We bought a house on a street that was a long court with two courts coming off of it. We were up at the top, and it was a great and safe place for my kids to walk our greyhound mix dog. Until it wasn’t. “That was a short walk,” I said when they trooped… Continue reading The Neighbors, the Loose Pitbull, and the Daily Pooper
Category: children
Worst Mom Ever
As a mother, choose your words and actions carefully, for eighteen years! Mom to three grown children, I still hear about the horrible things I said and the awful things I did to them as children. Oldest daughter with her dad’s dark heavy eyebrows: me, to her as a teen, “You might want to pluck… Continue reading Worst Mom Ever
Musical Cleaning Day (waiting for plumber)
I am cleaning today. The plumber said he’d be by mid-morning, but it wasn’t not looking good. I worked on a review for a new children’s book coming out next month. I watched some Dry Bar Comedy while I digested my breakfast. That is no longer a multi-tasking feature of my aging body. Reflux. It’s… Continue reading Musical Cleaning Day (waiting for plumber)
The Story of Dr. Seuss
(re-run) I just finished a 430-page biography about Theodor Geisel. You might know him better as Dr. Seuss (his mother’s maiden name). When I chose the book to review, I expected a children’s biography, not an in-depth tome that chronicled his life year by year, from birth to death at age 87. He had two… Continue reading The Story of Dr. Seuss
Give Them a Chance
(re-run) It’s funny how something pops into your brain and you think, that would make a good blog post. Today I mailed 100 books to a librarian in Menlo Park. They are old kids’ books that my children read back in the day. My librarian Facebook friend asked for books for her students to read… Continue reading Give Them a Chance
A Funeral, an Appendix, and a Dead Concert
(re-run) PK lived in Jersey when her friend’s mum was terminally ill in Boston. When her friend called to say her mother had died, PK woke up feeling bad but thought it was the heat. She wanted to go to the funeral and surprise her friend. She loaded up her three-year-old daughter and took off… Continue reading A Funeral, an Appendix, and a Dead Concert
The Sprinkler Man and the Glass Coffee Table
When my two oldest children were 5 and 2, we moved from one house in town to another. We didn’t gain any square footage, but the new house had a huge yard, front and back, and forty trees in a better neighborhood. The house had been vacant for months. The sprinklers weren’t working in the… Continue reading The Sprinkler Man and the Glass Coffee Table
Creative People Make Messes
(re-run) If you are an orderly person like Monk on the TV show of the same name, this column is not for you. You crave things in place, all the time. Otherwise, you are agitated. The other side of the coin is the person who is so busy creating that he/she doesn’t notice the mess.… Continue reading Creative People Make Messes
Worst Neighbors Ever
(re-run) When I was twenty-eight I bought my first house, in Omaha, on 50th Avenue, south of Leavenworth. It was a cute little two bedroom, one bath with a full basement and big fenced-in backyard. Since I wanted to get a dog, it seemed perfect. I had a budget, and this house was in my… Continue reading Worst Neighbors Ever
The Crazy Real Estate Game
My old house at 155 Clover Hill Court in my town just sold for $1,335,000. I saw it in the Homes section of my local Sunday newspaper. My ex and I paid $286,000 for the house in 1987. We suffered big-time sticker shock, coming from the Midwest, where his house cost him $85,000 and mine… Continue reading The Crazy Real Estate Game
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 