keeping the ego in check

“Dad, I really can’t chat about bathtub drains right now.” “What’s so important that you won’t stop and talk to me?” “I’m on someone else’s clock. Can we do this later?” “Whose clock? What are you doing?” “I’m just cleaning up some messy code.” “I thought you just posted in chat rooms all day. When […]

Feeling the love

Doug: “There’s an air advisory today, so try to keep the dogs inside as much as possible.” Me: “I don’t think it’s that hot outside.” Doug: “It’s not a heat advisory. It’s an air quality advisory. It’s dangerous for people with asthma or health problems. That can’t be good for dogs.” Me: “Or people with […]

laundry quickies

Two things to move me toward my unintentional evolution into a laundry blogger: First, I would like my spouse and children to be admitted into the Justice League based on their ability to dematerialize and materialize at will. Evidence of this power is the daily pile of “Night of the Comet” clothing with no evidence […]

humidity chronicles

Over the weekend, we took the youngest children to a place in middle TN that was an integral part of my childhood. A place that I haven’t visited in over a decade and an area that I told goodbye during my grandmother’s funeral. A place where time stands still. Oh, wait. The trees are taller […]

pretend this is a real post

In lieu of an actual post, a quick update that may or may not hint at future post topics. Tommy – Every semester is a fog of not knowing until final grades appear, so we are stuck in a holding pattern. Sarah – For an assortment of reasons, including some that she won’t admit, Sarah […]

propositioning the wrong person

The three youngest children were tucked safely in their beds, so I went hunting looking for Doug. I walked in our bedroom and heard rustling in the closet. I walked toward the closet and said in my very best Dr. Girlfriend voice, “We’ve got 15 minutes alone. Wanna fool around?” I reached the doorway as […]

the devil you know

I’m done. I want all my children back home. I’m tired of Noah being quarantined with the other scouts, Amy here with a scout sibling and my other children at the grandparents. A night alone with my husband is fun, but this isn’t fun. This is stressful. This is my heart doing that weird flutter […]

ice cream does not equal murder

Several times a year and in multiple environments, I have to pull out the tired, old dinosaur statistic that murder rates go up when ice cream sales go up. Eventually, everyone will recognize that statistics are not enough. The “most single parents live in poverty” statistic ignores the fact that people with severe mental or […]

family traditions – stockings

In our family, the adult children (my two brothers and I) give our parents stockings every Christmas morning. Every year when we were children, my brothers and I would bounce out of bed and open our stockings to pass the time while waiting for other relatives to arrive. One year when my brother and I […]