I am not a threat to inventors

Remember when I said I need metallic dental floss and a bathroom trash can made of metal so that the used floss makes it in the can instead of everywhere else, that I after need to clean with my Vacuum Pal vacuum so is easier. Well now add band-aid wrappers to the list of things […]

Sunday paper

I dug the last of the silver colored coins from the change jar to buy a Sunday paper. Tommy and his friend handed me the paper and I sat down to sort the paper into the order I like to read it. The editorial section went at the top of the pile and the coupons […]

vultures

One of the side effects of being poor is that you don’t blog about the bargains from your non-existent shopping excursions or the cool new gadgets that you don’t have. I experience the thrill of finding the perfect purse vicariously on others’ blogs. What I don’t enjoy, are the blogs that post “foreclosure” finds. They […]

recycling don’ts

It’s time for yet another installment of: “Things Knoxvillians need to quit putting in their recycling cans.” food – Your garden can recycle it, but the waste collectors can’t. adult or infant diapers – Yuck! syringes, needles, sharps and anything that has been used to penetrate skin – I know your doctor taught you how […]

10:53 again?

I went in the bathroom for a quick bath and glanced at the clock. 10:53? How did I lose 3 hours already? Wait. The clock isn’t moving. The battery must have died last night at 10:53. Phew. I carried a sticky 4-year-old to the bathroom sink to remove several layers of PB&J. As he played […]

a day in the life

5/11 3:00 p.m. – Amy brings home a pile of disks filled with pictures that I agreed to compile into a montage for the First Graders’ end of the year celebration. Two of the teachers sent over 500 pictures each while one only sent about two dozen blurry pictures. My goal was a 10-15 minute […]

Wanna take a baaaaath?

Friday night, Evan snuck a paperback book into the bathtub. The result was the reverse of a paper mache experiment. Saturday morning I cleaned out the mountain of paper scraps so that Sarah could take a 2-hour bath to get ready for prom. I had time for a 10 minute bath before taking Sarah on […]

signs of the times

While we don’t have homeless people sleeping in our backyard, we do get a lot of door-to-door foot traffic. Usually, it’s just the pamphlet people. The pamphlet people are polite and sympathetic to my inability to stand on the porch chatting for 45 minutes. Lately, our visitors have been more frequent, less understanding and more […]

“He’s a cool dude.”

Three-year-olds are a wonderful blend of toddler and child. Still baby enough to snuggle in your arms and fall asleep, but big enough to absorb everything the older children say and do. They will also lie about the melted chocolate on their hands and face (“Amy ate it.”) and be tactlessly honest in front of […]