ArchivesJune, 2009

Whatever you call it, we need one.  The last living-room set we bought just didn't hold up.  It's eight years old and it has had it.  The living room isn't the most-used room in our house, but it's not one of those museum rooms that no one will go into, either.  And the sofa and Continue Reading

It's a good thing that broken dishes, unlike broken mirrors, don't bring you seven years of bad luck.  Otherwise, my seventh-grader would be looking at more years of bad luck than she's been alive.  In the past three weeks she has broken two kitchen bowls that have served, collectively, about sixty years in my kitchen Continue Reading

Down in my basement, I have a big Rubbermaid tub that's been nagging at me for over six years.  It's full of my grandmother's photo albums.  I'm not sure how I wound up being designated "keeper of the photos."  After my grandmother passed away, my uncle took some time off work and cleaned out her Continue Reading

Isn't that how the old saying goes?  Father's Day is coming up:  June 21!  From the looks of the greeting cards I've seen in the last few weeks, dads are interested in the following things: napping golfing fishing watching sports on TV cooking on the grill drinking beer fixing things mowing the lawn ugly ties Continue Reading

It's time once again for Weird Holiday Monday:  the day when the Ultimate Coupons Crew brings you the best in savings combined with the wackiest in holidays.  I'm sure you didn't know that most of these observances existed--but you do now, so take advantage of the great deals you can find here. June is Entrepreneurs Continue Reading

I figure that part of my job as a parent is to make myself obsolete. That means that by the time my kids grow up and leave the nest, they know how to live as independent adults.  Therefore, I'm the mean mom that forces 7-year-olds to "swish" toilets and teenagers to weed the garden and Continue Reading

One of the cool things about having Scouts in the family is the Cub Pack's annual Rocket Night. The Boy Scouts help with this event by assembling the rockets, setting up the launch pads and performing the actual launch.  (This makes the Cub Scout moms happy, since it means that their boys aren't dealing with Continue Reading

Here's a question for you today:  when you go swimming, do you step into the pool, lake or ocean gradually, or do you just jump on in and get all wet at once?  I'm like the guy in the picture on the right.  If you even got me up the ladder to the high dive, Continue Reading

Is it just my kids, or does every child's brain shut down around Memorial Day and refuse to start up again until September? Different schools have different ways of dealing with the problem of retaining knowledge.  Friends of ours tell me that their elementary-school children end the school year by bringing home a Math Packet--60 Continue Reading

It's Monday, so you know what that means.  It's time for the Ultimate Coupons crew to bring you the oddest of observances and the best of savings at the same time!  You never know what kind of deals we'll come up with.  So to start your summer off right, here are the first of June's Continue Reading