Author name: Karyl F. Stein

For the past week and a half, water has mysteriously appeared in the basement collecting in small, scattered pools.  Fortunately, the basement is unfinished except for a somewhat painted and sealed concrete floor, but the kids use it as a play area and a lot of their toys are down there.  Again, fortunately, I have […]

The kids wanted to go to the mall instead of ice skating (??).  Ann had Liam pick out things for her to try on and vice versa.  William ended up in a suit and Ann a few layers at Aeropostale.  At Justice while waiting for Ann to change, William and I pretended to be asleep

Liam and I had a night together because Ann was at a sleepover.  We put together a 3-D puzzle, did laundry, cooked dinner, washed dishes, made beds with clean sheets from the laundry, played tennis in the basement, and played Minecraft.  There were a lot of cool things there. The next day we went on

Within a minute after it hit midnight, it sounded like something out of an action movie outside—gunfire everywhere.  My neighbor even squeezed off a few rounds.  There were some fireworks too, but there’s something distinct about the sound of a gun.  (The next day when talking about this with family I was asked about the

A month or so ago I had a run-in with a toilet that left a small yet deep gash on my wrist.  This topic came up during our large family Christmas gathering last night and of course I was obligated to show off the still obvious wound.  (My cousin easily trumped it, though, with his

Ann wasn’t happy with the way William and I were haphazardly placing ornaments on the tree, so she took them all off and had us organize them into distinct groups: snowflakes, angels/Santas, colored balls, stars, hearts, snowmen, animals, etc. (The Nativity scene is always hers to place as the angel on top is mine.) Then

Part I: Going With the Flow Three weeks ago my dad emailed me and asked if we were free the next weekend for a visit.  This was exciting because my parents live in Colorado and the kids and I don’t get to see them in person that often.  Our last visit was in Colorado during

On Monday, Ann hosted a Halloween party, (this was the day after a great toilet explosion detailed earlier, but you wouldn’t have known it except the wood flooring was and still is somewhat warped in the hallway—I call it “character”).  Ann planned it all from decorations to activities to snacks to the invite list.  The

One of these days I will learn to just hire it out… The downstairs toilet has been going off on its own for over a year now.  It’s been annoying, but I’ve always managed to adjust or reseat some piece of equipment in the reservoir tank to buy a couple weeks of stability.  But last

I put an alarm clock in Ann’s room a while ago just because it was around and she seems interested in 1) the time and 2) the weather forecast.  (Not that the clock I put in her room would help with the latter, but she has several ways of getting that on her own now.