A few weeks back, I had a conversation with a married couple and a high school classmate about the benefits of hiring a regular house cleaner. These three people were more than enthusiastic about their “help,” so much so that the classmate said that she “would give up lots of things, but never Angelica.” Of […]

Read more "Why get a House Cleaner if You Have $3.99"

As a family of six, we have instilled a sense of reasonableness with respect to how we spend our money. So when the opportunity arises that we can find something we need cheaply, we tend to jump on it. When the day came that we found this fry pan, we were sure that it would […]

Read more "Getting Burned by Attachment"

In the middle of a cerebral conversation with a dear friend, it occurred to me that we humans seem to believe that we have the capacity to make thoughtful and genuine choices for ourselves but that this notion is illusory. Let’s say that someone is considering the pros and cons of two options. And for […]

Read more "You Never Really Had a Choice"

There’s nothing better than that feeling you get from placing a check mark next to a completed task, or crossing out an item in heavy ink, or filling in that circle that was drawn to the left of a tedious chore. Whatever you use to mark the accomplishment, there’s something uniquely satisfying about making that […]

Read more "Put It on My (Never) To-Do List"

There’s nothing more satisfying than reading writing advice from someone who has something truly wonderful to share. Conversely, there’s nothing more disheartening than someone, posing as an “authority” on writing, sharing his/her deep and penetrating wisdom on “the craft” which is riddled with grammatical errors and sloppy information. Today, I attended a helpful seminar on […]

Read more "When the Advice Givers Bum You Out"

More and more, we are encouraged to be present, mindful, and engaged. Some of us regard this as nearly impossible. We have lots of commitments, lots of tasks, and lots of people relying on us. Allowing ourselves a few minutes to “just be” seems like an indulgence. (If you’ve gotten this far, I’m confident you’ll […]

Read more "If you think you’re too busy to read this, then you’re exactly who should . . ."

At 4:30 in the morning, when my house is quiet and dark, I write novels. To date, I have seven of them, all in manuscript form and all in various states of metamorphosis from an idea (a creeping caterpillar) to a submission package (a basking butterfly). Each story of mine falls under the genre of […]

Read more "Yay! It’s Almost Time to #RevPit"

Yesterday, I stood in solidarity with close to three hundred students, ranging in age from 12 to 18. I was there to show my support for their non-violent, social activism. Because my 10-year-old son’s school was not planning a “walk out,” I brought him to be with his older three siblings after he had expressed […]

Read more "What Have We Done?"

A while ago, I shared my thoughts about the cultural acceptance of fathers controlling their daughters, but really, controlling their vaginas. As offensive as that paternalistic behavior is, it appears that in some families, the sexist clamp around a girl’s sexuality is controlled by an older brother or two. Take for example this description I […]

Read more "What Are We Teaching Our Boys?"

When I travel to see my sister on the other side of the country, I always get an aisle seat. The fear of  blood clots killing me–were I to not get up every hour or so–make an aisle seat both necessary and thoughtful of my row mates. On my last trip, I met a woman–trapped […]

Read more "What’s That Like?"