My Blogging Break

This week is a blogging “break” for me (really… you’re not seeing this post). No worries, there’s lots to read, thanks to other family members! My brother set us up with our new self-hosted “spot” for the site, which really will make this blog’s existence so much happier in the long run. This week’s task was getting everything... Read More

Close to Eden

As I was thinking about my beginnings in gardening, I suddenly felt an acute empathy for so many people in my life who claim that they simply “don’t have a green thumb.” Most of them use stories of pathetic, wilted, porch-grown tomato plants and neglected, forgotten, (and thus) deceased herb pots as evidence of their lack of the “gardening gene.” I believe my empathy comes... Read More

The Deep-Dish Pizza Recipe

Someone asked for the deep-dish pizza recipe from this morning’s post (photos on that post). I’m cutting and pasting it from an email to my sister a couple years ago, with a few minor edits: Annie, Here’s my deep-dish pizza recipe. You realize when you ask ME for a recipe, you’ll get lots of details! 🙂 The pizza crust recipe I found online [I’ve made a couple... Read More

A Big Slice of Love

For Valentine’s Day, I was planning to make dainty, heart-shaped, pink-frosted sugar cookies and photograph them. It was for the blog… but wouldn’t my own dear valentine be perfectly delighted, too? I had a timely reminder this week, though, that the man I married is the type who will always prefer meat lover’s over milk and cookies, so I ended up making deep-dish... Read More

Organization Inspiration

Last week I took the older three to their regular gymnastics class. The other moms there – really wonderful people – are very generous to me in providing mommy advice! I’ve wondered if it had to do with my son arriving in mismatched socks… balancing act One of the tips this time (solicited advice, to be fair 🙂 ) was to go visit the Learning Is Fun store. We... Read More

The Winter Gardener

I am beyond thrilled to introduce my brilliant younger sister for a new series of blog posts! We may have to come up with a new blog name… Any ideas?? We have reached new heights of winter denial. My sister (following more than one family tradition) is writing about gardening, and I am typing her words as a four-foot drift continues to grow outside my back door. I think... Read More

Embracing January: Bear Hunting

Last Thursday, my younger sister called for mutual motivation to get our houses clean. We enthusiastically made our lists (I ignored the fact that I have four children under age four, which often renders list-making a ridiculous exercise), and we started wrapping up the phone call. I haven’t been so pumped up to scrub bathrooms in a good long time. Any mother of young children... Read More

Surviving January: Beach Getaway!

Welcome to our Beach in January! Come plant your feet in the sand… happy toes kick back with a piña colada… (er, popsicle)… beach photoshoppage and relax in our castle in the sun! the stage is set I was so grateful last week for every comment from people who cheered me up, cracked me up, and couldn’t stop short of showing me up! 🙂 So many people said... Read More

Brain Potpourri

I’m stealing my title from a same-named post by American Mum, who stole it from someone else. It’s a blog train! In a disconnected sort of way. Speaking of disconnected, this post is all about covering a few things that don’t fit anywhere else. 1. I cut my daughter’s hair last week and immediately felt the heart-pangs of regret. First, I’m not good... Read More

Surviving January: Finger-and-Toe Painting

This has been a yucky week – no other word for it. The kids and I have colds, and the nose-wiping, combined with other things, had a result akin to the seriously heavy-duty bubble maker from last week’s post. I’ve felt bombarded. People want to help, but they can’t, because a) they can’t get here, and b) I wouldn’t want them to be the ones to... Read More