I am living two lives. One is slow and quiet and enjoyable. It’s the one where I get to relax at home and spend time with my kids – time I’ve never had before. And time I’ll probably never get again. The other one is cloistering and overwhelming and frankly quite horrible. This one keeps…
One of the major themes in my middle grade/young adult novel, The History of Hilary Hambrushina, is mother-daughter relationships. Like several of the other young characters, Hilary has a turbulent relationship with her mother. Writing this book has caused me to reflect on my own relationship with my mother and its evolution. With the exception…
I’m in a discombobulatory free-fall right now. And if I may speak for everyone else – I believe we all are. The last time I felt this topsy-turvy was when I brought a baby home for the very first time. I was thrown into a tailspin of confusion like nothing I’d ever experienced before. Day…
Eight weeks and one day ago, I replaced my Brita water filter – then the world went crazy and I didn’t even see it coming. I’m a creature of habit and routine which means every two months, I religiously change that filter. I crack open a fresh one and hold it under a gentle water…
Once upon a time, I thought staying at home with nothing much to do but read and watch movies all day was my idea of Heaven. And while I still do (to a certain degree) – the kids and I are going a tad stir-crazy. Just like everybody else. We’ve been watching a movie per…
It was Saturday – late morning – I was neck deep in dirty laundry and the riveting Netflix show The Stranger. Only one episode left and it would all make sense . . . hopefully. My daughters needed (read: wanted) to go to the mall. One needed (read: wanted) new shoes and the other needed…
Not everyone is lucky enough to experience the wonder of time travel. But I get to – every time I visit my parents. First of all, they still live in my childhood home and second of all – my old bedroom walls are the way I left them more than 20 years ago: covered in…
On a dark and cold winter’s night, I can think of other things I’d rather be doing than shivering on a frigid bench in a musty arena with the unflattering glare of overhead lights shining down upon me. Come summertime, nothing makes a long, lazy day even longer than having to sit on uncomfortable bleachers…
It was dinner time. And we had a guest. Cousin Sarah was staying with us while she attended a work conference nearby. I decided to try out a new meal – I took chicken breasts and made slits in them and then jammed some colourful veggies into said slits. Veggies like strips of bell pepper,…
I started a new tradition last year – but really it was started by Aunt Pat years ago. Every January, I could look forward to Aunt Pat’s crabby email entitled “Merry Bitchmas” where she would list out everything that went wrong over the holidays – anything that pissed her off and caused her grief. This…
