I like  to pride myself at times as being the independent type.  (My friends call it "loner". LOL.) So most of the time I don't mind spending hours at a time online trying to figure out what my next blog post should be about or how I can increase my Facebook fan base.  I find it fun.

But even us "loners" can get a bit lonely and out of touch with the outside world when even 10,000 Twitter followers just don't cut it as well as coffee with a friend or dinner with a…

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While writing "All Alone" earlier this week, my fingers actually kept tap-tap-tapping away. And I looked up, and the sun had not only set, it was pitch dark outside. And a whole story had poured out. The post was so long I had to chop it in half, wrap up my thoughts and finish it in this post.



These past few months I've been thinking a lot about what "loneliness" and "being alone" are. 'Tis typical for me every…

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It's storming outside tonight. Again.



I'm craving sunshine. Yes. This rain-loving, born-in-San-Diegan wants warmth from the sun and natural, bright light.



But, it is still May. One more day anyhow. And another shower can't be bad for the rainforest that surrounds us here. So, I'll just write about last night. When it wasn't raining. When it was surprisingly cold out and the sun was setting beyond the forest's edge.



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Note: please be advised that names have been changed to safeguard my son's anonymity.

Earlier this week I stumbled across an education blog that suggested boys who struggle in school lack close friendships. Developmental psychologist Niobe Way proposed that boys experience…

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The hubster was at a conference for an entire 8 hours and before I reached the conclusion that, after more than 1.5 years of marriage, I could no longer ever live alone.



That has to be some kind of record.



At first, I was totally fine and kept myself busy with a movie and doing some work online. Then it came time to eat dinner and I had no desire to cook for one or eat by myself. I ended up making a delicious sandwich (BLT...except with turkey bacon and spinach instead of… Continue

Lately, I am a lonely mother.  I know--even in a world with millions of moms and mom-blogs and mom-circles and mom magazines, even though my closest confidants are parents: I am a solitary figure with solitary problems living in a deep dark solitary vacuum.  What about those social networks you ask?  Well, amongst 143 friends on my Facebook page only 20 of them aren't parents.  (Mostly my former students, others who have made conscious choices NOT to be moms and dads, and one priest.)  I…

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Being a stay at home mom is hard. It's hard in all the usual ways having to do with wrangling multiple children, chauffeuring them from place to place, breaking up fights, wiping noses, preparing meals we hope they will eat, laundry, dishes, sleep deprivation.

But you know what the hardest… Continue

I want to start this post by saying I am VERY fortunate that I am able to be a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) to my 3 little munchkins. I love them dearly and there is nothing more important to me than being home with them during their most formative years. Being their mother, teacher, nurse, chauffeur, chef and anything else they demand… Continue

mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US"">One of my favorite movies

is Notting Hill, partly

because it stars Hugh Grant and he is British sexy which the anglophile in me

finds very attractive, partly because it is filmed in one of my favorite

cities, but largely it is because I am just a sucker for a good love

story. The movie came out a few

months after my first husband died.… Continue