Awhile back I posted about about all the ways I went wrong trying to become an author, or how not to wash your clothes. I feel you all valued my blundering so much, that maybe I should periodically grace you with more sarcastic “how-to”s. Ergo, my …
Lately I’ve been wrestling with a body not yet thirty years old that may never work the way most people’s do. My diabetic levels remain high, the numbers are all wrong, and I look back and has it really been this way for months on …
It’s so easy for me to get sucked into my teeny corner of America. I live in a small town with a husband and three kids- I’m in an itty bitty homeschool group and a church of just a couple hundred people. That’s my community. My days …
Guys- I’m going to make an honest confession here: I’m not sure I like community. Do I need it? Yes. Does it sound wonderful in theory? Uh-huh. Community looks cute on TV- like on that show “Extreme Home Makeover”. All the neighbors and friends …
I know that most of you have your hands full- whether you work, parent, volunteer, or possibly play Quidditch professionally on the side. So the majority of you won’t need to read the following time-consuming tips- but for those who need to fill more time, …
Today I started my second year of homeschooling my kids. I’m not a saint- really homeschooling is just trading some problems for others. When my daughter went to public kindergarten, mornings were essentially a drill to see how late we could get up without missing the bus. …
Are you a “middle” person? That’s me. I started my career as a neutral middle person during recess at my cozy Massachusetts elementary school. I don’t feel like recess was sufficiently long for third grade drama to incubate and hatch into full-blown silence treatment- but what …
I’m a wife- a mom- a sister- a writer- a coffee drinker- a fan of Tom Selleck. (But that’s probably for another post.) I’m lots of things simultaneously, because…well, aren’t we all? Some of who I am overlaps neatly: coffee, for instance, can work quite …
Every year our adoption agency hosts a summer picnic with an exotic-to-us playground, food treats galore, and the whimsical highlight for my kids: Derek the magician. (AMAZING every year) This year, just before the magical performance, one of the picnic-goers raffled off a couple of …
This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend SpeakUp Conference in Grand Rapids, MI, where I joined dozens of other speakers and writers from a rainbow of backgrounds and states (27, actually, but who’s counting?). For someone like me who never graduated from college- …