Frog And Toad Are Still Friends

Beck And The Tragic Tale Of The Dying Computer

2009-07-09T13:28:00.002-04:00

My computer is on its last legs, much like a fatally wounded ant crawling around my office.My husband has vowed that we are Getting A New Computer This Weekend and I, for one, CANNOT WAIT.In the meantime! I have a post up at 5 Minutes For Parenting.

Things I Am Doing Instead of What I Should Be Doing

2009-07-06T08:36:00.004-04:00

I have a long to-do list today. For one, I have to make strawberry jam since my fridge is FULL of strawberries from a berry-picking expedition on the weekend and they are NOT getting any fresher. And my kitchen floor needs to be washed. And there is, of course, laundry.So instead of doing THAT, I've been making stupid lists in my head. Of course.New Ideas for Blog Names For The "Baby", Who Is

RANTING. RANTING ABOUT CUPCAKES.

2009-07-03T11:28:00.003-04:00

Edited to add: seriously! It's a cupcake book review for the ages!I am on a prolonged rant today in my review blog over a cupcake recipe book that truly got on my nerves. See you there, I hope!

I had to call Poison Control the other day!

2009-07-02T10:07:00.001-04:00

.... and then I wrote about it. Go. Learn from my parenting misadventures. And possibly identify your yard plants BEFORE your kids eat 'em.

It's Canada Day tomorrow!

2009-06-30T16:08:00.004-04:00

... and that means that it's time to show your low-key but still patriotic affection for your country by making a kitschy dessert.Like this one that I made last year:Yeah, that was magnificent. The recipe is here, should you feel inspired to make a (likely better) version yourself. Or you could make a red-and-white Canada Day cake.Or you could make some festive cupcakes.Or you could express your

Angels

2009-06-29T09:13:00.003-04:00

If you were a girl child in the 70s, Charlie's Angels probably figured largely in your life. This amuses me - who among us would even LET our young children watch a sleazy show like that now? Ah, the 70s, that era of just TERRIBLE parental judgement.Anyhow.I remember playing Charlie's Angels ALL the time on the schoolyard and with friends and I was always stuck being the turtleneck-wearing nerd

Who's Bad?

2009-06-27T12:30:00.004-04:00

So how much do we own the very famous?Michael Jackson was one of the few remaining Very Famous left, famous not for his achievements - which mainly happened in the 80s, back when he was mainly known for being talented and only mildly eccentric - but as a personality, as The Person Who Wanted To Own The Elephant's Man's Bones And Was Best Friends With Elizabeth Taylor, as The Guy Who Dangled His

This being Thursday

2009-06-25T10:30:00.001-04:00

... I am posting at 5 Minutes for Parenting, of course. Today, I wrote about my Boy, who is hovering in some uncomfortable place between the tall schoolboy he looks like and the little boy he actually is and then I wrote about my feeeeeeelings. See you there!

Hey You Guys: Cut It Out

2009-06-24T18:38:00.002-04:00

For those of you who follow me - however unwisely - on Twitter, you're likely aware that the past few days have been really upsetting. For those of you who don't, here's the story in a nutshell:1) My brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first baby in August.2) My sister-in-law is 31 weeks pregnant this week.3) When she developed scary pregnancy complications.4) And ended up in the

Summer, Ugh.

2009-06-22T11:57:00.003-04:00

My cousin has been visiting from way down in Southern Ontario all this week, and he said something which struck me as very, very funny."You forget how bad mosquitoes are when you're living down South," he said, slapping himself furiously.And it's not just mosquitoes. The Baby got bitten by some sort of horrid bug last night in the yard, and the mark - in between her shoulder blades - immediately

Summer Mixed Tape 2009

2009-06-22T08:26:00.003-04:00

Just like - if you're close in age to me - in high school! Except it's harder to take this one with you - still pretty close to summery aural perfection.

