Another "outing" (I never realized how many things I didn't talk about until I started this blog). Some of you know that Newt was diagnosed as having high-functioning autism/Aspergers Syndrome at age 3. Most of you who've met him within the last two years would, I'm guessing, be shocked to hear that information. Whether you [...]

It's been two weeks since my mom died and one week since her memorial. Last Sunday, I was almost inconsolable when my brother and his family left town. After all the memorial planning, obituary writing, and photo sorting, everything came to a screeching halt. And I suddenly missed my mom. This explains why I've been [...]

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'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 [...]

I'm not the best housekeeper. At least now that I have kids. When it was just Tenzin and me, you could eat off, well, go ahead and name a surface (I won't go into detail, use your imagination). But now it's a daily struggle just to keep the place from looking like someone broke into [...]

I probably should've made this my first post because I hate it when you get on a blog and you can't figure out who anyone is. If you haven't already figured it out, my husband and kids aren't actually named Tenzin, Elfie, and Newt. I mean, I guess that's possible. We could be hippies. Sure, [...]