I have never been a fan of perpetuating childhood mythology. I think it comes from being a perceptive child and not prone to believing the unbelievable. My brother and I spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to debunk these myths, wheedling my father in attempts to coerce him into confessing. We caught “Santa Claus,” after staking out our Christmas tree and discovering our parents in the act of trying to sneak a rocking chair under it. We never did manage to empirically disprove the existence of the Tooth Fairy, however.

» Continue reading “I Hate the Tooth Fairy”

The other day I read an observation about how adults teach ourselves that our bedrooms and beds should only be for sleeping, but then we turn our childrens’ bedrooms into playrooms and wonder why they fight sleep. Personally, I don’t know that I have ever personally had a problem with my boys sleeping in their rooms after playing in them, but I have historically had problems with insomnia that were exacerbated by treating my room as an office or student lounge and not a bedroom.

» Continue reading “Bedroom or playroom?”

It’s a Tibetan saying. I thought it was doubly apt as the Dalai Lama is set to celebrate 50 years of exile from Tibet and the people of Tibet labor under oppressive restrictions on basic freedoms that we take for granted. But, I also found other meanings to it; I am sure that I could find a million ways to apply this saying to my life. Today, this one application trumped: I wanted to apply this idea of compassion to myself and others who tend to view themselves or others with a critical, skewed, even pessimistic perspective.

» Continue reading ““Who looks not with compassion sees not what the eyes of compassion see. “”

I am quirky; this my friends know. I have an affinity for the dentist’s office, hospitals, and needles. I don’t mind blood draws, I think hospitals smell nice, and I have a tendency to fall asleep while getting my teeth cleaned. I can’t help it, I am just stressed out enough and just enough of a hausfrau martyr that the only way I can relax is through forced confinement. Hospital stays are the only vacations I get from my kids, and the dentist’s chair, these days, is the closest I will get to a spa.

» Continue reading “Interesting Moments in the Dentist’s Chair”

I spent a lot of time today walking, working, talking to a good friend, and talking to my husband. We shared our fears that we are trying to force a square peg into a round hole by staying in an area that is good in theory but much more difficult to reconcile with our urban souls in practice.

The fact is that we want to raise our kids in a decent area, we want to be able to afford a home in a community where people care, but we also want to be close to people our own age and enjoy the urban activities we miss. We want to live in a progressive area and live progressive lives and it’s difficult to do when you’re in a conservative mecca.

» Continue reading “A Full Day”

Follow this link to view the presentation:

How to Lead When You’re Not the One in Charge

I thought this was a good presentation on harnessing/leveraging personal power. It’s particularly relevant for people like me who have chosen career roles that place them outside of the management hierarchy. A couple of years ago I made a decision to take a senior, non-management role at my company, and resign my management position, in order to lead a more personally fulfilling life. My current position allows me to work from home, offering me a decent wage with benefits and personal flexibility. What it does not offer is an opportunity for advancement or positional power. One of the first things that I had to learn was how to collaborate and not dictate, and how to disagree and commit. This series of slides has other good information on how to be a leader when you’re not a manager.

Coming into the season of Lent, after a year I alternately wish I could do-over or wipe from my memory, I am looking to affect positive change in my life. I am bipolar and I have spent the last ten years of my life workshopping my shit and doing all the things I am supposed to do to take care of myself. I don’t take medication because I have historically suffered adverse reactions to it. Last year, after seeing advertisements for newly approved medications for the disorder, I decided to give medication another try. What I didn’t know is just how bad a bad reaction to medication can be.

» Continue reading “It’s Lent and I gave up sugar, so I’m blogging”