Tennis courts! That’s brilliant! We have one next to our apartment too....It’s funny that you should mention it, but we’re in the process of getting him formally evaluated for speech delays and sensory issues, and I just got him into an integrated developmental half-day daycare a week ago. (We got a subsidy that we…

Oh G-d, I hate the playground too. I’ve complained about this before here, but my two-year-old son is also a super-speedy daredevil with sensory issues so he runs and runs and runs. I have painful bunions, a bum knee, and a chronic backache I can’t afford to fix, and nearly all of the motherfucking playgrounds in our…

DAMMIT. I just about started bawling when I read what you wrote. You are so right. (I’m a not-by-choice SAHM with health issues and a special-needs toddler and zero extended family or community support.) Sometimes being on the phone is self-care, for fuck’s sake. Possibly all the self-care we’re able to achieve for a…

Fuck yes. I think this is part of that “you-must-stare-unblinkingly-at-your-kids-and-revel-in-every-single-moment-and-forget-about-using-playpens-for-your-own-sanity-and-follow-them-around-24-7-because-how-dare-you-have-a-life-you-bitch-I-mean-you-angel-in-the-house” phenomenon that plagues our society these days. I’m…

A former work colleague and my relative’s spouse both say things like this because they have unsuccessful small businesses now. Also, “now that I’m a small business owner, I understand how harmful minimum wage laws are to the American dream. Fuck Democrats [which they both used to be].” And I’m like, “really? If you…

I got texts for years from a model named Dasha who thought I was a model named Salome. I kept telling her that I wasn’t who she thought I was, but it didn’t sink in for a long time. I kind of like the idea that I could be a model named Salome.

I love everything you said here. I’m from an ancestral shoes-off culture, or two, actually, but my parents are Americanized and we tended to keep our shoes on in the house when I was growing up, which I always thought was gross. Once I spent some time abroad in one of those cultures in college, I adopted the shoes-off…

My thoughts exactly! There’s nothing like a season of melting turd-studded snowdrifts (seriously, what is WRONG with people? Where do they think it GOES when they just leave it there? O Canada....)

Sorry to keep replying to your posts over and over, but I had to check to make sure I didn’t write this. OMG.

I loved it too! It got way more intense in college—I could barely contain myself until I could set up my stuff in my new dorm room. I mean, I was LIVING AT THE SCHOOL. I have residual school mania every year anyway, and I just put my toddler in daycare that is in a school, so every morning now for the past week I’ve…

That was basically how it was in summer when I lived in Finland. It was the best time of my life. But, no jobs for foreigners/immigrants, etc.

AMEN. I have a very active toddler, and we live in a place (southern Ontario) where people worship summer and go out all the time in skimpy clothing without sunscreen (seriously, I get really weird looks for putting sunscreen on in public) and burn themselves to a crisp. Everyone is all, “why not take him outside so…

Mr. Chortcake and I high-five each other on this day every year and say “congrats! We made it!” We’re both born at the end of August and we hate summer. (Or, I always hated summer and I converted him to the Dark Side with my rampant negativity.)

Ugh, YES. I hate sweating. Do all those people who love summer actually like sweating? Or do they just not sweat very much and I’m some kind of freak? I love fall, and jewel-toned and dark clothes that cover industrial-strength bra straps, and crisp air, and baking, and no boob sweat, and boots. I definitely have…

I have never been able to keep any white outerwear or accessory clean in any city except when I lived in Helsinki, where you can pretty much eat off the ground or any public transportation surface. That was actually where I bought my first and only white coat, and later I wore it everywhere in a bunch of North…

Mansfield Park is my favorite too! I love how Fanny remains true to herself and acts the same whether her mannerisms and behavior are considered 1) low-class and awkward, 2) wonderfully modest and compliant and retiring in accordance with how a young lady should be when marriagable, 3) weirdly selfish and stubborn and…

So true! I’m on the tall side of average (5’7”), and when I was single, I was totally open to dating men who were shorter than I was, and even went on a few dates with some, but they were always so bitter and downright accusatory about *MY* height. “You’re really attractive and all, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that…

This reminds me of my permanent residence interview in Canada three years ago (I’m a citizen now). The couples before me (from Iran and Pakistan and Cameroon) got a much more grumpy and perfunctory speech and the abrupt statement that “you can apply for citizenship in two years.” When the dude got to me, a fairly…

Me too! Possibly Uzbek embroidery, giant vulvar flowers? Sign me up! (I actually have an embroidered vest with a similar pattern.)

So true! I just made myself a straight skirt by accident. I had a pencil skirt pattern from the Sew Everything Workshop book, measured myself brutally honestly, cut out a medium accordingly, and couldn’t fit into it, so I added inserts. I think I’ll do this on purpose from now on, because the fit worked out far better…