids and I sat around the table and cried over a lemon bundt cake. A year ago, we had to put down our dog, Uno. The anniversary was actually yesterday, but we missed it (I blame the Ugly Dog incident). It was Elfie's idea to get the lemon cake. Uno loved cake. Actually, [...]

I've been sad a lot this week. Some of it has to do with my son, Newt, turning nine years old. All I can think is that nine is half of eighteen, so mathematically speaking, we're half done (although in reality, I'm sure he'll be sick of me long before that). And then there's the [...]

Tonight it dawned on me that Newt, my "little guy," is going to be 9-years-old in less than a week.Newt was lying on his bed and doing the usual -- drawing comics -- when I had this realization, announced it with a dramatic, "Oh my gosh!" and then proceeded to feign tears into the sweatshirt [...]

Lately I've been thinking about how much I've changed over the last twenty years. For whatever reason, little reminders keep popping up to challenge my illusion that I'm still basically the same person. I don't think anyone likes to look back to their 20's and remember that very strong feeling of believing they'd never turn [...]

I am a tweaker.I go over things, I edit, I rewrite. It's probably why I don't write enough and drive myself crazy. But today, thanks to The Walmart Gourmet who turned me on to all.things.fadra, I'm doing "Stream of Consciousness Sunday." Write for five minutes, don't edit, hit publish.So here are my thoughts today, September [...]

It's a good day when you can be proud of your city.I live in Reno, and I know this may come as a surprise to many of you, but it's actually a great place (shh, don't tell anyone -- I like the population and traffic level exactly where it is). No doubt we've had an [...]

So for the past two days, you could say I've been a bit weepy.Okay, that's actually not even close to accurate. "Weepy" implies some moments of tearing up. Maybe there's a tissue involved, but usually you can get away with a finger wipe. What I'm experiencing is more. . . sobbing. Yes, hysterical sobbing. That's [...]

So those of you who follow this blog know about my friends who've been in the process of adopting two kids over the past year. They'd applied to adopt a boy, who was a little over a year old. Then, on the same day they received the call that they "got him," they were informed [...]