Find a penny, pick it up; All the day you'll have good luck. I've enjoyed this superstition since I was a child and taught it to my child, but I never seriously believed it was true. The real reason I pick up coins I find on the ground is that they're money, and I figure … Continue reading The Value of Eleven Cents
Books That Blew My Mind
UPDATE February 1, 2012: For the past two years, this has been an article like my links page where I keep adding content as I get around to it. Now I'm going to call it finished! Of course, I expect to read additional mind-blowing books during my visit to Earth, but this list now includes … Continue reading Books That Blew My Mind
Two Easy Indoor Games
Here are two games that are easy to set up, use minimal materials, and are fun for kids about 2-10 years old at a party or holiday gathering. (See also these knee-bouncing games for entertaining younger kids!) Pass the Parcel You will need a bunch of small toys, costume jewelry and similar trinkets, coins, and/or pieces of wrapped … Continue reading Two Easy Indoor Games
Award-winning Toilet!
One of the nice things about having two toilets in a home is that you can relax about keeping both of them able to handle everything. As long as one of the toilets has full flushing capacity, the other can limp along in a delicate state, being used only for the easiest jobs, until you're … Continue reading Award-winning Toilet!
7 Neat Things My Kid Has Done
...in his last month as a four-year-old. 1. He packed his own bag. He did this for our Thanksgiving trip with some coaching, but even more impressive was in October when we were packing to go visit his grandparents. While I was choosing my own clothes for the trip, Nicholas was hanging around saying, "Where … Continue reading 7 Neat Things My Kid Has Done
Lazy Composting
This is the composting method that works for me! It's really simple, and it produces rich dirt for my flowerbeds quickly enough to suit me. If you are serious about making really high-quality compost or doing it quickly or being certain it is safe for growing food, then you should seek out instructions from somebody … Continue reading Lazy Composting
Battle of the Bagel Ballads!
Nicholas is almost five years old now and getting even better at making up rhymes. As the Hanukkah decorations appear around our neighborhood, we've been inspired to make up more bagel songs to the tune of "Dreidel, Dreidel". Walking to and from the grocery store last Saturday, we took turns singing them and trying to … Continue reading Battle of the Bagel Ballads!
I got to be a Shabbos Goy!
We live three blocks away from an Orthodox Jewish synagogue and within a mile of several others, so there are several Orthodox families on our street. Some are more friendly than others and occasionally chat with us about children, pets, or gardening, but in general they socialize with each other and don't mix much with those … Continue reading I got to be a Shabbos Goy!
Silk Underlayers
I'm an easily chilled person who hates feeling cold; I live in a place where winter lasts at least 4 months; I commute by bus, which means standing around outdoors for a while each day; I have a desk job, so I sit mostly still all day, and my office isn't always as warm as … Continue reading Silk Underlayers
When Robots Write the Blogs
Yesterday I delved into the settings for my blog software and decided to turn on an option to notify me of "trackbacks"--when other sites link to mine. I thought it would be cool to hear about them right away, instead of just discovering them when I poke around in the "statistics" to see how people … Continue reading When Robots Write the Blogs
How to Clean a Basement or Porch Floor AND Use Up the Last Dregs of Liquid Laundry Detergent
This technique is suitable for any floor that has either a drain or an open side where water can spill onto the ground. I learned the cleaning technique at Girl Scout camp, and years later I realized its wonderful compatibility with those "still very soapy on the inside but with not enough soap to pour" … Continue reading How to Clean a Basement or Porch Floor AND Use Up the Last Dregs of Liquid Laundry Detergent
Fevered Imagining
I've been sick off and on for a couple of weeks, and the thermometer claims I have no fever, but I think I must because of the dreams. For example: The flowerbeds of the little plaza a few blocks away turn out to be a rich source of earthworms. Nicholas and I spontaneously decide to … Continue reading Fevered Imagining
Learning from Old Clothes
Learning about the history of clothing fashions is an activity I've done with Girl Scouts several times. It's part of the Art to Wear Try-It and badge, Listening to the Past Try-It, and probably a few others. It's always been fascinating. Clothing is so intimately a part of our daily lives that thinking about what people like ourselves wore … Continue reading Learning from Old Clothes
Why aren’t we married?
Three years ago, Daniel and I were interviewed by Redbook magazine for an article called "The Changing Shape of the American Family" which profiled several different family structures. The Alternatives to Marriage Project referred the reporter to us as an example of a stable couple raising a child without being married. The final article [which, … Continue reading Why aren’t we married?
Layered Bedding
Something that really works for me in cold weather is putting layers on my bed, just the way I put layers on my body. I'm one of those people who's easily chilled and very bothered by feeling cold, especially when I'm tired, so having a cozy bed is very important to me. Daniel and I … Continue reading Layered Bedding
My Favorite Invention Name Changes of 1997
One of my responsibilities when I was a technical writer at an invention-marketing company was to keep track of changes to the name of an invention (that is, the inventor had changed his/her mind about the name under which the concept should be pitched to manufacturers) so that we'd be sure to use the correct, … Continue reading My Favorite Invention Name Changes of 1997
Client Service Notes
Here's another thing I saved from my long-ago job at an invention-marketing company: A letter I distributed to the client service representatives on my last day. These were the long-suffering people who spoke with the inventors by phone and did their very best to speak to these people as if they were sane and reasonable. … Continue reading Client Service Notes
Knee-bouncing Games
These two games have been enjoyed by little children in my family for at least three generations. They worked for me when I was little, they've been favorites of my four-year-old son since he was about nine months old, and I look forward to trying them on his younger cousins this Thanksgiving! These are the … Continue reading Knee-bouncing Games
Line-drying Laundry
I already wrote about clotheslines, but that article is ancient now; I wrote it for a college class in magazine writing in 1995 and later put it online. Line-drying all my laundry is something that still works for me, and now that I have 20 years of experience, I have even more to say about … Continue reading Line-drying Laundry
Perceived Stress Scale
Although I am discussing my work here, the point of view is my own, and this is not an official statement of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. I recently helped write a book about the research study for which I am the data manager. We analyzed data collected from 1,009 boys over 13 years, and we … Continue reading Perceived Stress Scale
The Earthling's Handbook 