Archive for the ‘Kids’ Category

Benefits of a Down Economy

Really? Yes. Sure, it’s been a tough couple of years, and no one’s certain when things will improve. But I’ve always been a glass-half-full type of person. And while you might think my glass is full of it, I’ve found some good has come out of this economic down turn. Here are some of the benefits […]

A Mom’s Perspective on Fatherhood

When our first child was born, I had not had any prior experience with babies. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I had never babysat as a teenager nor held a friend’s or relative’s baby. Like Prissy from Gone with the Wind, I didn’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies. So despite reading stacks of books on “what to […]

Advice on Letting Go

Letting go has never been my strong suit. From my childhood, I’ve been a collector:  rocks, feathers, glass bottles, sea shells, trolls. I still have many of these collections in various old cigar boxes and zip lock bags around the house. In many cases, I can’t remember where I discovered these treasures. At the time, […]

Are You a Red Shirt Guy?

I’m such a nerd and even took a quiz to prove it…as if my nerdiness needed validation. Worse yet, I’m a Star Trek nerd. I have faithfully watched Star Trek TOS (“The Original Series), TNG (“The Next Generation”), DS9 (“Deep Space Nine”), Voyager, Enterprise and all 11 movies. (I was prepared to loathe the 2009 cinematic prequel but […]

How Did You Spend Your Extra Hour?

Did you remember to turn your clocks back this weekend? It’s that glorious time of year where we take back that extra hour that was stolen from us last spring. How did you spend your extra hour? My favorite usage of the hour is sleeping. I know it may seem wasteful or sloth-like (one of […]

Pencil Me In

My son took the PSAT yesterday, the first of several rites of passage from high school to college that will be determined by a #2 pencil. Just what is the significance of the #2 pencil you might ask?  Well, you are in luck. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version. Pencils have been around since the discovery of […]

Eat, Pray, Love… Without the Eating.

September 14th at St. Francis Heart Hospital. Nine-month-old Mikey has been in the Pediatric ICU for just a few hours. Earlier in the morning, he had open-heart surgery to close a large hole in his heart.  His family was standing around his bed watching him as he lay in a medicine-induced sleep, a respirator breathing for him, and at […]

Summer is over. I need a cookie.

Labor Day. The official end of summer. This is always a gloomy time of year for me because my kids are going back to school. Some parents can’t wait for that first bell to ring, but I actually enjoy spending time with my children and the relatively stress-free nature of the vacation season. I love the […]

Who Are Your Minions?

We took the kids to see the movie Despicable Me  last weekend. The trailer looked funny, and the film had already reached blockbuster status (as of this writing, it has grossed $209,287,345.00 — $32.00 of which was our humble contribution). It was a fun movie, but our teens are getting to an age where it’s not enough […]

From Worrier to Warrior in 2 Easy Steps

Ready? #1. Change the O in Worrier to an A. #2. Change the E to O.  WOARRIEOR.  Okay, that was a little simplistic. But there are ways to combat worrying and to empower yourself that are almost as easy. I come from a long line of worriers. Generations in my family have fretted about monumental issues […]