Posted in Friendship, Learning, Living In Community, Video on Sep 11th, 2007 1 Comment »
When Ruthie was just two months old, Bryan and I coordinated a babysitting co-op with friends. Every other week we would go on a date and have free babysitting, and on the opposite weeks it would be our turn to babysit. Various families have been a part of this co-op in the past, but for [...]
Posted in Comfort & Control, Learning on Aug 29th, 2007 1 Comment »
Why I ever thought it was a good idea to quit working out I will never know. Running (on the elliptical or otherwise) has always been a cathartic, meditative experience for me. In that space of breathing and following a rhythm I am more focused than at any other time, except maybe during the contractions [...]
Posted in Learning on May 16th, 2007 2 Comments »
Something has clicked in me. Jen Zug has entered a new era of motherhood, one in which she is relatively nice to her children, gets things done, goes to bed at 10:30, and takes hardly ANY time to write, though she is infinitely inspired. Must be the sun. Or all that excessive drinking I’ve been [...]
Posted in Learning on May 11th, 2007 2 Comments »
Lest you get the idea from recent posts about being happy and setting priorities that my circumstances have changed to make my life better and more manageable (read: enjoyable), let me assure you they have not. I still feel like a selfish, raging, bitch most of the time. But I have been allowing my perspective [...]
Posted in Learning, Rage Against The Pile, Until Death Do Us Part (and to the Death it will be) on Apr 24th, 2007 3 Comments »
I have flown in a lot of airplanes in my life as my family has always been scattered around the country, and this particular instruction regarding the oxygen masks always confused me. For some reason I always thought it made more sense to help the person next to you first. Aside from the fact that [...]
Posted in Learning on Apr 20th, 2007 1 Comment »
Alaska Air has this really cool feature where you can track the status of a flight. By typing in Bryan’s flight number I can see that his plane is now at 32,000 feet and directly over the central part of western Oregon, and that he should be walking through this door by 11pm. Bryan left [...]
Posted in Learning, Picture Book on Apr 17th, 2007 1 Comment »
Flash Slideshow Last week the kids and I drove nearly two hours north with some friends for the annual Tulip Festival in the Skagit Valley. It was semi-spontaneous in that an original weather report indicated Wednesday would be cold and rainy, so we decided to do something indoors. But at ten o’clock Tuesday night I [...]
Posted in Learning, Soundrack on Apr 15th, 2007 1 Comment »
I am on FIRE with love and joy this afternoon. I made music mix that inspired me to teach Ruthie ‘the running man’ dance and the party just hasn’t stopped for me, even though they are sleeping. I’m actually CLEANING on a Sunday afternoon because I am so motivated by this music. Getting to and [...]
Posted in Learning on Apr 6th, 2007 2 Comments »
I appreciate the comments and emails I have received regarding this post about a stressful situation that is happening offline, and I definitely appreciate your prayers. It has been a difficult couple of months, and most of the writing I have done on the issue has remained on my own hard drive simply because it [...]
Posted in Learning on Apr 5th, 2007 No Comments »
I was about to shut off the computer and turn in for the night when I decided to read ‘just one more’ blog post from my feed reader. It turned out to be this reflection on Jesus’ last supper before his crucifixion, which reportedly happened on Thursday night. Tonight. I wonder when exactly did Jesus [...]
Posted in Learning on Apr 4th, 2007 6 Comments »
[Update: I originally posted this the evening of 4/3/07 but felt unsettled about the wording of certain sections, even after several re-writes. So I pulled the post late that night. After a night of sleep, some more prayer, and discussion with Bryan, I still stand by it. This morning I revised it a little more [...]
Posted in Blog Stuff, Books, Learning on Mar 31st, 2007 3 Comments »
Last night Bryan and I went to see Annie Lamott read from her new book, Grace (Eventually), which she nearly titled Forgivishness. I was first introduced to Annie’s writing when I became pregnant with Ruthie and my sister-in-law gave me her copy of Operating Instructions. I think I read that book in one sitting because [...]
Posted in Learning, Rage Against The Pile, Ruthie on Mar 16th, 2007 5 Comments »
There are days when Ruthie teaches me many things. Like the days when she pretends to mother her purple teddy bear – feeding it, wrapping it in a blanket to sleep… and disciplining it. I often find her setting the bear in a nearby chair, cheerfully explaining to it the reasons for a time out, [...]
Posted in Everyday, Learning on Mar 14th, 2007 2 Comments »
Uck. What an ugly day yesterday was. I did pull my head out of my naval, though, and walked the kids down the street for some hot chocolate at our local coffee shop. On the way home we stopped at a grove of trees across the street from our house where they played chase and [...]
Posted in Learning, Ruthie, Thomas, Travel, Video on Feb 5th, 2007 9 Comments »
Our trip to the San Jose area couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve spent the last couple months reorganizing and reprioritizing my focus as a mother and household manager, trying to correct the part of my brain that sometimes finds it easier to focus on the latter and see the former as a [...]
Be warned: what you see here is not my best work. It is what Anne Lamott describes in Bird By Bird as a series of “shitty first drafts.” Blogging dragged me kicking and screaming out of creative constipation by getting me to actually write. So I do that. A lot. Without worrying about every word choice or comma placement.
Want to know more? Read my full About Page.
"Sanity Hacks of a 