• Friends,  Tough Questions

    I Will Do Anything For Health, But I Won’t Do That

    My sister has had a raging cold for about three weeks now. She’s been coughing her poor head off, and generally feeling icky, though this week she definitely shows solid signs of being on the mend. Jim got it last weekend. The speed with which he was slammed with the cold and accompanying cough was staggering. Saturday he was fine. Saturday night he felt ill. Sunday he declared that he had never felt that bad in his life. Monday he went to the doctor and was given antibiotics and a warning that if he didn’t feel better by Wednesday, he should come back so they could look for pneumonia. I…

  • Review

    The Listerine 21 Day Challenge: More Smiles Across America

    I happen to think that taking care of one’s teeth is very, very important. Not only do I have a storied dental history that includes lots of drama and adventure (I wrote about it here), but these days I get my teeth checked and cleaned every three months, alternating between my dentist and my periodontist. I love brushing my teeth and I do floss (thanks for asking). One thing I’ve never gotten into the habit of using is mouthwash, for no reason other than laziness, really. That’s why, when The Motherhood asked me if I wanted to take part in the Listerine 21-Day Challenge AND also “by the way, did…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Family Fun,  Food,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Too Funny To Ignore

    It Runs In The Family

    The big birthday celebration on Sunday was pretty awesome: J had a really great day overall, which makes me happy. The one thing that didn’t go as planned was that Jim didn’t join us for lunch due to the fact that he was really sick. It was not only a bummer because it was J’s eighteenth, but also because we had reservations at our favorite, only-eat-there-on-special-occasions Brazilian steakhouse. For those of you who aren’t familiar, what makes this kind of restaurant unique is that there is no menu; rather everyone gets to enjoy the “salad bar” first, which is huge and actually has very little salad on it. It’s got…

  • Amazing People,  Blessings,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    We’re All Adults Here.

    Major milestone in our house today. This guy? Turns eighteen today. EIGHTEEN. His coming of age means all kinds of things for him, of course. Among other things, he is eligible to vote, and as he pointed out at the dinner table a while back, he can now sign himself out of school “should he need to leave early for any reason.” Ahem. This birthday also impacts Jim and me, of course. It’s a little stunning to realize that on this, our younger son’s eighteenth birthday, we are no longer legally responsible for anyone except for ourselves. Bizarre, even. I casually mentioned to J two weeks ago that he only…

  • Review

    Which Would You Choose, Love Or Money?

    For me, choosing between love and money is easy: I would choose love. (Not that money isn’t totally awesome, but you know.) My friends at Manilla just released this Valentine’s Day-themed video in which they asked a bunch of New Yorkers various questions relating to love, money, and Valentine’s Day, and some of the answers were pretty entertaining–like the gentleman who said, “I’d LOVE someone with MONEY.” Watch this: The questions were pretty thought-provoking. One of them asked “What’s your favorite Valentine’s Day memory?” and I thought it was interesting that about half of the people didn’t have specific holiday memories and about half had very detailed memories. In my…