Giving New Meaning to Parenting

I am a part-time single parent: My husband has a job which takes him away for a month at a time, sometimes more.
This does, in fact, work for us. We are both fiercely independent, born in the Year of the Ox, and love getting back together again and exchanging tales of our adventures apart. [...]

Ever wanted a mini-chalkboard in your purse?  I love carrying around this mini-whiteboard in my diaper bag!  We use it for our grocery list, for occupying bored kiddos, for drawing maps to random people asking for directions, etc.  Of all the things in my bag, this is one of my most versatile items!  Here are [...]

I’ve had an awful cough for the longest time (much better now). Before that, I was travelling, and before that it was Post-Holiday Season, Holiday Season, Settling In, and Whatever. Just when I think I’m feeling better and can get Stuff done, my Grandmother is hospitalized and the kids go on a week-long half-term holiday. [...]

A friend of mine related a story last week in which her granddaughter got to the kitchen one morning only to find that there were no clean bowls to use for breakfast. She immediately headed upstairs and complained to her dad, who then called mom at work to ask what to do. (This [...]

We have 4 boys living in 2 bedrooms. Since there are two sets of twins, this has been an easy and rather natural state of affairs. However, the older boys are eleven now and starting to show signs of wanting their own spaces. I often wonder if they’d sleep better, since each [...]

Hubby and I just spent a week sans children (older boys went to Boy Scout Camp, younger boys went to Camp Grandma). I’d forgotten how different it is to cook for two people instead of six. I made some pasta Monday night, intending to also cook up some chicken and broccoli. When [...]

Here I am again, talking about kids and cleaning up. Are you getting sick of it yet? Hope not!
Today I walked into the office and the wireless keyboard was sitting in the middle of the floor, ready to be crushed by someone who wasn’t watching the floor carefully. I mentioned to [...]

There are times – for everyone, I’m sure – when we do the least amount, or the bare minimum, to “get by”.  The reasons may vary, but the outcome is the same.
We do as little as we can.
Lately, because of the many “little” crises that are ongoing at our house, I find myself increasingly doing [...]

I’m a Step-Father and the primary caregiver for my kids (and my wife). As such, I feel a certain obligation to be excellent at my job, to be faithful to my obligation, to do my best. Unfortunately, being good at my job means, in part, reminding the kids to do their chores, to do their [...]

My laptop died this past weekend.
Luckily, we have an identical laptop, so I was able to move my drives over, copy all of my personal data onto an external USB drive, and now I can work on almost any computer that I can get time on.
The problem is that I used my computer to handle [...]