My mother in law is 100% Swedish which makes my husband ½ (his father was French/Greek) and my kids ¼ Swedish for sure.  So they are more Swedish than anything else.  What they get from my side is a crazy mix (and I do mean crazy) of Irish, Italian, Mexican, Danish, Native-American, and more—the classic ... Read more

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We had entered into the hot and meaty part of Summer.  It’s late July; the days are long—a little stir craziness has set in.  I wasn’t up for the economic commitment of weekly camps and Summer school, and I thought it would be nice for all of us to truly have the Summer “off.”  We ... Read more

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Preemptive strike/apology/explanation: I’m recommending a non-fiction book which is more a reflection on what’s been going on around me than what I’ve been reading.  I’ve read an absurd number of novels in the last few months—nothing to be proud of really—it’s an addiction like any other, but the bottom line was that I couldn’t choose ... Read more

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Some girls can only have one friend at a time.  They are “Best friend girls.”  They have the BFF and they are good to go.  This is a dangerous game because if something goes awry with the BFF then there is no safety net.  I was (and am) more of a group gal.  I have ... Read more

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Up until 2 days ago, I was going to recommend a completely different book (Ali in Wonderland by Ali Wentworth—the very funny and adorable actress who is married to the also adorable and smart George Stephanopoulos—read that one, too—it’s interesting and hilarious). But, I just finished another book and it was TOO amazing and riveting and ... Read more

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When my kids were babies and then toddlers, I needed babysitters so badly but I was too damned scared to get one and leave my kids.  Now that they are older; they want us to leave them alone and leave them be and I kind of want to just hang out at home!  Is that ... Read more

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I hate to do this to you again, but in my library work wanderings doing inventory, I found this gem of a book, but I don’t think it’s going to be an easy one to track down!  Because of that, I’ve semi-summarized it below so even if you can’t find the book, you can get ... Read more

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I’m pretty sure this book was written to some degree in response to the coddled and sheltered atmosphere we’ve created for our children today.  Not only are they becoming screen zombies with zero social skills (like actually talking skills—not texting or insta-gramming or whatever) but they aren’t even being exposed to actual sports or recreational ... Read more

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When I rejoined the workforce last year, I consciously and purposefully avoided teaching in a classroom again and instead went to work in a library.  All kinds of reasoning went into that decision but one of the big ones was LIBRARIES TEND TO BE VERY QUIET PLACES.  Our library is actually on the louder side, ... Read more

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My daughter is feeling an emptiness in her young life since finishing the Harry Potter series.  She had the books; then she had the movies and now she has almost nothing–(23 days until Deathly Hallows Part 2.)  That is semi-sustaining her but really it’s like a juice box on a trek through Death Valley, and ... Read more

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