In a fit of good will some weeks back, I volunteered to help out with my son’s Winter Party, which is scheduled for tomorrow.  Which means I’ve got to figure out a way to transport and serve enough hot chocolate to satisfy 70 kindergarteners.  Yes, that’s right.  70!
I’m not completely insane, of course.  In fact, [...]

Gosh, what happened to Thursday? Oh, I remember.  I spent it at four Targets and two Toys R Uses, in search of a Luke Skywalker lightsaber and a Bumblebee Autobot Transformer.  Oh, and Autobot Optimus Prime — I missed the last one at the Target on South Lamar by about twenty minutes.  It’s Cabbage Patch [...]

So I’ve been thinking about this question all week, and to be honest, I was kind of hoping to find some good tips from my fellow cozy chicks.  Which I have — thanks!
Before writing this post, I really should have called my Aunt Jane, who always has the knack for picking the perfect gift — [...]

Hi, everyone. Contrary to popular opinion, I have not died, fallen into a coma, or had my fingers cut off in a freak ice-skating accident. (That last one could have something to do with the fact that I live in Texas.)
Anyway, although I’ve been flying under the radar for a bit, I’m still [...]

So, that book I was a tad late on is really really REALLY done (I did a last run-through on the manuscript and got rid of all but two of the XXXs today), and I will be officially shipping it off tomorrow.  (Since there’s been a change in editors, they gave me some time to [...]

Each year, it seems, we get wiser… or at least gain a firmer grasp of our own… shall we call them shortcomings? We learn, for example, that several of the proclamations of naive youth turn out to be less attainable than we thought.  For instance…
1) “If I had a child, I would never… (a) buy [...]

Evidently I’m in domestic mode, because yesterday, for the first time in my entire life, I made blueberry preserves.
We had two almost-over-the-hill packs of blueberries from Sam’s Club in the fridge, and while cleaning the laundry room/pantry I found a box of jam jars we used to use as juice glasses (my five-year-old niece once [...]

P.S. Sorry this is late; for some reason this saved as a draft yesterday, and I just figured it out!
I don’t know where it comes from — certainly not my mom, who came to my house recently, pointed at a pile of mulch, and asked, “Is that dirt?” — but I do have the gardening [...]

Sort of, anyway.
The kids are back in school, and things are returning to their normal rhythm, which involves disgustingly early hours, lots of lunch-making, and a lot of personal one-on-one time with Microsoft Word.
Alaska was fabulous, although I did gain 3 (yes, 3) pounds in 8 days.  Something about the breakfast, second breakfast, lunch (with [...]

I may be adrift on an iceberg right now — who knows? But I’m decidedly not in Austin. Hopefully I have not been devoured by a bear, attacked by a moose, or thrown overboard by an irate family member.
Barring disaster, however, I will be back next week. Which will be cruel, really — from Alaska [...]