THE #1 most frustrating thing  for a scatter-brained mama? When you actually think ahead and do the non-scatter-brained thing, and it STILL doesn't end well. I went to Blissdom (a blogging conference) this past weekend.  It was in the Dallas area, so I drove. Now let me say I do have a bit of a fear of parking garages. This is partly … [Read more...]

I've liked Rachael Ray ever since her first quirky 30 Minute Meals show on the Food Network. I like her magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray.  Good recipes. Good tips. (Normally) good ideas. The April issue that we just got has some ultra-creative egg decorating ideas. They give techniques for making eggs REALLY hard to hunt.  They show … [Read more...]

I remember myself as a delightful teenager. I suppose it is possible . . . though . . . that I wasn't. A still-dear friend once told me (years after high school) that she kept a journal of what she wore to church each week.  She did this out of fear.  She had heard me express disgust at the thought of someone wearing the same outfit two weeks … [Read more...]

It's Valentine's Day! I've been up at the school counting money for a fundraiser, and was asked to come back up at noon to help with my fifth grader's class party. I don't think they have Valentine's parties in sixth grade . . . so you'd better believe I'm all over that.  I might even make him hug me in front of his friends. Anyway, I … [Read more...]

I canNOT believe tomorrow is February. In February of 2012, I had fun participating in Simply Rebekah's "Day in the Life" link-up.  (Here's my post from last year.) Last night, at exactly 6:45, it hit me that if I was going to take 24 hours worth of pictures AND get the post written in time to link it up again this year, I needed to get … [Read more...]

It's happened. It has really, truly happened. We . . . have been validated, people. I had lunch at Johnny Carino's last week and asked for a to-go box for my more-than-enough lunch sized portion. The waiter took my plate to fix the box for me (love it when they do that), and brought back this: That's right. Though I live under the … [Read more...]

I was putting together a new cleaning tool and had to giggle when I saw the last statement on that piece of paper that was attached to one of the parts. "Discard paper." I mean, who needs to be instructed to do that? It's like . . . the lasagna that has "Remove from Freezer" as the first step in its cooking instructions. Or the … [Read more...]

The tip: ALWAYS check airplane toilets to be sure the lid is open before you, well . . . you know. The backstory, explanation, and learned-from-experience reason for this tip: Pre-marriage, I was a world traveler.  I was very comfortable taking long plane trips with lots of layovers half-way across the world.  Alone. I don't remember the … [Read more...]