I don’t know about you guys, but when I do an examination of conscience, there are several sins that I come back to again and again. They’re the sins I battle, the ones I’m aware of, the ones I gird myself against and know enough to keep an eye out for in unexpected places. Then there are the other sins, the ones that have never really been on my radar. Stealing is one of them. Envy is another. Sure, I... Read more

See this picture? This picture is a lie.   I think that changing a 10-month-old boy’s diaper should qualify as an Olympic sport. In my life, at least, it involves an incredible amount of flexibility and dexterity. Here’s what a typical diaper-changing event looks like for me these days. I happen to notice that perpetually clothes-less Liam (this is Texas in June, people) has a small collection of crumbs and a toy or two that are being drug around in... Read more

Well, tonight is the night. The night that I am cooking the Ogre’s favorite meal, Poulet au Porto (colloquially known as flaming chicken) in honor of his last weekend with us. The night in which his entire family will gather, sans his sommelier brother who, naturally, has to work, for the last time before he takes off to Vegas to finish the last leg of his pre-dissertation doctoral journey. Luckily, this meal is such a pain in the ass to... Read more

Just now, as I was signing into my blog, I noticed that it is the 21st of June and I have only 11 posts up this month. I am feeling properly ashamed of myself for being such a finicky blogger this month. This week is the last week that the Ogre will be with us before he goes back to Las Vegas, so I’ll be spending lots of time with him, but next week I’ll begin settling myself and the... Read more

I’m not proud of what I am about to do. But desperate times call for stuffing one’s pride down a deep, dark hole and begging. The first night of our jewelry show did not go well. On the one hand, nearly every person who came bought something. But on the other hand…only about ten people came. The Ogre and I are panicking, just a bit. I know that it’s foolish to put all of one’s eggs in one basket, but... Read more

Warning, boys. This one’s for the ladies. Unless you’re the supportive husband of an NFP-using wife and talk of lady business doesn’t make you uncomfortable.  Yesterday, I grimly marched out to my parent’s garage, ripped open a white box marked “toiletries,” yanked out a black bag, unzipped it, and pulled out the pink stick of doom laying right on top. Now before you go accusing me of not being open to life, let me assure you that I am. I... Read more

Lo and behold, after my last post, in which I briefly mentioned my engagement and then said I would save that story for when Betty Beguiles asked for it, she asked for it! Which is very timely, since after an excess of poker and a perfect amount of vodka last night my head is hurting just a wee bit and my creative juices are not exactly flowing. More like trickling pathetically. So I’ll just tell you about the Ogre’s proposal!... Read more

Well, since I missed quick takes this week I thought I would dust off an old habit and do a Sunday Smorgasbord. It seems that things are finally beginning to settle into place around here, so my posting should return back to normal this week. I hope. We have a prayer routine that we go through at bedtime. I give the children my family’s traditional bedtime blessing, we say a prayer to their guardian angels, an Our Father, a Hail... Read more

In which a cosmopolitan never tasted so good. Although it felt like the back side of a century, our little misadventure into Oh-shit-ville really only took about an hour and a half. I waited until I was securely within the city limits of Albuquerque to get gas, bringing us perilously close to running out on the side of I-40, and then made a beeline for a Target that I had seen while exiting for the gas station. We needed to go... Read more

If it is at all humanly possible to be back later to finish my road trip story, I promise to, but right now I have to show you something that I’m so excited about. A few days ago, my incredible sister-in-law Emily, who just happens to be a professional photographer, and her friend, who just happens to be a former model, agreed to help the Ogre and I out by doing a photo shoot with our jewelry. We are planning... Read more