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This One Time, I Met A Boy
“Go! You might meet someone”. These are the famous last words spoken by my mother at the end of a very long day of moving apartments. I was tired, and a bit grubby, and not entirely in the mood for going out that evening. My mother, on the other hand, was kind of tired of her 30-year-old daughter being single. She was optimistic. I was just pissy. However, I had promised my friend Valerie that I would go out with her to this party, and I didn’t want to back out on her at the last-minute. I took a quick shower, threw on some clothes (I’m normally agonizing over what…
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My Cybher Takeaway
This past weekend, the Hubs let me escape to London (and escape I did, on the 10:30 am train) to attend Cybher, an inaugural event for female bloggers. (There were a few fellows wandering around…) It was a great opportunity to put faces to the Twitter names I’ve been chatting away with (some of the Twitter avatars did NOT do their owners justice), meet other like-minded souls, learn a few things, and simply get away. I was happy to go to dinner the night before with a fabulous group of bloggers. The conversation more than made up for the *interesting* food (vegetarian wood lice prawns, anyone?) and painfully sloooooow service. I was…
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Her Alter Ego….Captured
My daughter is adorable. I will admit this freely, not solely based on parental pride but on the simple fact that she is really IS cute. I mean, seriously — look at that face! But. THIS is the face her teachers see. This is the face her friends see. This is the face that I see approximately 75% most of the time. The rest of the time, she is…well….erm….a bit of a holy terror. All that strong will, all that single mindedness, all that orderly organization “everything in its place in a particular order JUST SO” does have a flip side… …and that side ain’t pretty. Even so, she isn’t one to…
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Things My Mother Taught Me
This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and for the third year in a row, I won’t be able to get back to the U.S. to spend time with my Mom. I really miss her. My mother is a lovely woman. She has a great sense of humor, cares very deeply for people, is easily hurt, and is very protective of the people she loves. However. She is not the world’s best cook. ducks In all fairness, she will likely admit that it isn’t her first love, and to be honest, she doesn’t care much about food one way or another. Which, admittedly, is a fair reason for not liking to cook.…
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Saying “Hi” to Granddad (or, Waking the Dead)
My kidlings have never met their paternal grandfather. Sadly, he passed away long before they were ever the proverbial twinkle in their father’s eye. The Hubs tells stories about Granddad Fred, of course – anecdotes particularly – but whenever we visit Colonial Williamsburg, where my husband lived as a child, the stories tend to flow as he reminisces. We spent the Easter holiday back in the US, and the latter half of the trip with the Hubs’ side of the family. On our way home from a day exploring Colonial Williamsburg, I knew we’d be passing by the cemetery where Fred was buried and suggested we stop in. It had…
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(A Previously Unpublished) Silent Sunday
*you can find more great photos by searching for the #SilentSunday hashtag on Twitter or clicking here*
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Dusting off the Cobwebs
One of the prompts on this past week’s Writer’s Workshop was: “What have you been too busy to pay attention to?” This was one that I couldn’t pass by. This one, dear friends, will write itself. The answer to this (aside from my ever expanding muffin-top) is: my blog. *sniffs* I’m slightly mortified that the entire month of April slipped by without a single post *hangs head in disgust*, particularly with so much going on. Despite so much going on. Given that I had so much going on. I didn’t necessarily have a shortage of ideas….they just weren’t playing out. (Seriously, if you could have been in my head last…
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If Only Someone Had Told Me
Yesterday was the second time in not so many weeks that my daughter threw up on me/the wall/the carpeting. Coincidentally, I also recently was told “I’m not really into kids, so I can’t even imagine dealing with them when they are throwing up.” And it struck me…. There are many things they (doctors, nurses, books) prepare you for (in having kids), but there is so much more that they don’t… …Like how eagerly you will find yourself diving to catch vomit before it hits your rug/sofa/dog. I mean – when else in your LIFE would you do this? (However, once it occurs, pretty much EVERY mom will tell you her…
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About the Time Pea Got Carsick….and a Giveaway
Well, I’m sure that got your attention. My daughter is a fantastic car-traveller – or, at least she was until we moved to the UK. In the US, she could handle a 14 hour car ride without any sign of illness, but where we live in Wales, much of the roads are hilly or windy – or both. This does not bode well for “she who now gets carsick going to Saturday morning ballet”. Yes, I became the mom who didn’t venture further than the school car park without a change of clothes, a pack of wipes, a roll of paper towels, and a..um…bucket in the back seat. And a…
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So Why Can’t She Remember to Turn Off Her Bedroom Light?
The other day, as I was loading up the dishwasher I noticed Pea gazing at me thoughtfully. “Mummy…” she began. I put the last plate in the drawer and turned to listen to her. She had “the look” on her face – the one she wears when she has contemplating something and I was curious to know where this conversation would take us – we’ve had some doozies lately. “Mummy”, she continued, “I was watching TV and it said that Fairy Platinum cleans your dishes to make them shine and it even cleans the hidden bits on the inside.” I stared at her blankly. What the…? She continued: “Mummy, do…