• Amazing People,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting

    Moving On.

    Lest you think that the only transition we’re dealing with around here is J’s high school graduation and impending departure for college this fall, turning Jim and me into Empty Nesters, I figured I’d tell you about how D just moved into an off-campus house with three roommates–he isn’t coming home this summer because he has an internship–and will graduate this December, one semester early. I can say today that everything on both fronts is going very well, but we’ve had some rocky patches over the past couple of months which prompted me to send an email to D: “I just wanted to email you and apologize for being a…

  • My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    When A Statement Works Better Than A Question

    Speaking of prom, I’m happy to report that “the ask” was simple, inexpensive, and…weirdly-timed. Last fall I wrote about “The Ask” and how it’s a new-ish tradition for high schoolers to come up with all kinds of crazy/romantic/funny/creative ways to ask each other to a dance. I wrote about how I think on one hand it’s cute, but on the other it concerns me on behalf of the less-creative and/or shy kids, and I feel like it puts pressure on the “asker” to do something spectacular and on the “askee” to say yes. (Seriously, just go read it.) J and his girlfriend have been dating for over two years, and…

  • My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    I Think My Work Is Done Here.

    I am always looking for ways to save money. Not in the couponing sense: I don’t have the time (or desire) to do that properly. I save money more often than not by doing advanced research whenever possible. I like to know that wherever I go to make a purchase of any premeditated anything, I’m not paying more than I need to pay. Apparently I’m not the only one. J came home from work this evening, telling me he made a stop at the local big box store our family frequents (the one with the red and white circular logo), to pick up a new pair of headphones. As he…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Family Fun,  Food,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Too Funny To Ignore

    It Runs In The Family

    The big birthday celebration on Sunday was pretty awesome: J had a really great day overall, which makes me happy. The one thing that didn’t go as planned was that Jim didn’t join us for lunch due to the fact that he was really sick. It was not only a bummer because it was J’s eighteenth, but also because we had reservations at our favorite, only-eat-there-on-special-occasions Brazilian steakhouse. For those of you who aren’t familiar, what makes this kind of restaurant unique is that there is no menu; rather everyone gets to enjoy the “salad bar” first, which is huge and actually has very little salad on it. It’s got…

  • Amazing People,  Blessings,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    We’re All Adults Here.

    Major milestone in our house today. This guy? Turns eighteen today. EIGHTEEN. His coming of age means all kinds of things for him, of course. Among other things, he is eligible to vote, and as he pointed out at the dinner table a while back, he can now sign himself out of school “should he need to leave early for any reason.” Ahem. This birthday also impacts Jim and me, of course. It’s a little stunning to realize that on this, our younger son’s eighteenth birthday, we are no longer legally responsible for anyone except for ourselves. Bizarre, even. I casually mentioned to J two weeks ago that he only…

  • My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    It’s Not About The Bike. (Well, Maybe A Little.)

    Cycling is on everyone’s minds this week and though I don’t feel the need or desire to use any of my real estate here on Suburban Scrawl to share my opinion about he-who-shall-not-be-named, I have been thinking about bikes and thought I’d tell you about one very special bicycle. When D was about six, we decided it was time to purchase a bike for him. Jim’s main hobby has been cycling for, well, forever, and even though we weren’t about to spend the money to get a top-of-the-line bike for our kid who would outgrow it before the payment was even a memory, we certainly spent some time in the…

  • My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    How Can You Argue With Logic Like That?

    D’s affinity for taking showers that use every last drop of hot water in the house has been well-documented (Okay, in one post, but it was a very thorough documentation). When he went away to college, our water bill went down by about $750 per month* and the whole family got used to having enough hot water for our own showers again. Whenever he comes home, there’s always a “re-acquaintance period” during which we all forget that we need to do anything we can to take our showers before he wakes up each day. Yesterday was Christmas, which in our house means that we just laze around in the family…

  • Family Fun,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Too Funny To Ignore,  Working On My Fitness

    As Good As It Was, The Conversation Ended Pretty Much How It Started.

    The enjoyment of weight training workouts is something seventeen-year-old J and I have in common. When he was playing midfield in lacrosse a couple of years ago he discovered that adding resistance training on top of his practices made him stronger, of course, and his game improved. For the last two years he has chosen a weight training unit in gym class as much as is allowed, skipping over other units like basketball, soccer, and other sports, and on school breaks he’ll use the Bowflex we have in the basement. I have always (well, since I started working out twenty years ago) enjoyed feeling strong and having some tone in…

  • Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    The Bad Parent, Good Teenager Strategy In Action

    The scene: My dining room, earlier this week The players: Seventeen-year-old J, me, and my sister J: “So, Tim* and Megan* want me and (girlfriend) Shannon* to go to this dance club with them on Saturday night.” Me: “Really? A DANCE CLUB? Like, for under twenty-ones?” J: “Yep.” I glanced across the table and raised my eyebrows at my sister. Me: “What is the name of this dance club?” J: “The Zone.**” Me: “And where is this ‘The Zone Dance Club’ that I’ve never heard of after twenty years of living in this Chicago suburb?” J: (shrugging shoulders) “I don’t know. They have a 17+ night on Saturdays. It starts…

  • Family Fun,  I'm Apparently Old.,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting

    Weirdest Halloween Ever.

    Halloween came and went (as it tends to do), and for the first time in twenty years we didn’t have a kid in costume. Not only that, but Halloween was almost–dare I say it?–exactly like any other day. It was bizarre to say the least. In fact, when J left for school, he said goodbye to me like he always does and walked out before I even remembered that it was Halloween at all. My decorations, as I’ve written about before, were pitiful. I didn’t even have time to take pictures of Roxie in her 2012 costume because I took a TDM class in the morning and then worked on…