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The Ides of Blahhhh

    March comes in like a lion–a dirty damp lion named BLAH who blows your neighbor’s recyclables across your muddy excuse for a lawn. March traps your long hair in your car door every time you find the strength to battle the wind tunnel of the grocery store parking lot, after catching your runaway grocery cart and finally seeking refuge in your vehicle. Ha ha on you when you try to check your blind spot. Last night the wind kept me up in fear that a tree might smash the house and kill us. My lack of… Read More »The Ides of Blahhhh

    Red rover, red rover let something new into your brain and force the crap out

      Like many people, the new administration has stressed me out of typical anxiety, past every-so-often feelings of depression, and brought me to the brink of despondency. However, I think I found a way out! While tentative, I think it’s a breakthrough worth sharing, in case it helps anyone else. I’m no stay-at-home brain scientist, but I do have a few weeks anecdotal evidence to share (which does not a sound-experiment make–sorry, graduate school). After feeling very low for weeks at a time, I noticed that even while running or doing yoga, spending time with loved ones,… Read More »Red rover, red rover let something new into your brain and force the crap out

      Now she’s the mom and I got to spoil her

        This post is sponsored by Luvs. Ten years ago, my life-long friend Megan would sit for hours in my living room, cuddling my newborn to her chest or playing with my toddler, listening to me detail the prior night’s wake-ups and current day’s kid messes. Trust me, this constantly-interrupted and totally uninteresting diatribe is even less captivating if you’re happily living the single/no-kid life as Megan was at the time. Regardless, she generously gave me her patience and presence, and my kids her super-snuggly arms. One of the many evenings my husband’s job took him to… Read More »Now she’s the mom and I got to spoil her

        Sunburst Arms

          I wish I played an instrument. My parents bought me lessons in both piano and violin, and I had no lasting interest nor talent for either. Maybe most kids don’t, and maybe it’s up to the parents to coax and push their children through. In any case, my parents had enough coaxing and pushing to do while navigating their day-to-day reality of divorce, blended families, and four kids in co-custody. So, my voice became my instrument of choice. I sung constantly. I sang passionately, and I sang well. That said, no matter how deftly 8-year-old me… Read More »Sunburst Arms

          How to Turn 10

            Open your bedroom door to the morning of your ten-year-old life. You are the first one awake and you wear footie pajamas; they are skull-and-crossbones manly footie pajamas with a shelf-life that extends comfortably into double-digits. Even if they squish your toes a bit. Follow the candy-interspersed-with-Pokemon-cards path on the floor that leads to the kitchen. Your shuffles and the packaging wake your mom who mercifully fell back asleep despite waking up at an ungodlike hour fearing the surprise would be ruined by your going to the bathroom, because she and your dad actually said YES… Read More »How to Turn 10

            My kids are genuine helpers now, not fake helpers-in-training

              As part of their #WhatULuv campaign, the folks at Luvs asked me about what I truly value and feel thankful for as a parent. The following immediately came to mind: My 9 and 12-year-old are now genuine helpers–with the capability of actual helpfulness–instead of fake helpers-in-training. For instance: My kids now empty the dishwasher and put away the dishes, instead of emptying the dishwasher and leaving everything on the counter they “can’t reach.” I called them out on the “can’t reach” counter when they could rest their elbows for prolonged emptying-the-dishwasher breaks in the very cupboard where the… Read More »My kids are genuine helpers now, not fake helpers-in-training

              Join me at Madison Women’s Expo!

                Grab your people and head to the Alliant Center for Listen To Your Mother live-storytelling this Saturday November 19th at 11 am on the DreamBank stage! Enjoy funny and moving true stories from Erin Clune, Beverly Davis, Cate Guggino, Jane Wright Jones, Jessie Loeb, Jolieth McIntosh, De’Kendrea Stamps, and me!! Then “explore, engage and experience” Madison Women’s Expo’s treats, shopping, speakers, entertainment all weekend long. Find discounted expo tickets here.   Join me for a lighthearted soul-filling event. Hope to see you there!

                Again

                  A week before the election I had a vivid nightmare. I dreamed of election night, of sitting with my once-senator uncle and rabbi aunt as we awaited an “October surprise.”  We had received word that something big and damaging was about to go down, and we turned on the TV just in time to watch a Nazi flag unfurl inside our nation’s capitol. We looked at each other with stony expression, with a shared understanding–not of an immediate threat to us personally–but that our own country had reached this moment in our lifetime, happening in… Read More »Again

                  8 years of blogging, 8 tentacles still spinning

                      Eight years ago I felt like an octopus. An octopus with a mom cut. One tentacle permanently affixed to sippy cups, the second reached for a clean diaper, the third nabbed a kid mid-air before falling on his head (always on the head). My fourth tentacle Heimlich’ed tortilla chips or sushi rolls out of esophogi, had the mess cleared the bill paid and the family gone from any establishment within three minutes. My fifth tentacle precision-paused the VCR (VCR!) the exact moment on the Healthy Food video when Muppet fruit faces popped open their eyes, giving my toddler–who… Read More »8 years of blogging, 8 tentacles still spinning

                    Happy Jewish New Year! What’s on your Do-Better list for 5777? #ImJudgingYou giveaway

                      May this be a year of love and kindness May strangers come to be friends May truth and compassion always guide us. Amen This #NewYearPrayer song came through my Facebook feed this morning via NYC’s famous 92nd Street Y, and as I play it on repeat it holds a hopeful grip around my heart. If this were 2009, I might embed the song on a loop for this post, but then I’d immediately have something to repent for come Yom Kippur. For those of you blissfully unaware of the auto-playback, in ye olde blogginge days… Read More »Happy Jewish New Year! What’s on your Do-Better list for 5777? #ImJudgingYou giveaway