Summer Songs

2009-06-19T14:26:00.006-04:00

It is all at once summer here, with intense heat and sudden thunderstorms and the constant hum of mosquitoes - and I need some summer music. You know the type - happy, carefree, relaxed... and of course, I can't think of ANYTHING. All of the music I listen to is apparently wintery, melancholy stuff.So HELP me find some summer music for lounging around my yard and trips to the beach and avoiding

My post today!

2009-06-18T12:47:00.002-04:00

It's over here. The title of it amused me for AGES. Oh, clever clever me.

Posts I Am Thinking About Writing

2009-06-17T18:44:00.002-04:00

1) A really ranty one about an anonymous-ish email I got from someone who saw fit to tell me that I write less about The Boy than I do about my daughters and thus I obviously love him less....He has ASKED me not to write about him, OKAY? I mean, he finds me embarrassing enough and the very idea that I might write things about him for strangers to read bothers him for some mysterious reason.Why am

The Baby Sounds Off

2009-06-15T13:44:00.002-04:00

On Linguistics. And Cheese."Mozzarella is a very stylish word."On Keeping One's Elders Amused."Papa, I have a new game for us. It is called You Sit There And I Dump This Shovel Of Sand On Your Head."On Timeless Beauty."Oh, I love this dress! It's so antique and pretty. It reminds me of long-time ago girls, like from seven years ago."On Linguistics, Part II."I am inventing a new language because I

Another day,

2009-06-11T11:02:00.001-04:00

another post that is someplace else. Here's my post for today, in which I inarticulately try to explain a revelation I had this morning.

Posts about fish and loss

2009-06-09T16:35:00.002-04:00

I have a new post up at Canada Moms Blog. It is about a moderately ill-fated fishing trip that my kids went on this weekend and then I get all moody and stuff. I should write these descriptive blips for a living, eh? I am awesome at them.

Over and Over and Over

2009-06-07T12:34:00.003-04:00

I think most readers have beloved books, books that instantly spell comfort. I have books that I reread frequently, some of which have been favorites for well over 20 years. You would think I would be rather tired of them by now, but apparently my being a creature of utter habit extends entirely into my reading as well.1. Neither Here Nor There by Bill BrysonThis book has been a great favorite of

I read a book.

2009-06-06T21:33:00.001-04:00

Oh, clever, clever me. And I wrote about it over here.

2009-06-05T09:34:00.003-04:00

Doesn't Martha Stewart's Cupcakes sound like it could be the name of something smutty? But no, it's not - unless you're one of those people who equate one's moral fiber with the amount of fiber in your diet. In any case, I read it, I felt mixed about it and I wrote about it here.

Today's post

2009-06-04T11:52:00.002-04:00

..is here. I am having one gosh-darn heck of a morning with The Baby, so I'm going to go put a cold compress on my head and practice my deep breathing. See you there!

Picnic

2009-06-03T09:32:00.003-04:00

My mother grew up in a community of farms and farmers, farms that had been operated by the same families for a hundred years or more, intertwined on a small island.These farmers were much the same - taciturn, intelligent, lanky men with kind, practical hearts and drawers full of medals from WWII, and their capable wives who ran the UCW and made pies and raised housefuls of fine children - and

A guest post by my DAD!

2009-06-01T12:59:00.000-04:00

Over here!

Drying Paint

2009-06-01T11:17:00.004-04:00

for Amber My girls are sharing a room again, and the room's previous colour - a jolly frog belly green -became all at once too boyish. So we took the girls' to the paint store and they stood silently staring at the wall of paint samples - The Baby overwhelmed by all of the choices, The Girl sullen with resentment that she was going from having a room to herself to sharing yet again.Pink? Too

Puffballs Are Not Dandelions - Important Public Notice

2009-05-31T09:58:00.004-04:00

I cannot believe puffballs are not common knowledge. They are a type of fungus that grows up into a large ball which can be HUGE! GIGANTIC! And their most important feature - should you be either a child or really immature - is that when you step on them, they make a very dramatic cloud of spores over and over again.Also, they're edible and quite tasty.Dandelions are pretty awesome, too. They're