Here’s something you likely didn’t know about me: I was once an actress. That’s right, from first grade through third grade, I spent a lot of time on the stage at Dogwood School* in Park Forest, Illinois. Well, it wasn’t actually a stage. The school didn’t have a stage. Instead, we used one end of the gym. Anyway, I played parts like one of the Native Americans in a Thanksgiving play, Betsy Ross, and my favorite, Earth. As in, the entire planet. I was the whole world. The play, produced when I was in first grade, was called “A Family in Space”. I found the actual script last night when…
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I’ll Do It If She Will.
One of my favorite things to eat (besides steak) has always been movie popcorn with extra butter. I know it’s horrible nutritionally, but it tastes so good. I literally did a happy dance years ago when one of our local theaters installed the “butter-your-own-popcorn” stations because, you know, extra butter. Related: those stations can be dangerous for someone like me. I can out-eat anyone when it comes to movie popcorn with extra butter. Well, except for maybe one person: my mom. If my mom and I were each given a bucket of movie popcorn, buttered just the way we like it, I would be hard pressed to guess who could…
- Blessings, Childhood Memories, Family Fun, Favorite Things, Food, I've Got Mad Skillz, My Kid Has Mad Skillz, My Mom Has Mad Skillz, Review
Birthday Traditions: Make A Cake And Eat It, Too.
A couple of weeks ago we celebrated J’s 17th birthday. SEVENTEEN. As in, “My younger–and last born–son is seventeen.” It would be really hard for me to believe if there weren’t a trail of rainbow-colored crumbs all over our family photo albums*. You see, around here birthdays mean one thing: beautifully decorated rainbow cakes (the insides are tinted in various colors). It’s a tradition my mom started, and what I love about it is the thought that goes into it, resulting in the birthday honoree feeling extra special. I remember how creative my mom was with birthday cakes when we were kids. Over the years, she made me a Holly…
- Childhood Memories, Confessions, Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?, Food, My Mom Has Mad Skillz
Old Habits Die Hard.
When he was little, J–like so many other young kids–had a strong aversion to bread crust. Unfortunately for him, I had a strong aversion to making a sandwich and then cutting off the crusts for my kid. Call me mean if you want, but I just figured that if he didn’t like the bread crust that much, he could just eat around it. I did help him out a little bit, though, by cutting his sandwiches into quarters on the diagonal. This way, he could nibble what he considered “the good stuff” all the way down to the crust. That picture above, though? That was my sandwich, from yesterday’s lunch.…
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Creative Parenting 101: Put Your Kids To Work
Some of the best (and funniest) moments in parenting for me have been when I suddenly figured out why my parents did something a certain way when raising my sister and me. Let me give you an example. Our mom loves to put on garage sales. LOVES. I don’t think she’s a fan of the work (sorting, pricing, displaying) before the sale–not too many people are, I imagine–but she loves making money from stuff she’s had sitting around the house (and who wouldn’t love that?). Back in the 70’s when we were kids in the south suburbs of Chicago, Mom had a couple of garage sales each year. Each time,…