Previously I’ve written about some of the crazier coincidences I’ve had over the years. But this one might just take the cake. It happened the other night, just as I was tucking the kiddos into bed. Both claimed that they “weren’t tired” (big surprise), and Boogieface asked if she could read her brother a book before they…

Chinese water torture. That’s the most accurate way I can describe what it’s like having two, sometimes three kids, fresh out of school, all hopped up after sitting in class all day, coming home and invading what for the previous seven hours had been a quiet, peaceful sanctuary. It’s actually kind of nice, at first, to see…

So I’m sitting here in the café, trying to write something, anything. But it’s not going very well. I came in a little while ago and plopped down in my favorite seat right by the window. That’s when I first noticed the young couple next to me—he, looking uncomfortable in his business suit, and she, clearly…

It seems nowadays everyone’s talking about mindfulness and being “in the moment.” We’re so distracted anymore and our lives are so hectic that we’re not paying attention to the here and now. Instead, we’re too busy checking our Facebook to see if anyone “liked” the picture we posted of our eggplant parmesan at dinner last night…

OK…something’s come up that I just can’t keep quiet about anymore… The other day a friend of mine was out and about and overheard someone talking bad about me and my family. Apparently the man said, and I quote: “They’re all just living off of Amber’s millions!” Amber, for those of you don’t know…

Today was a landmark day in the history of our Elf on the Shelf, i.e., Snowflake. That’s because, for the first time ever, Snowflake left the house. Oh, sure, he leaves every Christmas Eve (when I gleefully shove him back into the cupboard in the basement) before magically reappearing the day after Thanksgiving (when I go down to…

(WARNING: Not appropriate reading for young children!) All my daughter wants for Christmas is this stupid robotic dog named “Chip” that, supposedly, you can teach to do obey you and do tricks like fetch a ball. (Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what it does.) It’s definitely not cheap, but at least it doesn’t make a mess…

It’s not my birthday as you might guess, not Christmas or New Year’s, or even Super Bowl Sunday. It’s not when we spring ahead, or welcome summer, or cheer the arrival of fall. No, my favorite day is Christmas Tree Picking Day. Every year after Thanksgiving, we drive to that farm up north, back down that old…

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So the other day my wife and I, along with our good friends Hugh and Kristi, went to Two Rivers Artisan Coffee Works in New Castle to break up our normal routine and do a little work outside the house. We got there right around 9:30 a.m., with plans to spend the morning working independently before grabbing some…