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

Where I Go All Fan-Girl on Lupita Nyong’o

March 5, 2014

I have a thing for unlikely success stories. I like people who defy the odds, don’t follow the crowd. That may have something to do with why I — like the rest of the world — am currently enthralled with Lupita Nyong’o, who just won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in […]

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I Have Big News!

March 2, 2014

So I’m approaching a milestone birthday in a few months. Yep, the Big 4-0. And even though I witnessed it happening to friends and even my own husband, I was surprised when I myself started to feel the onset of something like a midlife crisis. The urge to shake things up, try new things, break […]

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To My Son on His 5th Birthday

February 28, 2014

Dear Riley, Congratulations on turning 5! This year, your birthday was all about ninjas, Legos, and Star Wars. Any toy that comes with a little guy and some sort of sword or lightsaber or rocket-launcher is your kind of toy. You are way more into Legos and action figures than your big brother ever was, […]

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Work You Love

February 25, 2014

In one of those worlds-colliding scenarios, I’ve been reading a lot of career-related articles for a writing project I’m working on, while at the same time giving (solicited) life and work advice to some friends, while at the same time reading my usual blogs and links on Twitter. Yes, I consume a LOT of data […]

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How I Ended Up Painting School-Kids Like Hindu Brides

February 21, 2014

This weekend I will be volunteering at my younger son’s school fair. I am happy to do this. All the parents will pitch in for an hour or two and a good time will be had by all. But I must warn you: if you are ever asked to volunteer at a school fair, DO […]

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Fun with Word Clouds

February 19, 2014

Here’s a fun trick: find a word cloud generator, paste in your blog URL or a bunch of text, and in seconds you’ll get a pretty word cloud like this with the 250 words you use most. Cool, right? Or you can narrow it down to the top 50 words, if you like: Try it […]

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Blogging: Who, Why, and What’s the Point Now?

February 17, 2014

I have recently been talking to a couple of people I know who want to start blogging. As shocking as that may be to us old-timey bloggers who’ve been doing this since we had to chip our parenting rants and recipes onto a stone tablet, and in stark contrast to the headlines proclaiming blogging is […]

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Valentine’s Day in My World

February 14, 2014

Yesterday I spent the entire day sequestered in my house banging out two stories that were due today, which happens to be yet another snow day, on the tail end of yet another week from hell filled with sick kids, work pressures, and random head injuries. Yep, Calamity Sam – the same kid who fell […]

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(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Kill Me Now

February 12, 2014

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Messed-Up Kids’ Movies

February 9, 2014

I know that everyone in the Western world is currently enamored with “Frozen,” but I will be the lone dissenting voice here and say I thought it was terrifying for children! I dragged my boys to see it during one of our many snow days, and then spent the next week worrying I’d scarred them […]