I’m a single mom chasing down two kids. These are stories from their younger years, as tweens and now teens. I have a strong silent son and a strong bold daughter! The stories will continue for as long as they’ll let me since they’re in high school and college.
It blows my mind how every sports season, despite agreeing not to do it, adults lose it and SCREAM from the sidelines. This crushes the self-esteem of their child, and puts a damper on the fun for the rest. I hold coaches in high esteem for volunteering to pour their hearts into practicing every possible…
As my daughter got into bed, we shared a few last words. To give her a mental boost for the remaining busy week, I raved how proud I felt for her keeping up and again, dangled the reward of a mellow Friday night approaching in 48 hours. I asked if she felt proud of herself…
Remember that old Sesame Street segment with the catchy tune “One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong”? When our awesome upstairs neighbors moved out, the campaign to find a fourth tenant that did go with the others began. I’ve gushed before over how much I love…
As a girl, I loved venturing into my grandparent’s huge east coast basement. Newspapers exposed me to current events, I shopped amongst the canned goods, invented new uses for broken machines, or read years of Good Housekeeping! I knew my grandmother and mother in the roles they fulfilled for me, but the basement gave me…
The latest evolving stage of this cold involves stopped up ears. As a result, the occasional little snarky thoughts I encounter when confronted with challenging people don’t as easily pass in one ear and out the other, instead they ping pong in my head until I start to get cranky. I hate this because it…
Perhaps this isn’t truly distortion though, maybe he really is smiling that big with or without the lens!
Minimizing morning melees through routines and planning works for most parts of the morning. Trying to prepare sporting things, sign 3-ring binders, and prepping parts of lunch positions us to get out the door on time. Breakfast, however, has yet to hit its stride. My kids rotate favorite foods they “have to” get, but the…
How many favorite family traditions can you think of from the last third of the year? Then, turn the corner into the new year and the barren first months leave us in withdrawals. This year I’m eager to define a fun tradition for my family to implement this spring, in addition to our shamrock shake…
After trudging through this week, my instinct to find something good in it rose to the top. Today proved to be less about rest, more about the continual transition to our future. I seized the silent moment – between the finish line of the weekend, and the starting line for the next one – to…
This restaurant has been a part of my family since about 1993 when my sister worked at the very first San Diego location that had to move into a new larger location within months of opening. Truth be told, each menu item you could probably find anywhere else, but the preparation set it above the…
Bitter divorces hit front page this week and I keep thinking about the aftermath. To couples that reach a quick amicable divorce, I applaud you. For the rest of us, it’s rough, exhausting, and sucks. Usually, divorce results from years (or 72 days) of an inability to compromise, so why would people become agreeable just…
Concerns and worries run rampant in my mind with my son preparing to move up to the new frontier, Middle School! I’ve tried preparing him for this new, often unforgiving wilderness, by increasing endurance for the uphill strenuous journey, trying to anticipate the terrain and the dangers, and defending himself from aggressive creatures. I administered…
