A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Short Fiction: Beth

Beth

“How was your day?” Beth asked as Chloe buckled herself in.

“Good.” She was already texting, her dark head bent over her phone.

“What was good about it?”

“What?” Chloe said, removing one ear bud.

“I said, what was good?”

“I dunno. Just stuff.” She put the ear bud back in.

Beth persisted. “Who could be texting you already? Weren’t you with them all day?”

Chloe looked pained as she removed the ear bud again.

“What?” she said.

“Never mind.” Beth sighed and glanced in the rearview mirror at Jake.

“What were you saying about dodge ball?” she asked.

Jake launched into a play-by-play that lasted all the way to their driveway. [Read more…] about Short Fiction: Beth

Organizing for Next Christmas

I meant to make these Wee Mouse Tin Houses as gifts this past Christmas. I really did. I even bought fabric. A week before Christmas. Needless to say, the mice didn’t get made. But there’s always Christmas 2013, right?

Except that after surviving the holidays the last thing I want to do is start thinking about next year. I need to recover! But every December as I’m scrambling to find supplies to make teacher gifts or staying up way too late finishing a scarf, I kick myself and wonder why I didn’t work on gifts all year.

My problem is that despite my best intentions I lose focus sometime around Groundhog Day. Christmas seems so far away. And it turns out that all the other months are busy on their own, without adding Christmas projects to the mix.

So this year I’m going to try a simple plan that, I hope, will add structure without making me feel overwhelmed.

[Read more…] about Organizing for Next Christmas

Managing Kids’ Art

When I took the Christmas art down, this is what went back up in the Frame. It wasn’t particularly planned, but I like how it turned out.

I would never choose favorites, of course, but I really love Lexie’s sea turtle (in the lower left corner). And Lily’s Matisse-inspired giraffe. And Will’s 3-D project featuring a lesson on perspective. (Hmm…I just realized there’s nothing up there from Andrew. I’ll have to dig something out of the archives, aka, the large plastic bin that I keep his stuff in.)

How do you manage kids’ art in your home? Do you save every scribble? Or do you (or your kids) pick and choose? Do you cover the walls with their artwork or do you keep it to one place, like the refrigerator? If your kids are grown, did the art go with them or are you holding on to it?

That’s a lot of questions, but I’m curious!

My Top 10 All-Time Favorite Romantic Movies

An Affair to Remember

We watched You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle this past weekend and, of course, they got me thinking about other great romantic movies. So after some serious pondering, I put together a list of my all-time favorites.

Out of Africa
Rose-lipt maidens and lightfoot lads. The music, the scenery, the clothing (didn’t Banana Republic stores start popping up after this movie came out?), the star-crossed lovers. Tim and I each get weepy in a different scene. 

A Room with a View
Mr. Beebe said it well: “If Miss Honeychurch ever takes to live as she plays, it will be very exciting—both for us and for her.”

An Affair to Remember
The mother of all romantic tear-jerkers. “If you can paint, I can walk!”

Sleepless in Seattle
This movie gave us Harry Connick, Jr. and tiramisu. And, for me, the happy discovery that I’m not the only one who loves An Affair to Remember.

You’ve Got Mail
The plot is wonderful but aren’t the trappings what really get us? The charming bookstore, Brinkley the golden retriever, Meg Ryan’s hair, her turtlenecks and tights, her apartment….

The Family Man
I think what I like most about this movie is how much my husband likes it.

Casablanca
I wavered between this and To Catch a Thief (featuring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in Monaco) but Casablanca has everything—including a hero who loves his heroine enough to let her go.

Stranger Than Fiction
Who doesn’t melt when Harold brings flours to the prickly Ana?

Somewhere in Time
Is it far-fetched? I don’t care—it’s all so beautiful. I saw it the year I turned twelve and it broke my heart.

Pride and Prejudice (BBC version with Colin Firth)
A mini-series rather than a movie, but Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy. And there’s that scene by the lake.

So those are my all-time favorite romantic movies. Did I include yours?