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Happy Mother’s Day
This morning my kids did something they’ve never done before ~ they made me breakfast. In bed. I got up because I heard Squeekerz scratching at my door, not because he really wanted to be in my room but because he wanted to be away from the kids. Have I mentioned that our dog hates everyone in the family unless they have bread or Girl Scouts cookies ~ preferably the shortbreads but he’s been known to pilfer a Tagalong or two? Anyway, I got up to open the door and the dog came charging into the room at full speed as only a half Chihuahua half Jack Russell Terrier (Jackihuahua?…
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Sometimes You Have to Take Quality Over Quantity
Last night as the last 1/2 hour of my temporary 3 to 11 shift at the library rolled around, I tweeted that I didn’t think I’d be able to survive without some caffeine and one of my favorite tweeters, @f8likemustard, asked me the following question: “Do you ever resent having to work nights @ the library? It would be hard for me; kids are so busy!” I had an immediate answer for her… Yes and no. My normal schedule is 2 to 10 PM but this week and next (Finals’ Study Week and Finals’ Week for the students) it’ll be 3 to 11 PM which means that I won’t get home…
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Why Do Moms Kill?
Disclaimer: This is by no means a defense of women who kill their children, this is an argument against entities that ignore the cries for help of mothers who are on the edge… Every time we hear stories about a mother who has killed her children, we ask ourselves why? Why would a mother go to such extreme measures? Why didn’t she just leave if she couldn’t handle it? How come none of her family members stepped in before it was too late? Where was the children’s father? The easy answer is people expect mothering to be instinctual ~ woman gets pregnant, has baby and maternal knowledge, patience and skill…
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Mommy, What Color Were Our Eggs?
One of the things about having four children that I love and hate the most is that my oldest daughter has taken it upon herself to parent the younger kids. Actually, it’s kinda cool that she mothers them because it’s less work for me. However, she has a bad habit of telling them everything she knows. Even when I tell beg her not to… When my oldest daughter was about ten years old, she started asking questions about babies and where they come from, how they get into the mommy’s stomach and all of those other buggy little questions that kids ask. Now, I have always operated under the “use…
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I Love My Kids But It’s On Now {In the Family Room}
I like to think I’m a good mother. I’m firm when I need to be (I’ve stripped their rooms to the bare necessities for punishment) and playful most other times (I’ve sent all four of them the following text message at the same time: “Don’t tell the others but you’re my favorite” just to make them laugh). But I was not prepared for their revenge… Wednesday night I arrived home from work to a semi~dark house, a little weird but not enough to raise my suspicions. Usually someone leaves the hall light on for me, instead the living room lamp was on. No biggie, maybe the light blew out. So…
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Day 17: An Art Piece
Whew! Thank you for sticking with me this far. You guys are awesome!
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I Hope You Have One Just Like You…
I don’t know about y’all but I grew up in one of those households where kids and parents had a “distant” relationship. We knew that our parents loved us but we weren’t what you’d call “friends.” There was respect and a healthy amount of fear(I think my mom had eyes in the back of her head, read here to find out why) but there was no friendship. And I was ok with that. Really, the last thing I wanted was to be my mom’s pal and I’m pretty certain that she felt the same way. That being said, I used to go out of my way to drive my mother…
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Is This Bad Parenting or Just Kids Being Kids?
I watched this video of the Masche sextuplets on the Today Show and I was absolutely floored. Fa~loored! Those kids were absolutely positively out of control and the parents weren’t doing anything to stop it. You’ve got little boy standing behind Natalie Morales in the chair swinging at the other kid and hitting her in the back, the others are running around like they’ve just escaped from prison… Of course, the parents couldn’t regain control of their kids because their home training should have started at home. Seriously folks, you don’t let your kids go to someone’s house (and for all intents and purposes, the Today Show set is the…
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Book Review: What to Read When by Pam Allyn
Even though I’m a librarian, I sometimes have trouble finding age appropriate books. Don’t believe me? Then read this post. I mean, I know how to help college students conduct research, I know how to preserve documents and I know how to make early American history relevant to today’s present but sometimes finding a children’s book stumps me. That is where What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child ~ and All the Best Times to Read Them by Pam Allyn comes in handy. Pam Allyn is the the founder and executive director of LitLife, an internationally recognized organization that trains hundreds of K~12 teachers…
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Coffee Talk: Birds and High Seas
For information about Abby Sunderland, click here




