Archive for March, 2012

Four Not So Easy Tips for Balancing Work & Sick Kids (Subtitled: Of Course You Have the Chicken Pox: Your Dad is Out of Town)

Posted in Advice & Tips, Housework, Parenting on March 27, 2012 | 5 Comments »

Last week had a bit of unscheduled adventure. Our five year old son may or may not have had the chicken pox. Sam has been immunized, but apparently the vaccine is only 80-90% effective (so there’s something to look forward to, folks). His doctor recommended we isolate Sam (and Maggie) for two days, just to see more »

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Cutting Yourself Some Slack … While Still Believing You Can Change (Part 2)

Posted in Advice & Tips, Books & Culture, Happiness, Research on March 23, 2012 | 2 Comments »

— This is part 2 of a 2 part post featuring the books, Mindset, by Carol Dweck, and The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown. Click here to read part 1. —         I really thought I’d get in. I told all my closest friends I was applying. I’d worked hard to more »

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Cutting Yourself Some Slack … While Still Believing You Can Change (Part 1)

Posted in Books & Culture, Happiness, Parenting, Research on March 22, 2012 | 3 Comments »

You’ve heard of wine and cheese pairings, right? The concept is that the intense flavors of certain cheeses enhance the aroma and taste of certain wines; visit a nice restaurant, and the fine dining wait staff will be more than willing to explain this in detail. Well pairings are important – put the right two more »

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How to Leave Work at Work

Posted in Happiness, Housework, Money on March 20, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I have a theory that balancing work and life requires transitional activities. It’s just virtually impossible to successfully move from work to housework without some sort of formal transition point. Some way to mark the end of one thing and the beginning of the other; or a way to catch your breath before moving from more »

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68 years, 1 month and 5 days

Posted in Happiness, Uncategorized on March 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Last week my grandfather passed away after 96 1/2 wonderful years. Anyone who lived from 1915 to 2012 experienced some amazing things. He served in both the European and Pacific theaters of World War II. He led kids in sing-a-longs everywhere from Ohio to Africa. He raised 2 daughters, invested in 6 grandchildren and then more »

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Risky Investments, Surgery Survival, Double Dates, and Your Marriage Vows

Posted in Books & Culture, Happiness, Research on March 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

When we first started this blog a year ago, I started a Google alert for new stories about relationship research. Turns out, there’s a lot of research. In the last few months I’ve missed covering some kind of interesting research. So, since I don’t have time to write a blog post for each data set more »

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Performance ReviewTime

Posted in Communication, tagged on March 8, 2012 | 4 Comments »

It’s performance review season at my workplace, an annual ritual that most American employees are pretty intimately familiar with. And/or emotionally scarred by. Regardless of whether you are a manager, a managee or both, you are likely familiar with the language of performance reviews. We note our accomplishments, acknowledge some areas where we could be more »

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Why I’m Raising My Kids to be Sports Fans

Posted in Books & Culture, Parenting on March 5, 2012 | 2 Comments »

At 15, the only thing I knew about football was I liked a tight end when I saw one. So why, now 20 years later, is my wardrobe sprinkled with team gear? So why does my two year-old shout “Go Bears!” anytime she sees any bear – including Winnie the Pooh – on television? Because more »

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Any Excuse to Party

Posted in Happiness on March 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Yesterday was the third anniversary of our first kiss. And since we’ve been married more than 10 years, that’s really saying something … until you recall that yesterday was also Leap Day. I’d forgotten the day entirely, but Cliff remembered and sent me this card, from www.someecards.com.                 more »

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