Beyond Just Mom

I’ve missed you. 
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t been blogging for a few weeks.  I let the habit fall off the table as the busy-ness of life took me over.  I thought it was a good idea to set writing aside and try to pay more attention to my family, work and other [...]

 Lately I’ve been feeling a bit stressed, but it doesn’t make much sense.
We still have a few more weeks of summer.  (I know, many of you are starting school already, but while you were jumping in the pool we had school until mid-June, so no complaining).  My kids are at wonderful ages of gaining independence, [...]

Today I join a new venture with hopeful expectation. 
It begins with sad news:  our local paper, the Ann Arbor News, printed its very last edition this week after 174 years.   It was a pretty good paper, made by some really great people, that fell victim to the double whammy of the struggling newspaper industry in [...]

A quick update on happenings in our world–more substance to come next week:
1)  I’m thrilled to be joining the Parenting team for a new venture called AnnArbor.com.  Our traditional home town paper is closing, and the void is being filled by a web/paper combination that will include professional news reporting, micro-community journalism, and input from bloggers with a variety of [...]

We finally dug through that huge bag of end-of-school papers, trying to separate important memories from scrap. 

Quick detour:  No, we don’t keep every paper my kids bring home!  I ask my kids to make three piles:  1)  really important stuff that must be kept  2)  nice stuff to examine but pitch afterwards 3)  junk that can be [...]

Could you use a lift, a smile, or a little camaraderie from a woman who’s been there?  
I’ve just spent the most lovely evenings reading Cindy LaFerle’s collection of essays, Writing Home.
After reading Writing Home, I’d love to have coffee with Cindy LaFerle.  This award-winning journalist reminisces about life, love and laughter and offers the rich perspective of a mom [...]

Jennifer has invited fellow writers to answer the question:  “Why do we blog?” 
It’s a good question.  When people ask me what I’ve been up to, It’s difficult to explain why I spend hours every week surfing the blogosphere, dodging my family, gathering ideas, crafting these posts, hitting that “publish” button and wondering what might [...]