Babysitting was one thing I succeeded at in high school. I was in demand in my neighborhood because of my little bag. Not to toot my own horn, but I was kind of the freakin’ Mary Poppins of Arlington Heights with this bag. It was my little craft bag and it… Read full post »

Well, I’ve been away from my blog for awhile now on a fantastical voyage of self-discovery to lands far-flung.

No.

No. I haven’t actually. I’ve been stewing in self-pity and body odor and I haven’t left the house in weeks because I now telecommute.… Read full post »

Ada Calhoun has a very interesting piece on the battle over “crying it out.” This is something that very directly impacts my life as a mother of two toddlers. There are few things that can screw up your life more than not getting the sleep you need. There’s a reason sleep… Read full post »

I was the world’s most ass-backward teenager for lots of reasons, but this probably was reason #1. Imagine this argument going on at your own house with your own teen:

“Why do I have to take driver’s ed?! I don’t even want to drive. I don’t want to… Read full post »

I am sort of obsessed with Before and After pictures. You know the ones, you’ve seen the ads for weight loss pills or protein shakes. I know many of these particular ads are scams. They pay slim people to gain weight and switch the chronology of “before” and “after.” The… Read full post »

***** SPOILERS AHEAD***Stop reading if you have not seen the episode

 

I don't usually do TV writing, but I love Dexter. It is one of the few shows I watch regularly and I feel the need to defend the season finale for some reason.

Heather Havrilesky writes… Read full post »

I haven’t been around lately. I could say I’ve been recovering from the big race, but that’s not really it. There’s more to it. A sort of malaise has set in. I’m not sure where to go from here in a lot of ways. With my running. With my writing. With… Read full post »

Because apparently someone has to. I was going to title this post “Overcoming Fat Runner Shame” and discuss all my hang-ups about shopping for running clothes and how I felt rather disappointed in my half-marathon race photos (I did not look especially fab), but then I decided to do a lit… Read full post »

It’s interesting living in a two-flat with your mother. Yes it is. There are definitely benefits. We essentially have a live-in babysitter. There were quite a few days when the only reason I was able to shower was because I could dump a screaming child downstairs. The people at work have… Read full post »

Am I jealous of Lea Lane? You bet your sweet ass! What’s not to be jealous of? She’s smart, well-traveled, hotter than August in Chicago and she needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Have you read her Why I am Alone post? Made entirely of win. Go ahead… Read full post »

Fox News had a guy named Michael Karolchyk on their show to discuss whether Regina Bejamin's so-called weight problem should preclude her from being Surgeon General.

How this illuminates anything other than a) Fox news can pick the most bizarre pundits ever  and b) This guy is a giganti…

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My first birth experience I was drugged to the gills.

 

My water broke around midnight Sunday night. It was not the experience you often see portrayed on tv where suddenly there’s a hilarious gush on someone’s shoes (Like Carrie Bradshaw’s Manolo Blahniks) and then huffing an… Read full post »

I feel like I need (want) to explain my father’s day post. I wrote about my dad who took his own life on July 2, 2004. It was the end of a struggle. Not a long one and that is part of the problem. He developed his sickness and was gone… Read full post »

You were one of the smartest people I ever knew. You had a Phd in Computer Science when the field was new. You worked on the first computers with punch cards. You knew how far we’d come in so short a time and you would marvel at it. You knew the… Read full post »

I think I love this blog boingboing featured yesterday.  It explores the important and increasingly relevant, as we head into summer, issue of Goths vs Sunlight. They rate the pictures on a scale of 1 to 10 for "gothiness" and "sweatiness." Awe. Some. It kinda makes me miss my high school… Read full post »

When I left college in the throes of the deepest depression I’ve ever been, I was set with the task of getting a job. I felt incredibly worthless so, naturally, I shot really low in my search and took the first job that was offered to me. I didn’t have a… Read full post »

“It’s not really comparable,” I’d say. “We work in different fields, he’s had different experience.” These are all the reasons I give to explain away why my husband, who has exactly the same degree I have, a BA in English, makes ten times what I make. That is… Read full post »

My mother is on Facebook and it’s killing me. I am of the new crop of intergenerational family dwellers. My husband and I bought a two-flat with my mother when she had to sell her home in the suburbs after my father’s death. We thought this would be perfect. More house… Read full post »

I am not a born runner. I was made, mostly for perverse reasons.

 

When I was in college I decided to start running. I was big into doing things that were “so not me” at the time. I even tried out for the cheerleading squad. There were six… Read full post »

Ladymags? Stop telling me to go on a date with my husband ‘kay? I know. I know. You’re only trying to help and I should really get out of the house more. And God knows I’m not trying to stop him from taking me places other than the McDonalds drive-thru. But… Read full post »