Really, I should have known way before Saturday that my little blogging “break” was doomed to failure. I should have known the first day I started it. It was Monday, the first day of Sienna’s last week of school. I sent her off with a smile and then turned to my three other kids and the shambles of my housekeeping. Determined to make good on my little internet break, I turned my laptop off and put it away, and... Read more

I gave it a go. It was a good go, because it taught me something about myself that I know, that I have learned again and again, but that I apparently will never stop needing to re-learn. W. Somerset Maugham said, “We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.” So it was with him, so it is with me. Since I was a child, I wrote on everything. Scraps of paper, napkins, notebook margins,... Read more

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Last month was a spectacular blogging month, and as a direct result my house and kids basically fell to pieces. So I’m taking a few weeks off to remove socks from the ceiling fan, peel stickers off the furniture, and reassure them that my ASUS does not displace them in my affection. Although the Ogre has started calling it “my precious.” Better reign it in quick, cause no one wants to end up like this: I’ve arranged for some guest... Read more

You know, I thought the whole, “I’ll pick the winner cause it’s my blog, beyotches” thing would be fun. It wasn’t, not so much. I loved all the comments a lot, and some made me pee from laughing (I suck at kegels, okay, get off my back), and then I had this total crisis because the comment that spoke to me the most was also made by someone who happens to be my friend, and she’s also a blogger, and... Read more

I almost forgot! Sam, Elizabeth, and I are going to be on Sheila’s show on Relevant Radio again tonight, still talking about sex, because these sex posts are generating lots of interest, debate, and clickity click-clicks. Just in case you were confused, I am a Professional Catholic, and I’m only in this for the piles of pennies. I’m pretty sure Leah is joining us this week, which is sweet, because she is the bomb. 6 PM ET! Check out the... Read more

#7 Over at her place, Jen is talking about how squats are impossible. Not like they’re hard, but like, they are completely at odds with the laws of gravity. “If you move into a position like you’re sitting on a chair without actually having a chair behind you, you will FALL DOWN. This is not my opinion; it’s the opinion of the LAW OF GRAVITY.” All I can add is, a-t0-the-freaking-MEN. In my video torture workout of choice, the peppy... Read more

I have this blogging/facebook friend who I LOVE and who could probably teach me the correct usage of whom vs. who (since I just spent five minutes deliberating that before giving up). She is hilarious. She’s one of my favorite internet people because she keeps it real, and I don’t have much patience for people who don’t keep it real. Keep your photoshopped pictures of idealistic Pinterested homeschool bliss: if I’m gonna read a book about homeschooling, I want to... Read more

Almost a year ago, I wrote my very first post at Patheos. The Anchoress brought me aboard, so I thought it only fitting to begin my sojourn here by relating how the Anchoress first became aware of my existence (via a “deeply offended” response to a light-hearted blog post) and how she responded with such a fearlessly charitable email. By “fearlessly charitable”, I mean that she told me the truth mercifully and with compassion, but without evasion. That is something,... Read more

  Both on my original post on abstinence-only sex ed and on the follow-up, I’ve had quite a few commenters object to my insistence that girls (and boys) shouldn’t be taught that premarital sex makes them dirty. Some of the commenters cautioned that an attempt to remove the idea of premarital sex making one “dirty” can quickly morph into an attempt to remove any residual shame or guilt, thus short-circuiting the developing conscience of an adolescent. Others simply conflated the... Read more