Slowly turning into my mother

Despite my very best intentions to avoid back to school shopping, we were forced into the stores after I sorted through the kids’ wardrobes and discovered that, while the drawers had been filled with clothing, very few items actually fit either child. While we normally shop at Target and Old Navy, we decided to try [...]

Looks can be deceiving

Next month I will be seeing my best friend from childhood for the first time in over 20 (25?) years. Looking back through the haze of years I believe I first met her (who shall remain nameless since she certainly did not sign on to this crazy train of oversharing we call Manic Mommies) when [...]

September Book Club: Room

With summer coming to an end and kids getting ready for school (I can’t believe some have started already), it’s time for us to step away from light/summer selections. Room is an amazing story, told from a young boys perspective. This book is brilliantly written and has been long listed for the Booker Prize. To [...]

How my garden has grown

Remember all the gardening we’ve did at the beginning of the summer? Most of it, especially the beautiful new gardens in the backyard, have been overrun by a bumper crop of weeds. If there were awards given for growing crab grass, we would be a blue ribbon winning house as we’ve cultivated a few prime [...]

Back to reality…

Hey, hi. Remember me? It’s been over two weeks since I’ve posted anything to anywhere (other than Facebook and Gowalla, but I don’t think that counts) and today I’m working on transitioning back to reality. I’ve ridden my bike into work (and felt surprisingly good after 2 weeks of sitting on my duff and eating [...]

How to make a tent piñata

After three years posting pictures of home made piñatas, I’m often asked how I make them – So I thought I’d take you step-by-step as to how I made the tent for Anders camping themed party: 1. Start with the basic structure – In this case, I used a Hammermill paper box from my office. [...]

8 years ago, yesterday

Yesterday was Anders birthday, and I was looking forward to what I assumed would be a happy day of celebrations and cake as we marked the day of his birth. I imagined starting the day with homemade chocolate chip pancakes (his request), followed by a day at work and camp;  a birthday dinner (cheeseburgers, again, [...]

Summertime Smile

Letter to Erin

Dear Erin, You caught me this afternoon on the phone just as I was sitting down to write you this letter. Yesterday’s post made me so sad for you – I know we both anticipated some separation pain, but that didn’t make it any easier to see it in writing. I remember too well that [...]

The cheetah and the zebra

Yesterday was “Dress as a Wild Animal” day at camp – it’s amazing what you can do with an old t-shirt and a couple of Sharpie markers.

Proof my life is a comic strip

Yesterday I heard my husband tell our 7 year old son that he couldn’t find a bathing suit for him to wear to summer camp. The way Steve said it was less “I’m sorry we didn’t get the laundry done so you have a bathing suit,” and more “how come you (our 7 year old) [...]

Have you met Alice?

In April, when Sophie turned five, she became the proud owner of Alice, a “Just Like You” American Girl doll which, well, looked just like her. Over the years I had been advised by friends to keep Sophie away from American Girl for as long as possible, mainly because of the expense. And, after a [...]

Left behind

My son has been in a terrible, horrible, very bad mood. He should be in a great mood. School is over and the promise of two months of camp is ahead. He attended a pool party on Monday and has been hanging out by his Nana’s pool for the rest of the week. His birthday [...]

Kristin on FourCast Podcast

I am a geek. I know, I know. No one who reads the blog, or listens to this podcast, is surprised by this statement. It is known that I can name all of the X-Men; have happily debated why Robert Downey, Jr. made the perfect Tony Stark, and am super excited about the new Tron [...]

Hot Mess

In absolutely no particular order. . . My schedule has been overwhelmed with author’s teas, plays, performances and graduation. I’ve been carrying the same bag of papers back and forth from my office for the last week, but have only opened it twice. We forgot Tommy and Brendan’s birthday party on Friday, and just remembered [...]

When a bead gets up your nose… again?

As regular readers will know, last November our daughter managed to get a bead stuck up her nose. A big, shiny bead that sparkled like a diamond when a flashlight was pointed up her nostril, and made our daughter emit a slight whistle when she breathed. It still kind of makes me laugh. In the [...]

See Mommy Segway

As you know, last week my husband and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. Since we were married on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend (for which I want to apologize to all my friends for keeping them from the beach on a gorgeous weekend), my husband and I think of that Sunday as our [...]

12 years ago today…

It seems like there are a lot of men in the news these days who share the dubious distinction of being guys who have cheated on their wives – even one of my favorite actors, David Boreanz (Angel, Bones) admitted in a recent edition of People magazine that he cheated. Watching the promos this morning [...]

Decorating decisions

This week a new piece of hardware/artwork arrived in our home – a “vintage” (I use quotes because I don’t know whether it is vintage, reproduction or just old) LeMond neon sign. My husband “won it” on eBay (quotes this time for “won” in the eBay use of the word meaning, now I have to [...]

One weekend in three pictures

After what feels like weeks (or months) of craptacular (okay, that’s not a word. But you have to admit it’s descriptive) weather, this weekend was beautiful! So I forced the kids outside, and spent two days going a little “garden crazy.” 1 trip to Lowe’s for flowers, vegetable seeds and bags of mulch. Surprisingly we [...]