I woke up to a Facebook message from my friend saying there was a shooting at Sparks Middle School and her husband was fine (incidentally, Sparks is right next to Reno, where I live). She wrote this in all caps at least four times and with about five exclamation points behind each "fine." I see [...]

This is a topic that may -- just simply by hearing about it in October -- cause some of you immeasurable pain. But I'm going to bring it up anyway (I know, nice, right?). Holiday cards. Yes, I know it's early. At least it seems early. Of course it also seems early to buy snow [...]

While it's true I often wallow in a pit of despair rivaled only by that underground torture chamber occupied by the consumptive albino in The Princess Bride, I think it's possible that this week, I may have outdone myself. I actually depressed the dog. Jasper is perhaps the happiest being on earth. We joke that [...]

Friday Fiction is back! Start the whole book here. Or go back to the last chapter here. Or get a rundown of everything here. Just so many choices... ******** "Jen, I really don't have much time." Peter Wong stood in the doorway of their bedroom, watching his wife adjust pillows and pull back the comforter. [...]

One thing I love about my readers is that a lot of you are just like me: sort of out-of-it. And I say that with oodles of love in my heart because, like I said, I'm truly one of you. I mean, by the time I got wind of the whole honey badger deal, there were already people [...]

So as I'm sure you've all heard, we've had another mass shooting. Every news outlet is covering it. Every talk show is analyzing it. Every blogger is writing about it. And I have to say, I'm pretty much over it. Yeah, I'm kind of done. Remember a few months ago in Newtown when all those little [...]

Last night, right before I turned off my computer, I saw a Facebook post and remembered -- oh yeah, tomorrow is 9/11. And this was the first thought that entered my head: Damn it. I am so sick of 9/11. The last thing I want to do is post something on my page about it. [...]

  You know that feeling you get when you're flipping through your mail and suddenly you see an envelope with real handwriting on it? That's how I felt when I got the email from Mamapedia, telling me they were running one of my posts. If you get a chance, do me a solid and pop over there. I'm [...]

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 [...]