A few "helpful" things that I'd rather just skip, actually: --lowfat muffins --telephone solicitations --people who break bad news gently --online surveys --ATM receipts --packing peanuts --department store credit cards --emails from PR people who clearly have never read a single issue of Real Simple and are promoting things we would never cover, like sex toys and American Idol winners --short escalators --frozen yogurt
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I work in a nice office on a nice floor of a nice building in midtown Manhattan (which is mostly nice except at Christmas when it is overrun by tourists who walk in the middle of the sidewalk, staring up, and preventing ordinary citizens like me from making it to the train on time). When it comes to my office there is very little I can find to complain about, and the fact that I even have an office to go to in this day and age is certainly a blessing. But there is one little issue that really sticks...
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Like many of you, I spent most of the past two weeks in the kitchen, which was both delightful and maddening. Delightful in that I made some wonderful meals (highlights: coconut cake from December issue of Real Simple; chicken chili from epicurious.com; quiche Lorraine from Joy of Cooking; flounder baked with tomatoes, garlic and capers from a fish cookbook I have at home, the title of which I cannot remember; not to mention chocolate fondue, which I could eat any day of the week) and maddening in that there are certain things about food and cooking that are either illogical...
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A $20 bill in your purse at all times An organized bedroom closet A full tank of gas Children who don’t argue about taking out the trash A government you can believe in Clutter-free kitchen counters Good coffee Someone else to fold the laundry Time to exercise A partner who doesn’t assume you will answer the phone every time it rings, especially if he is sitting closer to it, not that that ever happens to me At least one decent vacation A good night’s sleep at least 75% of the time At least one coworker who really makes you laugh...
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I love Christmas as much as the next person (well, maybe not quite as much, because The Next Person may not be on stress level code red the entire month of December, as I always seem to be--idiotically, I must add). And I love FM radio as much as the next person, which might explain why I do not listen to CDs or my iPod or even satellite radio in the car, but instead the eight or so stations that have been magically pre-programmed (by a husband/nanny/kid/car dealership/elf) in our car. But because I only listen to these eight stations,...
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This is in my top five questions I wonder about everyone I meet, along with how much caffeine they drink, whether they ever yell at their kids, if they regret marrying the man they did and what sort of relationship they have with their mothers. But the sleep one might genuinely be the most interesting. We are in a bad sleep place at the van Ogtrop house for reasons that I won’t get into for fear of completely embarrassing one of my children. But the last few weeks have been hit or miss—I liken it to the movie The Village,...
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If you are like me, you end every Sunday with a slight sinking feeling because your to-do list for the weekend actually was not based in any sort of reality when you consider your actual life. Well, sometimes it is a sinking feeling and sometimes it is a full-on temper tantrum, depending on the Sunday, how much sleep you got the night before and how loudly the kids complain about what you’ve made for dinner. You would think that by middle age I would have gained the wisdom to keep my weekend to-do list short enough that I do not...
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OK, I live in a 107 year-old-house, meaning among other things that there are lots of holes and cracks and countless other sneaky places where animals can get in, either for a short visit or a long stay. A bit of that I can deal with. But I swear these days my life feels like an episode of Wild Kingdom , there are so many unwelcome creatures living with me. In our four years in our current house, we have had: --squirrels in the walls --mice in the basement, naturally --some sort of bird, maybe a dove, under the eaves...
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Yesterday I went shopping for fall clothes for work, which is a big event for me because 1) I hate shopping generally, 2) I hate shopping for clothes specifically and 3) everybody knows that you are not supposed to be spending any money any more. Except on food and, if you absolutely have to, gas, but you’d really be better off walking everywhere. I have a framed New Yorker cartoon in my office from 2001, the last time we all stopped spending; it is by Marisa Acocella and depicts a woman handing over her credit card at a boutique. The...
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And if you do, how much does that bother you on a scale of 1-10? Sunday was quite a day: Middle had a sleepover on Saturday night and Sunday marked the start of both church school and travel soccer, so I thought I'd make a decent breakfast that morning. Unfortunately that was my undoing as it resulted in a sink full of bacon grease that I had to deal with while making dinner. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After breakfast we had to rush off to church, leaving Husband and Baby with the dishes. You know how that turned...
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