Most people have had the experience of coming across an item, a song, a food, or something else that, in a split-second, whisks them back to another day. (Who said that time travel is impossible? I beg to differ!) For example, if you were to serve me pigs in blankets, or even mention them, my mind would go back to my fourth birthday party, during which my mom served them, and one of my guests got sick (i.e. tossed her cookies) all over her part of the table. I can’t help it; it’s where I go. Every time I hear the Rolling Stones song “Start Me Up”, I think about…
-
-
Fly Like An Eagle, Part Two
Something interesting has happened over the last two years or so: J has grown less interested in scouting than he used to be. Much less. As in, he has decided to leave scouting altogether after his final high adventure trip this summer (to the Florida Keys, for snorkeling!). Jim and I saw this development coming in the early stages, and did our best to try and get J reinvigorated with scouting and all that it entails, but he just wasn’t having it. We thought that maybe, if he decided to do the work involved with achieving Eagle, it might be a great way to breathe new life into this extracurricular…
-
I Think My Older Book Might Be Jealous Of My Younger Book.
Most of you know I have been swamped with a truckload of tasks having to do with the impending publication of my new book*, which explains my recent posting slowdown (as well as my rapid heart rate, shaky hands, and increased scatterbrained-ness. And yes, I just made up that word). Most of you even know that this is not the first book I’ve published: it’s my second. My first book was published in the fall of 2007. While I promoted that book pretty heavily, because of its theme (pet loss) and tiny niche, it wasn’t easy to market. After a while, I had to let it simmer out there and…
-
This Is Why We Don’t Play Practical Jokes. They Backfire.
Picture me sitting in our family room, watching television with Jim. J is up in his room doing homework. After a while he comes downstairs and walks through the family room towards the downstairs bathroom with his pajamas. “Wait a second,” I think to myself, “he never showers down here at night.” J puts his pajamas in the bathroom and then suddenly turns around and storms back into the family room, grinning excitedly. Then he exclaims, “So, yeah, I’m using kids’ hair products, but I LOVE THIS SHAMPOO!!!!! It makes my hair soft, it’s tangle-free, and…my…hair…smells…like…STRAWBERRIES! Yeah!” He was dead serious. “And another thing: don’t worry about it when I…
-
Totally Worth The Two Bucks. Sort Of.
We don’t always get things done on time in this house. I mean, when it’s something that truly matters, we’ve got about a 95% success rate. Something trivial though, like, say, an April Fools’ Day joke, will almost always happen late, if at all. (Much like my ability to come up with a sassy comeback…three hours after it’s needed.) Jim and I headed off to the grocery store yesterday, but before leaving the house Jim asked J if he needed anything. “Manly shampoo,” he replied. Manly shampoo. Got it. At the store, we browsed the shampoo aisle for something masculine enough to indeed be “manly”. That’s when we saw this:…