Intercambio

Back when I lived in Spain… a lifetime ago, I remember sitting across the dining room table from my roommate Pilar.  Pili, as we called her, liked to practice her english with me.  Which I was more than willing to do as every evening I was so mentally exhausted from…

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Good Bad

At my house we appreciate a good bad school picture.  For me it was always the “Grump Bucket” picture from Kathy Brown’s Preschool.  I remember the day well.  I was three.  It was picture day.  Pastel patterned overalls.  Cindy Brady pigtails.  We’re outside and there’s a crowd of parents cheering…

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#PuebloChic

During the first weekend of October, I set-out on a highly anticipated girls weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  After almost a year of planning, the reunion of my high school besties has finally arrived. It begins early on a Thursday morning.  It’s a fitful night’s sleep.  I wake in…

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Hay Maze Haze

Yesterday we set out on our annual October pumpkin patch expedition.  Over my weekend in Santa Fe, which I’ll write more about later, I gathered a few recommendations from some trusted resources. We decided to stop in Davenport for breakfast.  I have been a lifelong devotee of the former Davenport…

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Hemophobia

The very next Wednesday, after I had written about our magical walk to the first day of school, Nate and Jake and I set-off to kindergarten. About five minutes in, this is what happened: I think you could hear him yelling from five blocks away.  I’m not really sure how…

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Taco Tuesday

A few weeks ago James decided to declare a weekly routine he aptly named Taco Tuesday.  He was excited about it, so I was excited about it. It seemed to also coincide with the discovery of a miraculous new product brought to us by “Tortilla Land.”  I’m told these ingenious…

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Nakezilla Returns

Our little Nate is going through a “phase.”  He has generally been known as the agreeable one.  The generous one.  The child quick to reason, to apologize, to accept “no” as an acceptable answer and to keep on going.  If we had one remotely “flexible” child, it was Nate. But…

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Fast Poke

As some people know, I grew up in the boondocks, the mountains, what we affectionately called “BFE” when out of adult earshot.  School buses and big indoor schools with stone steps and cafeterias were the providence of movies and Beverly Hills 90210.  Walking to school?  Something people did in the…

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Infestation

So we read the preschool outbreak notice, gather up our possibly infested trio of puppies, and take the boys home. We go about our usual business, but I feel itchy.  Despite the fact that I’m sure there is some sort of gestation period, for a week I find my scalp…

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