This morning, we were at Target (where else does one find a midwestern family on Saturday mornings?). I don’t love shopping at Target, but we needed some household items–baby wipes, water softener salt, dishwasher detergent–and it’s by far the easiest place to buy them.
While we were there, we picked up some new sketchbooks for the kids. It had been a few months since I replaced them, and I couldn’t find a blank page the last time I looked. As we were walking away from the craft aisle, my second child said to me: “Don’t we need new markers, too? Ours are all dried up.”… Read More »
This month will actually mark six months since 
It’s been over two months since I (somewhat spontaneously) 
Last month, in the midst of my own major post-holiday declutter, I learned a new-to-me term: osoji, which Google tells me literally means “big clean” in Japanese. It’s not a new tradition at all, however–it dates back to circa 800 A.D. At that time, the Imperial Court was ritually cleansed of soot at the end of each year to welcome the deity of the new year (