Not to get all Gwynneth Paltrow Goop-y on you, but as I write this, I am halfway through day one of a twenty day cleanse called Clear the Toxins. I wasn’t going to write about it, but then I thought, well, I’m always so curious about when other people do these stupid cleanses, and so I figured that I might as well share my experience in case there’s anyone else out there who has ever been interested in cleansing and yet slightly terrified of it at the same time. more

I spent several hours this past week sitting in front of my computer, a big calendar at my side, trying to get myself better organized, or should I say, trying to get my family better organized. more

There are a lot of things that we as parents can teach our kids; like how to count, the alphabet, how to wipe their own butts, etc. But I’m finding that there are some things that are just un-teachable. They either have it or they don’t; like comic timing, the ability to do math in their heads, and, as my husband likes to say, heart. more

I’ve got my fingers crossed. Big time. Why? The new NBC drama Parenthood which premieres Tuesday March 2. I’m hoping that it’ll do for the TV family drama what Modern Family and The Middle are currently doing for family comedies, elevating the form. more

Thirteen years ago, when my husband (then my boyfriend) was trying to convince me to move with him to Los Angeles from Philadelphia, I agreed to go on one condition: if we ever got married and had children, they would have to go to Camp Kweebec, the overnight camp in Pennsylvania that I attended as a child. more

During the moments when I HAVEN’T been riveted to the winter Olympics -- ice skating pairs/Lindsey Vonn/Shani Davis = good, luge death/epic falls & wipe-outs/sore loser Russian skater = bad -- I’ve been thinking about myriad things in the pop culture arena: more

Two mothers, both of whom walked away from their children, one because the birth of her son occurred at the hand of an assailant who literally cut her baby from the womb and left the mother to die, the other because her 15-year-old daughter became pregnant, refused her mother’s attempt to force her to have an abortion and now the girl wants to marry her teen boyfriend. more

Oh, boy. What did we do? Finally, I had my life in some kind of normal, calm, ordered place. My kids are in school full time and I have plenty of hours to work while they’re gone. more

I recently wrote in this space about how much I admire the freshman ABC comedy Modern Family, called it “off-kilter,” but in a good and witty way. Now I’ve found yet another reason to extol its virtues: Its writers were somehow able to address a woman’s insecurities about being an at-home mom without getting all preachy and super-serious. more

I feel sometimes as if my entire life revolves around snacks. I have to pack two snacks in my daughter’s backpack every day; one for morning recess, and another one for her to eat on the bus home in the afternoons. more