How to make bank with yard sales
My husband and I are getting ready to move into a smaller space with our son — right now we’re renting a house, but are going back to an apartment soon. This is all part of a bigger plan to downsize our living space and therefore our possessions, and it’s one that we’re really excited about.
This was our first garage sale, and we were NOT prepared for the singular anxiety and crazy-making that comes hosting a yard sale. Luckily, we pulled it off, and here’s how.
How switching to a menstrual cup helped my home: A TMI adventure
So there are some people who are a little embarrassed to hear about, um, well…*ahem*, “feminine issues.” This is not an article for them. This is an article for the other people who like to get all in other people’s personal business, but understand that because of the constraints of polite society, they can’t always ask all the questions they like.
There’s this thing called a menstrual cup! You may have heard of it. It’s a reusable alternative to pads and tampons in the form of a cup that fits comfortably up in your vagina and collects rather than absorbing menstrual blood.
The shy person’s guide to large parties
Large parties are rife with what I call “fringe friends” — strangers, distant family, or people you don’t know intimately. You might get invited to (or asked to organize) a wedding, reunion, baby shower, barbecue, work function, or camping trip. If you’re shy, this can be a source of anxiety instead of fun. Large parties prove difficult for those who are shy, and are a true challenge for the introverted host.
Here’s what has worked for me when hosting and socially navigating large parties.
Holy moly, I’m pregnant with twins
“…and here we have another baby,” said the ultra-sound technician in a way-too-calm voice.
“No.” I said.
“Yep — twins,” she said, and continued, measuring length and heart beats, while pure panic enveloped my brain and I searched the room for some sign that I was dreaming. You know like if the ultra-sound tech suddenly handed me a math test that I hadn’t studied for. That would’ve been awesome.
A Mystery Science Theater 3000 birthday party
I LOVE BIRTHDAYS. They make me very excited. Happily, I have a husband who, while less excitable, loves me for my super-planning tendencies. This is the birthday party I threw him this year.
Odd parent out: how it feels when your kid isn’t anything like you at all
Isn’t it interesting how we struggle with our own identities through our children? We want them to be like us. By that, I mean, our vision of who we are — you know, all the good stuff. I know that as my own daughter has grown and developed her unique sense of self, her individuality, her very strong-willed personality, I have always looked for those moments of me in her.
Starting conversations about inequality in finding a home
In the recent foreclosure crisis in the United States, a disproportionate amount of women and racial minorities were the victims of subprime loans and mortgages with adjustable interest rates — statistics that speak to inequality in housing. For Anita Hill, there is a “sense of belonging that comes from being at home” – so what happens when one is without a home? Reimagining Equality reveals that these biases are historic in the American construction of what “home” means.
I’m living the freelancing work-from-home parent dream… sort of
Apparently Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, and Deepak Chopra were all in Harvard Square on February 29th for the launch of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way foundation. I was in Harvard Square, too, but I didn’t catch a glimpse of them. I was there just for the fifteen minutes it took me to FedEx a book back to a client. Then I got home and discovered that a chunk of the proofread I had just mailed was still sitting on my desk. My desk isn’t even very crowded (for me, anyway), but I had cleverly separated out the last section of the book to cross-check against the earlier sections, and that turned out to be a bad plan because no one wants their proofread back with the last 20 pages missing. I couldn’t believe it. I had never done anything like this before. How could it have happened?