• Family Fun,  Food,  Too Funny To Ignore

    Happily, Some Things Never Change.

    It’s been nearly a year since we had it in the house, and it was practically World War III. Well, sort of. Jim stopped at the store on the way home tonight and picked some up, just for giggles… …and we found out that some things never change. But it was funny. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, get the full story here.

  • Spreading the Bloggie Love

    I Don’t Think This Is What Casper Had In Mind…

    My buddy Liz over at This Full House “ghosted” me yesterday, all on account of the fact that she’s horrified that I Skyped her the other day we are totally BFFs. I had not heard of this “ghosting”. Well, consider me educated, and now I’m passing on the knowledge. Basically, it’s a little meme in which you get to spread some bloggie love while simultaneously posting a disgusting picture on your blog until Halloween, so everyone knows that you already have one disgusting picture, and that you do NOT need another. Need more information? The rules are easy: (1) It’s your turn to “ghost” three other bloggers — perhaps, somewhere…

  • My Sister Has Mad Skillz,  Too Funny To Ignore,  UGH.

    Clean AND Ancient. Big AND Rich. Mortified AND Humiliated.

    My sister Julesie is a first-class photographer. Though her ability shines through with any format and any subject, my favorite pictures are the ones she’s taken of children (and not just mine!). I think it’s safe to say that my kids and the kids of her friends (to whom she is an honorary aunt!) are some of her favorite subjects. Years ago, there was a period during which she did children’s portraits as an actual business. One day, she had to drop off some proofs at the home of someone I knew through the health club (I worked in the nursery at the time), and the boys (who were about…

  • Friends,  Too Funny To Ignore

    Starting Today, I’m Packin’ a Mallet and a Gong.

    First of all, let me say that I do realize that I’m totally dating myself (and many of you, thank goodness) in this post. But hang on, even you younguns, because the end is worth it. When I was a kid, I watched a lot of tv. (Okay, to be fair, not much has changed.) In my house, we loved “The Gong Show”, hosted by Chuck Barris. If you don’t remember it, you’re a baby! it was a quasi-game show on which people of questionable talent (Including the Popsicle Twins, who you can check out here in this NSFW clip) performed an act and tried to be good enough so…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Music

    Gone Gaga

    I am a huge fan of Lady Gaga‘s music. As an artist, I think she’s really something, and no matter how people criticize her sense of “style” or her “art”, there’s no denying her impact on the current pop music landscape. I have enjoyed each and every song that has appeared in heavy rotation (though “LoveGame” and its Disco Stick had to grow on me for a while before I finally loved it!). Her latest song, “Paparazzi” is my all-time favorite. I saw her perform it at the MTV VMA’s and, though her performance was pounded by some because it was so avant garde, I was transfixed. When I told…

  • Food,  Reflections on Parenting

    Sometimes the First Bite Is Also the Last.

    Most parents have a strategy for getting their young children to eat foods that they don’t want any part of. If we never pushed our kids to try new foods, they’d grow up on Gerber applesauce and pureed carrots, after all. Some parents make their kids eat one bite of the new food for every year of their age. Some parents make their kids try just one bite. Some parents make their kids clear their plates, and some parents avoid the issue entirely by making an alternate meal for their finicky kids. I am fairly certain that, growing up, I just had to have a taste of the foreign foods…

  • Friends

    Dough-y Day

    The word of the day is Dough. You see, Chicagoland had a very special visitor this weekend: Heather from Singing With My Heart! I have come to know Heather pretty well over the past six months and she is a super-sweet and lovely person. We’ve tweeted, texted, e-mailed, and chatted many times; I was really excited back in the summer when she told me she’d be in my area this weekend. Of course we made plans to get together. We’ve been counting the days on Twitter for many, err, days, and today finally arrived (as it tends to do!). As it turned out, Weaselmomma was free too, and so we…

  • Uncategorized

    Grand Theft Teddy

    Note: This post is part of Fatherhood Friday at Dad Blogs, where all the cool kids are hanging out. (Moms are welcome over there!) I *might* even have a column called “Teen Angst” there. Welcome to my visitors from DB; thanks for stopping in! After going nearly insane searching for it, I FINALLY found the photo that goes with yesterday’s post–you know, the one that I took before I committed Grand Theft Teddy. Here it is! (Curious? Great story…click here.)

  • Reflections on Parenting

    At The Very Least, NOBODY Likes Being Taunted By A Teddy Bear…

    Back in December of 1996, Jim found out that he would be attending a week-long conference in San Francisco, for work. To our surprise, his boss at the small company he worked for at the time told him that he should bring his family at the company’s expense. (Does that even happen anymore? Doubtful.) We were thrilled beyond belief as we packed up what was necessary to go away for a week with an almost-two-year-old and a four-year-old. Being the Type-A person that I am when it comes to everything vacation planning, I did my research on San Francisco (we had never been there before) and made lists upon lists…

  • Random Thoughts

    I Can’t Drive 55

    Just when I think the pace of my life cannot move any quicker, somehow it gets kicked up another notch. The last two weeks have been a blur. We have not been able to keep up with anything in the house due to outside obligations, and my personal projects? Forget it. I have an article due next week, blog posts to catch up on, reviews to write, lacrosse club forms to create…the list goes on. And today I find myself writing this post on my phone, in the passenger seat of my car while the 17 year old drives the two of us to visit a college in Dubuque, Iowa.…