And Finally… Facebook

So, I gave in. I fianlly signed up for Facebook. I was an active non-participant for a long time. I knew all about it. I thought I knew enough about it not to get involved. But I did want to check out old enemies. (Were they still losers?) And I did want to see if […]

Mom, I’m The Kicker

Birk was getting in the shower. Her 7 year old body jumping up and down and squiggling out of her clothes. She looked at me with a big smile and joyfully said with a jump to punctuate her point, “Mom, I was the kicker!” We had talked about many things that evening. I tried to […]

Setting Your Kid On Fire

Just had to mention the first exciting event for our kids of 2009: Birk setting herself on fire. George took the kids outside to light sparklers–which is a real treat as sparklers are not allowed in California. It was sub zero weather, so we bundled up everyone. Hats, mitts, gloves, snowpants, neckwarmers, you name it, […]

Why Mommy Doesn’t Sew

My daughter begins her first sewing class this Saturday. The instructions were simple: show up with an easy pajama pattern, fabric and notions.  Ruth and I headed to our local fabric store and spent a good hour and a half picking out a pattern and cute fabric. We asked many newbie questions, as the last […]

Free to Hope

We were lucky today to be able to take our kids to the local one screen theater to watch President Obama’s inauguration. Young and old clapped and cheered. Just like if we were on the plaza: we stood when you were supposed to stand, bowed our heads to pray and sang along with our hands […]

Bad Movie : Good Kid

Today I dragged my 13 yr old son to see “Bride Wars”. We were both in the mood to see a movie but the times were a bit off for the ones we really wanted so we had to choose between a silly chic flick and a stupid adolescent one. Now over the years I […]

Big City Sliders–Infomercials Through the Eyes of a Child

I was doing some kind of Saturday afternoon thing.  It could have been laundry or unloading the dishwasher, I can’t remember, I just know that Birk pulled me reluctantly away from my duties and dragged me to the t.v.  That girl is pretty strong for 7, so I let myself be dragged. There on the […]

3rd Child Syndrome: Nothing Comes Between a Seven Year Old and Her Cell Phone

Birk was having one of those days.  You know, the kind of day when you want to lock yourself in the bathroom, lie down on the floor and cry your eyes out.  Except, when you are seven, you really do this.   It all started when she booked a playdate.  When you are the third […]

Baileys and Electricity

A storm came through.  It was nestled in between Christmas and New Years.  The winds whistled and whipped through the landscape at racetrack speed.  Trees toppled and power failed.   Thousands of people suffered the outage in Ontario.  Driving through the powerless countryside, we noticed countless poles with orange flags.  Not only were the power […]

The Winter Canadian Chronicles: My Winter Vacation, Wish You Were Here!

8:45 am: the wind is howling across the lake. Roof timbers are shaking–it’s like the wind is moving through the house. Yet the sun shines bright on the snow.
9:00 am: Birk decides that waffles sound like a good idea. I pull out homemade breakfast sausage from the butcher. We mix and pour.
9:10:the lights flicker and fail.