It's all about the laundry

Sitting around the Thanksgiving table at a friend's house with 3 generations of women, I said something and realized I sounded just like my mother. I turned to my friend's daughter, aged 13, saying "You'll swear you'll never do some of the things your mother did, and the next thing you know, you're doing them." She shot right back, "The laundry?"

Barnacle Boy Discovers Personal Care Products

Crash Kid's move to middle school has resulted in an increase in the use of "personal care products" in our household. It's not that Crash has discovered the opposite sex and is suddenly aware of the need for hygiene, he's actually a pretty clean guy. Crash has an early bus, and he shares a room with Barnacle Boy. The Boy gets up with Crash, and then enjoys the morning news shows. It's the commericals that got him hooked on the personal care routine. He uses three different shampoos (using up our complete collection of samples from parental trips) and would shower until there was no hot water left if we let him. He smells wonderful and looks so shiny and bright. Quite a change for a kid who was morally opposed to hand washing earlier in the year!

Interventional Radiology: An Essential Skill for Motherhood

I never entertained the idea of going to med school, chemistry has been a passion for as long as I can remember, but the Saturday before Halloween I wished I could trade places with my grad school roommate (now a radiologist). Barnacle Boy wanted to be a Munchy for Halloween. The Munchies are cartoon characters BB and his friend ML cooked up last year. To make the Munchy frame, I ended up threading long wires through casings along the outer edges of the costume. This process would have been much easier if I had gone to med school, become a radiologist and spent years placing stents in arteries. Who knew?