This past Friday night, a group of mostly middle-aged women gathered to play poker. For most of us, it was the first time. So what do mostly middle-aged women talk about over poker chips, cream puffs and blood orange martinis? From what I recall, facial hair. Other things, too, I’m sure, but the two champagne margaritas [...]

It’s past time to rearrange Sophie’s room, mix things up a bit.  I’ve got a conundrum. Do I get rid of the changing table? I love Sophie’s changing table. It isn’t really a changing table, it’s a wooden chest with a changing pad screwed on, one of those clever ideas you get out of a magazine [...]

Nerd alert! I think the Book Character Parade might be my favorite annual event at school, and I’m guessing  that after this morning, Annabelle and Sophie agree. It took four separate shopping stops and a lot of planning to secure the materials, but I think we did a fine job among the three of us of [...]

Annabelle and I were at the coffee shop next to the dance studio this past Saturday morning, having our usual bagel with the other moms and  daughters, when my friend Betsy’s little girl asked Annabelle a question. She had just bitten into a bagel smeared with cream cheese, so Annabelle’s mouth was full when she answered the [...]

Tonight at dinner, Annabelle informed us that she’s starting a band called “The Bubble Gums.” She’ll play keyboard, and she’s chosen three of her friends to be singer, drummer and guitarist. “I tried to think about what each one is good at,” she explained, listing her choices. (Apparently no one else knows about this yet.) We discussed costumes [...]

I texted Ms. X this afternoon. “Is there an Easter Junie B.?” She shot back, “Yes. Junie B. First Grader Dumb Bunny!”  Then she called to say she’d seen it at Target. I didn’t find it there, but they had it at Barnes and Noble. As I was checking out, the young saleswoman commented on [...]

I took the girls to see Disney on Ice tonight. What can I say? The tickets were free. Back in the day, I could score concert tickets and baseball tickets through work, but now all that’s pretty much gone, except, oddly, Disney on Ice tickets. I can always get those. So we went. It was pretty [...]

Sophie was asleep before the matzoh balls. Annabelle ditched the seder table for the TV shortly after that. I realized I need new dining room chairs when my mother sank into a folding chair, put her chin on the table, and announced she felt like a torso-less head. And we forgot about Elijah. Still, all [...]

For reasons I am not at liberty to share, I’m beginning to wonder whether vodka is kosher for Passover. Potatoes are cool, right? For those of you less Jewish than I, it’s not just that you can’t eat bread on Passover. There are all sorts of rules about what qualifies as leavened and what doesn’t. [...]

“Hey, want to see my eggs?” I asked Ray, holding up my three best. After several hours of trial and error at a friend’s house, I was pretty proud of these, the product of sparkly Mod Podge and several colored paper napkins. Turns out, Ray does not have a proper appreciation for decoupage. He recoiled. “Why [...]