• Family - Parenting

    Soft Kitty

    September 16, 2024 - By 

    Almost every night, I sing my children a bedtime song. But there is more to this story. The first thing you should know: I’m an awful singer. I can’t carry a tune no matter how hard I try. For this reason, I rarely sing for anyone other than myself. The second thing you should know: because of the first thing, I don’t generally enjoy singing “for an audience” for an extended period of time. I’m too self-conscious to have fun with it. BUT. Then I had my first baby and he needed a bedtime song. I put a lot of…

  • Family - Marriage - Parenting

    Our Story

    March 14, 2024 - By 

    We met at work in 2006. After I agreed to go on a first date with you to another state where I would meet your entire family and stay at your mom’s house and run around the farm in a dress and heels on our way to said date so you could help your dad smoke a badger out of the barn (also my first time meeting your dad) (WHEW) I guess something must have gone right because here we are. We’ve lived in small houses, in bigger houses, with roommates, without them, in apartments, and – for a time…

  • Throwback

    November 26th, 2003

    November 26, 2023 - By 

    I found this list I wrote, twenty years ago, about my favorite modern conveniences. And I honestly have to say, I WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING. I would not put smartphones on that list, even now. (Although telephones in general are a good one. As is email. All of which were definitely a thing that existed in 2003. But even knowing their integral function in today’s society, I’d still rank them below “pasteurization” and “modern surgical techniques”. And please – let’s just forget social media and leave YouTube for the instructional videos only, hmmm?) Also PS GET OFF MY LAWN. Only…

  • Family

    Refrigerator. Cat.

    November 23, 2023 - By 

    We are spending this Thanksgiving with family in Iowa, at our new house on the lake. We drove up Tuesday afternoon, once the kids were released from school, and it was cold, dark, and late when we pulled in. We unloaded our stuff and went straight to bed. Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early (also, I may have forgotten to turn off my weekday alarm) and set about getting our grocery shopping and other miscellaneous pre-Thanksgiving errands done. I returned from a mid-afternoon supply run to find the household in a panic. The basement refrigerator had suddenly stopped…

  • Family - Throwback

    Same Beach, 20 years later

    October 16, 2023 - By 

    Sometimes life is WILD. From 2001-2003 I lived in Davis, California, attending the university there. My close friend, roommate, and co-worker was a gal we’ll call Jennifer. We graduated, she moved to Portland, Oregon, and I moved down to Los Angeles. Eventually, I got a career that wasn’t waiting tables and I moved to Washington state. In 2004, Jennifer was getting married. We’d kept in touch and I was honored to be in her wedding, which would take place on the Oregon Coast at her fiancée’s uncle’s house. So I packed my bag, printed out my MapQuest directions to the…

  • Family - Parenting

    A Visit to the Library with Small Children

    September 26, 2023 - By 

    One of the reasons I choose to record moments of my daily life is because they can so quickly be lost to the annals of time. Even if you remember the overall gist of what happened, it’s the small details you forget. And the best stories happen in the details. Our memories may be faulty but the things we write down will never be forgotten. This particular library visit is one that happened almost seven years ago, when my oldest was a toddler and my youngest was just over a year old. I stumbled upon it tonight, and -well –…

  • Throwback

    The Taste of Memories

    September 21, 2023 - By 

    Our brain, that clever, complicated organ, is a keeper of many mysteries. So many mysteries, in fact, that I’m not even going to attempt to list a tenth of them. I just want to talk about one of them: the link between memory, scent, and taste. Did you know there’s a word for that? The moment when a certain smell or flavor triggers a memory? It’s called a Proustian moment. And lest you think I had that little tidbit just hidden up my sleeve waiting for the right blog post… I didn’t. A quick scan of the internet led me…

  • Family - Parenting

    The Importance of Being Bored

    June 19, 2023 - By 

    “I’m bored. What can I do? I’m soooooooo booorrrrrreeeed.” I have distinct memories of whining this very sentence to my parents for many years of my childhood. The response was usually along the lines of “go play outside” or “go read a book” or “go ride a bike” or, the ‘ole standby classic “YOU figure out something to do.” However, something is different when my children whine this at me these days, and the reason is: technology. Because of the options that are available to them versus the options available to me 30 years ago. With technology, there exists a…

  • Uncategorized

    Please, bring me all the flowers

    June 10, 2023 - By 

    Ever since they were little, the boys have gifted me with wildflowers. Dandelions, mostly, but sometimes wild violets or delicate white morning glories. And I dutifully tuck them behind my ear or put them in a glass of water or press them into a book for preservation. Even now, at 8 and 10, they still bring me flowers. These sweet souls, may they always share their love and happiness with me, whether it’s in the form of flowers, hugs, or I-love-yous. I’m here for it.

  • Farming

    Lazy Gardening

    May 10, 2023 - By 

    Last year, as spring approached and gardening season was about to begin, I got — well, there isn’t really a better way to put this — I got a bit lazy about it. Good gardening stewardship says you need to clear out all the dead brush from the previous year’s harvest. Removing things like weeds and dead vegetation helps prevent insect pests from overwintering in the debris, making their grubby little homes in there and emerging in the summer to annoy you and make your gardening life more difficult. We just tilled it all under and called it a day.…