college
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What Do You Give a Graduate Who Needs More Than a Celebration?
There is a particular kind of worry that settles into a parent somewhere around graduation season — not the kind you talk about at the party, but the kind that finds you in the kitchen at night, long after the dishes are done, thinking about your child and what comes next for them. You have watched them grow up. You have watched them struggle and push through and figure things out, sometimes with your help and sometimes very much without it, the way kids have to when they are becoming their own person. And now they are standing at the edge of something enormous, and you are proud — genuinely,…
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This is the Air/Fryer Convection Oven I’m Buying
OK — I know this is not technically an Air Fryer… but bear with me — it works like one. I picked up this Bella Air Fryer on sale, as a whim — and I ended up loving it so much that I use it more than my microwave. I use it to re-heat leftovers so that they are hot and crispy and juicy, and not mushy like the microwave leaves them. The steaks cook up moist and juicy — same for seafood. I even make gorgeous mini loaves of bread. One of my hacks is to put an oven-safe bowl in the tray, well oiled, to use to cook…
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Eclipse Bound
We are well into our trip with 6 hours of driving behind us and an hour left to go. You know you’re doing the right thing when you’ve already driven two hours to pick up your kid at college and he says, “this is crazy.” So grateful I remembered those precious glasses. We are armed with snacks and plenty of water — while we were prepared for massive traffic delays, the roads have been relatively clear. Except for this jammed rest stop. Here’s a link to what to expect no matter where you are for the great solar eclipse.
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Senior Tag: You’re It
I vowed to ignore it. After recovering from caring for the one with pneumonia, getting bronchitis myself, and a huge uptick in writing projects, I said no. Not out loud, just vowed that I would ignore the entire thing. I didn’t want to be bothered with carrying backpacks, phones, keys and cups of coffee to the car — or retrieve them when they got home. (Participants must be wearing only a bathing suit, no shoes, and hands and all pockets must be completely empty — otherwise, they can be shot — with a squirt gun.) So, I steadfastly ignored the pile of squirt guns in the back of the car,…
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Officially, I’m Not Waking My Kids Up Anymore
This was a HARD morning. With the rain, traffic moves slower. No matter where you live, or what decade it is, traffic moves slower, and traffic is heavier, whenever it rains. I learned this back in the 80s, when I was just starting in the working world, and have never found it not to be true. And, so, as I woke the boys up this morning, during one of my, “going-back-upstairs-trips-to-tell-them-to-get-up-again” rounds, I told them, today, you have to get up earlier. It’s raining. My knee is sore from climbing the stairs. My ears are echoing with the yells I made while I was busy turning off a burner on…
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Sharing Home
I’ve been cooking too much. Mini pot pies, banana breads, cookies, burritos, even cookies. The boys are more interested in sleeping than eating. So, after each meal, I’d carefully wrap the leftovers up and stack them in the freezer. I’d pull them out to re-heat, but I reached a point where I just felt I would never reach the end of the piles. So, I took off to visit my son, and his roommates, at college. The cooler was loaded with pre-cooked meals, bone broth, and frozen veggies for soup, along with some oat bran, and my recipe for “bread” cookie mixes and fresh fruit. I arrived at 11:40 or…
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When You Get A Text From Your Kid’s Friend
I managed to gather one of my son’s college buddy’s phone number. Earning this phone number was a simple as simply asking for gift suggestions — in secret. But at the same time, the privilege of keeping this number does come at a cost. I know that I can never play the “mom” card with this number – asking questions that in any way “hint” at the prospect that I am merely using the friend to check up on my son. The second I do that, I can guarantee my number will soon become “blocked.” What am I talking about are questions that merely suggest gathering real-time information, such as: What…
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Thirty People Heading To A Regatta
I called my son Friday night, to learn he had been in an uncomfortable van, for about five hours, and had seven more hours to go. His coach had sent them to a Regatta in Virginia… so, it was a very long weekend for him. Imagine the expressions on the parent’s faces of the girl who called them and said, “Mom, guess what! I’m close to home! I’ll be stopping by, with 30 of my closest friends… can you make dinner?” The lucky parents made lasagna; the girls spent the night, and the guys headed on to hotels. But my son was content with the stop they had made at…
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Sunday Rice
Food is how I connect with my son. He loves to eat, he is wildly curious about how I make what I make, and wants to do it himself. Talking about food is a safe, non-intrusive way of connecting without digging around, we can talk about what he ate there, and with whom, and where. This allows me to learn quite a bit about his life, without him having to give me a full detailed account of his comings and goings, what’s going on with his friends, and what he’s been up to and where. The 2 am pancakes, are a perfect example. The ones his roommate made for the…
