I’m talking, specifically, the bad parenting of omission or forgetfulness that we do ourselves ( Read more... )

I don't watch TV, but there are a few shows I enjoy, so I watch them on Hulu. In rough order of which ones I watch "most", they are ( Read more... )

I got a notice of a certified letter in with Saturday's mail. My experience with these is that unless you're expecting a certified letter, they are generally not good news. It is unlikely that a relative died and left you a small fortune and you didn't know about it ahead of time, for example. But it is more probable that you're being sued over ( Read more... )

That is the title of a school assignment my son brought home (4th grade - 9 yrs old). The assignment was "Think about the family member whom you most admire. Write a paragraph about that person that answers these questions ( Read more... )

This morning I left my keys on the counter as I tried to leave the house, then left my coffee in the car when I got to work, and my cell phone on my desk as I ran to a meeting. I must be more tired than I realize ( Read more... )

The last presidential election happened when my son was in kindergarten. They got to "vote" in their class and my son voted for Barack Obama. When I asked him why, he said that it was because we had only ever had white men as president, and that it was only fair that another demographic got put in the position (not his exact words, but you get ( Read more... )

First of all, a quick preamble... at various points when you're sleeping, your brain makes your body shut down, so that you don't thrash around in your dreams. For most people, this works fairly well. Some people thrash (i.e. the "stop" signal doesn't get sent properly. I frequently have the opposite problem, i.e. my conscious brain wakes up ( Read more... )

I struggled with whether to write this. I finally settled firmly on the side of "write it" and also "leave it open". Maybe it'll help someone ( Read more... )

I looked in the mirror recently and was dismayed by what I saw. I look tired. I look fat. I look _OLD_. I'm not surprised by the tired part. I'm not even shocked any more by the fat part (this isn't fishing for compliments... my mental image is still of me from before kids, when I was considerably thinner). I'm realistic about my weight, and ( Read more... )

The Barn is an ongoing project. I am most eager to see this project move quickly, and so any chance I get (which I admit are few and far between) I try to help. For various reasons these instances tend frequently to coincide with something fairly notable. For example, windows. All of the windows have been broken in the 125 years of the barn's ( Read more... )