It finally happened — the thing I’ve been dreading since I heard “it’s a girl” for the first time. Another girl body-shamed my daughter. But not the daughter I expected, my oldest, the one wading her way through awkward prepubescence. No, it was my youngest, Charlotte, who’s only in kindergarten. I was there when it happened. I do lunch duty at the school once a week, which has given me a chance to get to know the kids in my... Read more
Don’t use ’em! (PS: my mom is totally going to unfriend me for sharing this) Read more
Starbucks really thought it could get America to confess our sins by writing about them on coffee cups. Exploiting collective guilt through overpriced beverages? Well played, Starbucks. Oh no, wait, that was terribly played. That was the most terrible play you’ve made since Chantico was going to “revolutionize the way Americans drink hot chocolate”. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t.) I was a Starbucks barista for years in college, and when I heard about the RaceTogether campaign I literally winced. There is... Read more
I know, I know — not another zombie show! But iZombie brings the fun to the, er, table. I love this show so much I’m basically incoherent with glee. It feels indecent to be so happy during Lent, but here I am. The least I can do is spread the happiness to the internet. Basically, this show is the total opposite of The Walking Dead, a show I also love dearly. Where TWD is about surviving a large-scale zombie apocalypse, this... Read more
On Facebook, Jennifer Fulwiler is asking for 10-word descriptions of worst Mass experiences ever. After my offering, I dug up this old post that inspired it, cut out the boring “moral lesson” at the end, and re-published it for you with a snazzy new title. Please enjoy this account of personal mortification, then go read the comments on Jen’s post. They are hilarious. My current fave is this one: “Toddler smacks passing butts in communion line. Toddler hides. I look... Read more
Olivia and Emma died a year ago today. It didn’t seem like it could possibly be real then, but time brings the weight of reality to tragedy. We have their prayer cards on our refrigerator. In the morning every day I look at their faces and say a prayer for Sean, Becca, and Vivian. It’s not much, but it’s important to carry their grief through my days in some kind of tangible way. It’s always in my heart — no... Read more
Yesterday morning I woke up thinking about Mycenae. Sounds weird, I know, but that sun-baked hilltop is a fixed point in my life. Everything changed the day I went to Mycenae. It was so hot when we clambered off the buses. My classmates were eager and bounced ahead of my roommate and me, chattering and laughing as if we hadn’t all been out drinking in Delphi till 2 am the night before. I was hungover. Really, really hungover – the... Read more
Yesterday was the first day of spring break. We’ve finally reached the sniffly beginning of the end of the Death Virus, but I let the Ogre sleep in a little since we’re both still making up for eons of lost sleep. We all had a long, leisurely breakfast, reveling in the joy of a week with no 8 am classes for anyone, and then the kids disappeared into their room to build a block fortress while the Ogre got ready... Read more
Well, we don’t. We also care about single moms raising kids on their own, and the elderly, and post-abortive moms, and victims of domestic violence…and here’s a chance for us to put our money where our mouths are. For those of you who might not know the Crescat, let me tell you a little bit about her. She’s a single mom who works her ass off to support her son and her mom. She’s a convert who keeps it real... Read more
I had really hoped that the two-week bout of sickness was the end of it, but actually it was just beginning. Luckily for us – but unluckily for them – my parents had just arrived for a much-anticipated visit when the Ogre came home from work early and collapsed in bed with a 101 fever. In the moments that it took me to take his temperature and send him to bed with some Advil, I saw all our beautiful plans... Read more
Barefoot and Pregnant
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