Life: In A Blog: Archive

They have been up since dawn, opening an onslaught of presents, eating an avalanche of sugar, and trying to burn off all of that sugar inside the confines of your home. They have talked your ear off, and have each had an over stimulation meltdown in the last few hours before bed. They were weirded out by Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, because, you know… what the heck kind of animation is...

Dec 26th

Oct 14th

Saturday Night

Listening: Beyonce With: The kids and our best bud, 8 year old Hannah Doing: Tumblr & making a Play-Dough undersea wonderland Loving: EVERYTHING about this

Oct 11th

3 notes

Let it rain.

Figuratively, and physically. The past two days hath wrought highly unusual weather for this area. Long, slow, drenching rains. The past two months hath brought nothing but bad, or worse, news. I find myself asking the big, depressing questions. “What’s the point? Should I just give up? Where’s the bar?” I am buried in work and activity that keeps me from the kids far...

Sep 11th

Good morning!

To those of you who live in my general area, meaning half of the US, happy first day of school. I can’t believe I haven’t posted here in so long, but that is merely a testament to how busy our summer was. Very soon, I will be the mother of a seven year old, and a nine year old. Yes, I just sent my baby girl off to third grade. I think that makes me officially old. Welcome to a nice,...

Aug 24th

My son, future Tumblr

Him: What do we have to eat?
Me: You're STILL hungry? Do you want some cereal?
Him: Do we have any bacon?
Me: Yes.
Him: Make me some of that.
Me: JUST bacon? Nothing else?
Him: Yeah!

Jul 3rd

2 notes

K: Who is Michael Jackson?
Me: You know that song, (singing) "I want to love you, pretty young thing"?
K: (face lights up) YES!
Me: That is a Michael Jackson song.
K: Oh, that's sad. Did he have kids?

Jun 26th

Jun 22nd

Working mom vs. Stay at home mom

I believe the quality of the time you spend with your children is of far greater importance than the amount of time. In this day & age of round the clock children’s television programing, video games, computers, being a stay at home mom does not automatically qualify you as a good parent. It’s too easy to pass of your guardianship on electronic vices. Regardless of your...

Jun 18th

1 note

Catching up and so on.

Summer time, and the livin’ is… easy? That depends, I suppose. We were supposed to be participating in a summer day camp program this year. The administrator lost some of my paperwork, lied to me, and her assistant snapped at me. Therefore, my children were withdrawn. You can’t keep my paperwork together, and I should trust you with my kids? No, thanks. We’ll figure...

Jun 16th

On single parenting

People ask me about and comment on single parenting all the time. Sure, it’s hard. But since being single, I’ve never had a single day as hard as it was to try to be a good parent in a bad relationship. I’m fortunate to have a successful business working for myself, so I don’t have to deal with any corporate nonsense. If you’re miserable, search deep within…...

Jun 11th

2 notes

Jun 11th

Jun 8th

I don't recognize this person anymore, but I still...

Journal entry, dated 10/13/04 I’m doing “ok” I guess. I’m having some good moments. But then I feel like I’m going to flipping lose it. Last night was one of those moments. How can such extreme darkness and light exist in the same life? Maybe what I hate is that I have those extremes within myself. I need therapy. I’ve been having death fantasies. I talked to...

Jun 2nd

Blog struggles.

I keep vascilating back and forth between what the true purpose of this blog should be: an e-scrapbook of my family’s story, or a place for discussion of the REAL struggles of parenting. 1. A place to hold memories. Let’s face it, we’re all creatures of habit. I realize that I’m far more likely to make a thorough recording of quotes, photos, and family tidbits online...

May 29th

2 notes

“An unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates was right. For if I don’t...”

– Raising Kids Without Religion

May 29th

alaskamiller: ray lamontagne - trouble a favorite

May 29th

18 notes

May 19th

Just because a choice is "your choice to make"......

May 19th

“To forgive her wayward spouse was her decision to make, but I don’t believe she...”

– The Ethicist, Randy Cohen for NYT’s Elizabeth Edwards Goes Public I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Cohen here. People constantly use the phrase, “It’s her decision to make,” when talking about these potential break ups over infidelity and abuse. Are they? Elizabeth...

May 19th

May 7th

“Okay, I need to rest. I need to rest my butt.”

