FennelFiles

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother baking sweets. Why? Because the cupcake consumption breakdown in my house ends up as follows: Scott: 1-2 cupcakes Lennon: 1/4 cupcake (and multiple declarations of dismay for said cupcake) Calla: 2 cupcakes (mangled into an indistinguishable mass and then sucked upon for 20 minutes) Me: 9 cupcakes Okay, [...]

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My child alarm clock woke me promptly at 6:27 a.m. with the clearing of his throat. He stood there near my head in the dark morning, looking at me expectantly. “Mommy,” he whispered, “I have a loose tooth! Look!” He jammed his finger into his mouth and wiggled his bottom tooth back and forth. I [...]

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We spent the first part of election night at a potluck with our friends. Scott stayed glued to his laptop, watching polls and that ubiquitous map while the rest of us wolfed down bowls of chili and hunks of cornbread and cheered each time a state turned blue. With Obama’s prospects looking good and six [...]

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Today, I never managed to get a decent meal for lunch. For no good reason other than lack of planning on my part, I was left to choose from the unsatisfying selection available in the downstairs cafeteria (a.k.a, the office vending machine). Any office worker knows that the choices in a vending machine are slim [...]

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I’ve become obsessed with fantasy baseball. Or perhaps it is that I have become obsessed with my current standings in the fantasy baseball league that I have played in for the past five years. I am in last place. First place for me is a lofty dream, and while I aspire to climb that high, [...]

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I have such vivid and fond memories of spending the night at my grandparent’s place. A weekend trip to their house was a celebrated event. My grandparents would drive out to the country and pick us up in the evening and my sister and I, seatbelt-less in the back of their huge yellow car with [...]

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I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around the mind of my four-year-old. And I can’t say that I am doing a very good job at it. I am constantly trying to stay ahead of my clever little boy, and it is exhausting. He keeps me honest, routinely tests freshly laid boundaries and knows where [...]

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I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately. Before I had kids I had a glut of time, and I took it for granted. At that point in my life I never thought I had enough, but as I look back now I can appreciate the teeming amounts of time at my disposal. After Lennon [...]

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I love my kids, but I hate their eating habits. Before we had kids Scott and I would host small dinner parties regularly. Homemade spring rolls with a peanut dipping sauce, vegetarian sushi rolls, creamy risotto with fresh asparagus, spring fava beans with penne and a white wine sauce—I feel nostalgic just thinking about all [...]

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I’m having a Grinchy Christmas. Perhaps it was the eight days of Hannukah right after Thanksgiving that spun me into my green-skinned mood. Before we had kids we never made it through the full eight days. In fact we were lucky if we made it to day five. A box of candles, normally just enough [...]

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