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

Staying Happy as an At-Home Mom

October 3, 2012

There’s been a lot of talk in the news lately about moms struggling with isolation, depression, and stress. It’s no surprise to me that parents who stay at home with their kids can find themselves depressed. (And often, broke. All those Starbucks runs for adult interaction don’t come cheap!) Going from brain-stimulating work outside the […]

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Flashback Monday: Board Meeting or School Play?

October 1, 2012

I’m still recovering from a weekend away — more on that next time — so while I’m playing catch-up on the laundry, dishes, and school paperwork that SHOCKINGLY were not completed for me while I was gone, please weigh in on this post I wrote a few months ago. Board Meeting or School Play? Whenever […]

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Flashback Friday: Ramona Made a Reader Out of Me

September 28, 2012

My first-grade son has turned into a rabid reader. Yesterday we had to make an emergency trip to the library for more Captain Underpants books. (Listen, I’m just glad he likes to read at all.) A boy after my own heart… Made me remember this post from my archives about my own childhood love of […]

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Pinterest Made Me Do It

September 26, 2012

Like most people I know who use Pinterest, I have a love/hate relationship with the site. I love looking at all the beautiful pinboards people have created. I hate that it makes me feel like a big ol’ incompetent slacker. If you’re not careful, you can get caught up in a DIY delusion where you’re […]

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Rules I Can’t Believe I Had to Make

September 24, 2012

Something you learn very quickly as a mom of boys is that nothing goes without saying. There is no rule too explicit for little boys. For instance, you can’t say “Keep your hands to yourself.” You must say “Keep ALL BODY PARTS to yourself.” The more specific and thorough you can be, the better. You […]

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Catching My Breath

September 21, 2012

It was a Saturday. Not that this fact means much to my kids, who were up and at ’em at the utterly unreasonable hour of 6:30am. I pretended to be asleep so my husband would have to get up with them.* Wife of the Year, right here. When I did finally roll my lazy bones […]

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No More Nursery

September 19, 2012

Like most moms-to-be, I spent ages decorating the nursery when I was pregnant. It took me not one, not 2, but 3 tries to get exactly the right shade of light green paint for the walls. I became obsessed with finding the perfect rocking chair, and — I’m not ashamed to admit it — had […]

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Mean People Suck

September 17, 2012

Years and years ago when I was preparing to leave the corporate world to make my living as a freelance writer, I hired a life coach. She cautioned me that in a profession like writing where rejection and competition are so common, I would need to be very vigilant about guarding myself against negativity. I […]

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A Note from the Tooth Fairy

September 14, 2012

The tooth finally came out. It had been wiggly for weeks, and my 6yo had even allowed his dad to try to pull it out once. But it wouldn’t budge; it wasn’t time. But then as we sat down to dinner one night, Miles yelled, “Mom, look!” His front tooth was cocked at a crazy […]

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You Asked a Pregnant Woman What?!

September 12, 2012

Pregnant women are MAGNETS for nosy strangers. From “What are you having?” to “Are you sure it’s not twins?” the questions range from harmless to horrifying. You won’t believe some of the comments and questions I got during my pregnancies. Read my full post on The Bump blog. And if you’ve got embarrassing/shocking/inappropriate anecdotes from […]