• Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Reflections on Parenting,  UGH.

    Empty Nesting Is Awesome, Except When It’s Not.

    I love my life the way it is at this moment. I have one son who graduated from college and supports himself with an actual job, and I have another son who is a college sophomore, living only two hours from home. I work from home. I have the freedom to sleep in if I want, workout for as long as I want, not cook dinner for a whole week if I don’t want to, and most of all, pack a bag and take off to visit friends or accompany Jim on a business trip if I want, with no problem. Many of my friends who still have kids at…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Friends,  Travels

    Jersey Girls

    If we’re connected on Facebook or if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I just returned from a week in New Jersey with my sistuh-from-anuthuh-muthuh, Liz. You know that we had a blast whether we were just hanging out at the house with the entire family or gallivanting, just the two of us, down the Jersey Shore, from Seaside Heights all the way south to Cape May. What you don’t know is that I did not open my laptop for six days. Six. Days. Other than while on the cruise our family enjoyed last summer when I didn’t have the choice (because I left it home), I have…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Family Fun,  Fun in Chicago,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    We Made It Out Alive!

    As I mentioned last week, D and I had plans to go to Six Flags Fright Fest on Sunday, and we had a great time. It was wonderful to go there with no pressure to get on as many rides as we possibly could so we could feel like we got our money’s worth, since the tickets were a lovely gift. It was completely relaxing—well, except for seeing things like the blood red pool in front of the carousel at the park entry, the ghostly, creepy park decorations, and the regular people walking around with various deep wounds (and ninja stars) on their faces, applied by Six Flags employees at…

  • Review

    The One With The Milestones

    I am a member of the Netflix Stream Team and will be happily sharing monthly tips and stories about how my family uses Netflix on a regular basis. (Okay, that’s an understatement. I should say CONSTANTLY. We use Netflix CONSTANTLY.) As a member of the Stream Team I was provided with a Roku and a voucher to apply towards my Netflix account. This month, the Netflix Stream Team was asked to write about family milestones, and as I mulled it over, my thoughts were interrupted by HUGE NEWS: “Friends” is going to be available for streaming on Netflix in the United States and Canada starting on January 1, 2015. THIS…

  • Family Fun,  Fun in Chicago,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz

    Stay Hydrated, You. (And You, Too.)

    I am going to Six Flags this weekend (with D) for the first time in years and years. Yikes. I used to love Six Flags until it played a role in one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever had as a parent. Long story short, when the boys were seven and ten we had an exciting day planned at the park. We were having one of those summer weeks during which it’s even sweltering hot in the morning, and literally the minute we handed over our tickets and entered the park, D passed out from heat stroke. It was a scary couple of days (understatement) and truly affected all of…

  • Childhood Memories,  Family Fun,  My Dad Has Mad Skillz,  UGH.

    Playing Horse

    Jim and I have been streaming the show “Welcome To Sweden”, which is an NBC sitcom produced by Amy Poehler (among others) and starring her younger brother Greg. It’s about a guy and his Swedish fiancee and the hijinks that ensue when they move from New York back to her home in Sweden. I find it hilarious, sweet, and extremely unique (subtitles!!), by the way, and Jim…does not. Anyway, while watching the show I have noticed Swedish Dala horses in the background. Seeing them on television made me remember the three-inch, red Dala horse that my mom used to have hanging on the living room wall above the couch. When…

  • Childhood Memories,  Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Family Fun,  Pretty Pictures,  Too Funny To Ignore

    My Dad’s 40th Birthday, In Pictures

    I know what you’re thinking. “How can her DAD be forty, when she is in her late forties??” First of all, he isn’t forty anymore, and second of all I am forty-five which is SOLIDLY in the mid-forties, so shhhh. To celebrate his birthday TODAY I am going to tell you about the celebration that is most memorable in my mind, which was in 1982, his fortieth. Of course, that was a long time ago for all of us and because I only remember certain major points of the story, I’m adding drawings for your added entertainment. We lived in Knoxville, Tennessee at the time and my mom had decided…

  • Pretty Pictures,  Travels

    Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

    As I’ve mentioned a few times previously, taking pictures is one of my very favorite things to do when I’m traveling. I was fortunate enough to have a bunch of hours during our trip to Merida, Mexico last week to walk around and do just that. Like most people, I’m attracted to bright colors. That’s one of the things I liked most about this trip: there is no shortage of color in Mexico! The bold hues that are used on so many of the buildings there are refreshing and incredibly fun to discover. I often found myself in a state of wonder at the beauty and the resulting happiness I…

  • Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?

    50 Questions. Because I’m Exhausted.

    I just flew home yesterday from a quick trip to Mexico (and boy, are my arms tired! Ba dum psshhhh!). The trip was a vacation for me and work for Jim; his company has a factory there so I was basically the tagger-alonger. It put a huge cramp into being able to say things like “We can stay up late because we’re on vacation!” “We can get dessert every night because we’re on vacation!” “We can do some afternoon drinking because we’re on vacation!” Because really, only I was on vacation. (Don’t feel bad for him; he still made the most of Mexico when he wasn’t working.) While I was…