Category: Every day moments

This week as part of our unschooling, we played Monopoly. Sadly, we do not have the paper money edition, but the new Electronic Monopoly (sad because I couldn’t make Dietrich count the money). However, Dietrich still had to read and add so some basic principles were part of our...

Last week, I went on my first cruise, without my family. After more than a year of transitions, after more than seven years of doing almost everything for and with my children, after almost nine years without a “personal vacation” – I took a REAL vacation. About a year...

It is a myth, a complete superstition that one can catch up on sleep. How do I know? Even after attempting to catch up by taking a much-needed nap (as often as I can arrange it), I’m still tired. Sometimes, even more exhausted than when I started. I often...

What would you do if you were given a day where you could do anything? A day without boundaries, money is no object, and the sky is the limit.  Usually, when we run errands and eat out at lunch, I use the drive-thru. Due to routine extermination at our...

One of the tools in counseling is asking the “miracle question.” It goes something like this: Suppose you went to bed tonight and while you were sleeping, a miracle occurred. How would you know this miracle occurred when you woke up? What would be different? Another variation involves a...

Being a child of the Eighties, I grew up with Sesame Street (I believe older episodes were better). Jim Henson’s Muppets made the show, in my opinion. Kermit the Frog was among my favorite characters. The Muppet Movie (the original) remains my favorite of all Muppet movies. I’m surprised...

I enjoy watching lightning flashes and listening to thunderstorms. I marvel at the differences in storms between the flat plains of Texas, the mountains of Colorado, or the countryside of Germany. On occasion, I gazed over the horizon as a wall cloud formed, unable to look away. This seemed...

When we moved into our apartment, Madilynn refused to come down the stairs by herself. After about a week, with some assistance and modeling by Big Brother Dietrich, she started to scoot down the stairs on her bottom. This past week, she began walking both up and down the...

I wear contacts. Without them, my vision is blurry. I am nearsighted with astigmatism. Due to the move, Peter’s job change, and waiting on insurance, my last pair of lenses were getting a rather thick film on them. One or both may have had other imperfections as well, like...

About five years ago, we learned the cause of our son’s violent rejection of many meals: an egg allergy. Many changes occurred in our home. Everything about the way food was prepared changed. I read every label, sometimes two or three times in the store and again at home....