My Ex-lover, IKEA

One night when faced with a remarkably greasy, caked-on sauté pan sitting in my sink, I made an impulsive decision to not clean the pan. Instead, I threw it away. No matter how hard I try, I cannot muster the emotional energy necessary to switch from disposable to cloth diapers. I know the cloth diapers of 2014 are easier and more evolved than cloth diapers of yore, but I just can't get over the ease of disposable - no matter the financial costs to me or the environmental costs to my great-great-grandchildren. Sorry progeny! Sometimes, when cleaning up the "clutter counter" (a small 2 x 4 surface in my kitchen where bills, kid drawings, mysterious trash, winter hats,...

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

As far as social gatherings are concerned, dinner parties are second only to karaoke outings in my book. There is something magical and intimate about gathering together 10 or 12 of those you call your closest friends or those whom you soon hope will ascend to those ranks. Who doesn't adore a dinner party? I've never met one I don't like. I should throw them more often, said the new mom who doesn't sleep and whose shower schedule is dismal. In lamenting my recent nonattendance of any social function (unfortunately, only a slight exaggeration), I got to thinking about who I'd invite to my fantasy dinner party. AND. I put together a DREAM TEAM of dinner guests. The...

20 months

At 20 months Milo is primarily doing two things: talking up a storm and reverse engineering all his toys. This is one (of many) reasons we can never own a gun - he would figure out how to completely assemble it in minutes. And he'd probably turn a simple handgun into something far more potent and destructive. But knowing him, he'd use it for good, like to help overthrow Assad. I'm happy he's so mechanically-minded. Someone in this house is going to have to learn to fix things, and it certainly won't be me or that other WRITER who lives here. He is talking non-stop. He loves to count to ten and sing the alphabet and write his name in the tub with bath crayons. He is a budding...