Thursday, November 8, 2012
The Question What If? is one I normally don’t ponder, but when the right questions are asked, that gets me thinking.
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 laundry department is effortless and almost pleasant, until some kid leaves a black sharpie in his pocket, and because I neglected to check it in …
Sunday, October 21, 2012
As we move closer to Election Day, the candidates are all scurrying to showcase their platforms via TV ads. Thankfully, we know they mean what they say because they end each ad with "I Approve This Message."
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 throw the rest of us who don’t agree under a fast-moving bus. I love politics as much as the next guy, but somehow I’ve managed to stay on speaking …
Sunday, October 14, 2012
I’ve yet to meet a single parent who thinks raising kids is a piece of cake and is completely filled with sunshine and blissful joy the majority of the time. (If you disagree, I bow before you and would love to drink what you’re drinking!)
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 parenting with that of a grilled goody, but in essence when everything is going along well with your family life, there’s just nothing better. But, when…
Sunday, October 7, 2012
With today's financial uncertainty, families do what they must do to make ends meet!
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, time and schedule, relationships, parenting, work-related, meals, hobbies, obligations, friendships—the list of “ends” goes on and on. Okay, so I …
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Patch offers readers all things local, but by golly, nothing can grab more attention than the coveted Police Log that runs several times throughout the week. Why? Can someone tell me the reason why?
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 writer, I continually set professional goals for myself and measure them throughout the year. My niche is family humor based pieces, for which I have…
Saturday, September 15, 2012
If you think "The Real Housewives" is a reality TV series to behold, you haven't met Honey Boo Boo!
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—affectionately known to her family and fans as Honey Boo Boo! If you haven’t had the ultimate pleasure of becoming familiar with America’s newest reality …
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Back to school is always an exciting yet nerve-wracking time for most families, especially those of us who have kids with “special needs.”
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 or the rush I receive from inhaling that perplexing sound called white noise! Now that I have it, it’s really pushing me into “think mode”—which …
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Back to school time is the perfect catalyst for changing up the "same old same old" conversation!
I will probably receive a lot of “hate mail” for admitting this aloud, but I’m not one bit sorry that summer is coming to an end. (Wow, did that feel good to admit!) I enjoy hitting the beach and having non-scheduled days as much as the next guy, but let’s face it, how much nirvana can one mother take? One of the reasons I welcome back-to-school with such wide, open arms is not because my kids will no longer be attached to my hip 24/7 (you believe me, right?), although it does tie in with preserving my sanity. After 10 summery weeks of kidlicious endeavors I start to get a little worn down by the conversations we’ve been exchanging with one another, or not! Never mind the tedious waste of breath that utters “I’m bored! Can’t we do …
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Attending a high school reunion can be a mixed bag. Some of us would rather have a root canal without anesthesia while others are counting the days til we see our old classmates.
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 really made an impression on me after that reunion were that all my preconceived notions about how horrible an experience it would probably be were …
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
We're half way through the summer vacation and I think I may finally have some answers to my kid's most frequently asked questions!
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 innings because of all the cancellations, and (best of all) I managed to orchestrate a near-perfect delivery of landing my kids at the right field, …
ccryder
8:06 am on Monday, October 29, 2012
the editors seem to put their own spin on the police log instead of just reporting what is in the police report. people read the police log because they "want to know". The same reason I look up criminal history on RI judiciary. I thought one editor for the patch was a bit "odd", so I looked up the criminal history and sure enough.....I thought oh great does this person have access to everyones … more ›