Today, I was a negligent parent. My children were playing happily with their friends and for the first time ever, I didn’t take them along when I went to vote. I feel appropriately guilty at not including them in such an important civic responsibility, but I balance that guilt with pride in my oldest, who […]
Living in the shadow of the mountains, our seasons are a month of winter and a month of summer separated by several months of beautiful spring and fall. The transition to our brief spell of winter causes mornings of shivering and afternoons of sweating. I’m sorry. I mean glowing. Every morning this week, I’ve dressed […]
The front page of yesterday’s paper warned parents to be prepared for a shock to the system when their child brings home last year’s TCAP scores. It comes after MONTHS of notes, e-mails, articles and parent meetings saying the exact same thing. The TCAPs have been so hyped that I can’t believe anyone is going […]
I have been uncharacteristically quiet about a local tragedy for several reasons. First, better writers are giving it the attention it deserves. Second, I don’t see any good or bad guys. I see teenagers. Everyone involved in this is connected in far less than six degrees from every other teenager in Knoxville. When I did […]
We have a pile of old, rusty paint cans that have too much leftover paint to waste. After seeing it day after day for several years, I decided to find a purpose for the paint. This week, the leftover paint from 2002’s staircase railing project became the new color of some kitchen shelves that have […]
My children have cell phones. Their friends have cell phones. Cell phones serve a purpose and I don’t want to argue about what others have said so clearly. I do want to point out two things. First, parents need to have identifying information in their child’s phone so that it can be returned to the […]
While sitting cross legged on the floor, a toddler spontaneously sat down in my lap. A tiny, non-verbal, little person who didn’t weigh a thing thought I looked like a comfy chair. I didn’t even get to say hello before his mother snatched him up and screeched, “Stranger!” She dragged him away lecturing about strangers […]
As a rule, I try to always be at *home on school nights and be a part of the evening routines. As frantic as the evenings are, I can’t imagine not getting to tuck my children in bed at night. It’s probably much more important to me than it is to them. Don’t tell the […]
“What is this goo in your hair?” “Who put a booger here?” “Where is that smell coming from?” “When did this get left on the counter?” Why is that in the bathtub?” “Which animal threw up?” If I am going to spend all my time at the schools, maybe they will let me take some […]
We spent last weekend house sitting for a friend’s beautiful waterfront home. A weekend away from home, cute animals and deer in the front yard made it feel like a vacation. It was probably less fun for my family who had to endure the annoying whining about my knee, but they’re smart enough to ignore […]