So, I'm nowhere near a sports fan - I'm only looking forward to this week's Stupid Super Bowl because I hear the commercials are going to be funny and my mom is serving good food - but I saw this article this morning that I thought was cool and thought I'd share.

From Sportsillustratred.com MIAMI (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal put his police skills to use early Sunday. O'Neal, the Miami Heat's All-Star center and a reserve officer with the Miami Beach Police Department, followed a driver who allegedly crashed into his Cadillac Escalade and tried to flee... more

A random list of things my mother forgot to tell me about being a parent has been running through my head lately, so I decided to share some of my thoughts with you.

- Baby spit-up shows up more on darker clothing. And wearing nice clothing is generally just plain stupid.

- Babies smell. Even after the offending diaper has been attended to.

- You smell (or me at least). After cleaning up messes and realizing you can't remember when you last changed your clothes or showered, you certainly smell.

- It is very hard to rationalize with a child - at least one who is almost four.

- You end up saying "because I said so" even if you swore you'd never use... more

I don't make New Year's resolutions as a general rule (although every year I do strive to be more diligent in entering my finances in Quicken, as it actually makes sense for tax purposes to begin anew at the first of the year). Similar to my reason in being against Mother's Day (although I still expect a card, eh hem!) I feel like one should be able to make changes in their life, or create a goal to reach at any point in the year. January 1st is an arbitrary date. And just like Mother's Day really should be every day, we have the opportunity to say that "today is the first day of the rest of my life" every day of the year. But enough about that.

Although I don't generally make New... more

Here, in our neck of the woods, it's been unseasonably warm all throughout the fall and the bit of winter we've had so far. And I don't like it one bit. Really. One of my favorite parts about living in this area of the country is the changing seasons. We had neighbors growing up who moved to California. When they came back to visit, they said they missed the changing of the seasons the most. I love to watch the leaves change color - every year I say I'll go up to Maine or New Hampshire to go 'leaf peeping' or something. But then I realize that it's just... more

As an adoptive parent, hopeful adoptive parent, someone touched by adoption or someone just interested in the subject, it is important to learn about "Adoption Language." Adoption language is the idea that there are positive ways to describe people or situations related to the adoption, and the introduction of different terms that will hopefully come to replace clichés that have long been in use. "If you stop and really think about what you’re saying, positive adoption language is just common sense. For example, take terms such as real parent, real mother, real father, real family – these terms imply that an adopted child is not a real part of the family. By using phrases like this, you are... more

Unlike other major Jewish holidays, Chanukkah doesn't have a whole lot of traditions associated with it, or many specific rituals for the holiday. Chanukkah is a holiday that celebrates two miracles - that the Maccabees, a small band of Jews, won the war against the Syrian Greeks, and that the small amount of oil that was found in the desecrated Temple lasted for eight days instead of one. Here's my list of things to do on Chanukkah.

1. See how many ways you can possibly spell Chanukkah in English while having the word still phonetically resemble what you are trying to say.

2. Light Chanukkah candles. Consider looking into getting an oil burning menorah instead of one with... more

Sorry I haven't been blogging - just got home from a nice stay at the hospital for some respiratory issues. Hope to get back in the game soon.

Okay, soapbox time for one moment. My father used to send people home from work if he found out that they weren't registered to vote, and you can imagine that on election day he would make the rounds to see if everyone had voted.

As I told my students this week - people are fighting and dying around the world for the right to vote. And we in this country take it for granted to the extent that so many people are apathetic to the process. Our voter turnout rate is not near pathetic. I'd venture to say that it's far below pathetic. The thing I most... more

Okay, so I'm a huge Law and Order fan, and I found this amusing. Thought I'd share.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5121VjLwqZM

Anna is in what they call Pre-Nursery at one of the local schools here. This school year is the first time she's gone to school five days a week, and although it hasn't been much of an adjustment for her, it's been a bit of an adjustment for me. Mostly in terms of the schedule. Where she used to go to school, she only went two days a week, but they were very long days - I would drop her off around nine or ten in the morning and pick her up around 5:30 in the afternoon. Now, the school day starts (er, theoretically starts) at about eight in the morning and... more