Valentine Brkich
March 7, 2016
So I’m watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show the other day with Cass and the kids, and it’s the one where Otis the drunk sues the county for negligence after a fall at the jail. Otis’s slimy lawyer lies to him, telling him that if he sues the county they’ll fix up the jail to…
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Valentine Brkich
March 3, 2016
So the other day my in-laws got back from vacation, and they brought the kids back these really cool drinking glasses that flash and light up. The next morning during breakfast I thought it would be fun to fill the glasses up with water and then turn out the lights. Sorta like an early morning disco party, just without…
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Valentine Brkich
February 25, 2016
Whenever I see a young family struggling to get through those oh-so-trying early years with their children, I always do my best to encourage them and tell them to just hang in there. After all, before they know it those days of endless diaper changes and sleepless nights will be a thing of the past as their kids…
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Valentine Brkich
February 19, 2016
I’m not really sure how I got into this Bigfoot thing. It probably started back when I was a kid and first heard about the Big Hairy Guy from Leonard Nimoy on “In Search of…” Over time, my interest only grew as I discovered things like Time-Life Books’ Mysterious Creatures and first read the word “cryptozoology”. For a…
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Valentine Brkich
January 8, 2016
“Oh great, what now?” I thought, hearing a thud from upstairs. I had just put the kiddos to bed and sat down in the den with a good book and a better beer. Now one of them was up, and it was only a matter of time until he or she came downstairs. Wonderful. Just then the door opened and…
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Valentine Brkich
December 16, 2015
“This is for you, Daddy,” says The Animal, handing me a piece of paper featuring his latest work of art—a blue-headed monster/demon, with a yellow body and orange arms, and which is surrounded by 19 stamped monkeys and two (what I assume are) stars. If anyone else had handed this to me, I’d have crumpled it…
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Valentine Brkich
December 3, 2015
Parents are always marking their children’s “firsts”. The first time they roll over. The first word they speak. The first time they walk. The first time they have an explosive, diaper-overflowing bowel movement, when you’re at the mall, you don’t have any diapers, and you just used your last wipey. (True story.) These are all memorable…
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Valentine Brkich
November 18, 2015
I first heard about Levity in Squirrel Hill (floatlevity.com) on Twitter, where people were tweeting about the joys of sensory deprivation floats and how effective they can be at clearing one’s busy mind. Since I figured my mind could definitely use a little housekeeping, I contacted Levity and made an appointment. I was a little nervous in the…
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Valentine Brkich
November 12, 2015
You might remember a couple of months back I wrote about how sad I was after sending The Animal off to all-day kindergarten and then returning to my startlingly quiet home. That was the moment I realized how much I’d enjoyed having him around, and the resulting silence left by his departure left me utterly heartbroken. Well, I…
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Valentine Brkich
November 3, 2015
First off, forgive me if this post is even more nonsensical and disjointed than normal. My brain is isn’t exactly functioning at full capacity. You see, I’m in the ninth day of a 10-day cleanse. I’m writing this on fumes. Kale fumes. For those of you who don’t know what a “cleanse” is, allow me…
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