Abby Off the Record — The scoop on life, writing & raising kids

First World Problems

April 25, 2012

If you know me at all, you know I love me some Twitter. I like my social media how I like my exercise classes: fast-paced, simple, and fun. Unlike, say, Facebook, where one of my high school friends recently added me to a 20th reunion group and now I get 50 emails a day from [...]

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Stop Trying So Hard

April 23, 2012

My yoga teacher is awesome. A 60-something woman with a hippie sort of vibe, she’s exactly what you’d expect a yoga teacher to be like. She wears ankle bracelets and gauzy wraps, reads us the Tao Te Ching and poetry during savasana, and shares wacky anecdotes like the time she may have gotten secondhand-stoned from [...]

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At Home with the Eco-Police

April 20, 2012

FOUR WHOLE DAYS. That’s how long I was cooped up in the house with 2 sick kids this week. Being stuck at home with small children for days on end with no adult contact is a special brand of hell that should be reserved for people who spit out gum on sidewalks and hog handicapped [...]

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Work, Worth, and Figuring Out What Really Matters

April 18, 2012

For days now I’ve been stewing over the whole Hilary Rosen/Ann Romney issue, even as I’m elbow-deep in pukey bedsheets. As most of you probably know, liberal pundit Hilary Rosen started a media firestorm last week when she said that Ann Romney, the wife of Mitt Romney and former stay-at-home mom to 5 boys, can’t [...]

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I’m On the (Bleeping) Phone!

April 16, 2012

The stomach bug has struck our house. Again. So in lieu of a new post, please accept this one from my archives. Now back to Clorox and laundry… Is This a Good Time? I admit it. Pre-motherhood, I used to get annoyed when I’d call my friends who had kids and the conversation would go [...]

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Shy, Snobby, or an Introvert? This Book Explains it All

April 13, 2012

Things I’ve been called in my life: shy, sensitive, cerebral, an enigma, quiet, mellow, snobby, stuck-up. Some compliments, some not. Some accurate, some not. What I know I am is an introvert. I like reading and writing. I like to socialize one-on-one or with small groups of friends. When I attend a big conference or [...]

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When the Tooth Fairy Met the Easter Bunny

April 11, 2012

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: It was a big weekend at our house. The Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny showed up on THE SAME NIGHT. And look — the first ones to come in… Were the first ones to come out. My baby is growing up!

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Q&A with Writer Rebecca Schorr

April 9, 2012

Today I’ve invited a special guest to answer some questions for us about writing and publishing. I met Rebecca when she took my writing class a while back. Not only is she a fascinating person with many talents (A female rabbi! A professional singer!), but she is living proof that even newbie writers can and [...]

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Spring Musings

April 6, 2012

My days may be filled with drama and stress and bodily fluids, but they are also punctuated by moments of real beauty. And no, I’m not talking about the glowing faces of my cherubic offspring. (Although they ARE pretty cute. Boogers, Band-Aids and all.) I’m talking about the breathtaking spectacle that is Baltimore in the [...]

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No One Prepares You for This Stuff

April 4, 2012

Setting: My kitchen. Time: 6:30pm on a typical weeknight. Scenario: Something’s burning, someone’s bleeding, and someone’s crying. Simultaneously. There are so many parts of parenthood I was not prepared for before I became a mom. Even now, almost 6 years in, there are days – multiple times a day even – when I think to [...]