Hey…
Back from Gigantic Presbyterian Educators’ Conference. Really tired, but glad I went.
I visited with friends, ran briefly into others (esperanza!), ate Tex-Mex, ate BBQ, walked the Riverwalk, led a workshop twice, admired the huge sky of the Motherland, had friends of friends introduce themselves (Marci and Kelley—met Julie something?), learned about healthy church leadership and […]

So I’ve been doing the choco-sabbath for almost a month, and it’s been an interesting exercise. There are many days that I have gone without a treat. Sometimes I get the kids in bed and feel energy to read, or e-mail someone or write or whatever. So I skip right over the timeout. That’s good, […]

From this week’s New Yorker:
Obama is a star. So are many of the people around him. A lot of them, like him, rose to adulthood inside the upper reaches of the American meritocracy, which oriented them toward analytic brilliance and felicity of expression, and gave them experience in dealing with fast-moving, high-stakes transactions. Running poky […]

Next Wednesday through Saturday I’ll be back in the Motherland, at Gigantic Presbyterian Educators’ Conference.
Anyone else going to be there? It’s been too long since I’ve had a good blogger meetup.

On to the next cultural milestone…
C is all ready for the Superbowl and is excited about her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, which I talk about a little bit here.
She made this helmet for her teacher… if she ever gets well enough to go to school!

Go Steelers.
I guess.

This’ll be quick and inelegant as I try to get everything down.
As if that were even possible.

First, to get this out of the way, because this isn’t what the day was about for me: the logistics were sadly lacking at various points during the day. Don’t get me wrong, I am so thrilled to have […]

I started this letter on November 5 and added some details over the weekend.

January 2009
Dear Children,
All three of you were born during the presidency of a man named George W. Bush. His father had also been president some years earlier. Bush gained the presidency the first time under circumstances that were unusual, to say the […]

After much consideration, I have finally discerned the sound that J’s Robeez shoes make when he’s walking on the sidewalk outside:
chook chook chook…
—————-
This story is about a week old but I forgot to post it. Last week I posted the photo of C with her top tooth gone. She didn’t put it under her pillow […]

Both M and J are asleep and C is not home from school yet. Time for some quick notes.
I have been reading through my blog sequentially over the last few weeks. Wow! There’s a lot that I had already forgotten, so I’m glad I have this practice. But there are also lots of holes. I […]

Here’s my marketing idea:
Gloves and/or mittens for children that come 10 to a package. And aren’t all the same, but instead use three or four colors, in various fun stripes and patterns to allow for lots of mixing and matching.
Or in our case, to provide lots of fun options for backup gloves when […]

So I’ve written before that Monday is project day with the girls. This can be simple (fingerpainting) or more complex (sewing a purse from a kit). Yesterday the girls and I decided to make the star flashlight shown here.

It is very simple to make, but it was a comedy of errors. First, did you know […]

I have been at Suburban Presbyterian Church for coming on six years. It’s hard to believe. Most associates stay 3-5 years. My predecessor stayed about that long. When I took this call I wondered whether I’d end up leaving on the early end of things, since I never stayed too terribly long any one place. […]

about the choco-sabbath
This is my day with J, and although we started it way too early together (teeth?), it was a good day. I’ve been doing the time management trick of not checking e-mail first thing in the morning (especially work e-mail). Instead I decide the night before what needs to be done the following […]

The wonderful PPB recently blogged some product reviews. Nice idea for a post. Here are some things I like right now:
BareMinerals: This was actually a recommendation from PPB, and I’m paying it forward to the rest of you. I love this makeup. And I’m not a makeup person. But this stuff is easy (even fun?) […]