kids
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Yard Sale Finds
Some finds today. We stopped by an estate sale and got this desk for $40. It needs some cleaning, but it’s solid wood and has dovetailed joints and doesn’t smell weird or anything. It even has a glass top, cut to its shape. I also saw a gorgeous china cabinet there that was the perfect…
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The Library and Me: A Fomite’s Tale
At ALA, someone from the organization interviewed me and asked what libraries mean to me. I told him lots of things. How I won several consecutive years of the library’s summer reading contest as a kid. How heavily my family uses the library (not just for reading, they also sponsor lots of activities, like jewelry…
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Look! I Made Pete Postlethwaite!
Eldest and I have been working feverishly on the dollhouse for the past couple of days. It gives us something to do. We make the plans for it, discuss them, and then we execute them. I like it because she has smaller, more nimble hands, so I make her do things I don’t like to…
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Car Sickness and Flat Tires: Family Vacation, National Lampoon-Style
After our sojourn to CalArts, we decided to go up to the Sequoias to see the big trees. We stayed the first night at a Best Western outside of the park, then went inside. The plan was to camp. We made reservations at a campsite, the only campsite available. It was about 20 miles away…
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Comic-Con 2012
Comic-Con was in San Diego this past weekend, and it was a zoo. About 140,000 people attend. Then there’s more random stuff people can do downtown, so even more people who aren’t attendees go. It is elbow-to-elbow crowded, but people are generally pleasant and wear creative costumes, so it’s a fun atmosphere once you can…
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Sherlock/Dr. Who Shoes
We got some white Vans for our 12-year-old over the weekend, and she turned them into a work of art with fabric pens. She’s a huge fan of the new BBC SHERLOCK series and the DR. WHO series, so she simply had to devote one shoe to each. I swear, I think the best thing…
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Morning at Children’s Hospital
Recently, I asked the kids’ pediatrician for a referral to the cardiologist, so they could get echocardiograms to see if they have noncompaction cardiomyopathy, the genetic heart condition that runs in my family. I am hoping the kids got Cadillac’s heart. Everyone in his family, on both sides, lives into their 90s, as long as…
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20 Free or Low-Cost Summer Activity Ideas for Kids
It is May. I am afraid that this does not adequately express the panic in my voice. It is MAY, people! May means the last full month of school. May means JUNE is coming very very soon, which means school will be OUT. Phineas and Ferb say: There’s 104 Days of Summer Vacation, And school…
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Too Much of a Good Thing
Last night, at 11 pm, I got a notice on my phone that Eldest had played her turn in Draw Something. “Go see if she’s up!” I said to Cadillac. She had just been up to use the bathroom, and lately she’s been staying up too late, reading or just staying up.
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I Am Not Your Professional Photographer
So, I was standing here minding my own business, breaking up a fight between Squidward and Patrick the Starfish (two plastic things which were not meant to represent cartoon characters) and watching my three charges besides, when an older couple with two young kids (ages 2 and maybe 10 months) accosted me.
MARGARET DILLOWAY 