Writing this piece in the aftermath of the unthinkable tragedy in Newtown, CT on Friday, Dec. 14 is eerily surreal.  To learn that 26 innocent lives, 20 of them precious young children, were killed in a shooting massacre in their very own elementary school is just incomprehensible. As a mom of eight kids, the youngest of whom is 7 and in the first grade,  I was stricken with immense grief and disbelief that sweet, trusting young elementary school-aged children as well as their devoted and loving teachers and staff who cared and taught them were so brutally murdered. A tragedy of this …

As the mother of eight, if I’ve done the calculations correctly, I’ve attended more than 65 open houses to date at the beginning of each new school year.  These events are certainly status quo but are also pivotal landmarks of how quickly time passes in our young children’s lives. One moment we are oohing and ahhing at the self-portraits they’ve created in kindergarten, and in no time at all we’re listening to their high school teacher explain the importance of molecular geometry configurations predicted using VSEPR theory.  (I’ll take the kindergarten open houses any day of the week!) It’s …

As a writer, I have the extraordinary privilege of leading two separate lives.  My first full-time job is that of a mom.  I’m sure you don’t want me to bore you with the details about what it takes to keep a household with eight kids and two dogs cranking each day, so not to worry — I’ll be brief. Let me just say that as monotonous as much of motherhood can be, for me, no two days are ever alike. I can go months without having to unclog a toilet and the minute I realize my upper arms are in need of some toning, wham, I get to plunge one or two toilets a day for a week!  Or everything in the …

Well folks, we’re getting closer to the finish line — at the time of this writing, Election Day is only 18 days, 13 hours and 22 minutes away.  We all know the outcome—one of the candidates will be elected, and with that said, we’ll only have to put up with a couple more weeks of watching political ads, looking at signage all over town, and enjoying the spirited posts that our dear friends post on Facebook who are rooting for the other party. You know the friends I’m referring to, right?  We all know someone who can’t help themselves but to rant and rave about their political stance and then …

Sometimes, I like to think parenting can be compared to eating a deliciously awesome hamburger: there’s nothing better when the burger is grilled to your exact liking, and the perfect combination of condiments just make your taste buds sing. But, even with that type of perfection, how many times do you bite into that juicy concoction only to have your teeth nosh down on one of those hard, grisly things completely ruining the love affair you were having with your burger?  Ugh! If you’re like me, you just want to gag and throw the whole burger away. Not that I’m comparing the complex role of …

I was recently asked how my large family made ends meet, and did we get by on things like mac and cheese and accepting hand-me downs, and did we have to spend the majority of our free time doing affordable things like playing card games, renting movies from Redbox and every once in a while live it up and go on vacation outside of the state. I put down the stick I was whittling (homespun Christmas gifts you know!) and thought carefully before I replied. “It depends on what ends you’re talking about.”  I mean, “ends” can mean so many different things — financial, spiritual, emotional, material…

It’s been nearly two years since the South County Patch sites launched our grass roots online source for all things local. I was and still am thrilled to be a part of it! From my very first ThiNK Family column alongside the many community based articles I’ve written since October 2010, when folks in town discuss our internet presence for all the latest, local happenings which are updated every 24 hours, I smile and love to acknowledge the time, effort and journalistic thought that go into making this type of news source resonate with our interested and supportive reader base. As an author and…

Last week I had the surprise of a lifetime. Sadly, I wasn’t visited by the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Prize Patrol, but something else unexpectedly caught my attention, and from what I understand it captured three million other Americans' attention as well.  Stumped as to what roused many of us to be transfixed to our TVs for a few hours last week?  Nope, it wasn’t Billy Clinton sharing his values and morals with us during the Democratic Convention: it was something even far more outrageous from them thar parts down south. It was a six-year-old Georgia Peach by the name of Alana Thompson—…

It’s the second day of this new school year, and I’m sitting in my house, alone, with the eerie sound of silence.  It’s never this quiet here, even when the kids aren’t home –probably because we have two boisterous dogs.  One of those dogs, our Pomeranian puppy, Gracie, is not home today.  As soon as the bus rolled out of our hood, I dropped her off at our veterinarian’s office to prevent Spike from jumping the fence. (She’s getting spayed.) The sound of silence is an odd thing to behold.  All summer long I dreamt of those few quiet moments when I can hear things like my own stomach growling …

The last thing in this world I thought I would want to attend was my high school reunion.  Which one you ask?  I graduated from Narragansett High School in 1982, so if you stink at math like I did, I’ll help you out: it was my 30th.  This isn’t the first reunion I’ve attended; actually, it’s the second.  My 20th was held in November 2002, and it was honestly one of the most memorable nights of my life. The fact that I had just given birth to our seventh child weeks earlier and was finally getting out of the house had absolutely nothing to do with it.  (Although it didn’t hurt!) No, what …

