Last year some of you may remember when I had to fight with the state of Oregon to receive my tax refund. It was almost October before I got it, and it was only after stepping into the Kafkaesque-world of the state revenue office that it happened. This year,… Read full post »

I ran away, the first time, when I was 7. It wasn’t because my parents were mean, or because my mother had taken away a cherished toy or grounded me. The night before, my brother Chuck and I had watched a movie where the child protagonist ran away from an orphanage… Read full post »

The trip is in T-minus 41 days, and I’m panicking.

Immediately upon re-reading that sentence, I’m struck at how ineffectual it is at communicating the full magnitude of both “trip” and “panicking.” The trip, also currently known as “Road Trip to Insanity, 2… Read full post »

Terrible Mother: Thing Three lost a tooth today.

Friend Omega*: Yeah?

Terrible Mother: Yeah. So she was all excited about the Tooth Fairy.

Friend Omega: Oh God. Tell me you don't do the Tooth Fairy thing.

Terrible Mother: Of course I do. Why?

Friend Omega: You tell her that some mutant fairy breaks into h… Read full post »

Sunday, New Slang Philosopher came over for Easter. She was one of the many guests, which included her two kids, another family we know, her soon-to-be-ex-husband*, Squeaky Clean Poet, and Planet Politico**. We had an egg hunt and potluck, replete with tangerine-glazed ham, vegetarian lasagna, and… Read full post »

I’ve been gone for some time, I know, and had pretty much given up blogging for the most part. There are many good reasons for this, not the least of which was the fact Mike ran into trouble getting something published in a journal because the editors found a small,… Read full post »

It’s mid-January, post-Christmas but pre-spring weather, and I’m sitting in my messy bedroom, at my cluttered desk, and I’m staring into a backyard that is overgrown with weeds and blackberry. The drainage pipe that runs water from the rain gutter down is hanging off the house, an… Read full post »

When I was a kid, I lived in Northern California near a volcano that was considered active. We’d drive to Mt. Lassen to hike, or to Honey Lake to fish, or to the forestry areas so my dad could cut fire wood—and the scenery from the window was mesmerizing:… Read full post »

I'm reinstituting the Poem of the Week with a favorite of mine from CK Willaims. Look for a Poem of the Week every Sunday here.

The Dance… Read full post »

I had never been particularly afraid of aging, or at least this is what I’ve told myself. I’ve told myself this even as my hair stylist combed a lovely shade of chocolate into my hair, or even when I stopped getting carded a year ago. Or when I started… Read full post »

The dream started out normal enough but, like its cousin “Real Life,” it soon got away from me. See, there was a hospital and then there were lots of corridors, and then a maze of corridors, and then some steam and some mold and flickering lights, and suddenly I was in… Read full post »

an IM with Fort Awesome and Terrible Mother:

TM:  One of my classes went all wacko today. 

FrtAwe:  What?  Why?

TM:  This student went a little Manifest Destiny and tried to take over everything. 

FrtAwe:  That must have been annoying.

TM:  It was.&nb… Read full post »

A List Replete with Commentary!

As you may, or may not*, have noticed, I’ve been MIA for about 90 days now, give or take. I hadn’t expected my hiatus to expand to such lengths. I hadn’t even expected it to be a hiatus. When I wrote… Read full post »

Two nights ago, my friend New Slang Philosopher* came over with both cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.  Of course, the former included a bottle of Starbucks coffee liqueur and fat free half ‘n’ half**, while the latter included pita chips and hummus, but I was not complaining. … Read full post »

Last year, I spent a little over $13,000 on childcare. I know this, because I have my tax documents sitting on the desk. My adjusted gross income was a few hundred dollars shy of 27k. This figure doesn’t include either the SSI I receive for Ivan ($617 a… Read full post »

Last Tuesday, Ivan (the child formerly known as “Thing Two”) broke his arm*. He broke his arm at the wrist of his right hand, and the fracture was bad; the distal radius slipped under the wrist bone, and the ulna was also fractured. His wrist looked like a distorted… Read full post »

Years ago, as I was standing in the checkout line, a woman turned to me and said, “It must be nice to afford such expensive clothes.”  We were in a Food-4-Less, the kind of place where pallets of food are stacked to the rafters and you pack your own groceries.  I… Read full post »

Terrible Mother: I'm getting a lot of responses to my personal ad.

Fort Awesome: Yeah? What kinds of things did you put in there?

Terrible Mother: Lots of the smart and funny. You know, like I tell that story about how Jon and I bought each other completely dissimilar… Read full post »

One of Thing Two’s favorite things in the world is Star Wars.  This should surprise exactly no one, since Thing Two is 8 and male and lives on Earth.  Nothing could be more normal than a few year obsession with George Lucas’ sextuplet*.  Because Thing Two is autistic (mildl/… Read full post »

Memorial Day weekend, my kids were with their dad, John, and because of the holiday, I had the house to myself for an extra day.  In years past, I've done the traditional Memorial Day shin-digs, the barbeques, the picnics and whatnot.  This year, I thought I'd do something a little differen… Read full post »

As my time at the writing residency winds down, I’ve discovered two things I hadn’t expected to.  When I tell you the first, you’ll think I’m digging for compliments., but hear ye Fan Base, I’m not.  The truth is that after the long spring term (in which I taug/… Read full post »

So, a million years ago, when I started Terrible Mother, I included as part of the shenanigans a poem of the week. This poem was something I’d find and post for readers to enjoy. Part of this is because I love poetry and I abhor the way people think poetry is… Read full post »

Friend One and I have spent the last 9 days secluded in a cabin nestled in the Oregon Coastal Range.  She’s a poet and is readying her manuscript for submission while writing new poems; I’m a writer working on my memoir and a slew of essays.  We’re here, nominally, to work/… Read full post »

Introductions aren't easy, and they're often nerve-wracking, at least for me.  It's especially hairy when I know that I'm about to introduce a group of people to a show in media res, which is essentially what I have to do when starting a new blog.  My blogs have alw… Read full post »