2014 | PulseonParenting

I’m Having a Baby, Why Doesn’t Anyone Believe Me? (a Semi-Deconstructed Parody)

Sep 16 2014

This is a true story (except for the fancy driving and the UZI-wielding). The people are real. The conversations actually took place. Importantly, my husband can vouch for it in entirety. And he is relieved beyond belief I have written this because he thinks I need the whole experience out of my system. In composing this post I attempted, with “bracketed” statements, to dissect the story into elements of a screenplay…just for the fun of it. But this is otherwise a work of nonfiction as there’s no way I have the talent to make this stuff up…

The September 2014 Book is Not About a Lot of Things

Sep 09 2014

My husband is a TED talk devotee. I try to remember TED even exists. Don’t get me wrong, I think Technology, Entertainment and Design is an amazing resource. I just rely on my husband to funnel the most intriguing talks my way. One evening, he was insistent we watch one in particular that featured writer Jennifer Senior. She opened her lecture with how the parenting section in a chain bookstore is overwhelmingly stocked with volumes on how to raise the “right” kid and the crisis these overladen shelves symbolize. By the way, Jennifer Senior has published a book. But it…

The Itchy Trigger Finger

Sep 03 2014

I came across this quote the other day from one of my favorite comediennes: If you are creating anything at all, it’s really dangerous to care about what people think. ~Kristen Wiig And not even a week prior I tuned in to an episode of the tv show Glee on in-flight entertainment. Not being privy to the goings-on at McKinley High, the premise was out of context but a statement by Idina Menzel’s character to daughter Rachel was not: No one achieves success by playing it safe. I may not have her words exactly right but that was the gist of her message. And…

The Next Challenge

Aug 27 2014

I get the urge to sort and surrender about every other month. When it seems our house is overrun by “stuff,” I grab a box and get to work. Then the kids discover the collected past-treasures and realize they can’t live without the coloring book or stuffed animal or two-sizes-too-small t-shirt I have deemed for donation. They haven’t given those items a mere thought in months but a newfound awareness of their presence makes these things dearer than life itself. Awareness is powerful. The recent “Ice Bucket Challenge” for ALS is a recent prime example of how knowledge can make…

But It Smells Good!

Jul 29 2014

We stash it in the glovebox, in our backpacks and handbags. There’s a ginormous jug of it sitting in our kids’ classrooms at school. Stores sell it in mouthwatering scents (cucumber melon!). And it gives us piece of mind that with each squirt we are protecting our children from illness. Not necessarily. The newspaper often goes from our driveway directly to the recycle bin because the content is just plain depressing. However, I happened to pick through it recently and immediately catching my eye was the headline: Hand sanitizers dirty record; let soap do the job We all know good…

Beautifully Sad

Jul 22 2014

A friend on Facebook posted this sad yet beautiful quote recently and I couldn’t get it out of my head. We have all suffered loss, or if we haven’t we will at some time. The loss can be a death in the family, a breakup, or having to give up a pet. In any circumstance of a loss, this quote embodies guidance, reassurance and hope: “The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around…

Game On

Jul 16 2014

“Boo-Ya!” “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!!!” “In your FACE!!!!” Sound familiar? Just another friendly family game night. It’s amazing how much trash gets talked with a high-stakes game of UNO. Or when the Old Maid deck gets dealt. And in our home, when the dice are rolled and the marbles moved during Murder, our homemade version of Sorry, verbal carnage (G-rated!) abounds. Yup, friendly games can turn friendly families into fierce-tongued families. It wasn’t my competitive streak that caused the card game Beat the Parents to catch my eye at the store, but the clever word play on the movie title,…

Plucking the Petals of Daisies

Jul 08 2014

If you have a daughter, you know all too well her mood can change with fleeting regularity. And you may also be surprised at how early an age the emotional roller coaster can take a plunge. I know I was. In our household, that age was two. My husband and I did a “What the…?” as our little darling, a shrieking carmel-haired blur, ran from one end of the house to the other spurred by an unknown insult, only to emerge seconds later in a strangely calm trance, blankie in hand. At the time, her display was darn funny. It…

All “Growed” Up

Jul 01 2014

Some would say it is turning age 18. Others would say it comes with earning a steady paycheck, moving away from Mom and Dad, and paying income tax. Yet others would agree it is becoming parents. But after passing those milestones of life, (some of them achieved a couple decades or so ago!), I don’t feel like a grown up. Not even close. And I’m pretty sure I don’t act like it. Here are some examples that serve as proof: ~ I have never read Dickens or Austen…nor do I feel the urge to. ~Occasionally I find myself giggling with…

Homecoming

Jun 24 2014

Who says you can’t go home? harmonize Jon Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles in their duet of the same name. They croon about the heady experience of goin’ back to the place where one comes of age. But Kent Haruf writes darkly in Where You Once Belonged about a hometown hero who returns to his stomping grounds to wreak havoc. Homecomings. Nostalgic? Strange? Or turbulent? I am on vacation this week in Iowa. While short on major attractions (which is fine) and long on corn bursting from fertile ground, we come because our families live here. Central Iowa is home. But it…

Archive - 2014