You know those friends — friends you can go years without seeing, but when you do see them, it’s like no time has passed? That’s my friend Heather. Love her. Loveherloveherloveher. We met as undergrads and somehow 20-plus years passed and here we are. After college she went to law school and met a cute boy and and […]

Along with all sorts of other childish delights, Smeeks — the cool new candy store in central Phoenix — features a photo booth. The girls and I took advantage Saturday. (We’ll have to go back and figure out where the camera lens is. Whoops.) We also shopped for fondant (turns out you can buy it […]

I am so selfish that I actually had the following thought on Tuesday morning: How dare Eunice Shriver die on Sophie’s first day of school. I know. I’m horrible. But really, for once, I’d love to have a day that  is just about Sophie. Sophie. Not my future Special Olympian, my mentally retarded kid — […]

I pitched the guy at the public radio station a piece about my minivan crisis, but he didn’t bite. I think he thinks I write too much about my kids. (Really? Moi?!) Or maybe the piece sucked. In any case, he wanted something related, so in a weak moment I made my latest confession — […]

I rolled over and sat up. Across the tent, Ray’s head emerged from his sleeping bag.  “What time is it?” I whispered. “3:30.” “No it’s NOT. IT CAN’T BE. How do you know that?” “I just looked.” See? Even Mr. Camper couldn’t sleep. Shit. At least two hours before sunrise and I was zipped in a tent […]

Yesterday morning, I saw a snowman. Outside my favorite coffee shop in Tempe, just sitting there on the sidewalk. Melting. It was maybe a little taller than Sophie — nothing fancy, with twig arms, a carrot nose and coal eyes. The temperature was predicted to hit 115 yesterday, but someone woke up and got some ground […]

…what kind of luck — good or bad — well, that’s up to you. Tomorrow is Sophie’s IQ test. Her third IQ test. Many people never take one in their lives. My 6-year-old is a veteran. If her score goes down 14 points, she keeps her state services. There have been suggestions of Benadryl and […]

I’m so obsessed, I could write a book about Smeeks, the candy store that opened last week in central Phoenix. If you’re lucky enough to live here or visit here (can you believe I just wrote that? and in July!) you’ll find Smeeks on the northwest corner of Central and Camelback, in the inside-out strip […]

At our staff meeting Monday, my fellow day-jobbers at the alt weekly were horrified to hear we were writing about The Wiggles, and only slightly less so when I announced the piece was about how I refused to review their upcoming Phoenix show. “And Sophie has never liked The Wiggles,” I exclaimed, at the end of […]

For someone with no formal belief in any sort of organized anything, without real faith in anything except the power of a Diet Coke first thing in the morning, I certainly see a lot of signs. Signs of what, I don’t know. Maybe by definition, that means they’re not signs at all. You tell me. […]