I don’t want to start widespread panic, but there’s a tick out there biting people and turning them into vegetarians. Really. Go check it out. Are you back?  Are you as scared as I am?  One tick bite and no more burgers?  Seriously? I’m not sure I could go on in a life without hamburgers. I smell a plot here.  An evil, mad scientist kinda plotty plot plot.  PETA’s behind it.  I just know it. The crazy guy trying to... Read more

11 years ago, I looked at my sweet 4 1/2 year old daughter and decided to homeschool her.  I’d never met any homeshoolers. No one I knew had ever met a homeschooler.  In fact, the only person I knew of who was actually crazy enough to do it was that girl who played Blair on Facts of Life. The only homeschooler I knew 11 years ago. She’d said something about it in a People magazine interview a few years earlier. ... Read more

Earlier today, I said “When was the lat time you did something just for fun?  Not because it had a purpose, or was useful, or even expected?  When was the last time you were silly?  When did you last dance? Why don’t you do a little of that today? Life is short.  You should spend more of it laughing.” This evening, I was thrilled to see that the brilliant author of Who Needs Green? had taken me up on the... Read more

When was the lat time you did something just for fun?  Not because it had a purpose, or was useful, or even expected?  When was the last time you were silly?  When did you last dance? Why don’t you do a little of that today? Life is short.  You should spend more of it laughing. Read more

There’s a boy living down the street from us who has the worst ADHD I’ve ever seen.  During the school year, he lives at warp speed, talks even faster, and will twitch if he’s made to sit still.  And impulse control? Forget about it.  I feel for the kid because the way his body acts is the way my brain feels.  He drives me crazy, but he also makes perfect sense to me.  He’s nutty but manageable for 9 months... Read more

To my own Computer Guy, This morning around 2-ish as I walked and sang to our sweet #7, I stopped a moment to look at the picture from our wedding which sits in the dining room.  Have you looked at that picture lately?  Did you see how young we were? We were just babies! Sixteen years ago today. As I stood there staring at our shining young faces I could vividly remember that exact moment.  Standing in front of the... Read more

Just when we begin to think #4 is back to normal-ish…she comes downstairs and says “Mom, did you know that one of my ears is bigger than the other?” “Most people have one bigger ear.” “Bigger like this?” Here’s the other for comparison See how the other one has folds and ridges and the first one doesn’t? She usually has a matched set. My first thought was “bug bite” but I can’t find one.  (Okay, that’s a lie. My first... Read more

“Offer it up” is the mantra of  my children’s childhood.  Don’t want to clean your room?  Hate the broccoli? “Offer it up.  Work on your parade!” My children hear it daily.  Your brother is annoying and you wanna kill him but don’t? “Offer it up!” You skin your knee trying to ride your bike down the hill and don’t scream because the baby is sleeping? (You’re my new favorite child!) “Offer it up!” When I was a girl, my grandmother... Read more

She is 7 months old this week, and still not sleeping through the night.  Whenever I say this out loud to other mothers, they shake their heads and commiserate with me over how horrible it is to be sleep deprived and why won’t those silly babies just sleep? I nod along in agreement, and accept their condolences….but I secretly love it.  I love the 3 A.M.waking.  It is in the quiet darkness of my bed, with my beloved husband sleeping... Read more

My eldest child took the ACT yesterday.  It was nerve racking for me as I worried about whether or not I had taught her enough, and for her as she took her first standardized test.  She put so much pressure on herself as she walked around repeatedly telling me that this test could mean she gets into the college she wants or not and all the ways that not getting in would ruin her life. It all culminated in the... Read more