My six-year-old walked into the kitchen with a box of dominoes in both hands, the cordless phone cradled between left ear and shoulder.
“I love you, too, Daddy. Here’s Sammy,” he said as he navigated the dog gate and handed the phone to his brother.
Like mother like son, I suppose. And I laughed; but I also stopped short. I am trying to re-learn to do one thing at a time. For an inveterate multi-tasker, this can be painful. Continue reading
I need Google Desktop for my brain. Imagine the possibilities.
Can’t find the receipt for the laundry basket you need to return to Target? Just enter “basket receipt” in the little search box and you’re good to go.
Missing permission slip? Lemon cookie recipe? Green striped sock? Google it.
When does the dog license expire?
Which of your son’s t-shirts needs to be replaced after that unfortunate run-in with the fruit punch?
Was your grandmother smiling the last time she squeezed orange juice for you in the yellow Oak Park kitchen?
Were you?
Don’t you wish you could look it up?
The rental smelled like a cheap hotel room – a cross between stale smoke and disinfectant. A tin can of a car; a shoe box; a way to get around town for $22 a day. Continue reading
The bat mitzvah countdown is officially upon us, and I am strangely calm. So calm that when my six-year-old told me yesterday (for the second day in a row) that he had looked everywhere, but still couldn’t find his snow boots at school, I took him to Famous Footwear at 5 pm, on the cusp of the snowstorm. It turns out that if you can find your size this time of year, you can get a really good deal on superhero boots. Continue reading
I knew something was off balance when I reset the thermostat timer.
For years, it automatically dropped to 66 degrees at 11 p.m., giving me just enough time to brush my teeth and snuggle up with the heated mattress pad and my husband before the house got too chilly. Continue reading
The thirteenth birthday of our local princess looms. The girl is sweet, funny and smarter than the average bear. Still, she is acting her age. Here is some of what I’ve figured out so far. Continue reading
I knew I loved my husband, but now I love him more.
Two days ago, an unassuming man from Exerspecial spent an hour in my basement assembling our new treadmill. I won’t get into the gory details about how the various pieces of this monstrosity made it downstairs (thank you, Jon Hirsch). Suffice to say that it was heavy, packing tape is no match for a giant cardboard box, and we only dinged the basement stairwell once. Continue reading
I spent the last day of school break in the kitchen. By dinner time, our fridge was stocked with carrot soup, pans of roasted cauliflower and eggplant, hard boiled eggs, polenta with greens, and one batch each of lentils, barley and wheat berries. I grated cheese, prepared tomato sauce and pizza dough, sliced carrots and chopped chocolate. Continue reading
I wouldn’t say I long for sick kids, but last week wasn’t so bad. (For me, at least. Josh was the one with the sore throat; I just got to come along for the ride.)
School was closed for cold and ice Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday, he was fully sick – listless and slow, curled up under a fleece throw one minute, attacking aliens in outer space on the Wii the next. Continue reading
“I’m the first one in our family to have one of these!”
Sammy bounded out of the emergency room with a half-cast/splint to protect his maybe-broken finger. Ever the optimist, always on the lookout for the next cool experience, my middle boy smiled at me and asked if there were any nachos left in the car from the snack we’d made for the ride to the hospital. Continue reading
Writing It Down 