Tuesday’s ten things, because I’ve been away so long…

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jack the dog

…and none of these deserve their own post. Separation of church and state – fine! – but most Americans celebrate Easter or Passover and they fall within the same time frame this year, April 14-22, so what the hell are all these school districts thinking scheduling spring break in March?  Goldie goes to Catholic school and so is off late next week and the week after.  Bun Bun and Miss T attend a secular, libertine, hedonistic institution that has turned their back on God and family, so were … [Read more...]

Weekly words on gun control: anticipation

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SONY DSC

For the sake of nothing really, let’s call the school that Miss T and Bun Bun attend Hogwarts.  The other morning, Miss T told me about a site on Instagram or Snapchat or Facebook – some social media site – called “Hogwarts’ Confessions." On it, students can anonymously tell other students that they’re pretty or smart or reveal that they ‘totally’ love someone on campus, or even that Mr. So-and-So is the best teacher ever.  Knowing the full freedom of the world-wide-web, it sounded to me like an … [Read more...]

Monday motherhood: the old sod, Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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the girls moher

The earthquake this morning made me feel spry.  Getting out of bed is generally a slow process but today, I was up and running to the girls’ rooms like I was twenty-four.  Combined with coloring my hair just awhile ago, back to its former red, I feel almost like a leprechaun if leprechauns were women, living in the open, not making shoes or hording gold coins.  If I’m captured today while dancing a jig, I will certainly grant three wishes upon my release. We traveled to Ireland, the five of … [Read more...]

In the kitchen with Jo: Italian chicken stew

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Italian chicken stew

Pinterest is often an excellent place to troll for recipes because first you see the photo of the dish.  I generally get an image in my head of what I want a certain meal to look like so even if the recipe got five stars, I won’t bother investigating if the picture is not what I had in mind.  Years ago, when I went searching for a how-to on carnitas, I was looking for pork that was made crispy, more dark brown than beige.  For me, Irish stew had to look like meat sitting in a bowl of Guinness.  … [Read more...]

Friday’s five things: Crimea, Malaysian Airlines, the time change, my name, and winter 2014

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crimea copy

1. Many Americans had never heard of Crimea before, much less knew how to pronounce it.  Cry-ME-yah, cry me a river. Ukraine, sure, and protesters and police killed in Kiev got our attention.  Bush probably would have called the demonstrators ‘Freedom Fighters,' though the name would have been somewhat inaccurate.  Ukrainian opposition was unhappy with Viktor Yanukovych, their democratically elected president, when it seemed he was leaning more towards Russia than the winds that tilt at Europe.  … [Read more...]

Wednesday words on the swagger wagon

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the swagger wagon

I’m saying goodbye to the swagger wagon after 12 years. Did you see “Castaway” with Tom Hanks?  He anthropomorphizes the volleyball he names Wilson.  His are reasons of loneliness.  My reasons for turning the minivan into something more than just a car have to do with child rearing.  The denim blue Toyota Sienna I’ve been driving since 2001 has been my co-parent.  Wait, why are you laughing?  I’m serious. Who can say how much the seven-seater influenced our lives?  I’ll try.  Because of … [Read more...]