My “get the kids to make their own lunches” project has progressed to the next stage. At the start of October they worked together to fill out two weeks worth of lunch menus. I went grocery shopping to make sure we had all of the necessary ingredients in the house.

That last 30 minutes or so before the kids get off the school bus are often unproductive. I find myself waiting for them to arrive and reluctant to start something new since I know I will soon be interrupted. I am going to try something new.

I think I give fairly good advice. Not always the best and rarely spectacular, but most often solid and good. Like tonight when I counseled our eighth grade son to go to bed rather than to stay up and finish his homework. It was already after eleven o’clock.

Momentum is a good thing and today was a stellar day for building momentum. My husband and I took 4 large boxes of books to the Harvard Book Store to sell in their used book section. We came home with 4 large boxes of books (slightly less full),

I have a pretty good understanding of the importance of providing my children with balanced meals — even though I have been known, from time to time, to suggest having ice cream for dinner (although my daughter always points out that doing so wouldn’t be healthy

My daughter is in the midst of celebrating her eighth birthday. For the past several weeks she has been letting us know what sorts of thing she would like for her birthday: books, toys, accessories, etc. It is a great thing for her to do as many people ask me “what can I

Yesterday I had trouble motivating myself to continue the purge. I couldn’t seem to tackle the stacks of boxes which rose like mountains throughout our living room, let alone the ones in the basement. I decided that the answer was not to

Tuesday was a one-step-forward two-steps-back sort of day. I had managed to cull our belongings and assemble items (clothes, toys, books) with which we are ready to part. I carefully boxed them and stacked them on the porch, staging them for their launch to

Shana Tova! The new year is here and with it a period of deep introspection. What have I done over the past year that I wish I had done better, or perhaps not at all? What do I hope to tackle in the new year?

Today’s plan: drop off a bunch of the stuff I have gathered and boxed up for discarding. I started the day by getting a pep talk from my sister. She cheered me on, reminding me of the importance of getting things out of the house as easily and quickly as possible.

Often what one starts out doing for one reason turns out to have unintended consequences. When you are lucky, those unintended consequences are positive. I think this is a case where the fallout is going to be positive – at least in the long run!

I remember the feelings I had when my daughter took her first steps (I wasn’t in the room when my firstborn took his first steps and I really don’t want to go into the feelings I had about missing that milestone!). We were all so pleased as she carefully placed