• Best Thing Ever,  Favorite Things,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  Something That Could Change Your Life

    Even *I* Didn’t See The End Of This Post Coming.

    May 9, 2011

    I have been using the same camera since 2005. It’s an Olympus Camedia C-60 Zoom, which I purchased on sale at Office Depot for, I think, approximately $225. If you asked Jim to describe it, he would say, “It’s a brick.” It is indeed chunky (and heavy) for its size, when you compare with what’s available today. I had a little giggle when I googled it a minute ago and found the 2004 review of it on CNET (click here). Oddly, not one user said, “I anticipate this camera to be the best camera I’ve owned in my life so far, and I bet it’ll last me AT LEAST six…

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  • I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  My Dad Has Mad Skillz,  My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  My Mom Has Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Parenting Secrets From Behind the Tiara

    December 22, 2010

    I wrote this post a couple of years ago, for a friend who needed a guest post on her blog. She has since shut down her site, so I thought I’d post it here! My husband Jim and I are successful parents. Really. If we were in Oprah’s magazine, our mad parenting skillz would be featured on her “What I Know For Sure” page. Of course we are not the only successful parents in the world, but we’re the only ones that matter…to our kids. I am happy to report that our boys are fine, upstanding young men–and it’s not only because we think so: that’s the general consensus from…

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  • My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    Resisting Temptation For The Greater Good, Sort Of

    October 26, 2010

    My boys have had a mostly typical brotherly relationship with each other. When they interact, the older boy can be bossy and critical and the younger boy can be annoying and defensive quite often. They take turns instigating trouble. (They actually get along–or at least tolerate each other–more than they think they do, but it can get a little ugly at times.) It is sometimes very reminiscent of what was going on when I was growing up with my younger sister. Though Julesie and I do have some really great memories (just a few include playing Barbies, watching “Donny & Marie”, recording ourselves making radio shows, and that day in…

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  • My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting

    Amazing Moments in Parenthood

    October 23, 2010

    Whenever I speak with the parents of really young kids, they almost always comment on “how lucky” I am that I don’t have to change diapers anymore or do any number of assorted tasks related to having really little ones. In an attempt to be encouraging, I say things like, “Don’t worry, your kids will gradually become more and more self-sufficient as they grow. In fact, once they can make their own breakfast in the morning, you’re on your way!” (That’s when whomever I’m talking to usually sighs as their eyes glaze over at the happy thought of what I said.) It was a huge milestone in this house, when…

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  • My Kids Have Mad Skillz

    The Balance Has Shifted

    October 20, 2010

    People are constantly asking me how things are going since the older boy left for college. I usually give a longer answer than is probably expected or necessary, but it’s been an interesting phenomenon. Though I really miss seeing my older son daily (yet, might I add, technology is fabulous, making it possible for us to reach him for a quick second or a long conversation whenever we want, using one of several methods), those of us left behind are doing well, in spite of the hole he left. What is fascinating to me (and what happened quite unexpectedly) has been the shift in the overall atmosphere in the house.…

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  • My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting,  Too Funny To Ignore

    The Kids Are Okay!

    July 21, 2010

    As a baby* grows into the toddler stage and becomes mobile, he is naturally clumsy as he learns to navigate his way around, and falling down is a huge part of the process. In the beginning, the little one cries, desperately looking around for his mom or dad and refusing to calm down until he is picked up and given a little cuddle. The schools of thought in how parents should handle the crying child as time goes on differ a little bit. Some parents run to their child immediately upon seeing them fall, to brush them off, kiss them, and send them on their way. (Depending on the parents,…

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  • My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    Teenaged Boys + Cars = Forever

    July 17, 2010

    I have learned that it’s a given, the torrid love affair between teenaged boys and cars. The day on which the older boy bought his car (with his own money!) was quite possibly the most exciting day of his life. He was positively giddy. All wasn’t perfect, however: the car came with an oil leak that required constant monitoring and topping off of oil. We took it in a few months ago to see if the pros could determine the source of the leak, and it was the worst oil-related diagnosis possible: the head gasket. The quote? $2600. (more than twice what the older boy paid for the car) It…

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  • Best Thing Ever,  My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    I’ll Tell You Who He Is…He’s MY SON!

    June 9, 2010

    Well, another lacrosse season has come and gone. This year, with both boys playing (the younger boy on the Fresh/Soph team and the older boy on Varsity), our family schedule was jam-packed. On some weeks, I had three or four evenings of games to watch. It was a lifesaver that the older boy has his own car to get himself to away games for pre-game practice so I could join later, as well as the fact that both of their teams did their Monday through Friday practices at the elementary school in our own neighborhood. Each of them had a very different season from the other. This was the younger…

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  • Family Fun,  I'm Apparently Old.,  My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  Too Funny To Ignore

    Doomed.

    March 7, 2010

    I had an awesome conversation this afternoon with the boys. We went out together to run a few errands and, on the way home, passed our local “eat dinner and have drinks in the theater while you watch a movie” place. I mentioned that I’d like to go there sometime (it opened last fall and we haven’t been yet!), and the older boy said, “Yeah, you know, Christopher Lloyd was there recently and they showed ‘Back to the Future’; isn’t that cool?” I told him that celebrities go there all the time to make appearances. For example, Richard Dreyfuss was there a couple of months ago, for a special showing…

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  • My Kids Have Mad Skillz

    It’s Not ALWAYS About Me(me), But Sometimes? It Is.

    November 30, 2009

    I’m a sucker for a good meme, as long as I can change the rules if I want to in order to make things easier for me, quicker for me, and/or entertaining for me. Oh, and you. Sure. Entertaining for YOU, too. Weaselmomma tagged me almost two weeks ago for a photo meme, and last night the time was finally right for me to figure out how I could manipulate the system to create a spectacular post for this, the final day of November and not-so-coincidentally, the FINAL day of NaBloPoMo 2009. (Did you notice I’ve posted daily for 30 days? You better had noticed!) The meme “rules”? The person…

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