Shock and Horror
May 21, 2013
Dennis called me yesterday just after I got home from school with the kids. "Are you watching TV?" he asked. "No, what's happened?" "A massive tornado just hit Oklahoma City. It's horrible. Absolutely horrible." I turned on the television and watched in shocked silence as a helicopter camera panned across what looked like a war zone. Meteorologists were calling it the largest tornado in the history of the world. The...

RIP, Chipmunk. RIP, Yard.
May 20, 2013
When we moved into our house in the spring of 2002, we were especially excited about our new yard. In the front, we had several shade trees, including a large Bradford Pear. Out back was was a meticulously-maintained English garden surrounded by a hand-built stone wall and vibrant green grass. We didn't have the gardening expertise of the previous owners, so we didn't do a whole lot beyond keeping the grass cut and the weeds...

Air!
May 17, 2013
First of all, let me apologize for taking a full day and a half to give you an update on our HVAC. I'm absolutely certain that you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats for the last 36 hours, anxiously wondering how on earth we Ferriers were managing to survive without downstairs A/C on an 80 degree day! THE HORROR. Well, after reading all of your amazing advice (thank you to everyone who chimed in here...

No Air
May 15, 2013
Okay, Internet friends. It is time for you to weigh in on a dilemma. Two years ago, we replaced our downstairs HVAC unit.  Last year, Dennis signed us up for a preventative maintenance plan. A technician would come out twice over the next year, clean out both our units (the upstairs unit was replaced a year ago), and hopefully make everything last a little longer. Recently, the company changed ownership, but we were...

The Mothers Before Me
May 13, 2013
Mother's Day was a little more special to me this year than it's ever been before. A few months ago, I started researching my family tree, with the help of my 88-year-old grandmother, the Internet, and an out-of-print history book on Harlan County, Kentucky that contained my great great grandmother's notes in the margins. The research became a rabbit hole for me, where I could lose myself for hours. I've discovered...

Reality Check
May 10, 2013
Some pretty incredible news came out this week-- Three women who had been missing for ten years were found alive. They'd been abducted by a man and hidden in his basement-- and now it turns out that he managed to kidnap each of them by convincing them to get in his car. I'm sure many people read that news and thought "They GOT IN HIS CAR? Who would get in a total stranger's car?!" That's what I thought too, at first....

To My Children’s Teachers
May 9, 2013
To my children's teachers, It is Teacher Appreciation Week at school, and while my kids and many others are honoring your hard work and dedication with drawings and flowers and candy, I wanted to let you know from a parent's perspective how very much you've meant not only to my kids, but to my entire family. I want to thank you for being a second mother to my children. I know my kids have called you "Mommy"  more...

Mommy Magic
April 29, 2013
One day not long ago, I decided to have lunch with my daughter at school. My children's lunch times are vastly different, so I always choose different days for for having lunch with them. This was Punky's day-- but when I got to the school office to check in, I saw my son in the nurse's room. Quickly, I rounded the corner of the office to find out what was going on. Bruiser was sitting on a chair and holding a blood-soaked...

TCAP Madness
April 26, 2013
"Oh Mommy, I'm so nervous!" my daughter said when she came home from school a couple of weeks ago. "If I don't do well on my TCAPs, I won't get into magnet school!" "What are you talking about, Punky?" I asked her. "Who told you that?" "Everyone's talking about it!" she said. "TCAPs are in two weeks and I have to do well on them. I just HAVE to!" And so it begins. As a third grader, this year marks the first...

The Supermarket Saga
April 23, 2013
When my children were very small, grocery shopping was tops on my list of household duties I hated. The trips began with a long trudge through the parking lot, as I struggled to hold baby Bruiser’s two-ton carrier in one hand and a fidgety Punky in the other.  Once inside, I hooked Bruiser's carrier over the cart handle and loaded Punky into the basket, where she would slowly be covered by produce, baby food jars...