Solo Mother

The turkey leftovers are making this long holiday break a bonanza of deliciousness. I’ve eaten my weight at two Thanksgiving meals, and have also made Lemon-Orange Cream Gelato, a loaf of bread, breadsticks, and veggie chili.
I am grateful that I have food to put on my table.
Tomorrow, I will caulk and winterize a few more windows in my apartment, maybe put up some weather stripping on the back doors, plug some more holes with insulation, and basically buckle down for the winter.

I am grateful that I can heat my home, even though I can’t afford to.
I’m going to go …read more

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My kid has something up his sleeve for Mother’s Day. He and my mom have been making me a present for the past two weeks, more or less, and he comes home messy and painted and grinning ear to ear. He hasn’t even told me what the present is, which is a first for Mr. I Can’t Keep A Secret.
On Friday, I went to his school for Muffins for Mom, a lovely coffee-and-sweeties sort of assembly. I sat with the moms I know best from his school, and watched the classes perform such hits as “You Are My Sunshine”, “Skidderidink”, …read more

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I feel like a line from Rocky Horror tonight:
Dr. Everett Scott: We’ve got to get out of this trap! Before this… decadence… saps our wills. I’ve got to be strong, und try to… hang on! Or else, my mind may well *snap*! Und my life… will be lived…
[singing]
for ze *thrills*…
I don’t know how much longer I can hold out against them.

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Tonight, I helped my parents throw a dinner party in honor of a local theater’s thirtieth year. I ended up working it. Worked my butt off. But my folks were so happy, it was worth it. I love to help, and the way my weeks have been going lately, I really needed a couple of hours where I could make a difference to someone. It felt good.
And then I picked my kid up from my amazing friend’s house and he was such a sweet, wonderful boy. Helps that he loves my friend and her daughters and her husband. I can’t …read more

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There’s this hip, nondenominational, warmfuzzy church in my town that puts on such family favorites as the Easter Eggstravaganza and a Mother’s Day luncheon that makes moms smile. They aren’t marketing Jesus. They don’t mention God. They just promote family and happiness and make memories in my neighborhood. I heart them.
Last night, the King of Everything and I raced home so I could change out of my work suit and into play clothes, then rushed to the park, where this funky groovy church had set up a big screen, a big generator, and the film Cars. There was free …read more

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Maybe I can say this because I’m not a rabid Beatles fan — I was caught between Kiss and the Who when I was coming of age, thank you very much. (What that says about me, I’m not quite sure…) But the vitriol being spouted about celebrities as they gear up to split up is just… beneath us. Let’s not call Heather Mills McCartney a gold-digger, shall we? Is anyone calling K-Fed a gold-digger for the stunts and blackmail he’s pulling on Britney?
When I was a kid, divorce was less common. But whenever it happened, feelings ran high. When B’s …read more

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