Cast + Credits

By
I’m a real person with a real family who are doing our best to make our way in this chaotic and sometimes absurd world. I’m maintaining a semi-covert identity to protect the innocent – namely my children and husband. But we all exist and any shenanigans reported herein are real. If anyone I know finds this blog and is super offended by what I write because they think they recognize themselves in spite of pseudonyms, it’s not always all about you…

That being said, here’s our cast of characters

Me, Irish Daisy

I am a dandelion, weedy and stubborn, tough and resilient, but pretty and happy to those who look with the right perspective. I am an unapologetic nerd about a lot of things – science, history, language, reading, nature and art. My taste in movies stalled out somewhere around 14-year-old-boy, I like both Star Trek and Star Wars (gasp, the horror), I am a fan of Joss Whedon, a Whovian, and I have an actual library in my house with sections and everything. I’m a very independent person living in a very conservative area of Southern California (I know, right?) with my husband, three daughters and two dogs. I work full time outside of the house and sometimes feel like a blown dandelion puff trying to spread myself out to meet all of the demands. I love my children with fierce abandon, and I want to make the best life and world possible for them to grow up in.

These are my stories about life in general and my perspective on everything and anything – being a mom, raising girls, keeping my perspective, controlling my sarcasm, working, living and trying to make it all work out.

Dad-e-Lion

The roaring male of our pride of dandelions, he also goes by Mr. Puff and Mr. Tator (or DicTator depending on the level of irritation). We’re approaching year 12 of a marriage that has weathered numerous life challenges, family kerfuffles and four pregnancies. He has a demanding career in a field I am not at liberty to describe here to avoid compromising his secret identity. It is a very hands-on job that demands a lot of time, odd hours and holiday work, and tends to attract demanding, controlling, dramatic and driven personalities (that narrows it down, right). He is a feisty, opinionated, testosterone-ball kind of guy, and he can make me laugh about anything. We are not a sedate sort of couple, but we’re never bored.

Quokka

The eldest offspring, Quokka is nine and lives up to her nickname. Go ahead and Google it, we’ll wait… They are cute, friendly, and look ridiculously happy and cheerful all the time. But, they’re also jumpy and sometimes woefully unprepared for the challenge of living in the world. I adore my Quokka and the light she brings to our lives, but I also struggle with how to best prepare her to deal with life out in the big-bad world.

Athena

Our middle child, Athena is seven and lives up to her namesake. She’s beautiful, calculating and strategic. Usually quiet and slow to engage, she can also be volatile and storm with emotion. If you cross her, she will get even and is a master battle strategist. I don’t worry as much about Athena succeeding in the world; I do worry about how she might go about getting what she wants.

Honey Badger

If you are not familiar with the Honey Badger another Google foray might be in order – go for it, watch the YouTube video, I dare you. Badger is our youngest and she does not give a damn. She’s a climber, a strategist, an unapologetic rebel, a rabble rouser, a dare devil, and she’s three. She is possibly one of the cutest children I've ever been around – both in looks and in cheerful, perky personality – but if you upset her you will pay, oh yes, you will. Mr. Puff frequently jokes with people that if Badger had been our first, she might have been our last…only; it’s not really a joke. We thought Quokka, with her irrepressible energy and need to be on the move, was challenging. Then we met Badger – oy! She combines her older sister’s energy level with her middle sister’s ability to strategize, and adds a huge pile of rebellious, stubborn independence and a complete lack of respect for authority. Voila, a honey badger.

The Kids...In Memory

We've lost both of our long-suffering fur-kids. They patiently put up with so much from the actual kids they deserved the highest of dog awards. It started with getting a whippet, because I wanted some companionship while home alone every night, and Mr. Puff wanted a dog that was okay for allergies, but not a fluffy poodle or bichon (he grew up with both because, asthma). Enter a sleek little tan and white whippet pup. She was a baby-doll and the best dog right from the start. Then I got pregnant and we felt the need to give our pup a buddy of her very own, so we got a brindle male pup – yes, I bought a dog for my dog, don’t judge. The problem, he was a dog and she was really sure she wasn't. After a settling in period of nine years, she finally let him cuddle with her. They ran and played together, but she was a smart and savvy girl and he was a silly goofball who had no idea what was going on (he was really beautiful, so he had that going for him, which was nice).



Popular posts from this blog

Action Princesses Save the Day

By
Image
Three kids is only one more than two. I know, it's simple math.  It's amazing how hard that one extra kid can make parenting sometimes, especially now that we're outnumbered and none of our kids are what you'd call sedate, but it's just one more kid. Yet, the real difference between two and three is how people react to seeing me out and about with my three girls. I was mom to two girls for four years before number three joined the troop, so I've noticed the difference in commentary and reaction from the judging public (and it's amazing how many people feel compelled to say something). With just the two girls, I got a lot of compliments on the cute and how great sisters are. With three, I get a lot of, “whoa, three girls!!!” And then one of two follow-ups; either, “Wow, that’s going to be really rough when they’re teenagers,” or, “Well, you're lucky, at least girls are more cautious and quiet, three boys would be so much tougher.” I want to smack the...
Read more

Cheetahs, and Dragons, and Angels, Oh My!

By
Image
One of the things I love best about having kids, besides the unquestioning acceptance of whatever weirdness I feel like dishing out at any given moment, is that they remind me to be imaginative and see wonder everywhere. Sure, I dump water on some of the magic with facts and science-y explanations, but they always bring the wonder. But then, when I consider the science from a child’s perspective, it reminds me that the cold hard facts are pretty miraculous too.  Simple things like lightning, wind and how a cloud forms are fantastic and amazing again – they remind me to look and notice and marvel at something as simple as the sparkling dew on our windshield this morning. And then there’s Quokka, who drives me to rediscover my creativity and reminds me that I was once a fantastical kid before adult responsibility sobered me up like a hard slap to the face. Some part of me let go of that wild, impractical imagination because it didn't serve a purpose. I spent more time on “real” ...
Read more

Floored

By
Image
The dog died and our last reason for not doing something about our awful, disgusting carpet died with him. When we bought the house 12 years ago, we were informed the owner had installed the cheapest possible carpet to sell the place. It was indeed cheap, and crappy, and really light beige. But, you know, kids and dogs, and potty training, and chocolate milk, and juice, and muddy shoes… We just…let it ride…for more than a decade. Once, in a fit of exhaustion, I ripped the carpet out of the dining room, which was also the main traffic pattern in the house – path to the kitchen and all – because I couldn’t face the futile task of cleaning it one more time. We polished the slab, applied some sealer, and had a “designer” cement floor for a couple of years. The rest of the house was a scruffy calico of cheap oak veneer, tile, and fraying carpet mottled with stains. The stairs in particular were bad – both ugly and approaching official bio-hazard designation. I was repelled...
Read more