My ability to recall and recollect is renowned in certain circles. I have one of those brains that hangs on to trivia like a chihuahua on a cuff, so friends and family have used me for years as a repository of memorable moments, names, dates, relationships, locations, phone numbers, movie titles ... you name it. My first phone number was YEllowstone 5-0147 ... and it hasn't been necessary for me to keep that in my head since 1960. I can remember the names of all my teachers and a good many elementary school classmates, now all pushing sixty and lost... more

Continued from here, where I was beginning to panic a little when I remembered that I no longer have a basement ...

Have you heard of Mom Inventors, Inc.? Well, "Good Morning America" has, and they've launched their third annual Mother's of Invention Challenge along with them.

I'll admit to being a little disappointed that Frank Zappa isn't part of this, but if you have... more

One of the things we older adoptive parents hear too often is something that sounds a lot like, "Do you know how old you'll be when that kid is a teenager?"

Heh? What'd you say there, sonny? You little whipper-snapper, you!

It's funny, because I don't think I look senile ... yet ... nor do I put a horn to my ear and call people whipper-snappers, but people seem to assume that the math skills are the first thing to go.

I catch the drift, though; that whole, "How the heck can a geezer handle a teen?" business.

Well, my plan is to do it the same way I did when my now-grown kids were sprouting and I was a mere slip of a thirty-something: I'll chain them... more

Continued from here, where we've been talking about parental 'must haves' like music systems with faces and such ...

And how about this amazing innovation ... a thermometer!

This funky little egg is a colour-changing digital room thermometer. Designed to promote safer sleeping for babies, and peace of mind for... more

Okay. It's official. I have now been living outside the realm of the real world for long enough to be completely out of the loop when it comes to stuff. I've worried about this for years, dreading the day when I take a trip home to the US and find myself standing around shopping malls and private homes endlessly repeating some version of, "Golly, gee whiz ... willya looky that hoozit! What that heck does it DO?"

Well, I don't have to wait for the crunch of American soil under my flip-flops to feel like a totally clueless dork. I just... more

I am SUCH a lucky woman! As an example of why this is so, here's my morning:

Mark hauled the kids downstairs, managing to do so without waking me, fixed them their tea, and boiled a couple of eggs for Sam's midmorning school snack. Once the sun was well up, he took them for a stroll around our garden.

Just before he was to leave for work, the three of them came upstairs.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" were the first words I heard, and a bouquet of flowers in the hands of my darling son was my first... more

Guess what we did yesterday! While I should have been writing interesting blog posts on important topics, we were on a mission ... a mission to save baby sea turtles.

My friend, Julie, phoned in the early afternoon to say that the sea turtle nest in her garden was seeing some action. (She'd relocated the nest a couple of months ago, after realizing the mother had laid eggs too close to the waterline.) She found one baby in her kitchen the night before, obviously disoriented by the house lights and missing the ocean... more

A story out of the UK reports the results of a survey that shows how today's young adults are more dependent on their parents than we ever were.

Two thirds of the over-50s questioned said they received no financial help from their parents when they were in their 20s - but 64% of them help out their adult offspring.

Half of parents have paid towards their child's first car, spending an average... more

Does that make sense? Farewell but not goodbye?

Life has been one big whirlwind for me this past three months. Lots was happening, and then my mother in law passed away. Everything changed for me in that moment, although I didn't know it yet.

In the past month I've been cleaning and taking care of business with my husband - all matters relating to her estate, and taking care of mail, selling and giving away nick nacks, deciding who to call, who to write and so forth.

It is a full time job, and emotionally draining.

K however, has been doing great. We still continue to go swimming, hiking and to the zoo, and generally keep each other company while Hubby... more

Continued from here ...

Because I live on the other side of the world, I've missed far too much in the lives my of brother's children ... all my brothers' children, actually, since I have three of them -- brothers, that is ... but suddenly I find myself in a position to play catch-up, at least with one niece. We're now pen pals! Rebecca was eight in October, but reads, writes and thinks like kids much, much older.... more