Most of us know Gandhi as an extremely effective user of non-violent protest to effect change. Massive change:  life-changing for millions of people in South Africa, India, and beyond. We need a Gandhi now, but we don't have one. What we do have is the Gandhi toolbox.

Ahimsa… Read full post »

The binky in my three-and-a-half year old's mouth drove AngryHusband to distraction. We had a stark difference of opinion on this subject. If there is a tool out there that a) keeps a child asleep and b) keeps their mouth shut when the evil just has to come out of it,… Read full post »

Dear MoveOn:

I'd love to write a letter to the editor about health care reform to our piece of crap local newspaper, even though it will be lonely in that section, what with all the hysterical conservative screamers that write in. I'd love to do that, except I'm all booked up… Read full post »

The chirping noise was coming from Girl's mouth. Girl is my neighbor's completely likeable dog. Her tail is wagging because she really, really likes me. I bring her food and pet her and talk to her in a voice so high it breaks glass, and she likes all of those things. She… Read full post »

When I start out a post, "I love books." I know exactly what is happening in your brain. You picture a leather chair, a wool throw, a roaring fire, and the type of person who likes the Sunday Times Crossword. You smell the library and maybe picture me reading Aristotle or… Read full post »

The journey of three thousand miles begins with two trips to the emergency room.

See, we were flying from Sacramento to Baltimore on Tuesday. On Saturday, the entire family was shopping in an outlet mall--something we do maybe once a year--when the Little One started looking a little green. If… Read full post »

Back in April, after months of problems with severe anemia, an ultrasound technician finally located an actual medical problem. There was a growth that was not a baby in my uterus. Mind you, this was on April 30.

On April 30, I was still a young girl of 40, naive… Read full post »

Lately when I try to sit down to write, I have to just sit, sit, sit, as if my head is a concrete room filled with bouncing ping pong balls, and I have to wait for everything to quiet down in there so I can just focus.

I actually like ping… Read full post »

I live on a ridge. Out my window is a sloping couple of acres with a lovely view of the Central Valley in the wintertime. In the summer, I can make out a couple of hills amid the brown ozoney haze, and I know that Sacramento is down there somewhere. On… Read full post »

Science has wrestled with the subject of animal intelligence for hundreds of years. I can see why. Just when you think you see a glimmer of smarts behind a pair of puppy dog eyes, you face incontrovertible evidence that, compared to a bag of rocks, your dog is firmly in second place. And… Read full post »

The most powerful drive we have as humans is the need to say, "I TOLD YOU SO." I've scientifically proven this, as of about 7:16 am Pacific.

Timeline:

6:30 am: Both children have somehow ended up in bed with us. The Little One wakes me up by smearing her face… Read full post »

Today is the first day of the Big One's summer vacation, and because of the many trips we are taking, and opportunities for camps, swimming lessons, and the general question mark surrounding my health, I made an executive decision not to place the Big One into day care.

I pictured… Read full post »

On this most momentous day when the California Supreme Court has smacked its citizens in the face, I go back into The Posts I Dare(d) Not Publish. I am going to post it, even if it means an eventual date with a divorce lawyer and maybe some angry comments. (God knows I'v… Read full post »

Occasionally I like to look back at my abandoned posts and sift through them for something I can use. I'll have you know that while I kept the title* and tags of this one, just for fun, I erased all of the post itself, which bored even me.  Oddly, the tags… Read full post »

You can't have cable TV or elementary school children in the immediate vicinity and not know what KidzBop is, but just in case you live in some fairytale place where forest animals help you with housework and little men take you in without expecting anything more than a kiss on the… Read full post »

Remember that Thanksgiving right after Dad got hurt? Uncle C had a new girlfriend who was very nice, but let's face it. She was country club stuff. A woman with a large amount of money and a very big brain. I liked her, but she stuck out like a sore thumb.… Read full post »

This is just a short post that I can't possibly keep inside of myself. Ladies and gentleman, I'm tired. I'm tired like I just gave birth to octuplets tired. Like back of the car at 1 a.m., age eight, after a late night at Aunt Junie's.  I was so tired, that… Read full post »

I haven't written about my health problems recently because, let's face it, there's nothing more boring than hearing about someone's health problems. So I try to keep my mouth shut unless I'm talking to a senior citizen, and in that case, I jaw about that crap for hours as a defensive… Read full post »

My father was a genius. When he wanted to build something, he drew a picture, drove to the hardware store ONCE, and built it. He built furniture, a greenhouse, put beds in the back of our 70s Child Abductor van, and constructed a cat enclosure in the backyard to protect the… Read full post »

Most families have weird little things about them they'd rather not share with the general public. Of course, I write about them here. There are no secrets between us, but I'm talking about people that we have to face everyday and actually look in the eye. People that have some sort… Read full post »

"Mom, the cat's face was broken so I put tape on it." says the Little One.

We are eating at the dining room table, with a tablecloth and a centerpiece and a bottle of wine, because we have company.

We all stare at each other at the table, but I don't… Read full post »

It is no surprise that modern life often makes taking care of general biological functions difficult to schedule. Add two children on top of that, one with the Black Plague, and four jobs between us, and you've basically got chaos.

So last night, when the baby monitor went quiet, angryhusband and… Read full post »

I remember reading somewhere that the way we experience time is really just a function of our brain, which is why, when we are facing life or death situations, time seems to  s l o w  down allowing our brains to process very long strings of profanities before the moment has… Read full post »

I think it was October 2008 when I stopped watching the evening news and obsessively looking at CNN.com. I felt like if I left the house, a school shooter would kill my family, or a logging truck would roll over on us, or an asteroid the size of Connecticut would cut… Read full post »

I know I've been out for a while, but it's not because I was on special assignment in Sri Lanka for the Washington Post or deep undercover for an old friend in the DEA (although Tijuana is lovely... never), I'm just doing the stuff that people do: skipping showers, "mopping" floors with… Read full post »