So it's two o'clock in the morning, and I'm (obviously) awake. Because I'm sitting in the guest room, looking at pictures, and crying about my dog. I miss my dog. It's been three months since Uno died. For the most part, I feel like I've gotten used to the fact that he's gone. I don't [...]
Mother's Day is a very loaded holiday for me. Anyone who's lost their mother but has kids of their own knows how strange it is. There are the good wishes being thrown around, the cards and gifts being made at school, and the endless blog posts and tweets asking, "What do you want for Mother's [...]
I had to open the front door all by myself today.For the first time in almost ten years, the doorbell rang, and I found myself all alone, face-to-face with a strange man. No intimidating presence at my side. No low bark encouraging the guy to take a half-step back. No furry head pressed against my [...]
So I've been sick for about ten days with some killer, government-created, genetically-modified supervirus that strolled over to my microbiology beach and kicked protoplasm in the face of my flu shot. To say this is getting me down would be an understatement. Those scenes from Beaches with Barbara Hershey lying around the house, barely able [...]
Today was a very good day.Today my husband and I pulled the kids out of school and went to family court to watch our good friends officially adopt their son. There weren't any fancy decorations or designer gowns or expensive flowers. But it was, bar none, the most beautiful ceremony I've ever seen.There's no way [...]
So I had a small nervous breakdown the other morning. As I mentioned in my holiday letter, Elfie has been getting "mean girled" at school recently. She's in first grade, and even though I know kids are capable of this type of thing starting at birth, it's been depressing because her school really focuses on [...]
Like most parents, I've spent a fair amount of time reassuring my kids. I tell them that their house isn't going to burn down (thanks Little Drummer Boy). That they aren't going to get snatched from their beds by a witch (thanks Tangled). That we, or rather I, being the mom and always getting offed [...]
I got really weepy in Costco today. Why? Because I walked by the Toy Story 3 display and saw the montage of the character "Andy" as a little kid, playing with Woody and Buzz. This made me think about the part when Andy grows up, turns into a teenager, and leaves for college. Which in [...]
For the last few nights, I've been reading to the kids from a book that's a collection of chapters taken from well-known "books for girls" -- Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Pollyanna. I'm not sure why I got this book. Actually, I know exactly why I got this book. I found it at [...]
When I was a kid, my mom's side of the family -- all the crazy Polacks -- would get together for Thanksgiving every year. We'd switch off venues. Sometimes our place in Nevada, sometimes southern California or the Bay Area. Any way you cut it, it was pure chaos. Forty-plus people stuffed into a house [...]
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