Month: April 2008

We know, we know. Your life is crazy busy and you barely have time to read the instructions on the macaroni box. We get it. But you can sneak in a little reading time for […]

There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Music soothes the savage beast.” So when you’re in the middle of a savage day and your mood has nearly deteriorated to “beast” level, try uploading some […]

Heading home from school today, we drove past a dead squirrel, its body stiff, but its big, bushy tail whipping gaily in the high Northwest Arkansas wind. I quickly hoped my animal-loving daughter, Ladybug, wouldn’t […]

Ingredients: 6 oz. vermicelli or angel hair, broken in fourths 2 teaspoons oil 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ½ inch strips 6 oz. frozen snow pea pods, partially thawed 1 cup skim […]

Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef ½ cup chopped onion ¼ cup chopped green pepper 1 jar (15 ounces) spaghetti sauce 8 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese 2 eggs, beaten 2 […]

Desperate for dinner ideas? Don’t worry, mama. We’ve got you covered. And if you’ve got a few recipe favorites you can share, send us an e-mail with the details.

This love story begins with a blind date and low expectations. After all, I’d been on a few blind dates before and come away with nothing but the strong desire never to be fixed up […]

Restaurant crowd sees naked nuggets Everybody said it would be easier this time. Potty-training kid No. 2 is supposed to be a snap, you see, because kid No. 2 is so eager to emulate the […]

This morning I looked out the kitchen window and saw our dogs, Holly and E.J., lying on the deck in a patch of sunlight. Sprawled out alongside each other, the curve of their backs fit […]

When I was a little girl, my mother and I had a tradition. On a special night in September, she’d cook popcorn on the stove, make Coke floats and we’d settle in on the sofa […]

Lessons learned in an unglamorous life Parenthood is not a glamorous sport. Often it can be downright humbling. Some days, it sneaks a toe over the line into “humiliating.” Last Sunday was one of those […]

Hey mamas. This is where it all started for me. Twelve years ago I managed to talk my editor into letting me write my own newspaper column. I was only 23 years old. Boy, what […]

I told myself it was pointless, that I was a hypochondriac, that I was torturing myself for no good reason. It was the eve of my first surgery ever – unless you count the c-section […]