I don't want to be the mother who yells, "Brush your teeth. Wash your hands with soap. And roll down the grassy hill already, dammit, we have a schedule of fun to keep!" Over at Parenting....

I may keep my house relatively clean, but my vehicles are another story. I am not sure why it doesn't bother me to drive around in filth. Maybe because I can't actually see most of it? I don't know. But today I cleaned out the mini van. I filled an entire garbage [...]...

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You [...]...

He smiled. Propelled by his steady diet of narcotics mixed with gingerale, coke, popsicles, and ice cream. A friend called me earlier to ask how he was doing. I told her he was on the upswing, literally. He was being a rather demanding pain in the butt. You know how kids behave [...]...

Ten hours in the ER. Morphine IV. Ultrasound. Abdominal CT scan. Consult with a surgeon. Diagnosed with mesentaric adenitis. Basically it presents the same as an acute apendicitis attack, but there is nothing to do for except pain management and anti-nausea medication. Sent home with a prescription for Vicodin. [...]...