Having it all: careers, our kids, Bon Chon Chicken
I made pantry dinner twice last week. A couple other nights saw us reheating leftovers, and then we had take out. Our lives, post-baby, still revolve around dinner and what to have, and who’ll make it...
View ArticleIn Memoriam: Life after Mom
A decade ago, dementia stole my mother’s body, and gave it to a stranger. We buried her years later, but on this anniversary of Mom’s passing, the loss feels as fresh as though it happened yesterday. I...
View ArticleIn an El Nino winter, the many ways I feel wealthy
Y’all, I’ve never been so cold in my life in Southern CA. Our semi-mountain hometown is already seeing temperatures below 30 degrees F, it’s just the start of winter, and this year may be the biggest...
View ArticleHome for the holidays
It’s easy to forget when it happens once a year. The twinkling, winking fairy lights and the festive holiday wreaths lull me into a false sense of peace. Then I go home and my heart breaks into...
View ArticleWhen you hold the line
I’m not my brother’s keeper, I’m not my brother’s keeper, I’m not my brother’s keeper. Except when I am. On the heels of That Conversation with Dad, it comes out that everyone has tried to pry Sibling...
View ArticleWhat’s your price?
The cynics among us say that we all have a price. Although my instinct was to reject that truism, it may be true. We all care deeply about something in our lives. Sometimes we care about those things...
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24 hours, Part 1: dog walks, work, and splatitude
I’d been wondering something in my quiet moments. Why I haven’t started that business yet, or finished a creative project? Surely I’ve not gotten lazy and complacent? It’s possible but it doesn’t seem...
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24 hours, Part 2: juggling and the baby dash
Around 6 am, the snorfling starts. This kid is nothing like me – goes from asleep to wide awake in less than three winks – so any waking movement is The Real Deal. PiC’s already up and initiating the...
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24 hours, Part 3: tissues, sleep, and taking turns
Everyone is down. I repeat, everyone is down. PiC’s taken to bed with a high fever, LB’s the one who brought home the fever and is still sick, and I’m pretty broken as well. Seamus is the only one...
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Are you ready to win a million dollars?: Our weekend fun
Free fun: the patented homebody edition Lest you ever have the mistaken notion that PiC and I are a happenin’ couple…or whatever means “cool” these days, let me regale you with our Saturday night. Some...
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Examining choices: keeping my last name after marriage
What’s in a name? My friend hung up the phone and turned to me, “Never change your name if you get married. It’s such a pain to change back when something goes horribly wrong and you have to divorce...
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Household equality and the labors of our family
Every so often, I think about the fairness of our relationship. It’s in the context of my chronic health crap and how I hate that PiC has to pick up my slack. It’s also in the context of considering...
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Traveling to the Emerald City, the car saga, and teamwork
It feels like we’ve been tossing in the tempest, caught up in a life twister, for weeks. Nay, months! Normally I run at 70% efficiency, sickness took me down to 40%. I regained some health points just...
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4 life lessons from Blue Bloods
I ran across Blue Bloods on Netflix and flipped it on to be background noise. I was surprised to find myself enjoying the show. It’s wish fulfillment. Isn’t most tv? I’m neither anti-establishment nor...
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Married money: Combining finances or not
PiC and I have taken years to properly combine and organize our money since the wedding. The end goal has always been that I shall take and keep complete Dominion over All Things Money! Given our...
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Married Money: How we do it in 2016
I asked how you manage your money if you have to compromise with another human. It’s only fair to share how we’re managing ours! It’s taken years, but PiC and I have a pretty good system for us these...
View ArticleGrief, hiding in my closet
Grief is a jerk. It hides in memories you’d think wouldn’t have any power, bursting out and getting its ick on you when you were just trying to get on with your day. I was singing the alphabet to...
View ArticleOpen Enrollment 2016-2017, and the benefits of benefits
Between the election, hosting guests, and other demanding personal events, open enrollment flew right by. We scrambled to update our selections on the last day of the period instead of the first day...
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5 lessons from 5 years of marriage
Our marriage is half a decade old. Anniversaries were always a weird thing for me even before we wed, but Mom’s death right on the heels of our wedding day has meant the memory of our wedding has been...
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Baby’s first serious injury
A More than Minor Injury was sustained by JuggerBaby. We shared many moments of toddler distress, and equal parental distress for the pain ze was experiencing. Zir whimpers of pain were pathetic,...
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