A real exchange between my son Charlie (age 10 ½) and me yesterday: “Mom, you really need to rethink your parenting skills.” “Why?” “Because I have several credit cards that you don’t know about.” “Really? What do you buy with them?” “Real estate.” “Well, of course. That’s a wise investment. What do you do with [...]

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After a month and a half of regular blogging, I think it’s about time I made a proper blogroll. Since I’m a new blogger – and a new blog reader – I can’t claim to have found every great blog out there. But with all the time I spend procrastinating surfing the internet, I’ve found [...]

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So over the weekend I got some really kewl news: I’m getting a blog award! My new bloggy friend Heidi emailed me yesterday to say that she loves my blog so much that she’s giving me some sort of prize… I hope it’s chocolate. Oh, I kid. As I’m sure you already know, a blog [...]

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Good day Saturday! I think I might need to create a regular feature called “Saturday ‘Splainin.” Cuz I’m just a little worried that my mom and her friends might hijack my comments page until I suck up and apologize correct some inaccuracies in my Voodoo Doberman post. Haven’t read it yet? Go ahead. I’ll wait. [...]

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Based on the blog name, you might think that as an outsider, I am making fun of the rural South. But here’s the truth: I grew up in California, but in the part that nobody knows about: central California. During my teen years, my family lived in a single-wide mobile home – with the wheels [...]

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Last night Abby talked me into playing Wii Baseball with her. This means I really love her, because I generally stink at Wii Sports. In the real world, I have the same experience with every sport that involves a ball: SOCCER + Asthma = Goalie (which might be okay if I could ever block the [...]

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Since this blog is about what I’m learning lately, here’s the latest truth I’ve realized: Worry is like Swiper the Fox. You know you’ve been a parent too long when your epiphanies involve cartoon characters. And if you’re not a parent, I’m sorry. I can’t predict whether you’ll relate to this post AT ALL. What [...]

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The other day I read a review by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s food writer, John Kessler, on the new cookbook by Jerry Seinfeld’s wife Jessica: “Deceptively Delicious.” I’ll summarize: Kessler didn’t like the idea of tricking kids into eating vegetables.  I think I agree with him. I’d rather TEACH my kids to at least tolerate most [...]

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