8 Halloween Costumes Any Crazy Mother Can MacGyver

I love Halloween. My two favorite things about it are scary movies and dressing up. However, since I've had kids it seems I spend so much time helping them  pick costumes, apply makeup and become the person or thing they choose, on the night of make believe, I have forgotten my love of dress up. 

A costume from 5th grade. Yes, that's a poodle on my skirt. 

5 Types of Families you Meet in Suburbia

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Suburbia can be an enjoyable place to raise a family with safe neighborhoods and idyllic tree-lined streets. It is a place to teach your kids to ride bikes, make friends and figure out who they want to be when they grow up. In the suburbs, you’ll find all sorts of people and many of them will be parents. They will join you at cookouts, block parties and even milestone events like kids’ birthdays and holidays. You will raise your children in unison. They will become friends. They will become family. And just like family, you can’t choose your neighbors. There are five types of families you may run into as you navigate the suburban jungle.

6 Apocalyptic Endings: Which Works Best for Your Family

We ain't going out like that. We ain't going out like that. ~Cypress Hill

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. ~Robert Frost 

The end of the world has been predicted for centuries. Yet, here we STILL all are. Of course, with all the chaos and douchebaggery, it isn't hard to believe that some day  this nutty existence, the only one we all know, will come to a halting, crashing, devastating end. But, how? Doomsdayers, religious leaders, scientists, poets and even American hip-hop groups have all offered their two (sometimes more like 50) cents, whether we've asked for it or not.While the apocalypse is a scary and overwhelming possibility, it doesn't have to be. Depending on how the world ends you and your family may just survive and thrive.

You may find yourself asking, how did I get here?

For some people it's a song that takes them back to that moment in their past. For me, my life and past are defined by movies. I remember who I was with, how I felt, the smells, sights and sounds of the original moment. Last night I watched a movie that I haven't seen in years. When it came out, I was with a different person who was not my husband and I was childless. I was a 27 year old woman in graduate school waiting to venture out into the world. I was on the cusp of true adulthood. I was younger.  I was free. The movie, the moment opened Pandora's Box. 

suburbia 5 a.m.

Suggested listening while reading this post: 
Once in a Lifetime
Little Boxes
Psycho Killer

suburban bedroom, early a.m.

A mother sleeps soundly, well as soundly as a mother can sleep. She is 40 and not content with her age, more because it means that certain parts of her life are now behind her than for reasons of vanity--though those don't sit well with her either.

Married Sex: A Fictional Tale

Sex changes after marriage and kids. Here is a fictional tale of what that can look like. The names and events have been altered and imagined to protect the innocent. 

4 Family-Friendly Slasher Films

If you grew up in the 1980's renting slasher films from your local video store, you may remember them with a hazy and nostalgic fondness. With Halloween just around the corner, you may even attempt to re-watch them, but if you have young children this won't be easy. First, you'll have to usher your children to bed. Then, you'll have to wait for them to fall asleep, which could mean bathroom trips, cups of water, and words of comfort or scorn. Once they are settled, you will have to monitor sound with your finger carefully placed just above the pause button. You won't want to scar your children with the screams or sights of young, sex-crazed, drunken teens being disposed of in one gruesome manner or another.