Here are some pictures of my Halloween pumpkins. Why are they rotten, you ask? Because it’s November 30 and they’re still on my front porch. (And why does one have no eyes? That’s another story.) We came home from Thanksgiving vacation to find our pumpkins still on our front porch and many houses in our neighborhood already decorated for Christmas, which prompted Eldest to proclaim, “If we still have our Halloween decorations up at Christmas, it’s going to be really embarrassing.” (How little faith he has in his mother. Is that the tween years, or something I’ve done?) Of course...
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There was an interesting column in the Wall St. Journal yesterday about optimists and pessimists in the workplace. In the article writer Jared Sandberg explains all the reasons optimists annoy the pessimists around them (they overlook work's unpleasant realities, leaving it to the pessimists to pick up the pieces, among other problems). Being an inveterate optimist, I kept reading along thinking, “Who, me?” Then Sandberg points out — sort of obliquely — that optimists tend to be healthier. This is backed up by UCLA psychology professor Shelley Taylor who Sandberg quotes as saying, "Optimism has this way of forever sliding...
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Pros: You are not in charge Your mother-in-law is a much better cook than you are It does not stress you out if someone else's house is a mess Lots of people to hold Baby Getting up early and then going back to bed and sleeping until 10:45 When entertaining, your mother-in-law gives 100%, whereas you get lazy/get bored/stop caring and give only 80%, and that 20% really does make a difference You like the country The kids like the country The dog likes the country, especially the diving-into-the-muddy-pond part Cons: Why don't you live in the country? Your children's...
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I-95 Paying a babysitter on the books 7th grade math Managing a narcissist DIY pedicures Making an omelet Washing a slipcover Getting seeds out of a pomegranate Brushing a cat Shopping for fathers Throwing paint away Recycling Getting kids to walk the dog Economics Finding matching socks Long emails
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I lost my monthly commuter pass over the weekend, somehow, at Cirque du Soleil. When I got on the train this morning I had no train pass and no money in my wallet (Eldest had to go to his piggy bank for lunch money today as Husband had no money either) and, inexplicably, Metro North does not take credit cards on the train. Instead of saying, "You look honest, I believe you, here's an I.O.U," as I was hoping she would, the conductor said to me, "Do you want to get off at the next stop and buy a ticket?...
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As far as I'm concerned there aren't enough things in life that are accompanied by the blare of trumpets. My husband and I had trumpets at our wedding, but I wish somehow I could have arranged trumpets for the day I got my first magazine job, the weekend we moved out of the city, and the moment all three of our children were born. Now I want trumpets to mark the end of our kitchen renovation. I came home the other night to find the protective paper gone from the counters and floors, the plastic removed from the cabinets, and...
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So I gave this speech last week at the University of Virginia, my alma mater. The whole thing was wonderful and weird; it’s so hard for me to think of myself as someone who “gives speeches” or is any kind of role model because in my mind I just graduated from college 10 minutes ago, but I guess that’s my issue. Anyway, my talk was geared mostly toward young women who want to work in magazines. I realized as I was putting my remarks together, however, that I was really talking to all of Generation Y about working in my...
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I hate my Blackberry because: although I keep it in a cute red leather case, my Blackberry has a homing signal and as soon as I so much as unzip the case the signal gets louder and louder (like a dog whistle — I am the only one who hears it) until I can't ignore it and have to check my email and suddenly it's half an hour later and my family has left to go someplace fun in the car. (I exaggerate, but just a bit.) it does not have a self-charging function. when I compared his addiction to...
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1. This op-ed by Patricia Volk in the New York Times on Monday. Just perfect and hilarious. If I had ten more minutes in the day I would write her a fan letter. 2. The fact that I received a phone call and not an email from a man who wants to do business with Real Simple. OK, so maybe I’m a dinosaur and he is too, but if I had my way I would take 85% of the emails I currently receive and turn them into phone calls. I happen to disagree with the apparently commonly held belief that...
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This thing. I can't remember what it's called because I threw out the packaging. I found it at Buy Buy Baby which I should be prohibited from entering from now until my kids leave for college because as soon as I cross the threshold of that store I transform from a fairly normal mother into a crazed consumer princess mother who finds 45 new things she and Baby *really* need. Or else our entire existence will be compromised. I suspect I will never use the portable bottle warmer I really needed to buy this weekend. But these nifty gizmos are...
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