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Showing posts from May, 2015

Stay in your lane

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I was roller skating on my local rail trail recently and coming up to an intersection, so I was slaloming slightly (barely more than C-cuts) to slow down. Someone on a bike came up behind me and said, "On your left!" Alerting people that you're passing is customary and courteous, though I don't know if there are signs suggesting we do that on this trail, like there are on the trails where I skate in Florida. There are also no alligators or exotic birds on my local trail. I was startled and swerved back towards the far right. "Thank you," I answered with a little wave. As the guy passed, he tossed over his shoulder, "Stay in your lane!" My initial reaction was WTF, dude!? You @$$ 4073! However, I said nothing. First of all, are there lanes on the trail? No. The picture above is the actual trail, and that person on the bike is the actual guy. Is he in a lane? No, he's right in the middle of the trail. ( Hypocrite! ) Furthermore, a g...

(No) regrets: Bait-and-switch Birthday Invitation

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You can read my latest column here on Ten to Twenty Parenting.

One day they'll thank me

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"One day" has arrived! “Chicken and potatoes again?” “You didn’t go to the store yet? We’re almost out of milk!” “What are these stacks of clothes on my bed?” I don’t know what my kids think I do all day. One recent morning at the bus stop, they announced that they “hadn't had time” to brush. Astounded, I reflected on the morning’s hubbub: my middle son simultaneously eating breakfast, doing homework, and complaining; my oldest doing anything he could to distract him (which was something akin to yodeling after I insisted he keep his hands to himself); my youngest telling me he needed help putting on his shirt (what he needed was attention, because he has been dressing himself for years) – all against the backdrop of an early conference call. The dog and cat orbited me as I made lunches and scurried around collecting things that everyone would need that day – recorder, library books, extra shoes – while checking periodically to see if the washing machine was done, because ...

The 50th post

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I recently wrote my 50 th post on my Boy to the World! blog , which was mostly inactive but I figured I’d better at least mention that I published the book that was born from the site. It's a good thing I remembered to renew the domain (two days before it expired). I have a few things published recently.  One is a re-telling of Moneyfesto  (explaining the difference between wants and needs to my kids) on Liberty Cannon, which is a new platform for me (and a little outside of my usual scope, which is good, but at the same time, there are a lot of new guidelines to figure out). The other, The Right Choice , is on Ten to Twenty Parenting and is about letting two of my kids go to a school play by themselves, but second- and third-guessing myself after another mom’s comments. I have another story queued for publishing there -- it's about my youngest having to make a choice between a party and a hockey game. This week I have a column in the paper about someone returning a $50 bill ...