I’ve never straightened my kids’ hair and I don’t plan to… but i’m guessing his hair would be halfway down his back if I did. (His hair is so gorgeously curly and I love it so much)

I've signed myself up for a 5K in November and a 10K in May. I've done one 10K in my whole life and that was 20 years ago so I'm beyond rusty but I do like having a goal to shoot for. Here's hoping my middle aged knees and cranky feet don't fail me this winter.

Sometimes you scroll the news for a few minutes and can’t help but wonder exactly how much coke is floating around the White House and Pentagon at this very moment

The longer I work in higher ed the more convinced I become that private student loans are the devil

New post and I'm fired up about this one: collegesanity.substack.com/p/the-plight...

I ordered some Bombas on August 28th and they still haven't shipped. I'm never getting these socks, right?

I am in meeting #6 of #10 today and I am about to eat my own arm off. Very grateful for my sweet husband who is bringing me lunch soon.

Last day of my work trip, so hotel room breakfast today was remnants of a bag of kettle corn, last of a bunch of grapes, watermelon lime Olipop, and 1/3 of a Tony's Chocolonely sea salt caramel chocolate bar. I regret nothing.

Reading another story about someone falling for a phone scam and I truly think that my best defense for scam prevention is that I simply will not answer my phone* *there are mayyyyybe 10 people I make an exception for + the school nurse line

Watching old Housewives episodes while alone in a hotel bed (heaven) and have decided my favorite kind of Housewife fight is when one of them gets righteously mad about someone else talking behind her back…. as though that isn’t basically the #1 job responsibility to be on a Bravo show 😂

The man sitting next to me on my flight this morning was singing along to the plane’s music during boarding and, sir, it is 6:30am. Nobody wants close quarters karaoke.

It is nearly 90 degrees here in Minnesota today and I hate it so, so much

Never became as popular as "ET Phone Home" did it

See also: Oreos. Those weirdos are always thinking up new flavors that nobody really asked for

The longer I parent the more convinced I become that at least 75% of my parenting challenges are ultimately just solved by time

Raining and 58 degrees for the kick off of my son’s soccer game tonight. Yep, summer really is over.

I sincerely hope that JD Vance doesn't expect "Minnesota nice" when he is dealing with grieving parents who are beyond sick of politicians who refuse to have the courage to do the right thing, even when children are being killed.

It is very amusing to me that my 13 year old daughter it extremely brand loyal to two brands and two brands only: Taylor Swift and Costco She just told me that if she ever has kids someday, she hopes that Costco will have expanded into the car business so she can have a Kirkland brand minivan

Called an audible this morning and went out to breakfast with my 17 year old. It was so good to just get time to chat with him (while watching him house a truly staggering amount of hashbrowns) One of my forever parenting tips: never discount the value of 1:1 time with your kid, at every age

“Do not offer thoughts and prayers as you systemically enable such tragedies. Do not claim prayers are sufficient when children die as they pray. Do not pretend you do not understand.” — Lydia, 16, Minneapolis

It's fascinating (in a bleak way) to watch people&entities who claim to be committed to social justice/diversity also openly using generative AI. We all know which communities are getting harmed environmental impact of AI, right? Is the allure of the shiny new thing just causing willful ignorance?

I'm not really into gardening/landscaping but one of my goals this summer has been to do a little bit of weeding or yard pick up most days of the week. And by "little bit", like 5-10 minutes. Happily, this seems to be working as I pursue my usual goal of "not ugliest front yard on the block"

I’ve been at a conference in downtown Minneapolis all week and it is such a good reminder that so many of the people online who like to talk about how dangerous cities are really are entirely full of shit

I’m in two book clubs and both of them chose this book for this month and WHEW I need to talk about the ending, so I am very glad too have two spaces to do that

It’s my birthday! I shall use this as an opportunity to ask for donations for my son’s scrappy and underfunded public school soccer team: www.gofundme.com/f/support-hi...

Why is it that I can go days without getting a spam call and then I have days like today where I’ve had 11 spam calls in 4 hours? This is so annoying and also why I never have the ringer on my phone

These are my current candy obsession and they are out of stock almost everywhere (apparently they truly are a limited edition) and I found three bags at a random convenience store in Detroit and it made my whole damn day

Just spent an enjoyable five minutes listening to someone from rural Indiana try to explain the concept of “corn sweat” to someone who has never spent time near a corn field

Diet Coke Iced coffee Bubbly water Regular water Lemonade

My son tried out for a very competitive club soccer team and I’m anxiously awaiting an email about if he gets a spot. Part of the anxiety is just knowing how much he wants it and part is the fact that the team says you get between “2 to 12 hours” to accept an offer if you get a slot. Yikes.

The news about Malcolm-Jamal Warner is so very sad. He was so talented and seemed to have found an ideal way to be a working actor but also a private person. How terrible for his family and friends to lose him so early.

Me and my very best girl

Today my 13 year old told me that I am her second favorite person in the world. The #1 slot goes to Taylor Swift and you know what? I’ll accept that. She said I could move it the top a lot if I “become a billionaire” and given that I work in higher education, it sounds like I’ll be #2 forever

I’m a Peloton person and I do lots of their shorter yoga classes and like them a lot. I have a weird block about doing the 30 minute or longer classes because … I don’t actually know? Maybe I think I will get bored? But my body is feeling tight and crunchy today so maybe today is the day

I grew up in Arizona but I live in Minnesota now. I love Minnesota with all my heart but I very much feel my desert roots the moment it gets above 80 degrees and 50% or more humidity. Today it is going to 90 and 75% humidity and I am already cranky about it.

just setting these next to each other

Had to get my drivers license renewed and upgraded to the enhanced ID so went to the MVD place this morning right when it opened. I was in line behind 15 or so people when the doors opened and I was done and back in my car less than a half hour later. It was… fine? Easy. Nearly almost pleasant, even

I just did some very casual math and realized that I very likely have more than 1,000 meetings a year at work. Good lord.

My kids do multiple sports& it’s interesting how different the vibes of the parents are from sport to sport. My kid is just starting to train for cross country and it turns out that many of the parents go running together while the kids practice and I love that for them. Not for me, but for them.

I’m not really a New Year’s resolutions person (I am more about goals than resolutions) but this year I did resolve to stop buying books on Amazon and I’m pleased that we’ve now passed the halfway point of the year and I’ve stuck with it

I can’t do all the things. But I can do the things in my lane and do them consistently

I found a random (unplayed) scratcher ticket in my new book, stuck in between two pages of a smutty scene. That’s a new way to get lucky, I suppose

YOLO indeed

Call me a prude, but the beak and talons would scare me

Past me: “sure, let’s schedule that dental appointment for 7am on the Monday I get back from vacation! So efficient!” Today me thinks past me was a real dumb bitch I’m still so numb that I can’t successfully drink my iced coffee without spilling, a real insult to injury situation

Two years difference is wild

About to crush this child in Skipbo, as a loving mother does

Minnesota kids are just built different

You are going to a cabin for a week: how many books are you bringing with you?

Going through the house to gather items for a garage sale and having a little nostalgia about the kids books that they’ve outgrown. We need the shelf space back but it’s a little bittersweet to know that they are past some of the books they loved once upon a time