For me, 2007 has been a year of growth; of creating new life, embarking on new journeys and tackling new challenges. But for so many, it has been a year of tragedy. Over the last few months, several friends and family members have been dealt serious blows to their health or even lost their lives, seemingly in the prime of their lives. These were not "elderly relatives", but closer to contemporaries- me in 10 years perhaps.

With each phone call,… Read More

I'm sure everyone's been eagerly awaiting the next installment of my Pet Peeves Series. I want to assure everyone that today's entry by no means exhausts my robust list of annoyances, so there is little danger of this series ending anytime soon (insert relief/horror emoticon here).

Today's topic is the sizing of children's clothing, or as I like to call it "the random number manufactures print on the tag, all while probably laughing hysterically". It's bad enough that designers destandardized… Read More

I completed another Craigslist sale today. I was surprised to learn in the past that not everyone knows what Craigslist is, so I'm here to give the inside scoop.

Craigslist is a free online classified service that allows people to buy sell or exchange pretty much anything, like an online garage sale. You are probably thinking "oh, junk, you mean" or "hey isnt that eBay?" and in both cases you would be mostly right. However, Craigslist's interface is shall we… Read More

Pregnancy is fraught with danger. Not the least of which are maternity clothes. The first problem is that while you know deep down that the clothes are never truly "in style", you cling to the hope that you will at least be able wear them again for the next pregnancy. However if you leave any longer than a six month gap between pregnancies, you will soon find that "maternity fashion" has a short shelf life.

After discovering this sad fact, I… Read More

I read study recently that showed that people became increasingly depressed as they neared 40 when their unhappiness peaked, and after 40 their moods improved. The theory was, that as people close in on 40, they are becoming more and more aware that any or all of their dreams will not happen, which is upsetting. Then they hit 40 and they decide "well, that's that, I better make the best of it".

As I close in on my mid-30's I… Read More

We've had a bit of a breakthrough in the last week on potty training. While I wouldn't enter Jack into the Potty Trained Masters Tournament yet, at least he has (drumroll) actually gone on the potty. I feel like my kid just invented the polio vaccine, I'm so impressed and proud.

His dedication to this is spotty and random for now, but we have a chart and he gets trips and stickers and treats and all sorts of things to completely… Read More