This Little Ditty

There are so many things That Little Tootie Lu can do. She can skip, button buttons, And she can almost tie her shoes. She just adores music And sings lots and lots of songs At the market or the bookstore, She sings really loud and long! Tootie Lu loves art, Drawing pictures big and small. [...]

There stands a table In the hall. Unremarkable, Simple, small. Surface polished and Finish marred. Legs long and sturdy, Table scarred. It catches the mail, Holds the keys. Comings and goings, Table sees. The chill of winter, Summer sand Blowing through the door. Table stands. Children running past, Bump or spill, Nudged this way or [...]

Home again, after a truly amazing trip to New York.  It was incredible from beginning to end.  Well honestly, the beginning was just horrible now that I think of it. Jay and I had finally gotten through security at LAX.  We had laid all of our things on the conveyor – coats, bags, shoes and [...]

Let’s face it, I live in a frat house.  Between my husband and my three rowdy boys, there’s more than enough testosterone to go around over here.  And so it stands to reason that I don’t have that many girlie moments in my life.  No hair-braiding, fingernail-painting, pink-pajama-partying at our house.  No sir.  In fact, [...]

As Micah approaches the age of 5, I often find myself checking his basic skills.  Of course I disguise these quizzes with games or songs, but really I am just doing the mom thing and making sure he’ll be prepared for kindergarten in the fall. “Hey Micah, let’s sing the ABC’s really loud!” “MMMommy, MMMicah, [...]

In a little over a week’s time, Jay and I are headed to New York so that I can attend a writer’s conference and he and I can have a few days to visit with friends and enjoy ourselves, sans kids. My mom has graciously agreed to fly out and stay with the boys for [...]

There is something magical about fried chicken.  I mean home made fried chicken.  Because it makes such an enormous mess, I don’t make it very often.  Maybe that’s all there is to making it special.  But whatever the trick is, it works on my boys.  All of them. Last night I pulled out all the [...]

Occasionally in life around our house, a situation presents itself that simply merits a little more va-voom than words alone can achieve.  In times such as these, I have been known to sing a Little Ditty.  Some such songs I have inherited and others I have painstakingly created myself.  “The First of School/Last of School” [...]

The western sky is still stained orange From the sunset I must’ve just missed. A thickening gray muffles the noise Of the traffic’s persistent hiss. Fog crawling in from the water’s edge Smears the headlights of passing cars And the radio spills out a soulful song, Eddie’s voice tangles with his guitar. Windows display cooks [...]

Oh glorious hunk of machinery! You labor in long-drawn-out mystery Melding onions and sausage and greens Into the winter-time soup of my dreams. Though you’re painfully heavy and awkward, A behemoth in my minuscule cupboard, You plug into the wall. There’s no mess at all. Oh crock pot, how splendid you are! A heavenly smell [...]