This winter, on top of pulling up stakes and moving from my old house and renovating my new one, I also learned how to speak a new language. It’s called “IKEA.” In fact, I’ve become quite fluent. I know how to say “Liatorp” and “Malm.” I’ve mastered a few pronunciations of “Hemnes” but struggled aRead more…
I don’t know about you, but I embrace self-diagnosis, generally with no medical evidence for backing accompanied by a dire prognosis for good measure. During various pregnancies – and thanks to the very helpful What to Expect When You’re Expecting tome – I was certain I’d developed a kidney infection, gestational diabetes and placenta previaRead more…
To the Good Samaritan who helped my 13yo pick up a case of Costco water bottles (because I cannot be satisfied with the paltry 32-pack at a grocery store and need the warehouse-sized 40 bottles) off Branch Avenue around rush hour last night: I’m sorry I’m an idiot. That I was in such a rushRead more…
It wasn’t until I went away to college that I learned firsthand that New Jersey, and its denizens, were a joke. Like, even my new roommate who hailed from Baltimore — BALTIMORE! — sneered at any mention of the Garden State. Apparently, it was an embarassing place to live. Even when we gather now asRead more…
Today I am thinking about how complicated life can be. And short. And confusing. You think you have all the time in the world to make things right. To tell people how much they meant to you. How much you loved them. But that’s not how it works and I am reminded once again there’sRead more…
To celebrate my newly-renovated bathroom in the house I bought this winter, my mom presented me with one of those super-duper magnifying mirrors to sit on the pretty quartz counter where I can pull up a stool and examine my face to my heart’s content. Yikes. In my old bathroom, I had a big rectangularRead more…
In the end, for as much as I’d thought packing up our house to move would be a team effort – I mean, what’s the point of having four kids if not to use as manual labor – the bulk of boxing 13 years of our lives turned out to be a one-man operation. Or shouldRead more…
It’s 10:00 on a Tuesday morning and I am hiding off in a side room that will some day be my office trying to concentrate on writing this while a man in a nearby room is working with a power drill. Or a saw. Just know it’s something very loud. I’m surrounded by stacks ofRead more…
When we last spoke, I was telling you about the house I just bought. You know the one, the Not-Too-Big, Not-Too-Small, Just-Right-House? The one with personality to spare? Anyway, since then I’ve had a bunch of people tell me they’d love to get a virtual tour of the joint, and as all I really thinkRead more…
Lo and behold, I bought a house. Well, first I sold my old house, and then I bought the new one. And on a scale of 1 to 10, if we had to rate the events in our lives that caused us the most amount of stress – with divorce being a full-on 10 andRead more…
