Still Climbing

Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor – Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where [...]

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Women’s Words

Women haven’t been given a lot of space in history books, I’ve noticed. The kids and I are listening to The Story of the World on CD every night before bed (thanks Angie) and it’s gotten me to thinking about the way we record which events we think of as important. About who records it, [...]

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A Chip Off The Old Sister

It’s like going back in time. Different daughter, same approach. Deadly serious, intensely focused, and in love with the sport. She has the advantage of having lived at the pool since she was two, and having been around more competitions than she can remember. She started diving this year, but she looks like she’s been [...]

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The Back Story. What You Don’t See In the Pictures.

What a lovely picture. A little girl pulling a sled in the Canadian wilderness. Sheesh. Those homeschooled kids. So brave and hearty and adventurous, always outdoors in the healthful fresh air….(What you don’t see is the howling wind, and my serious misgivings about having suggested our grand outing). Squatting down to eat some snow. (Me [...]

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You Know You’re Boring When…

….the highlight of your day is having time to clean. I cleaned out the snack cupboard, the entry closet, AND the two drawers of the Messy Counter (it used to be the messy drawer, then the messy drawers, and then the mess crawled over the entire counter.) Jay was busy playing “art factory” with her friend, Tee [...]

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Facing My Phobia

It’s mouse killing time. I’ve been reluctant to use live traps on my little rodent visitors, because they make my kids cry, and because I abhor the idea of dealing with the stiffened bodies, but ever since the back of the under-the-sink kitchen cabinet was cut away to deal with the frozen water pipes a [...]

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Prep For Bowling Birthday Party

Making the cake 7 loot bags, all nicely wrapped. Loot presents, for a bit of a change this year. Bowling trophy. It goes against today’s parenting ethos which insists that Nobody’s a Loser, but my kid has a terribly competitive streak. He keeps mental score at his basketball games even though the league insists on [...]

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2008

What Is Success? by Ralph Waldo Emerson   To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, [...]

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Procrastination

I hate coming down to the kitchen in the morning to this. It starts the day off all wrong. Whenever I leave the dishes for the morning, I regret it.

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Successful Sleepover

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La Nina

Good news for all you (Canadian) cold weather enthusiasts out there.  I read in the paper this morning that Environment Canada is predicting below normal temperatures across the entire country for the next three months. It’s apparently going to be the coldest winter since 1994-1995, which I do remember as being frighteningly frigid.( I had a newborn that January, [...]

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Daily Meditation

I just finished Barbara Coloroso’s bestselling parenting book called “Kids Are Worth It.” Lots of good advice about being a “backbone” family, lots of reassuring words for modern parents. The part I found most comforting though, was her passage regarding housework. She says that in the status hierarchy of our industrial culture, “entropic” work, or work [...]

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Bats in the Belfry?

Nope, squirrels in the attic. I hear them scrabbling and scratching inside my walls. This takes my rodent phobia to new heights.

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Ruptured Ear Drum Haiku

Banana tastes bad Especially in liquid form It was a long night okay, okay, I know it’s not 5/7/5 but I blame it on lack of sleep

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A Birthday Invitation

Big girl L was invited to the birthday party of a “special needs” girl in her class. This girl’s mom phoned me to say that the teacher had suggested L as someone who would enjoy going to the party. I understood that to mean that L was seen as mature, empathetic and capable of handling [...]

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Now Available At a Thrift Store Near You

Thanks to Operation Ogre Mother, big girl L made supper, which freed me up to make apple pie for dessert. It seemed a good time to try out the whole wheat pie crust recipe that had so darn many healthy ingredients it looked too good to be true, and sadly, was, so if you saw the [...]

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Cutthroat Concentration

Jay and I were playing this really boring kids card game, and I was getting really bored, because it was boring, boring, boring, so I decided to teach her Concentration. You know that old classic, where you match up pairs of cards. I thought it would be super hard for little Miss Jay, so I warned her not [...]

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Saturday Morning

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What’s For Dinner?

I know about the fires in California, and the plight of the Burmese monks, but even so, my mind is on this particular issue. Probably because I can be a little “me-centric”, and it affects me directly. When I’m deciding what to make for dinner, I’m like the rest of the world (oops, that just demonstrated [...]

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Staying Sane

There’s this art house movie that I’ve been meaning to rent, about four young Japanese children abandoned and left to fend for themselves. My kids have gotten used to the idea that mom, however helpful and teacherish during the week, is bloody useless on the weekends. I think it started around the time I started [...]

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