American Idle
I hear voices. There, I admitted it. And I’d bet good money you hear them, too. Here’s how it usually works: About one percent of the time, I hear the voice when I’m at my…
Hair hair everywhere
My mom and I have joint custody of a fancy vacuum cleaner. A few years ago when we both needed a new one, we decided to pool our money because we live just a few…
Dopamine’s double life
People are a mystery. Sometimes I’m convinced we’re all just a bunch of intricate puzzles who happen to be wearing pants. To have a decent shot at comprehending human behavior, we need to better understand…
Beanie baby
There’s a baby in the house. A tiny, orange, fuzzy baby with two green eyes, 18 pink toes, and 24 whiskers that are too long for his body. His name is Beanie. Our 18-year-old daughter…
Dealing with dread
August has baggage. And I’m not just talking about the oppressive heat and the swamp-level humidity. The month begins with the last dregs of summer and ends with an espresso shot of back-to-school busyness. If…
A computer’s close call
There’s an easy way to tell whether or not you have an unhealthy attachment to your computer: How do you react when it might be broken? It happened to me last week, so the feelings…
How mama got her snooze back
I wish I’d known years ago that my ability to sleep well might have an expiration date. I used to be so good at it. In those early years, I could drop off within minutes,…
The topic that triggers an angry inbox
By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3 Sometimes, I get angry emails. It doesn’t happen often, which is good because I don’t try to inspire irritation. But when you write for the public…
My brother, the bottle rocket
My older brother was one of those guys — a fireworks guy. Do you know one? A guy who loves fireworks so much that the 4th of July becomes more like Christmas — the most…
The true story of Stink and Stank
One of my dad’s favorite television shows was Sanford & Son, which aired through most of the 1970s. I was a little kid then, but what I remember most about the show, other than its…