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From the Desk of…an Eight-Year-Old

Jan 14 2015

Children are astute observers and acutely grounded in reality. And when they take their perspectives to paper, the results can be hilarious, especially when combined with a glaring absence of auto correct. Or a filter. They are kids after all…honest and real and curious. So, for example, asking a veteran, “Did you like fighting in the war?” doesn’t seem out-of-line. (Yes, a second grader wrote this in a letter to my father-in-law this past Veterans’ Day…). That said, my daughter loves to write. Recently I found some notes on her desk that would push the envelope if written by an…

Twelve (Plus One) in 2014

Jan 09 2015

One year ago my New Year’s resolution was to read more books. I set my sights on enjoying one book a month. While sometimes it was hard to find the time and motivation, in the end I was able to devour thirteen books cover to cover. If I included all books started (and not necessarily finished, see Sorry, Mr. Robbins, My Mind Just Doesn’t Work That Way), I could have read fourteen in ’14, which would have been kinda fun. But that would be cheating. Numbers aside, one thing is certain: my love for cracking a cover has been renewed. The new challenge…

A Fashion Statement Worth Considering

Jan 07 2015

Flying without my family isn’t something I do often and I really don’t like it. So when I flew the friendly skies solo last month I needed some company. Enter the book Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman. I was already hooked the television series by the same name and therefore curious about the true story that inspired a show ripe with character and drama. Piper Kerman, in describing her incarceration for a decade-old offense, clearly got an education beyond what she received at Smith College: a first-hand look at the prejudices, substandard…

Coffee Shop Time Warp

Jan 06 2015

Over winter break we took our three kids to a favorite coffee spot for hot chocolate. As we settled in, I found myself more interested in “people-watching” and couldn’t help but notice the family sitting across the room: parents and their four twenty-something kids. There was Dad, bespectacled and reading. Sitting beside him was his slightly-grunge son wearing Buddy Holly-style glasses and playing on his phone. Mom was sitting at the other end of the table, talking with her stylishly-dressed daughters. Another son, with All-American features was in seated in the middle, partaking of his coffee and alternating between conversation…

Farewell, My Friend

Dec 22 2014

Last week I travelled back to Iowa to celebrate the life of a childhood friend. She was kind and vivacious. A daughter, a mother of four. Why she was taken so soon from the many who loved and needed her, no one will understand. All I know is the acute pain of bidding farewell to someone I’ve known for decades, and my age as well. When I learned she was gone, I had been standing impatiently in a restaurant awaiting my overdue takeout order, making a mental inventory of everything I needed to do that night, the next day,…

Please Pass the Funny Stuff

Dec 09 2014

As with turkey and cranberries and Christmas cookies, I wanted seconds after finishing Jim Gaffigan’s hilarious take on parenting in his book Dad is Fat. So for another humor fix I turned to Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?. In her autobiographical turn, I learned Mindy Kaling and I have several things in common. Both of us were awkward, bookish kids who never got invited to keggers. And we also agree that Will Ferrell is the funniest guy ever. But somehow, despite our similarities, she was the one who became a successful comedy writer. Huh. Probably because back in college…

Thanks to You

Dec 02 2014

Before dinner each night, our family goes around the table and shares “gratitudes.” Mostly, my kids are grateful for legos and pasta and our dog (translation: grateful to have toys and a pet to play with, and food on the table). Occasionally they are thankful for each other. This exercise has been a great way for them (and my husband and myself as well) to remember the little daily wonderments of our existence. But nothing helps us reflect upon life’s big picture than that fantastically chill holiday, Thanksgiving. I realize this is belated but in the spirit of family time last…

Farmer Boy Ain’t Got Nothin’ on My Son

Nov 20 2014

Our family is reading aloud the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and are enjoying the third installment, Farmer Boy. Of course, Almanzo is a typical boy ruled by his stomach and much of the first part of the book describes his daydreams about food and then the copious amount he actually consumes. However, his enormous appetite is no match for my second-born’s when he is having a growth spurt. Suddenly a seven-taco dinner (plus sides) simply isn’t enough to satiate my own growing boy. The warning sign to stock the fridge is that he talks about food 90 percent of…

November 2014’s Book is a Keeper

Nov 14 2014

After dumping October 2014’s book in favor of one that exposed my nonexistent ability to market a blog (doesn’t speak much for my recent book choices, does it?), I wanted to give my choice for November more than a trial run before I posted what it was going to be. Furthermore, feeling untrustworthy in the book-picking department, I even left the final decision to a higher power: the library circulation desk. Or more accurately, the faster reader who brings books back on time. After putting a hold on two books I simply waited for the first of the two to…

A Mother’s Promise

Nov 11 2014

I promise: ~to listen to you. Because you are clever, funny and insightful. ~to play catch, bake cookies and make crafts with you because we have our best talks when we do those things. ~to not feed you crap…most of the time. I promise to wash those beautiful, 88-cents-a-half-pint nonorganic raspberries through two off-key versions of “Happy Birthday.” And also to feed you Fruity-Pebble-encrusted donuts every three months because, hey, life is too short to miss out on something so decadently gross. ~to encourage you in the path you are meant to follow, not the one I think you should…

My name is Heidi Black and I have it all... Maybe not in the traditional sense of the phrase but I do feel I have it all: three beautiful, healthy children, a devoted husband and father and the privilege of being a Domestic Engineer. (I used to call myself a SAHM but that just doesn’t fit when my day is filled with coordinating 5 schedules and preplanning their execution, all up to a week in advance.) And now, indulging in a not-so-secret desire to write, and following the advice “write what you know” I am ready to share what I have learned from this ironic life journey and along with you, discover answers to those many questions related to parenting.

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