Babble

I've been unemployed and I've been mercilessly hooked on soap operas and Dan Savage. I've obsessed over pie and I've known way too much 90210 trivia. But I've never, ever pulled it off with this kind of panache.  Or at least with as many poop jokes. I mean, poop jokes that actually make you laugh rather than roll your eyes ...

I had this hilarious friend who was way pregnant, irritatingly past her due date, sequestered to her velvet couch in the blistering heat of a Floridian July and still, somehow (God bless her) maintained that certain brand of humor that probably got her knocked up, married and sprawled out on that couch in the first place. I called her to see when ...

I'd love to tell you all with confidence and honesty that I am a good housekeeper, a neatnick, a clutter-clearing wizard. And I'd love to to tell you that the fact I edited and wrote some content for a mom's organizational book last year means I have some kind of (ahem) expertise in the area of putting away all that stuff in piles on ...

While I love to cook, I am not what you'd call a meal planner. And even though I love to write out a nice, long, comprehensive grocery list, the contents rarely take into account specific recipes. In fact, I like to rationalize all this laziness and ill-preparedness by thinking of myself as a stellar impromptu chef, whipping up healthful and ...

The year my son was born, I traded a nice office with a view of the El train and guys in royal purple and gold suits at the menswear shop across the street for a cubicle called my dining room table. I prefer to tell people this is my office because there of the long and awkward pause that comes when I tell them I am working from Starbucks while ...

It doesn't sound like a brainstorm, does it, that eating might combat eating disorders? But really, a new study showing that eating five family meals a week helps prevent girls from extreme weight control behaviors, is (for lack of a better term) huge. Why? Because it gets at some key issues in keeping our kids, especially our girls, fed, ...

If this was really a playdate -- complete with decaf coffee, cheese and crackers, juice boxes and big gallons of hard liquor -- I admit that about four minutes in, I would be so over talking about the election, done catching up on night-time dryness and ready to stop talking about whether or not small animals pee in the playground sandpit in ...

We get those brand-spanking new calendars with pristine, blank sheets and numbers that hold so much promise for organization and goals and unrealistic but well-intended resolutions. And then the kids start beating each other with Santa toys and you smell the garbage (again) and the cat's peeing on the floor next to the baby's blankie and ...

Wisconsin State Rep. Steve Wieckert, R-Appleton, wants to put child support slackers online in an attempt to shame parents into paying up with a little interwebs intimidation. Before you go cheering on the Republican from the Fox Valley, take note that a mother who claims she's owed $37,000 in child support and interest by her daughter's ...

Don't you just love an entrepreneurial kid? Kids who send toys to Iraq, kids who use lemonade stand earnings to fund cancer research, kids who make cookies for the nice old lady down the street...hell, even kids who save up a couple of bucks to contribute to their Mother's Day gift make my eyes well up and send me to my laptop to up their ...