Search Results for: blog leave good enough alone

We Cannot Live on Love Alone

During my first year of marriage I wasn’t as happy as I should have been. Despite the supposed “honeymoon period,” I often felt listless and depressed. It took me a while to figure out why. Jonathan has an excellent job with the government. Unfortunately it’s located in a rural area, so most of the jobs are related to the military base that his position serves. Few jobs exist outside of the technology industry. Basically, my plan to start freelance work once we had children, so I could stay at home with them, had to be bumped up a few years … Continue reading →

How Young is Too Young to Be Left Home Alone?

As our children begin to grow, we may be wondering when it is okay to leave them alone. How old should they be when you allow them to be home alone from the time they get home from school until you get home from work? Is it okay to go out for a date night and leave a child home in the evening? What about a simple walk around the block? How old can your child be when you leave him in the car to run into the store? Years ago, parents didn’t worry about such things, I think. I … Continue reading →

So Your Child Wants to Stay Home Alone

If you have tweens in your family the topic of staying home without adult supervision may be one you discuss frequently. This isn’t the case in my home (yet), but deciding whether or not to allow her 10-year-old daughter to fend for herself is a hot topic at my best friend’s house. My two cents worth was a firm “no,” and my BFF agreed, but her number one child won’t let the issue go. In their case, the 10-year-old wants to be unsupervised in the afternoons during a 2-hour period between the time she gets dropped off by the school … Continue reading →

Ask a Pets Blogger: Crate Time

We recently adopted a ten month old terrier mix from the shelter. My wife and I both work, and the pup spends eight to ten hours in his crate. He’s very good about going into his crate when it’s time to go to work, but more often than not we come home to a crate full of accidents! The shelter said he was housebroken… but maybe he isn’t. Is ten hours too long to leave him alone? Congratulations on the new addition to your family, and thanks for getting him from a shelter. There are lots of awesome dogs (and … Continue reading →

Exercise and Diet Together Help Weight Loss

Thinking about losing some weight? You’ve probably found tons of advice that suggests how to do that. Some of it might contradict the other pieces of advice. Those of you who are confused about what the best plan for weight loss is may want to consider what a recent study found. It turns out you need to focus on both exercise and diet together. A Stanford study about weight gain and obesity was making the rounds on the internet recently. The lead author of the study was Dr. Uri Ladabaum, a Stanford gastroenterologist. In short, he describes the results as … Continue reading →

I’m Not Crafty at Christmas

Is it worth saving money on Christmas decorations if you spend all of that savings on band-aids and burn cream? It started out innocently enough. A good friend of mine was getting a group of us together to participate in a tradition in our small town, an annual wreath making session at the town hall. A professional crafty person would teach us how to make gorgeous holiday wreaths with a live wreath and all of the supplies included, for a mere $10. The township  actually covers most of the cost for this event, since the live wreaths alone cost more than … Continue reading →

Stuck in a Bind

It’s the week of finals, so when my son woke up with a high fever last night I was more than a little worried about what the following day would bring. I gave him some medicine and comforted him as best I could until he fell asleep again. We made it through the night only to find that the fever had not subsided this morning. Most daycares are sticklers when it comes to caring for sick children, and for good reason. They can’t have all the other kids getting sick, and our daycare is no exception. Normally I would take … Continue reading →

Reconnect through Dating

When I first started dating my husband, over 20 years ago, I remember the anticipation I would feel. It didn’t matter what we did, as long as we were together. I remember times when we would talk and talk. And then other times when I would be in his arms and we enjoyed the silence. Then pretty soon the kids came along. We tried to make time for each other and go out on dates. But it got tougher with each addition. There was a period of time in which I don’t think we dated at all. But it started … Continue reading →

Sleeping Beauty: A Strange Fairy Tale

Charles Perrault’s “La Belle au bois dormant” (literal translation “the Beauty sleeping in the wood”) is a bizarre little tale. Some people might find Walt Disney’s adaptation of the story as soporific as the curse upon Aurora, but at least it has narrative consistency. So many of the things that happen in Perrault’s story leave (modern) readers scratching their heads, and that’s on top of the hefty dose of terrible messages for women, something that didn’t come as a surprise after I read the 17th century Frenchman’s take on Cinderella. Up until the point of the teenage princess’ pricking of … Continue reading →

Living with Engineers: Tales of Efficiency

There are a lot of engineers out there in the world, and so there are a number of us married to them. Based on conversations I’ve had with other spouses of engineers, I’ve learned it’s not just me: it can be a unique, strange, and funny experience living with an engineer. The first thing you need to learn if you’re the husband or wife of an engineer is that your spouse will always think that their way of doing something, is the best way of doing it. The magic word is “efficient.” Learn it well, because you’ll be hearing it … Continue reading →