I have quickly come to realize that making new friends when you are a grown-up isn't as easy as it was when you were a little kid. I watch my boys make new friends all the time. They'll see someone at the park, run up to him or her and simply say, "You wanna play?" and usually they do. When you are a grown-up it isn't that easy. It requires effort on your part. New friends rarely come knocking on your… Read More

Superheroes are a big thing at our house right now. The Cheese got all of the Planet Heroes for Christmas, while the Monkey received a Superman and a Batman doll. I call them his "Barbies" but the Golfer doesn't like it when I do. Of course there is Buzz Lightyear and Woody. I guess they aren't actually superheroes, but with the Monkey saying things like, "Buzz Lightyear...to the rescue!" it sure seems like they are. I live in… Read More

My collection of recipes is getting out of control.

It's a genetic trait. My grandmother had a collection of recipes so large, she would have to cook something new every single day in order to try them all. She clipped them from the newspaper and tore them out of magazines. She had recipes stashed all over her kitchen, and her recipe box (or should I say "boxes") were so full of three by five index cards that they wouldn't close.

Now that I… Read More

How do you teach a child to be neat? I've talked to my children 'til I'm blue in the face about keeping their room picked up, keeping their room "neat." It will take a while, and hopefully with lots and lots of practice my children will eventually learn the value of neatness.

But teaching neatness at school is an entirely different thing. Being neat at school revolves around the idea of "staying in the lines" especially in kindergarten. We've all heard… Read More

What a difference ten years can make.

When I was 25-years-old...

I was single, but dating and madly in love with the Golfer.

I was a fifth grade teacher.

I had no children, except for my 20 students who I loved as if they were my own.

I was a blonde.

I was about 30 pounds lighter and always wore a belt.

I had no mortgage.

I had very little debt.

I went to the grocery… Read More

I can hardly believe that my baby turned 3-years-old yesterday. It doesn't seem possible. It feels like it was just the other day that the doctor held him up over my c-sectioned body for me to look at. He was screaming at me, apparently not too happy about being taken out of his warm and safe cocoon a week early. The first words that I ever said to him were, "You're so mad!"

He screamed as the Golfer carried him… Read More