During the four-plus very long (painfully long) months of baseball season, I jump out of bed each morning and start my day with a wee moment of silence in which I pray for three very simple things: fields with running water (not porta-johns), no extra innings and the presence of mind to facilitate the logistics of getting the right kid to the right field at the right time, regardless if we have to be at four games at once. This past season my prayers were answered many times over. The monsoon season we experienced meant lots of cancellations, therefore no traveling to other fields, no extra …

There are some parents who can drive 50 plus miles with their kids in the car and the silence is absolutely deafening.  No matter what engaging tidbit is presented to hopefully entice even the smallest of nibbles, the kid won’t offer up so much as a sigh.  Well, in my world, that never seems to be the case.  Whether it’s the ride to church, the jaunt to the milk store or even a ride to the emergency room to have a Lego removed from an ear canal, somehow my powder blue minivan becomes the catalyst for whining, joke-telling, bodily functions (ah, you’ve got to love 10-year-old boys!), tattling…

Too much of anything is never a good thing, am I right?  I won’t waste time talking about overindulging in greasy fries, Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food or my favorite beverage of choice – Diet Coke. (C’mon, you all know me better than that!)  Nope—I’m talking about those droplets of water that have been falling from the dank, gray skies for what—the past month or so?  Ok, that’s stretching it, but it sure did feel like forever, doesn’t it?  Normally the weather doesn’t affect my mood much, but during baseball season it’s a completely different story, and I have to believe I’m not alone wondering …

For the past year I’ve been rambling away to anyone who will listen that I am desperate to try a Caribbean makeover in our home. I’m not talking about scattering actual sand throughout the family room or making a thatched canopy for our bed. I’m basically talking about livening up the main living spaces with fresh paint in shades of turquoise, mango and lime green. Add in a few framed tropical prints, whimsical seashells for the mantel, spunky new throw pillows and a nifty new area rug or two and I’ll consider the project a success. If you’re wondering why I am still in the talking stages and…

I’ll never forget how I first learned about “The Law of Attraction.” It had nothing to do with me wearing Jean Nate after bath splash and landing a date with the cute guy who drove the Del’s Lemonade truck through our neighborhood when I was 17 – and could actually work a pair of Daisy Duke hot pants.  No, this was another life-defining moment for this gal, and I have Ellen DeGeneres to thank for it. It was the fall of 2007, and our youngest was about to turn two years old. She was teething, cranky and couldn’t get comfortable. Did I mention she was absolutely miserable? I decided to sit and …

It all started in the first grade. I was one of the only kids in my class (my family was living in Puerto Rico at the time!) to understand how to manipulate the colored beads that represented 10s, 50s and 100s on the graph (in Espanola and in Ingles mind you!) My teacher was petite, loud and always full of praise. I can’t tell you how many gold stars I earned in her class alone! Flash forward to third grade: we had just returned from Puerto Rico and were now living in Rhode Island and for the first time in my life, I witnessed snow falling! Talk about awesome!  Things were great in the 5th …

You can put your Pamprin and Midol away: the PMS I’m referring to is not what you’re thinking, although it does revolve around women…well, mothers that is.  The PMS many may be dealing with this week is Post Mother’s Day Syndrome. In other words, the day didn’t go as planned and now you have to wait a full year to see if your family can get it right next time. So, let me back up just a bit so you can get the whole picture and not think I’m an ungrateful whiner who is only focused on receiving baubles and other such sentimental doo-dahs on this very special day.  That’s hardly the case (well, …

Last week I had the pleasure of taking my six-year0old to the dentist.  Actually, it really was a pleasure, because she loves going to have her teeth cleaned, and I get to sit in the waiting room and relax with a book. (Have you read the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy yet?) While she had her teeth cleaned, I started experiencing a bit of nostalgia.  My first “real” job was working in a dental practice.  It more or less fell in my lap when I was a senior at Narragansett High School.   While most of my friends were slinging orders of burgers and fries at the drive-thru, I was learning all about …

We’ve all got at least one — some of us a lot more — and if we don’t take the time to finally do something about them, not only will they continually cause us angst and waste our precious time, ultimately they can cost us thousands of dollars!  Oh for heaven’s sake, I’m not referring to our in-laws (really!) I’m talking about good intentions, which will get you nowhere if your don't do something about them. My biggest intention is getting organized. In September, when my kids went back to school, I was hell bent on organizing every square inch of my life. This included everything from my bins…

In case you haven’t heard, I’ve gotten a little obsessed recently with couponing.  I wouldn’t call myself an “Extreme Couponer” — yet — but I’m hopeful that someday in the near future I will be able to stand in my garage and fondle my very own stockpile of Rice-A-Roni, toothpaste, and if I’m really savvy, an endless supply of toilet paper, preferably two-ply.  Until that time, however, I’m finding other ways to try and save money. Believe it or not, my latest obsession — hanging out at the local Dollar Tree — has now become a bit more than a way to watch my pennies. Sure, I’ve puttered in and…