children – Page 9 – FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER!

The Sprinkler Man and the Glass Coffee Table

January 9, 2021January 8, 2021 Posted in accident, angel, children, coffee table, disaster, house, husband, Mama bear, memoir, repair man, sprinklersLeave a comment

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

January 5, 2021January 4, 2021 Posted in art, children, computer, creativity, directors, doll house, dolls, illustrators, relationships, sewing, sewing machine, writers

(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

December 10, 2020December 11, 2020 Posted in abuse, children, dogs, humor, memoir, Nebraska, neighbors, relationships, worstLeave a comment

(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

November 8, 2020November 7, 2020 Posted in Caldecott Tunnel, children, memoir, Midwestern, Oakland, real estate, wallpaperLeave a comment

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

Door Number One or Door Number Two?

September 21, 2020September 20, 2020 Posted in best, California, children, cocktail waitress, Colorado, dad, dating, firsts, holidays, humor, Iowa, marriage proposal, memoir, Minnesota, relationships, Sweden, travel, vacationLeave a comment

(re-run)\ It was all because of a blizzard. Well, sort of. I wanted to go to Minnesota to see the boyfriend I’d broken up with five months before while we were in Europe. We had bought Eurail passes and had made our way across the continent, sleeping on trains, in tents, and youth hostels, even… Continue reading Door Number One or Door Number Two?

Afternoon Delight

September 19, 2020 Posted in biking, children, crush, flirting, humor, junior high school, lust, middle school, neighbors, newspaper boy, paper boy, relationshipsLeave a comment

(re-run) If you were in eighth grade and you had a weekly afternoon paper route delivering the Detroit News in Saginaw, Michigan, and you rode your red Schwinn with the basket to do your route and then rode it again on collection day, what would your fantasy be? If you were Chet, it would be… Continue reading Afternoon Delight

The Story of Dr. Seuss

June 13, 2020June 12, 2020 Posted in author, biography, books, Caldecott Honor, children, children's books, Dick and Jane, divorce, Dr. Seuss, Pulitzer Prize, Random House, The Cat in the Hat3 Comments

(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

May 21, 2020May 21, 2020 Posted in artist, books, California, children, Chinese food, Chinese restaurant, daughter, donations, garage sales, Iowa, library, memoir, parents, self-fulfilling prophecy, teacher, teaching, writersLeave a comment

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 this… Continue reading Give Them a Chance