Steve Miller Band played on the classic rock station, from the boom box in our kitchen. Lyle swung me around, "Come on, Blue Eyes, dance with me!" I was wearing cleaning gloves covered with Comet, and had dropped a scrub brush in the kitchen sink. He threw me into a two-step, as I feigned annoyance... Continue Reading →
The Art of Not Writing
The road to nowhere is NOT paved with good intentions. It is paved with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Wayfair, instant messenger, texting, 30 minute phone calls (OK, possibly much longer) with my three sisters, two daughters and various friends, playing hide-and-go-seek with the dog, making lists I will never complete, thinking about exercising, not exercising, justifying... Continue Reading →
Habitat For Humanity
Maybe, just maybe, I thought as I dialed the number from the phone book. I'd seen a clip on the news the night before about a family moving into a house that had been built by an organization called Habitat For Humanity. Having no idea what the exact criterion were, I dialed, and practiced what I... Continue Reading →
Madeline Louise
"Mama, there's puppies next door! Daddy, come see!" Maggie and Serrah, heralded their news in stereo. Great. OK, let's go have a look." We were in Bismarck celebrating my younger sister, Carmen, graduating high school, with my family. The neighbor handed puppies over the fence to Maggie, Serrah, Lyle, and I, "They're eight weeks, yellow... Continue Reading →
How You Yike It? Huh!
I turned around, completely taken by surprise. How in the heck? My nine-month-old baby boy was standing directly behind me, a hesitant smile on his lips, and eyes that were pleading with me. I groaned, "How did you get out of your crib?" He had practically beat me out to the kitchen. "That was really... Continue Reading →
Sisters in Cahoots
I stopped dead in my tracks, eyes wide, as I took in the sight of my four-year-old daughter, hair hacked off just below her jaw line with stray remnants of her beautiful long golden brown locks hanging as strings that she had missed with the scissors. “Oh, Maggie, your hair!” I wanted to cry. “Sorry,... Continue Reading →
SHAME
I stared in horror at the box full of miscellaneous crap that I had shoved into the twins' room. My sister-in law and husband were searching it for baby Tylenol. I was mortified at the sight of my box of shame exposed. I failed to advocate for myself. I didn't voice aloud what I should have.... Continue Reading →
“Oh, NO, no, no, no! Maggie Ann! What the heck?!” To my complete horror, I watched my eldest daughter, as in super slow motion, walk toward our home from a couple of houses down. She was holding her clothes in one arm. She was stark naked?! Why? What on earth? I closed my eyes, opening... Continue Reading →
Ode to Bubble Gum Medicine and Good Night Juice
Five-year old, Maggie, woke from her nap glossy eyed and red in the cheeks. “Oh, baby, you’re burning up,” I kissed her forehead (the mom thermometer). The alarm went off in my mind. She had come home with a note from preschool letting parents know that there were a few cases of chicken pox among... Continue Reading →
Re-Adjusting the Viewfinder
“Beeeeeep…beep..be..beep,” At first, the sound of the infant heart monitor had woken us with a sense of heightened alarm, but soon it became a sort of reminder, and we woke with a heightened awareness. We went to check on our infant son, knowing that it would probably be a lead that came loose. Thankfully, for... Continue Reading →
Love My Messy Life 