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I Didn’t Write Last Month.
I didn’t write last month. At least not enough to merit a pat on the back or the chocolates I keep as a reward for every 1000 words written. (I’ve set the bar low here, people.) The irony of the situation is that the month of November was National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it’s referred to in the writing community. If things has gone as planned, I’d be sitting back, as I did last November, celebrating at least 50,000 words of utter crap. I can work with a pile of utter crap. Instead, I have barely 5,000 words of nonsensical crap and a half-eaten (an unearned) bag of…
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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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Simple in Barcelona
My little family unit is well into the first week of our “Great 2011 Med Adventure” – which I’m thankful we have the opportunity to experience – but I’m finding that the things that are sticking with me the most are the simple things. The quiet moments sitting on a park bench enjoying the view. Walking hand in hand with my 5-year old, listening to her chatter about what she sees. A family dinner, enjoyed at a slow pace because there is nothing to distract us, no pressing chores to do and no urgent need to be anywhere (sorry, Macy-pup, we love you, but your need to pee can cock…
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The Simplicity of Childhood
This afternoon, after checking in at our hotel and wandering out for a bite to eat, we went for a walk in the neighborhood. After a morning of travel with a lot of “behave…or else” threats hanging over their heads, the kidlings needed to blow off some steam. We found a lovely park with a playground across from the Sagrada Familia. Within mere minutes of arriving, Pea was squealing with delight on a teeter-totter which was also being ridden on by an equally squealing girl about her age. They were soon joined by the little girl’s big brother, who, having put his sibling in the center, proceeded to rock it…
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Redemption in the form of a little Knight
Today is World Book Day, which means (if you are a parent) that you have likely spent last night the past few days scrambling around trying to find some sort of costume to reflect a character from your child’s chosen book. While I am a book lover, I suck at creating costumes. The mention of Halloween strikes fear in my heart, and not for the typical reasons. I resorted to my close friend, eBay and sorted out the situation early, only to discover that this year, the children needed to pick a character from a “traditional” or “classic” story. Would Cressida Cowell’s “How To Train Your Dragon” fall into this category?…
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Dogs Don’t Wear Shoes
If you stop by my house at, oh, say, 8pm on any given evening, you will find me mopping. I know. It’s sad. Really, really sad. I hadn’t expected the floors to get THIS dirty. We are a no-shoes-in-the-house family. The Hubs has been strict about this to the point that my kids typically pull off their shoes when they go into another person’s house. But, you see, I have a puppy. She is a sweet puppy, and she is very nearly housetrained. But she doesn’t wear shoes. For obvious reasons. And all the dirt on her feet – despite my attempts to wipe them dry at the back door…
