As you might have noticed, I haven’t been here – or really anywhere around the blogosphere – lately. And there’s good reason for that. In less than a month, strong men with a big truck will pull up in front of this house and load up all of our belongings – thousands of books, the [...]
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Would you be surprised to learn that Mother’s Day was created by a woman who was never a mother herself? I know I was. In fact it was a daughter, Anna Jarvis, who was so proud of her own mother’s life and work that she lobbied to create a national holiday honoring all mothers and the [...]
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In addition to being a history buff, I am also a big fan of historical fiction. The period that fascinates me the most is Tudor England, and especially the reigns of King Henry VIII and his daughter, Elizabeth I. Like many of us, I devoured Philippa Gregory’s juicy The Other Boleyn Girl. More recently, I was [...]
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I’ve been in a funk lately, simultaneously buzzing with ideas and struggling to get them down on paper. A series of nuisance interruptions hasn’t helped: a root canal, a bad back, taxes, taxes, taxes. So I’ve decided to try to ease myself back into regular writing by following the lead of Lindsey at A Design So [...]
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Over at 3 Things for Mom, founder and editor Lauren has created a website devoted to offering readers a daily Truth, Tip, and Find courtesy of a collection of blogging moms. In her words, “It’s like having your favorite bloggers over for coffee in your PJs every morning.” I’m honored to be over at 3 [...]
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I don’t watch nearly as much TV as I used to. But there are certain moments – often on weekend afternoons when the kids are napping or when my husband is running them wild downstairs while I’m folding laundry (oh, the glamour of my life!) – when I feel like tuning in and then tuning [...]
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Dear Mom and Dad, Happy Valentine’s Day. I don’t tell you often enough how much I love you and how grateful I am to have you as my parents. It’s easy for me to say “I love you” when we talk on the phone, to send you a quick e-mail when I read a new [...]
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Three days after I became a Midwesterner — according to my driver’s license, at least — my husband and I joined his colleague and her family at our new town’s annual Memorial Day parade. As I lowered my pregnant belly onto the alley of grass between the sidewalk and the town’s main avenue, an advertisement [...]
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I’ve written before about the doctor whose keen listening and holistic approach helped set me on a path to wellness, about his recommendations to me on exercise, healthier eating, massage, caffeine, and saying yes to myself. What I haven’t shared before were his parting words to me before sending me off to the health food store for [...]
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I’m over at Ms. magazine today, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks. Although Parks is known as “the first lady of civil rights” for refusing to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white passenger, she was actually a lifelong revolutionary who spent decades standing up for powerless women and [...]
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I reach into the manila envelope, tall and thick and freckled with spots of rain. The paper on the top of the pile, crisp white and razor sharp, catches the pad of my index finger and slices it cleanly. A rush of heat, a trickle of blood. A paper cut. *** I see the stack [...]
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Once again, I’ve decided to kick off 2013 by reflecting on 2012. I had such fun last year pondering Tsh’s list of 20 reflection questions over at Simple Mom, I knew I wanted to write on them again. So here goes: Tsh’s questions and my responses… 1. What was the single best thing that happened this past [...]
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3 days until my birthday (which I will celebrate with a cake with 36 candles); 4 days until Christmas (which I will celebrate with 3 kids, aged 5 and under, and 4 grown-ups, aged 36 and over, approximately 17 Christmas cookies, and 19 handfuls of spicy mixed nuts); and 11 days until our anniversary (9 amazing, transformative [...]
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I am a writer and writers write. But what do you write when there are no words to express your sadness, your horror? I experienced Friday’s tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut as I imagine many of you did: at a physical remove, but with a heart rent open for the lives snuffed out, for the children [...]
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It all started with a cup of green tea. This fall when I was feeling so tense that my back muscles started to compress the nerves that run down my arms and legs, I knew that I needed to make some changes. And fast. So, inspired by my visit with a doctor who specializes in [...]
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One of the most relaxing days I’ve had recently started with a man I barely know poking me in the eye with a metal stick. Allow me to explain. Ever since my eye surgeries this summer, I’ve had check-ups with my retina surgeon every couple of months. The exam starts with one of his techs [...]
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It’s an image that many of us know well: a young woman, her hair tied back with a red and white bandanna with just a hint of feminine curl sneaking out, her powerful forearm and steely gaze competing for your attention. You may have seen her on a poster in a college dorm room or [...]
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For a few weeks in the very early days of this blog, I would offer a weekly list of my favorite finds from around the Internet. I’d like to revive my Six Quick Picks tradition today to share six of the things that are making me exceedingly happy this week: 1. Bluefin’s Ease into 5K [...]
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I’m pleased today to offer you a guest post from Kristen K. Brown, author of the newly released book, The Happy Hour Effect. I read Kristen’s book a few weeks ago and have been using her simple, easy-to-implement tips ever since to help keep me calmer during the beginning of the always hectic holiday season. Kristen’s ideas [...]
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May your Thanksgiving be filled with the simplest, most sustaining gifts: family, friends, food, warmth, and laughter. I’ll be taking the rest of the week off to spend time with my family. Enjoy your holiday!
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I have a bad habit: at the point in a conversation when I become really engaged, I often stop listening and start thinking about what point I’ll make next. Picture this: I’m chatting with one of the moms at preschool pick-up. She’s pregnant with her second child and is heading to her doctor’s office later that [...]
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As the campaign season (finally!) comes to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about parenting and politics. I’ve long been interested in politics. In high school, I volunteered for a Senate candidate, registered voters at lunch, and wrote op-eds in my school newspaper. It was with great pride that I cast my first vote [...]
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Some thoughts today, the third anniversary of the day I started blogging: All my life, I knew I wanted to be a mother. As an older sister, a babysitter, and a teacher, I trained for years for the day I would have kids of my own. For the first year after my oldest son was [...]
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From William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I [The three witches, casting a spell] Round about the cauldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights hast thirty one Swelter’d venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot… Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, For the ingredients [...]
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I was a big fan of Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, so much so that I created, and soon abandoned, a Happiness Project of my own, very much based on her resolutions. So it was with great anticipation that I bought and read her latest effort, Happier at Home. In Happier at Home, Rubin undertakes a new Happiness Project. [...]
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Earlier this month Husband and I did something I never thought we’d do: we ditched our landline phone and moved exclusively to cell phones. Our decision was prompted in large part by the fact that we live in a swing state and, for the past several months, our home phone line was being besieged by [...]
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In the fall, my Sunday afternoons are all about making soup. It’s an image of my family I hope I’ll remember from this season of life: me, in the kitchen in my fuzzy socks, chopping vegetables; the boys at their train table mapping out a battle between their Lego guys and their Playmobil knights; Husband [...]
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I get these rushes of energy sometimes, waves of electricity that dance up my arms into my head and get lodged there for awhile, asking me to listen. Usually they’re telling me to do something: to make a new plan, take on a new project. And, in my Type A way of addressing the world, [...]
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I’m recovering from a busy weekend here – family visitors and the wedding of two of my favorite people – so I’m going to start the week by sharing a quick anecdote: On Thursday morning after I dropped off Little Brother at preschool, the “low tire pressure” light came on in my car. This is [...]
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The last few weeks have been tricky ones chez Motherese. Just as I was getting into my fall groove, I started to notice some strange physical symptoms. At first, I chalked up the pins-and-needles in my left pinky toe to an unnoticed running injury. I’ll take a few days off, I figured, and see if [...]
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