“Good Morning,” whispers my brother-in-law from the dark kitchen. “Morning? This is still night!” I whisper back. It was 6:30 on Columbus Day morning and I had already driven across the county to be here in time for him and my sister to leave for work. I had agreed to watch K. & D. on …
Outside my comfort zone
Linked, Faced, Blogged and Milled – What’s your network?
Did you tweet about your blog post then update your status to reflect profile changes? Of course you did, right after you approved a tag and checked-in. This week I plan to attend a real, live handshakes-and-door prizes networking event. I am pinning high hopes on this Chamber of Commerce member mixer, if only that …
Linked, Faced, Blogged and Milled – What’s your network?Read More
Adventures in Babysitting: A Dog’s Life
I have a dog. She is a greyhound. Contrary to popular belief, greyhounds are actually quite mellow and lazy, earning the nickname “40 mph couch potato.” Due to breed-inclination, advancing age and her own temperament, Valentina moves rather slowly and is compliant except when she is being aloof (neither compliant nor naughty, just generally uninterested …
Adventures in Babysitting: The Aunt’s Arsenal
Less than a month to go until school is out and my long-term babysitting gig with K. wraps up. I have learned a lot over the last eleven weeks of meeting his school bus, with these three lessons standing out: If you play with them the first day, they expect that you will play EVERY …
Adventures in Babysitting: Part-Time Gig
March is unusually warm this year in the northeast, drenching recent days in sunshine that has beckoned to the crocuses to come out and play. This has been fortuitous, as my new boss demands that we spend much of our time outdoors. My new boss is seven years old. My nephew K. is in first …
Free. (or not)
The following is a test of the SuddenWriteTurn escape system… Hasty decisions are generally not my thing. On the contrary, I tend to mull a decision both consciously and subconsciously for days, weeks, sometimes months. Even when I’m not thinking about it, I’m thinking about it. In the same way that I write an exhaustive …
Adventures in Babysitting: Holiday Edition
Another Saturday night spent with nephews K. & D., another case of “best laid plans” going awry. This post is supposed to be the one where I get the boys to explain Christmas to me for the enjoyment of you fine readers, however, that was not to be the case…more on that later. The planning …
What I Need
My Thanksgiving Day newspaper weighs 4 lbs. I know because I stood on the bathroom scale with it, chock full of spectacular blow-out doorbuster prices. Giant lettering, ecstatic models and a pervasive shiny newness all exuding that subliminal message…you need this. This is in stark contrast to the front page article detailing the late summer …