I think a lot about the decision to go back to work after having a baby. My baby-having days are long in the rear-view mirror, but the decision is present, so present: since having my first child nearly six years ago I have kept at it, stuck to my guns and backed down in equal parts (every day). I have worked full-time and part-time for three employers (plus freelance) in my attempts to Make It Work. I have lost earrings and run in heels. I have wondered why the conference room smelled like vomit only to realize it was my own sweater. I have managed to locate my poise anyway, and given ... [READ MORE]
Love and a Little Crazy
March 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Have you ever found yourself standing in a basement room at 5am, gearing up for two loads of laundry and a two-mile run before breakfast, wondering when, exactly, you started sprinting through life? 5am is not really a reasonable time to do anything besides sleep or drink coffee, and yet here I am using it, milking it, this precious hour before people wake up and start needing things. When did the rest of my life get so squeezed? What (misguided) choices am I making that drives me to this point? I like to think I am a good multi-tasker but lately I wonder if I'm actually really ... [READ MORE]
A Chance Encounter with a Dragon
March 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
We wear red for the Lunar New Year. LittleMan's class stages a parade in the school gymnasium. It is a wise system: the littlest children wear the dragon, so it cannot frighten them. (LittleMan is too tall, so he follows and bangs a tambourine.) All weekend long the firecrackers snap and pop on the streets near our apartment, Grant Avenue being just a few blocks up the hill. There are random outbreaks of live music. We do not go to the parade itself (Mommy is slightly agoraphobic like that), but the city is alive with it, this midwinter celebration of beginnings and endings and good ... [READ MORE]
Surprise Shark Attack off the Port Side
February 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I am not sure what it says about us that we have taken to ordering toothpaste off the internet, in bulk. I have mentioned before that I live above a Safeway, where there are any number of delectable toothpastes on offer (Berry Bubble, Fruit Blast, Bubble Mint), but instead of hopping on the elevator when the toothpaste runs low, we log onto AmazonPrime and wait two days for the Grape Sparkle to come. Actually, the latest incarnation is Groovy Grape, which doesn't have artificial colors or Disney characters on the tube, because we're all organic like that, apparently. But who am I kidding? ... [READ MORE]
P is for Protester (And Prada.)
January 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment
"What did you do on your first day back?" we ask LittleMan over dinner. "Mostly we learned about ducks," he replies between bites of salmon. "Ducks? What about them?" "Ducks starts with D." Suddenly I remember. The Letter Project. Dammit. (Dammit starts with D!) The Letter Envelope is due every Wednesday morning, every week for about 20 weeks. Each week, the Letter Envelope must contain 4-5 images culled from magazines, newspapers, etc. which represent words that start with a letter of the alphabet. (Why only 20 weeks? you alphabet aficionados might be asking. Are ... [READ MORE]
An Object in Motion, Stopped
January 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
We never did give LittleMan that haircut. He started the 2014 semester with his usual sticking-out 'do, despite our best intentions. We never got to those last few loads of laundry, either; or the thank you notes (deeply grateful though we are...we're working on it, I promise); or The Pile on the kitchen counter that desperately needs to be sorted through and filed. We did not research the bunk-bed purchase, and I did not update my blog (although I will say with some satisfaction that 2013 was my most prolific year yet, nearly meeting my goal of a post a week). We are still figuring out ... [READ MORE]
Holly Jolly (and How)
December 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
There is one thing my children Will Not Do. (There are 10,001 things my children Will Not Do. But anyway.) There is one thing my children Will Not Do that my husband and I desperately wish they would, and that is Pose for the Damn Christmas Card, Dammit! Every year it's the same thing. We gussy them up and we go to the hotel lobby or the majestic downtown office building with the epic tree or the off-the-hook elves-in-classic-cars display and we let them run around a bit. The photo session commences: We cajole. We plead. We clap and dance around and wave our hands over our ... [READ MORE]
