Thank you to everyone for their sympathy and support. I made peace with losing my grandmother a long time ago, but what I'm grieving most right now is the loss of family, or at least a supportive IRL circle. Other than my mother, no one in my life out here knew my Nana. I need to be around cousins and aunts and uncles to share stories and photos, to laugh through our grief. I haven't been home in 12 years.

But really, she died a long time ago. My grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease, that cruel thief that steals memories, relationships and, eventually, an entire life. I last saw my Nana in 1997, just before I moved to California. I’m not sure when she last saw me, because by that time, she didn’t know who I was. My husband, whose sharp-as-a-tack grandmother died unexpectedly a few years ago, has given me hugs and much sympathy today, but my grief is set at mere sadness, because I had already lost my grandmother.
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[Disclosure: This is a MotherTalk book review; in return for posting my honest thoughts, I received a free copy of the book.]
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[Note: This post is part of my participation in Mom Central, "a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions." In exchange for my honest thoughts on Mamapedia.com, I will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card.]
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[Note: This post is part of my participation in Mom Central, "a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions." In exchange for my honest thoughts on a free sample of NSTeens, an offshoot of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's NetSmartz website, I will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card.]
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[Note: This post is part of my participation in Mom Central, "a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions." In exchange for my honest thoughts on a free sample of Natural Cleaning Wipes, a Green Works™ product, I will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card.]
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I just thought of my dream job: therapeutic librarian. I'd work with counselors, parents, foster parents, schools, youth officers, anyone who needed help reaching a child. I'd use psychology and book-sense to find books that would help heal hurting minds and hearts. OK, so it sounds more like a TV show on the Hallmark Channel starring one of the fallen stars from "Growing Pains" or "The Cosby Show," but it's a fun fantasy.

There is something about the feeling of accomplishment when I find a just-right book for one of the children. I was reading The Doll People to Rebekah tonight, having guessed on a hunch during last week's library trip that it would be a welcome balm after four days away from home. When we got to the part in the first chapter where one of the dolls finds a secret diary, Rebekah gasped aloud with joy. That, my friends, is one of the reasons I got into the mommying business.

[Note: This post is part of my participation in Mom Central, "a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions." In exchange for my honest thoughts on Priority Club Rewards, I will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card.]
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Poll #1308892
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

In your discussions with your children and their future, do you ...

Note: Comments are disabled and this poll is public. It will also list your LJ username under "view results."

[Note: This post is part of my participation in Mom Central, "a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions." In exchange for my honest thoughts on TokBox, I will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card.]
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Today, I saw the two faces showing the outcome of last night's election in California.
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Copy this sentence into your LiveJournal or blog if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by people who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

I've been married three times. If anyone is a threat to long-lasting heterosexual marriage, it's people like me! GLBT people have never threatened my marriage. (But undiagnosed mental illness, adult chat, hookers, personal ads and morals-optional coworkers sure did.)

The more I think about this, the more I lean toward civil unions being the official option for consenting adults in the United States. Let houses of worship marry people who are choosing a commitment to that faith, and let clergy define *those* marriages by their standards, as they have every right to do.

But don't legalize discrimination.

It's no different than when the U.S. miscegenation laws were repealed in the 1960s. At the time, people like Jerry Falwell waved a Bible around and said that interracial marriage would "destroy our race eventually." The rhetoric against same-sex marriage is similar in its ignorance. I am grateful there are wise judges in California who earlier this year ruled to protect a minority from mob rule. I hope the state's voters do the same.

I just did a little housecleaning on my friends' list. If I swept you up by accident, just contact me, giving me a hint as to who you are, and I'll add you back in.

Me: "You've got about 15 minutes, then we're going to have a special snack."

(OK, I actually said "schnack." I'm Jewish.)

Rebekah: "What is it?"

Me: "It's a floatus rootbeericus."
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[Note: This post is part of my participation in Mom Central, "a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions." In exchange for my honest thoughts on The Responsibility Project, I will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift card.]
( Read my review here. )

[Disclosure: This is a MotherTalk book review; in return for posting my honest thoughts, I received a free copy of the book.]
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Anyone who leaves pointlessly mean-spirited and poorly-constructed diatribes on year-old posts in this blog will find that those "comments" are removed. IPs are also being logged, so you'd better find somewhere else to be until your meds are titrated.

Thanks.

Rules: Post three things you've done that you believe nobody else on your friends list has done.

If someone else comments with "I've done that!" come up with another one.

I have:


1. Spent more than eight hours in one day looking through profile photos displaying mostly penises on adultfriendfinder.com to find the personal ad my then-husband was using as a means to cheat on me.

2. Been married three times. (a ditto from wendykh.)

2. Gotten final divorce papers and an engagement ring within a two-week span. (A ditto and a one-up from Angela.)

2. Tossed an old wedding ring into the Pacific Ocean at midnight on New Year's Eve.

3. Never been outside the United States.

This piece from the Washington Post sums up the answer to that question better than I ever could.

That Costco sells cashews in 2.5-lb. jars and frozen mozzarella sticks in 5-lb. boxes, but the ladies' clothing selection is pretty much limited to medium and small?