What’s the statute of limitations on stealing crap from your parents’ kitchen when you move out? Nearly 15 years ago, I moved into my first apartment. As I left my dad’s house, I took with me everything in my bedroom, his our copy of the Gingras Family Marriages, and his immersion blender. I cannot for [...]
Filed under: Book of Me, G-Clan, Home, Rearview Mirror, Suzy Homemaking, Tastes Like Chicken, Waist Management | 1 Comment »
This weekend, while trying to print the recipe for Smitten Kitchen’s most excellent Red Wine Chocolate Cake so I wouldn’t get batter in my keyboard, I realized we’d run out of printer paper and grabbed the first handy scrap paper with an empty side: A copy of The New Roman Missal Introductory Rite. Yeah. I don’t [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Happily ever after, Highway or Handbasket?, Rearview Mirror, Tastes Like Chicken | 6 Comments »
At an event last week, a grad school friend (who is not a dummeh) asked for advice about long-distance relationships. She’s in one, see, and knows I’m in one, so she thought maybe I could share something more insightful than, “Yeah, sucks, doesn’t it?” It’s not on our resumes or anything, but G and I [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Happily ever after, Old Enough to Know Better, Rearview Mirror | 2 Comments »
At some, tying up some others… I don’t know if I mentioned that Mom’s estate is, for the most part, closed. I’ve boxed all the estate documents, but for the final attorney bill, and I’m shredding the last of her non-estate paperwork and credit cards. The last step is to clear out the estate account, [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Booklearnin', If it's not one thing, it's your mother, Rearview Mirror | 2 Comments »
Idea courtesy of Cassie Boorn, via Maggie Mason (who, let’s be honest, is behind many of the good ideas that filter into my brain and/or blog). Dear Jen: Keep up the good work! What you’ve done and what you will do next take a hell of a lot of courage, and you won’t know until later [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Rearview Mirror | 2 Comments »
To whoever submitted this secret this week: That you are still there is not your fault. No matter how much you know about verbal and emotional abuse, it works through slow manipulation that makes you unsure of what you know. And then, even though you know what’s happening to you, leaving is scary. When you [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Old Enough to Know Better, Rearview Mirror | 2 Comments »
Always have school clothes and play clothes. Change out of one and into the other before you make dinner, especially if dinner involves tomato sauce and school clothes are made of silk or cashmere. Naps are essential to a pleasant attitude. Most chocolate candy is better cold. Peppermint patties, peanut butter cups, and M&Ms…all taste [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, If it's not one thing, it's your mother, Old Enough to Know Better, Rearview Mirror | 3 Comments »
For about 12 years, I jumped to a different station whenever U2′s With or Without You came on the radio. Without fail. See, it was one of those songs. You know how sometimes, there’s a song that sounds like the soundtrack of your life and you can’t get away from it? Every time you start your car, [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Rearview Mirror | 6 Comments »
I’m about to do something for which I have no childhood roadmap. I’m about to book international travel. I’ve got flight itineraries saved and a quote for a hotel room with a view of the Sydney Opera House. I’m readying my documents to (finally) get my passport corrected. Mom never had a passport. I’m willing [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Old Enough to Know Better, Rearview Mirror | 2 Comments »
This Saturday, I left for yoga as the snow started. The snow that meteorologists were afraid to put numbers around, the snow that quickly blanketed my car so effectively that I felt TOTALLY GUILTY for not brushing off the whole car before pulling back out into my neighborhood’s main drag. I was one of “those [...]
Filed under: A life less ordinary, Friends Like These, If it's not one thing, it's your mother, Old Enough to Know Better, Rearview Mirror | Leave a Comment »
