Paperless Society?
There used to be lots of talk about becoming a paperless society, remember? With online banking and bill paying, the ability to fill out forms online, and even filing taxes electronically, you’d think anything sort of paper document would be quite scarce these days. I am here to tell you that paperless just isn’t happening! At least not the world I live in. On a weekly basis, I gather all sort of paper. Receipts from the carwash, the grocery store, the gas station, the drugstore and the library (the last one always gets me – since I know as a child, the librarian would simply stamp the due date in the book; no paper changed hands then!) Besides receipts, I might collect the church bulletin, a plethora of reminders scribbled on yellow sticky notes, coupons, and business cards from the dentist or hair salon with appointments on them. That would
Lost and Found
There is simply never a dull moment at my house. As if three teenagers and Grandma don’t provide enough entertainment, let’s just add one more variable to the mix on a Friday afternoon. Just as I took some deep breaths at the prospect of a quiet week-end about to unfold, the cards began to fall in a different way than I had planned. That is what I get for even thinking about a peaceful plan! First off on Friday am, the news came that Austin’s out of town soccer tournament was cancelled due to wet soggy field conditions. Darn! Tim was to head out of town with him for the WHOLE weekend and I was to remain at home with the “low risk” Grandma and just Lydia – a piece of cake I thought. Now the landscape changed and I had no choice but to re-group and reconsider my “quiet
The Best Cure
The other day a friend shared a quote with me that really rang true. It’s an Irish proverb that states, “A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.” Isn’t that the truth?! I know parents of teens can relate to that bit of wisdom. In the face of all the trials we share when dealing with our kids and their problems, attitudes, mouths and their messes I know we’d never survive if we couldn’t laugh. And there are times when my best way of dealing with what the day brings is to give up and take a nap. Another friend chimed in that a couple of Klondike bars and a nap are a pretty good strategy for coping with a bad day. I’m pretty sure she’s right about that one, too! One of the things that all of my good friends have in common
Laughter is in the House!
A wonderful by-product of having kids is the laughter they bring into our lives. It’s a rare day when one of my boys doesn’t make me laugh and I don’t mean just a chuckle. They may not plan to do it but there is sometimes the spontaneity of a situation and a well-timed pun can make us all collapse into laughter. Not to say living under my roof is carnival. If pressed, I think Max would come up with more than a few examples of the depths of despair he has had to suffer as my son. Gus could probably add six or seven. When the kids were little, the laughter was due to tickling or the toddler-version of slapstick. Nowadays it is more subtle, as in the way Max might recount something at school or when Gus exaggerates his teenage angst. Or when they correct my attempts at using
Caught on Film
They made a movie of it, you know. Parenthood. That is the actual name of the movie, too. It stars Steve Martin. I put a DVD of it in my cyber-shopping cart just before I checked out. A Christmas present for me. I happen to love this movie. Not only because it is so funny but on many levels, it is true-to-life. The depiction of not-so-perfect families is reassuring in a way. Also, there is a fair treatment of how the best intentions and love of a parent can still fall a little short. I think what I like best about it is it’s a movie about parents trying. Trying to be good spouses, good caretakers, good mothers and fathers and sometimes getting it right and sometimes not. And we all have those days when we feel competent raising our kids and other days when we can’t seem to figure out where
