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Saying Goodbye
I know I said I wouldn’t write any personal posts until the kids went back to school but this past weekend we lost a family member and when I am grieving, writing is my biggest form of therapy. My parents’ dog, Tink, went to Heaven early in the morning of July 29th. It was unexpected but not really as she had been sick for a few weeks before her leaving us. But I say unexpected because when our pets leave us, it is always a shock, always too soon and never something you plan for. Losing a pet is the hardest part of having a pet because they are never…
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Our Promise to Buddy
As I am writing this, I am being interrupted by one of my favorite people in this world. Our dog, Buddy. I know he isn’t “people” but to our family, he is. For many years, we were good without a dog; we had a fish, Lucy, that required no care other than the weekly tank cleaning and twice a day feeding. But for years the youngest member of our family has begged and pleaded for a dog. This summer, we had told Ella, was finally going to be THE summer. We had read that dogs are good for children who have ADHD, and Ella is so good with animals of…
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Life and Stuff
I was working away from home the last week of school before Christmas break. Mike sent me this picture on the last day of high school after finals for the holidays. Buddy needs a phone apparently. Making doggie biscuits. I made homemade bread for the first time for our Christmas dinner. I have made it in the bread maker countless times but this was HOMEMADE; like I had to knead and everything. I am on my way to becoming Ree Drummond, yo. Here is the simple recipe. My mom got me drunk on Christmas Eve. It’s okay, I needed to get drunk. I’ll explain in a…
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Why I Am So Damn Thankful #SharisBerries
Whenever I am approached to write something about someone special in my life, I don’t usually turn it down. So when my friend Brett emailed me to see if I would be interested in writing about my dear friend Rebecca last winter, I didn’t even give it a second thought. Really, I shouldn’t need someone to ask me to compose a post about someone special in my life, I know this. But sometimes we just don’t take the time to tell our loved ones how we truly feel. Oh sure, we say things like Love you! or Be safe! but we don’t really tell them how much they mean to…
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In Ten Years
So, a couple of things have happened since my husband and I got married on May 27th, 2006. We have seen a loved one fight cancer and win. But we lost a really amazing grandma. Then we gained two equally amazing new humans. We watched family members move far, far away. But then we got two members back again and we aren’t letting them go this time. We lost some friends. But we gained some really kick-ass new ones. And the friends who stayed around the whole time, well they deserve an award and cake. We’ve lost some jobs. But in the process, we’ve gained some cool new opportunities. We…
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When She Leaves
Every summer since my oldest daughter has been as tall as my knees, she has gone away with her dad for a week. In order for her to have a relationship with him, the state of Illinois requires that she see him every other weekend, one evening a week for three hours and every summer for a week of vacation. In the beginning, she was only able to do a few days for her vacation. Three or four. And she cried through all of them. I dreaded those “vacations”. They certainly weren’t for her. Or me. I would even say not even for her dad because I am pretty sure…
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How Us Became Us
My husband and I recently celebrated 11 years of being together. And when I say “celebrate”, I really mean patting each other on the back and saying, “good job”. You know those adorable stories of how couples meet and their cute courtship tales? That is not us. Our story is so far from that, you could be standing on top of the above tales on a ladder wearing platform shoes and STILL couldn’t even see our story. Those adorable engagement pictures on Pinterest? Oh sure, there are the pictures of us plastered at the local Applebee’s with friends and I am pretty sure one of them involves my husband giving the…
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Christmas Is
This post was originally published at Chicago Parent where I am a regular contributor. Christmas means many things to many people. Here is what Christmas Is to our family. Christmas Is….. – a day to celebrate new birth. – hoping for snow but never usually getting it. – singing Silent Night by candlelight at midnight in German. – stocking stuffer shopping with my mama at Walgreen’s Christmas Eve morning. – making messes in the kitchen with the kids. – missing loved ones who have passed on. – listening to Christmas music while licking the envelopes of cards. – oranges, peppermint and clove. – eating spaghetti and meatballs on Christmas Eve. –…
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How Kari Got Her Groove Back. Durex Campaign
So I mentioned to you in a post here about how my husband and I just celebrated our seven-year wedding anniversary. And heard from so many people about their fears and apprehensions over the itch thing. Seven year not vaginal. The hubs and I were doing good but kind of hit a little slump as of late due to lots of things: life, kids, no time together, finances, good TV. WHAT? Admit it, if you had the chance to watch a Candice Glover win American Idol or a little nookie in the boudoir, what are you choosing? AND THIS IS WHY YOUR MARRIAGE ISN’T IN A SLUMP. photo courtesy of Durex …
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What Seven Years Looks Like
My husband and I celebrated our seven-year wedding anniversary this week. It hasn’t always been easy. To be quite honest, it has been really hard. It could even be called suckish at times. Let me be clear, being married to him hasn’t been the hard part. It’s the circumstances since we’ve been married that have been particularly brutal. Our wedding day. Look how in love. How naïve. How happy. That’s okay, there are meds for that now. In honor of our seven-year anniversary, I could write a mushy love story. A love letter to my soul mate. This won’t be one of those posts. We took this picture of our feet after a…