– the boy learned how to ride a bike today

May 3rd

Public Schools and Empirical Tests

jeffmiller:bowlingalleylawyer: I’d like to chime in on this argument. I think I have a pretty good perspective on things, for a few reasons. 1. I have a Kindergartner and a 2nd grader. 2. I have special needs, school age, neices and nephews. 3. I’m an adult, non-trad student at a private university. 4. I went to elementary & high school in New York and Texas. 5. I’m a Big...

Apr 27th

45 notes

packing for brownies camping trip

K: Hmmm, what else do I need? An extra sheet?
V: Make sure you bring some dynamite.
K: Why?
V: Because that's what you blow stuff up with.

Apr 27th

“Everything is happening to me today!”

– The boy, on throwing up AND getting a loose tooth.

Apr 27th

I don't even know what to say.

My poor babies are just devastated. I’m so sad for them, as well as being sad myself. Grandpa had promised to take my son on a golfing trip to San Antonio, and that was the first thing he said when I told him. Last night, when I was trying to put them to bed, he said, “Grandpa was going to do special things for me,” with his eyes full of tears. It’s equally painful to hear...

Apr 20th

Bad News Sunday

My childrens’ grandfather (on their dad’s side) passed away this morning. He was a wonderful man and probably the best grandfather I have ever known. I’ve never met anyone so devoted to family than he was. He was 59, in good health, so this is a major shock/blow to all of us. Please send us your warm thoughts and prayers.

Apr 19th

Remember the sheer joy of playing in the rain?

I got to relive that again today. One of the best things about having kids. :)

Apr 17th

Scary world

I was faced with a very weird situation the other day. My daughter asked me to go spend the night at a friend’s house if her mom said yes, and I said yes. She couldn’t get a hold of that friend. So she asked if she could go stay with our neighbor if her mom said yes. I said no. Why? Friend #1 lives with a single mother and has no males living in the house. Neighbor has an 11 yr old...

Apr 16th

2 notes

Updates and Heartaches

I’ve been slacking a little on doing the blog. Things are just really insane 24/7 around here. I know that there are plenty of stories of single parents who have gone back to school, so I know that this is doable. That being said, it’s so difficult that it’s almost impossible. On one hand, I love my jobs (yes, both of them), my schoolwork is fairly easy so far (all intro...

Apr 16th

“OH MY… WHAT THE?? DID GOD SERIOUSLY DIE!?!?!?”

– My son, in a panic.

Apr 12th

Prayers, please.

Tomorrow, I go to Sea World on a school bus with 300 2nd graders. Not all on one bus, though. Can you imagine if it was? That would be incredible. Anyway, I’m packing a dose of extra strength pain killer and saving a few cold beers for when I get home. It should be AWESOME! I love that freakin’ shark tank. I’ll try to get some pics.

Apr 8th

Apr 5th

Wagon Wheel- Old Crow Medicine Show The...

Apr 4th

The Tale of Billy the Bullfrog

transcribed as written by kara- 3-30-09 age 8 Billy the frog lives in a peaceful home. In fact, there was everything a bull frog might need. But there was one problem. Billy had no friends. But there was tons of frogs to ask if they wanted to be friends with Billy. Billy was shy, scared to tell because he thought they would make fun of him. One day.. Billy was swimminging in the pond and saw a...

Apr 4th

Parents..who needs 'em?

(via yourwrite) Exactly! I hate parents, I’m embarassed to be one.

Mar 29th

9 notes

Mar 29th

Favorites at our house

(Some of these may be kind of obvious to most, but I find I forget about obvious things sometimes, simply due to habit of buying the same stuff.) Almonds Pistachios “Cute” food- anything tiny. Cherry tomatos, mini-tangerines, etc Enviro-Kidz organic cereal- tastes fantastic, has cute animals on the front. Also the cheapest organic cereal line I’ve found All Natural Cheetos-...

Mar 29th

Food

I think it’s safe to assume that the battle of healthy vs. junk food is a battle in nearly every home, in one form or another. My personal sweet tooth is kind of above and beyond the norm. However, I deeply care about good nutrition. I was raised in a “natural health” home, and came to an understanding that almost every single health malady can be prevented or exacerbated by...

Mar 29th

Mommies, would you like to contribute to this...

If so, please just say the word.

Mar 28th

The last paragraph of my paper on criminalizing...

Involuntary manslaughter is just that. Involuntary. I do not presume that anyone could kill their child in such a grotesque manner intentionally. The legal dictionary identifies that the difference in murder and involuntary manslaughter is “killing without intent”. Why should these parents get to walk free, with full rights to the care of other minor children, when a others have to pay their debt...

Mar 26th

Cedar Hill mom arrested after infant dies in car →