Archive for
Newsy! Has Your Family Tried A Pound Of Milk + Two Tasty Toppings + The True Deceiver (v.6)
June 30th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Has Your Family Tried A Pound Of Milk?
It’s a hot Sunday morning, and we’re driving with the boys to play a round of miniature golf (see Forced Family Fun). My husband turns on NPR, and the deep, resonant voice of our favorite Garrison Keillor fills the car. Knowing that he’s about to retire from A Prairie Home Companion after more than forty years of broadcasting, we listen even more attentively than usual. Garrison Keillor, my husband and I agree, is a genius. Read more
Newsy! After Orlando, We’re “Reeling” Once Again + Classic Cheese Scones + The Crossover (v.5)
June 21st, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
After Orlando, We’re “Reeling” Once Again
I hate crying on the treadmill at the gym. I’m already red-faced and gasping from my workout, so things get pretty ugly when tears are added to the mix. Plus, no Kleenex, so, yeah, lots of snot.
I know I’m not the only one who cried watching the news this week. I’ve been reading about Orlando’s nightclub carnage in my local paper, and I’ve tracked the unfolding horror on NPR, too. But when I became a mom nearly 14 years ago, I stopped watching the news. If I did see clips from the current news cycle – about shootings, earthquakes, airplane crashes, house fires and anything, anything to do with children suffering – I was in for a sleepless, anxiety filled night. Read more
Newsy! Hey, Graduates! Smell Your Lunch Meat + Nut Seed Coconut Crunch + The Orphan Master’s Son (v.4)
June 16th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Hey, Graduates! Smell Your Lunch Meat.
Chances are, by the time you read this, my son will have graduated from 8th grade. Now, there will be some amongst you who say, meh, 8th grade, no big deal. Part of me totally gets that. When I graduated about a hundred years ago from “intermediate school” in New Zealand, the only celebration I remember was destroying the red kilt I’d worn daily for two years as part of my school uniform. I know for some people, the idea of celebrating 8th grade is just one more example of the “Show Up. Get A Medal” mentality ascribed to Millennials (and the subsequent “iGeneration” kids) these days. Read more
Newsy! Walk Like A Teenager + Crockpot Chicken Green Chili Verde + The Bone People (v.3)
June 9th, 2016
willowwrite@gmail.com
Consider this:
Walk Like A Teenager
Last weekend, my husband and I set out for a walk with our dog and our almost-fourteen-year-old son (the almost-twelve-year-old had escaped – I use that word deliberately – to meet a friend just moments before). It was a warm sunny Sunday, the perfect opportunity for some F.F.F.: Forced Family Fun.
If you live with a teen, I bet you’re familiar with Forced Family Fun. It’s a concept rooted in parents’ intellectual understanding that time is fleeting (and flying) and our emotional need to make happy memories, build familial bonds, offer sage advice (subtly, of course) and parent as perfectly as possible. For teens participating in mandatory F.F.F., it’s your basic W.I.E.: Worst Idea Ever. Read more
