From the monthly archives:

December 2009

Weekly Link Round-Up

December 14, 2009

Here’s my belated link round-up. Rio’s lost tooth and my Get Rich Slowly guest post bumped it from the weekend. But better late than never; here goes: Give Your Wealth Away: This was my guest post on Get Rich Slowly. It seems to have caused a little ruckus on the comments. Oops. Apparently saying the [...]

Tagged as: weekly link round-up

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All I Want For Christmas is January

December 13, 2009

I’m feeling pretty bah humbug this year. I’m tired, broke and grouchier about the weather than usual. The holiday season feels less like a joyful opportunity to reconnect and more like a train wreck of social, family and financial obligations. But tis the season, so I’m bucking up and doing my frugal best to be [...]

Tagged as: holiday, money

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All She Wants For Christmas Is Her First Grown-up Tooth

December 12, 2009

Rio lost her first tooth last night, on our way out the door to a holiday party. A party from which we got home late and she fell asleep in the car and did not manage to put her tooth under her pillow. So today, she has been waxing rhapsodic about the tooth fairy, who [...]

Tagged as: fairies, first tooth, funny, rio, teeth, the tooth fairy, tooth fairy

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Being an Elf is Hard

December 10, 2009

My eBay bid from yesterday was a silly success: Santa will be delivering a set of Disney Princess Barbies to my kids on Christmas morning, as requested in their letter to him. I only hope I won’t regret this when they’re playing “Sister vs. Sister Deathmatch” over the Snow White doll in a few weeks. [...]

Tagged as: holidays, parenting, princesses, toys

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Explaining Bank Fees To A Little Kid

December 10, 2009

When I had my blowout with Wainwright Bank last week, I had my kids with me. Of course. The toddler was sleeping, thank the gods, but my five year old stood there and watched wide-eyed while I tore into the banker about social justice issues and customer service problems. I was, comically and entirely coincidentally, [...]

Tagged as: money, parenting, rio

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Help a New Mom Sleep!

December 9, 2009

I got this letter from a reader over the weekend. This new mama is finding out first hand that babies do not come into this world with a good understanding of human rights. They’ll wake you up at odd hours, scream in your face, and refuse to let you eat. If you’re a parent, you’ve [...]

Tagged as: baby, parenting, sleep

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Letters to Santa

December 8, 2009

We all still believe in Santa around here. Yesterday, Rio made her first letter to Santa. It said: A Dollhouse That Looks Like A Real House (this was my suggestion) 16 Barbie Dolls (this was not my suggestion) Me 2 Barbie! Me Purple Barbie! (this was Serena’s suggestion) In fact, I had thought Serena was [...]

Tagged as: holiday, money, parenting, princesses

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Elephant!

December 7, 2009

Serena is becoming quite the artist. She bit this pancake into the shape of an elephant and then had it walk around the table. Who says you can’t play with your food?

Tagged as: food, serena

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Blog Business: guest posts, contact info and some ad changes

December 7, 2009

As of this month, this blog pays for itself. It doesn’t pay me, but I’m no longer digging into the household budget to cover the costs of running it. Thank you, gentle readers, for coming back here over and over to hear about my wild children and other adventures. Readers this week drew my attention [...]

Tagged as: blogs, writing

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Weekly Writing Round-Up

December 5, 2009

Here’s my weekly round-up. Another short list, but some good stuff. The bank story was clearly my big piece for the week, so I’ll start there. Starting this week, I’m going to include teasers with these so you can figure out what you’d like to read more easily. My Bank Stole My Grocery Money: A [...]