• Best Thing Ever,  Family Fun,  Food,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz

    Sometimes It’s Best If You Schedule These Things.

    September 20, 2011

    Confession time: over the past year or so (maybe even eighteen months: I’ve lost track!), Jim and I have been in a rut. I never thought it would happen to us, but it did. We used to have plenty of time, and plenty of desire. In fact, on the nights when I didn’t feel like it, he took charge, and vice versa. As of late, our busy schedules and pure exhaustion at the end of the day turned the tides. When we least expected it, something we used to do almost every single day became an afterthought, a rarity. Of course I’m talking about cooking dinner. We used to have…

    Read More
  • Family Fun,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Pretty Pictures,  Travels

    Word-full Wednesday: The Lake Michigan Edition

    September 7, 2011

    I have a friend named Tara. Many of you know Tara too. If you are one of the lucky ones who know her, you know that she is a very, very talented photographer. Her pictures of the beach, in particular, completely blow me away, and when I see that she has posted new pictures of the beaches near her home in Florida, I always have a couple of thoughts in my head: 1. “My God, is that beautiful!” 2. “Tara is so talented!” 3. “I wish I could take some pictures near a beach right now!” On Monday, I finally had my chance to try my hand at grabbing some…

    Read More
  • I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments,  Random Thoughts,  Reflections on Parenting

    Transitions, Part One

    August 31, 2011

    Ahh, life. We’re going through all kinds of changes in this house right now. I’m not typically a fan of changes, but I’m learning to roll with them as they come up. The biggest thing happening this week is D’s imminent departure. He’s going back to college on Monday, to begin his sophomore year. When I think about how worried and emotional I was last year, right before he left us for the first time, I smile a little bit. I wish I had known back then, just one tiny little year ago, that even though things were changing, they were staying the same in so many ways. He had…

    Read More
  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting

    The Ability To Procrastinate Doesn’t Happen Overnight, You Know…

    August 26, 2011

    Everyone who knows me well can vouch for the fact that one of my greatest skills is the ability to procrastinate. (Case in point: I wanted to write this post about six months ago.) I’m terrible at time management when it comes to projects. That said, don’t believe for a second that I miss deadlines, because I don’t. I might finish what’s due at the very last possible moment before my deadline is up, but I do finish on time. In spite of my chronic procrastination tendencies (I prefer to say that “I work well under pressure”), I am, surprisingly, more organized than the average person. Okay, part of it…

    Read More
  • I've Got Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments,  Too Funny To Ignore

    Zeus and the Hanger

    August 18, 2011

    Time flies. It flies so quickly that I just realized I never wrote about the acquisition of J’s first car, six weeks ago. SIX WEEKS AGO. That’s like, four years in blog time. I won’t go into all of the details of the search except to say that J was delightfully open to “almost any car that runs”. This attitude was in massive contrast to his brother’s: when D was looking for his first car, he had things narrowed down to what was nearly impossible to find. Oh, he found it alright, but the annoyance level of everything having to do with that car hunt was high. This house was…

    Read More