While volunteering in my daughter's first grade class this morning, one of the boys - who was trying not to do his workbook - penciled an illustration on the cute bunny on his page. Peter Rabbit suddenly had a penis,......

I'm disturbed. The story of Phyllis Seidman, who was hit by a car only blocks from my house, haunts me. Maybe it's because the woman was wheel-chair bound due to MS. Maybe it's because my kids and I ride our bikes on the same streets. Maybe it's the flowers a couple people have left near the acciden...

My husband is massaging Kosher salt into the glistening skin of a raw turkey. He's balancing it on our granite kitchen counter on what used to be the dead gobbler's head. It's the Sunday before Thanksgiving. He looks up at me and asks, "Are you nervous?" "Me? No, you mean the Turk-Off?" "Yeah, do yo...

Last month I wrote an article linking to a study at Harvard on the dangers of hiring based solely on experience. On a different, and seemingly unconnected subject, everyone has read and heard the term ‘risk’ and ‘risk assessment’ in conjunction with our current economic hell ...

Necessity may be accepted as the mother of invention, but I say Mothers are the mother of invention. For example, think of all the messes you've cleaned up without your trusty Mr. Clean Magic Eraser or without a paper towel or house rag. When I cleaned my car today, I found a used tampon under the d...

My six year old son, Guy-Guy, learned to read from the television. That's kinda white trash. I wish I could say he learned from his teacher or Sesame Street or ANY show on PBS, but it was lower than that. He learned to read the list of shows on our TiVo. Three years ago he was recognizing the words ...

A woman handed me a giant bottle of wine at my doorstep the other night. I was panicked. The woman is the development director for Acterra, an environmental organization we love and support. Acterra does home energy audits, but that's not why this woman was at my door, she was delivering wine we'd w...

I'm so proud of Arnie. Our Governator recently created a new cabinet position in California - a secretary of service and volunteering that some are calling the "Czar of Volunteerism." Unlike other new cabinet positions, this one is not predicted to cost taxpayers more money. That is, if ea...

Something magical happened in our neighborhood recently. Families gathered to play outside together, you know, in the neighborhood without calling each other or scheduling or emailing or texting. Really!  It was so fun to do with our 6 year old twins. It also made me fondly remember my childhoo...

SV Moms Blogger Jill recently posted about the spate of burglaries in Palo Alto and SV Mom Blogger Beth posted these safety tips. I had a recent experience with the Palo Alto police, and wanted to report that they are VERY responsive, so call them immediately if you are even a bit suspicious about a...