In the coming weeks, numerous graduates will stroll, stomp, or perhaps cartwheel across the stage (things are getting so fancy now) to accept their diploma. Still others will sign with various institutions for academics or athletics. In most cases, they will give a speech, be it on stage or a patch of grass in their [...]
Blue for first, red for second, third is white, fourth is yellow and fifth is green. By the time they blow past the primary colors and into the decorator shades of award ribbons, it’s fair to say you probably didn’t exactly excel at whatever it is that you’ve done. Burgundy may, in fact, be the [...]
There’s a thin line between insanity and coping with your daughter dating. Our son is 16 and has begun to date a sweet and lovely young lady that we all like very much. With that, I’ve already said too much. Our daughter is 14 and slated to begin high school in the fall. We have [...]
I am currently having an argument with my thighs. They didn’t use to irritate me, but lately, they’ve been on my last nerve. I recently came to the conclusion that, contrary to my popular belief, everyone I know had not stealthily outfitted their cameras with a wide-angle and extra chin lens just for me. Nor [...]
For nearly a century, East Liverpool dominated the United States pottery industry … During its peak production years (1865-1910), East Liverpool’s potteries produced and sold the majority of America’s crockery … — The Pottery Capital of America, Ohio Historical Society I live within an easy driving distance of the Pottery Capital of America. Like most [...]
I never tied my mother’s sheer curtains under my chin and paraded down the stairs playing “bride.” I didn’t plan Barbie’s wedding to Ken. I was too busy rearranging the furniture in Barbie’s Dream House to fish Ken out from the nest of dust bunnies he’d been exiled to under the bed. I never once [...]
When they are toddlers, we stand within eye and earshot pretty much all of the time. We walk around with our arms outstretched and our hearts on our sleeves. We cushion bumps and catch their falls. Protecting our children from harm is job one. As our children age, it can be tough to know when [...]
Proving once again you can’t trust the government, our fair state has decided my son is old enough to drive. This, of course, is crazy talk. Obviously they just don’t understand just last week we were driving home with him (brand new) in his infant car seat (also new) at a blistering 25 mph because [...]
Every parent knows that silence in small children is not necessarily golden. In households with young children, too much quiet is an instant alert to go investigate immediately. The briefest lull once prompted me to scrutinize my very young son’s whereabouts only to find my toddler, and an entire doorframe, covered in black permanent marker. [...]
The home remodeling continues: Puzzling over LEDs and spin cycles.
When you really get down to it, life is made up not of what you “have” to do but what you “get” to do — and that makes all the difference.
When Mr. Wonderful came home and lit a candle before we sat down to eat, I was noticeably touched. Such a romantic! Scratch that. False alarm. He was looking for a breeze again. Off Being married to the man who considers it his life’s work to hold on to every last bit of energy our [...]
“I’m excited about insulation.”Who says that?I do. I uttered that very sentence the other night as we were preparing for bed. I have spent enough years with Mr. Wonderful to know that sentence is akin to whispering sweet nothings in his ear. Over the years we have tried to find every last nook, cranny, and [...]
Recently I wrote a series of columns detailing our upstairs bathroom renovation. It was a long and painful process (the bathroom — not the writing. The writing came easy. A toilet on the lawn is always good for a paragraph, or six.) The entire process took six weeks of nights and weekends, including the Thanksgiving [...]
It is, I realize, completely self-absorbed to complain about the myriad ways Mother Nature tried to kick my behind last week in the midst of the terrible blizzard, Nemo. Fortunately, I have never shied away from a certain amount of navel gazing. Thus, I am more than willing to go on and on about my [...]
You are what you wear. Our whole lives most of us who live out of uniform — and arguably those who DO — spend our days focusing on our clothing and what it says about us. From the onset, the question of gender of a coming blessed event and whether the baby is a boy [...]
Much press and sitcom angst is given to turning 30. Popular expression would have us believe turning 30 is the social and personal equivalent of having one foot in the grave, your best years behind you, and no hope of ever looking cute again. To this I say, drivel. Stages. While my 20s were a [...]
If my kids complain about homework — “We aren’t ever going to need to know this in real life!” — I have three words for them: Dewey Decimal System. I remember standing at the card catalog, sweaty palm clasping the nub of a golf pencil and a piece of scrap paper that still smelled faintly [...]
I don’t generally pen “how to” columns. “How to be a dork like me” is not a life lesson that is much in demand, generally speaking. Then one day I realized I was living a lie. I maintain a fresh and clean home and pose as if I am a very tidy person. Actually, we [...]
I don’t think there has ever been a doubt I don’t have the ability to take care of myself, but now it’s official: in case of emergency I will die. During the last big storm/possible power outage scare, I finally felt a responsible adult would probably figure out what it is everyone stocks up on [...]
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