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

Sick of Winter

February 5, 2014

Outside my window, it’s raining glass. An ice storm blew through our area last night, crystallizing all the trees, making everything look as though it’s been dipped in molten glass. As it’s warmed up throughout the day, the ice has begun shattering and falling in individual shards and great sparkling bursts. It’s actually really beautiful. […]

Read the full article →

My Kids’ Favorite Super Bowl Commercials

February 3, 2014

Guess what? I watched the whole Super Bowl this year. I KNOW. I don’t get it, either. You know how I feel about football. I guess I was procrastinating folding laundry, or else I was enjoying my kids’ reaction to the commercials so much. This was by far their favorite: They liked this one, too, […]

Read the full article →

5 Tips for Surviving A(nother) Snow Day

January 30, 2014

The snow days. They’re killing me. And I know from the news I’m not alone. At first, snow days are a novelty, especially if you live in a place where it doesn’t often snow. A fun little day off in the middle of a workweek. Snowmen and hot chocolate. Sledding and watching movies. But then, […]

Read the full article →

More Fun Than a …

January 29, 2014

… barrel o’ monkeys! One of the things we did to pass the time during our many, MANY days stuck in the house due to winter weather was to dump out all the boxes of random toys we’ve collected. Lego guys missing heads, stray game pieces, stuff from birthday party goody bags, etc. Turns out […]

Read the full article →

8 Reasons I’m Failing at My New Year’s Resolutions

January 26, 2014

One of my unofficial New Year’s resolutions is to be less of a martyr this year. Martyrdom is a sneaky thing, because if you’re like me, you don’t THINK you’re being a martyr, it just creeps up on you. And then before you know it you’re the person stuck on the sidelines or finishing your […]

Read the full article →

Flashback Friday: No Sick Days for Moms

January 24, 2014

You know that saying, “Be careful what you wish for”? I was JUST telling my husband — after 5 consecutive days of the kids being off school — that I wished I had even a moment to myself. Well, as it turns out, I did have some moments all to myself as I was hanging […]

Read the full article →

When You Give a Kid a Video Camera

January 22, 2014

When you have a snow day following a 3-day weekend and your Mom works at home and has deadlines to meet, she might give you a video camera to buy herself a few minutes of peace. And I do mean a FEW — this peaceful scene comes to an end around 0:36 …

Read the full article →

On the Sidelines

January 20, 2014

It was the second week of Christmas vacation and we were grasping at straws. We’d been sledding (outdoors) and swimming (indoors). We’d been to the bouncy-house place and the holiday train garden. We’d played with every toy Santa and our very generous relatives had left under the tree. But we hadn’t gone ice skating yet. […]

Read the full article →

Friday Flashback: Yoga? No Go… at First

January 17, 2014

I’m trying something new right now. I’m not ready to write about it quite yet since I haven’t completely made up my mind about it yet, but it made me think of this post from my archives about how sometimes it’s love at first sight, but other times, you might have to try something 2, […]

Read the full article →

Dreams Do Come True

January 15, 2014

It works like this: dream big. Like maybe to have your own real live pet hedgehog. Then put it out there to the universe. By, say, writing a letter to Santa. Then, what do you know? Your dream becomes reality, just like that! It’s not the universe’s fault it misunderstood “pet hedgehog” as “pet a […]