Mrs. Ferrier Goes to Washington
April 6, 2012
One thing I love about being a blogger is that I never know what's going to turn up in my inbox. From celebrities e-mailing to ask for parenting advice to offers of free vacations and appliances, some pretty awesome surprises have come my way over the years -- and a few weeks ago, a real doozy of an e-mail turned up... I got an invitation to the White House. Unfortunately, though, it was for the day of my kids'...

We Interrupt this Blog for…
March 26, 2012
...a trip to Walt Disney World! This week will not be about the presidential election, doing housework, planning preschool Easter egg hunts, dreaming up new style dares, scheduling news interviews, writing fashion posts, doing homework, dealing with college girl angst, making dinner, setting appointments, doing yardwork, working on projects, traveling for business, doing laundry, or ... blogging. This week will...

Now You Are Five
March 15, 2012
One year ago today, Bruiser, you turned four.   It's been a wild ride ever since. At four, you were in constant motion- playing games, singing songs, drawing pictures, and making up stories. Your fiery little personality only became more pronounced as you matured. Right after you turned four, you ended your potty training journey with one last EPIC showdown-- and I do mean EPIC. Then there was that bout...

Why I’d Die Without Date Night
March 12, 2012
Every so often at a soccer practice or kid's birthday party, the subject of babysitters comes up. Most parents use the opportunity to moan and grown about how difficult it is to find a good sitter and how expensive they've all gotten... but inevitably, one smirking mother will drop a bomb. "We've never had a sitter," she'll say smugly. "It's been seven years now and no one but my mom has watched the kids. And she only...

The Undercover Mother
March 5, 2012
I have to admit that I was nervous boarding Newt Gingrich's press bus last week. My mission was to find out what it's really like on the campaign trail-- and as you can see in this video, my behind-the-scenes glimpse at Newt's campaign ended up being really interesting. But as I prepared to board the bus at 8:15 that morning, I had reservations... not about Newt or his campaign aides- I had met them all before. I...

When Good Consignment Sales Go Bad
February 24, 2012
I'm a longtime fan of children's consignment sales. For the uninitiated, consignment sales are biannual affairs generally held in church fellowship halls, school cafeterias or unused warehouses. On the appointed days of the sale, moms can sell their kids' clothing, shoes and toys, generally receiving about 70% of the price the items fetch, or they can buy gently used clothing for their kids at really good prices. Several...

Sleepless in Wherever
February 21, 2012
Traveling alone, as you know, can be stressful—particularly when that travel involves navigating New York City. Alone. I went to New York recently with lots of things to do and lots places to be. One day, I covered the new health care law, interviewing experts for several hours in order to understand the Affordable Care Act well enough to explain it to CafeMom readers. (And that, incidentally, is why I wrote nothing...

Remembering Susan
February 7, 2012
Like pretty much every other mom blogger out there, I am deeply grieved today over the loss of "Toddler Planet" blogger Susan Niebur, otherwise known as WhyMommy. She died yesterday after a five year battle with inflammatory breast cancer. Susan was a reader of this blog almost from the beginning. She always left kind, thoughtful, intelligent comments, and over the years, she became someone whose friendship I trusted...

I Wore a Wine Glass Necklace
February 1, 2012
How could I forget to share the latest episode of "I'll Take That Dare" with you? This particular dare was another one of my favorites -- I wore a wine glass necklace at local hotspot Urban Flats on a Friday night, and while I was worried that I'd be scorned by the hipster clientele, everyone had a lot of fun with it. Check it out: There's a good back story to this episode, which I shared on The Stir: if you're...

The Lice Squad
January 30, 2012
As soon as I walked into my son's preschool classroom a few Fridays ago, I knew something was wrong. Both teachers had the kind of apprehensive look on their faces that generally precedes an overly detailed explanation of how Bruiser skinned his knee on the playground and would-I-please-sign-this-accident-report, or how he made the unfortunate choice of using his hands instead of his words after a kid spit on him....