I love it when I’m rewarded with evidence of misguided fashion do-not-go-there’s. In this case, fashion icon Gwen Stefani is wearing (Batiked? Tie-Dyed?) Hammer pants on a jaunty little stroll. She should read the cautionary …

There was a post in the NY Times (Good Night and Tough Luck) the other day which just about summed up the household. Lars sent it to me because it seemed that the author/artist had …

There is a certain level of injustice in everyday life. Not to complain or anything–we’ve got it pretty good–but the sheer unpredictability of life makes it more like a game of craps in Vegas.
For example: …

“I don’t know how to build a Toyota Tundra. Can you help me?”
“I’ll help you when I’m done building my silly car,” I said. I had cannibalized a bunch of odds-and-sods from our son’s Legos …

“I want to watch this,” said our five-year-old. I had turned on the television to find some sort of ridiculous afternoon movie, some pablum from the Eighties finding an audience only in re-run ignominy. What …

This health care debate–I admit I haven’t been following it all that closely. I suppose that my reasoning is somewhat lazy, as is my response to it, but not my feeling about health care. That …

“Joe has to be fixed,” my son said about his friend.
I thought, “Already? He’s only five–shouldn’t that wait until he’s a teenager?”
And then I realized that he was saying Joe was broken, not ready to …

Scene: March, 2009. Winter is officially over but the sky is still leaden and heavy with rain. The nascent plants and flowers are peeking though the soil tender and bright, offering a hint of the …

One doesn’t want to leave it to a five-year-old to convince the border agent that you’re his mother, but sometimes that’s the only way to roll.

The house I grew up in was a tiny thing, 1100 square feet, but it seemed like a palace full of surprises. I suspect that was due in no small part to the mountains of …

It’s hard to believe how obtuse I can be. Despite all the tests and wills and health directives drawn up, you’d think I would get it.
But sometimes it just takes time, even when you’re looking …

*I found this old gem hiding, deeply buried in god-knows-what alley of my hard-drive. I can’t believe I never published it. If I did publish it, I can’t believe it I don’t remember it. It’s …

When my husband and I were footloose and fancy-free, we took a belated honeymoon to Italy. It was several years after we were married but no less sweet, and we embraced all the pleasures Italia …

It seems that we took matters into our own hands a little too late.
The bun, who is really far less bun-like and more boy-like these days but closely resembles the gravity-defying high-flying squirrel monkey, is …