Month: December 2012

this IS the good stuff

Dad and Professor Teen went camping yesterday, so the two youngest and I huddled under blankets in our basement bedroom and watched Stardust. SuperTween declared it her new favorite movie. Since the answer to “what was your previous favorite” was The Hobbit, I suspect that whatever she watched most recently is her favorite. I’ll have […]

when good ideas go bad

As I’ve mentioned a few thousand times, my brothers and I only exchange homemade gifts. One brother has liqueurs fermenting all year for our gift exchange. The other brother’s wife works magic on a sewing machine. Lacking any discernible talents, I prefer to defer to Doug’s woodworking skills. This year, Doug has been too physically […]

plus or minus 24 hours

Actual phone conversation: Her: “I seriously need to finish the crafting and shopping today.” Him: “Why? Christmas isn’t until Wednesday.” Her: Her: “Christmas is Tuesday.” Him: “No, it’s not. Stop messing with me…” Him: Him: I seriously need to start my shopping today.”

Dear teacher,

The first school day after a horrific mass murder in an elementary school, you latched on media accusations that the shooter had Asperger’s and assigned your students to write a three paragraph essay about it. The following day, you attached a very vague article about changes to the DSM to the assignment. Autism is a […]

They can’t even re-gift it

My brothers and I have a homemade only rule for ourselves every Christmas. Last year, Doug made lollipop trees for each of them. My children heartily approved. This year, I am using my extremely limited crafting skills to make something simple, but time consuming. The result is that several hundred times a day, the children […]

marching bands grow grapefruit

“Our Christmas grapefruit is here!” “How do you know that it’s grapefruit? It could be oranges or pears.” “Oranges and pears come from the grocery. Grapefruit comes in a box from UPS.” Maybe we should buy grapefruit more often.