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Forgiveness

My daughter celebrated the sacrament of first reconciliation this week. This is one of a series of sacraments that one progresses through in the life of a Catholic, which start with baptism and continue on to marriage. For this sacrament, one confesses their sins and then one receives forgiveness from God.  Although I find myself unable to believe in a God or the church, my husband is a strong believer and we have decided to raise our children … [Read more...]

Faking It

During an interview with Kira Vermond, who pens a column called "The Money Shrink" for Chatelaine magazine, I explained to her that I had sworn off saying "I'm not good with numbers" ... or variations thereof. Not only does it sound dippy and stereotypical, but it's not true. Sure, I'm no math genius. But I'm also not completely inept either. In fact, I'd hazard a guess to say that I'm just as competent with numbers as most of the men I work … [Read more...]

Olympic dreaming? Not a chance.

In a world where parents are increasingly beginning to question the benefits of overscheduling their children in organized activities, the Olympics reaches right into a parent’s heart and makes you want to fire up that mini-van and start signing cheques. Almost. {read more} … [Read more...]

That was kinda sucky, wasn’t it?

I hate to say it, for fear of sounding unpatriotic, but Canada's opening ceremonies for the Olympics was kinda, well, sucky. Starting with the snowboarder entry that was cheesy and far too long. In fact, most of it just seemed like it went on too long for its own good. So much so that when K.D. Lang launched into crooning her melancholy lyrics: Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the … [Read more...]

The “Vacation”

I’m currently sitting in a beautiful suite in a resort hotel with access to two of my favourite things – but luxury version. The first, high-speed internet access – but in a quiet space that is not full of unsorted laundry, sippy cups and mountains of toys. The second, sleep – but in an enormous bed with high-quality linen and fluffy pillows and absolutely no chance that any little person will interrupt the snoozing. For these reasons alone, I … [Read more...]

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids

Did you catch this CBC documentary yesterday? I got a heads-up from Ann Douglas' blog at parentcentral.ca that it was coming and I was intrigued. In her review, Douglas concludes that this "hyper-parenting" phenomenon is largely a thing of the past: The documentary is worth watching, if only as a reminder of where we've been and how far we've come in rejecting the consumerist parenting style that views parents as manufacturers and kids as … [Read more...]

An Interesting Human: Dr. Basil Donovan

For my new gig over at Life As A Human, I have my first in a series of "interesting human" profiles posted today! It features Dr. Basil Donovan, who was a member of a committed coalition of medical professionals, homosexuals, sex workers, nuns, drug addicts and politicians that “broke the law, offended everyone, and saved tens of thousands of lives” when AIDS first hit Sydney, Australia in the early '80s. You can check out this short … [Read more...]

The Winter Resolution series: The Shilly Shally

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Ah, the infamous Shilly Shally. Stella has been raving about the charm of the Shilly Shally for years now. I'm not sure if she goes on about it unconsciously or as a conscious attempt to convince me to go cross-country skiing with her and hubby. Either way, I have always responded with something along the lines of "Have a special time with Daddy, while Mommy does some reading." But that changed on Sunday. Why? Oh, because of that damn … [Read more...]

Life As A Human has launched!

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So, today is the big day! Life As A Human, the Canadian-based e-zine I was telling you about in my last post has now launched. I really had no idea how it was all going to come together or who the other writers were -- it was a bit of a leap of faith to sign-on as a contributor. As you can imagine then, I was super keen to check it out first thing this morning. The result? I'm thrilled! And honoured. Because the editorial team selected … [Read more...]