East Coast Travels, Volume One: In a nutshell, we’ve got cousins, concerts, old friends, new pals, flappin’ about in a pool, and loving on Mim and Pop. That’s a pretty big nutshell. See you next week, friends. You won’t be able to miss me. I’ll be the one weighing roughly a thousand pounds from all of this incredible food… …and face-planting into the pool because of all of these incredible (and incredibly energetic) children.
Back When I Chuckled At The Misfortune Of Others…
July 14, 2014 By 2 Comments
Throwback Monday! Lest you think that my habit of mocking mass-produced picture frames was a one time thing, rest assured. I’ve got a million of these. Also, I apparently could put together a coffee table book with the number of tales concerning sprinkler incidents in my twenties. *** I Scent A Trilogy (originally posted July 10th, 2008) Speaking of viciously earnest and poorly realized frames (and we were), this may be my new favorite. For now. As you can see (kinda), the photograph is {Read More}
Leaving On A…Honda Odyssey.
July 10, 2014 By 10 Comments
Hey kids, Lemme tell ya, packing up your life for five weeks o’ travel is weird. And if that travel ends you up at your family’s homestead, it’s almost weirder. Here’s why: There’s a certain amount of STUFF that you (and I and Nora and Susannah and Jasper) are used to seeing and touching on a daily basis. And when you go home, there’s the knowledge that everything you’ll need is more or less there. Except for the stuff that more or less {Read More}
Summer Brain Boosts, AKA Netflix Wants Me To Snack.
July 10, 2014 By 2 Comments
As a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam, I’m ridiculously happy to tell you guys about this month’s theme- summertime brain boostin’ for those information sponges you (and I) call children. And hey, we are always one “hands-on learning activity” away from a snack. Hungry? *** Here’s the thing. Once summertime hits, it’s oh-so easy for kiddos to lose the brain stimulation as quickly as they lose the structure and outside-appropriate outfits of the schoolyear. (Anyone else’s kid have certain ensembles {Read More}
RoundUp: Friends, The Arts, & Listen To Your Mother Vids!
July 9, 2014 By 2 Comments
This past week has been pretty darned fun. We made the most of the long weekend by puttering around the house for even longer periods of time, and even shoved studio headphones on our kids so they could properly enjoy up close n’ personal fireworks without that pesky hearing loss thing. And last night P.J. and I met up with one of my longtime pals and all-around favorite people- my pen pal Armando from way back in the day. God bless {Read More}
Chicago Sailing, AKA My New Favorite Thing.
July 8, 2014 By 8 Comments
Disclaimer: Although we were offered a free sail by Chicago Sailing, I was in no other way compensated and all thoughts, opinions, and sunburned shoulders are my own. I’ve lived in Chicago for close to 12 years. And, in all that time, I’ve never been further into Lake Michigan than the holding my kid ten feet from the shoreline obligatory “swimming” thing. (And, you know, the occasional harbor dinner cruise.) This is ridiculous, considering that for roughly five years I {Read More}
Back When We Bought This Thing In The First Place…
July 7, 2014 By 2 Comments
Happy five year anniversary, big ol’ weird house! For today’s Throwback Monday (#tbm), I give you…the blog post wherein I still felt like everything was gonna be a-ok. Hahahahahahahahaha. *** Anyone Have A Tums? (originally published July 9th, 2009) So, in roughly the amount of time it took to BUILD a new (and smallish) house, we managed to PURCHASE one! For crazy amounts of Monopoly money that I was briefly allowed to touch before it was snapped up in the {Read More}
Keely And The Terrible, Horrible…OW.
July 3, 2014 By 6 Comments
Now, I know I’m not exactly a coal miner, nor is it my task to break boulders into smaller boulders…but occasionally, my day devolves into Not Quite So Easy. For example. Did you know that a freshly mopped floor is a magnet for pee? It just is. It begs for the chance to insufficiently catch (an improbable amount of) bodily fluids from a shockingly small person. “It’s been a minute and a half,” the floor seems to say. “I’m bored! {Read More}
