My best friend of almost 10 years, “Anna,” sends me a text from the hospital—she’s in labor, she says, and she’ll keep me updated as much as possible. Anna keeps her promise and texts me every few hours. Between contractions she tells me how tired she is, how hungry she is, how much she misses […]
UPDATED August 1st, 2016 March 8 is International Women’s Day, a globally observed day of recognition of the history, contributions and plight of women around the world. The entire month of March is “Women’s History Month” in the United States, as declared by President Barack Obama.
For many of us, holiday stress centers around one thing—money or, more precisely, a lack of it! It’s difficult enough to get basic bills paid in this economy, but finding room in the budget for a dozen or more gifts may be impossible. Before you pull out the credit card—a move you’ll most certainly regret […]
It’s that time of year—chilly weather, toasty hands in mittens wrapped around warm mugs of hot chocolate, holiday music on the radio, and your rosy-cheeked child pointing at every toy that catches her eye, saying, Oh, oh! I want that! That’s what I want, Mommy! Regardless of which holiday you celebrate this season, chances are, […]
UPDATED August 1st, 2016 You open the door and there it is—your teenager’s bedroom. No matter how responsible, well-behaved and great your teen might be, you’ve probably happened upon this scene before: piles of laundry cover the carpet, the bed is unmade, dirty dishes are stacked on the bedside table, the desk surface is not […]
It was Valentine’s Day and I had just picked up my 11-year-old from an extracurricular activity. I asked how his day had been, and specifically, how his Valentine’s Day had gone, and he proceeded to tell me the following: A classmate (a girl we’ll call Morgan for the sake of anonymity) gave her crush (a […]
It’s the worst nightmare of a parent trying to raise a bilingual child. “I hate Spanish class and I have all my foreign language credits now—I don’t want to take it next year. Are you going to make me?” Those were the words of my 14 year old son, a well-behaved, straight-A student who is […]
The rainy days of spring will soon be upon us, and that means afternoons spent with the kids cooped up indoors, right? Wrong! Perhaps you have a list of indoor rainy day activities but let’s expand our idea of what a rainy day means when it comes to our plans for the day. Put the […]
Why reuse damaged books? When a book is damaged, it can break a book lover’s heart. Broken spines, torn pages, rippling (a tell-tale sign of water damage), the scribbles of an unattended child or corners so dog-eared that they’ve fallen off—all these things may mean a book has not been well cared for. Whether it’s […]