• I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  My Dad Has Mad Skillz,  My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  My Mom Has Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Parenting Secrets From Behind the Tiara

    December 22, 2010

    I wrote this post a couple of years ago, for a friend who needed a guest post on her blog. She has since shut down her site, so I thought I’d post it here! My husband Jim and I are successful parents. Really. If we were in Oprah’s magazine, our mad parenting skillz would be featured on her “What I Know For Sure” page. Of course we are not the only successful parents in the world, but we’re the only ones that matter…to our kids. I am happy to report that our boys are fine, upstanding young men–and it’s not only because we think so: that’s the general consensus from…

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  • I've Got Mad Skillz

    At Least I’m Still Lovable.

    December 21, 2010

    My younger son had a really bad day yesterday. I won’t post the reason why out of respect for his privacy, and he will be fine, but yesterday was a little dicey and I felt a little helpless because I couldn’t fix things for him by snapping my fingers. Late in the evening, the phone rang. I looked at the Caller ID and noticed that it was one of my favorite people, a young lady who is one of his best friends. I wrote back in the spring about how awesome her family is. This girl is home-schooled for part of the day, and lives a few miles away (not…

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  • Food,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz

    What To Make For Dessert That Will Have Everyone Humming…

    December 20, 2010

    I’m swamped at the moment, between my Productivity project and trying to catch up on a few other things this week, so today I thought I’d give you Christmas-celebratin’ folks a great (and easy!) last-minute recipe, should you need a dessert at some point this week. It’s called Hummingbird Cake and though I’m probably way off, I consider it a sister of the carrot cake. It’s got pecans, pineapple, and banana in it, and the frosting is of the cream cheese variety. It is, as my sister (and Weaselmomma) would say, “STUPID GOOD.” When I wanted to make it last week, I couldn’t find the recipe I got from my…

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  • I've Got Mad Skillz,  Something That Could Change Your Life

    Lost, But More Importantly, Found

    December 16, 2010

    I have, for the last three days so far, been working on getting my house organized in a major project I call my 12 Days of Productivity. The results have been phenomenal, and each day I am more excited to start (and finish! imagine that!) the next part of my plan; I can truly visualize my house looking the way I want it to look, even behind the cabinet and closet doors. Yesterday’s assignment was to clean out the double cabinet over my kitchen desk. This is where I keep about half of my cookbooks, the phone book, my address book, notecards and stationery, and all kinds of other miscellaneous…

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  • Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  UGH.

    12 Days of Productivity

    December 13, 2010

    I’ve been belly-aching–mostly to myself–about how unorganized our house has become over the past couple of years. A few years ago, I went through everything–EVERYTHING–and cleaned up, cleaned out, and generally streamlined wherever I could. I haven’t taken the time to do that since then, and I have slowly felt myself smothering under our clutter. It was for this reason that I decided to seize the opportunity I got this year, with an early occurrence of Hanukkah and now a couple of weeks during which, publicly, everything is quieter because most people are rushing around worrying about Christmas. I am starting my own home project, the 12 Days of Productivity.…

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