linabranter

Lurker? Me?

If you’ve ever had a gander at my Librarything page, you might be excused in thinking that I am a fourteen year old girl. For over a year now, I’ve pretty much read only books for young people. Now, liking the stuff is reason enough to read it. But I do have two legitimate reasonsContinue reading “Lurker? Me?”

A dab o’ separation

My nephew has been staying with us for a couple of weeks now, and is staying for a couple more. He is my youngest daughter’s age, and a little fireball of a kid. On most days, the girls and him get along famously. But after fourteen days straight of being together, well, let’s just sayContinue reading “A dab o’ separation”

Nightmare on my scalp

So on Monday morning, when I was suppsoed to be working, my head got to itching. And not the usual, I got to scratch my head itch. It was more like something foreign is crawling in my hair itch. So, after repeated trips to the bathroom, where I examined my head as closely as oneContinue reading “Nightmare on my scalp”

Original definition of nit picker:

One who picks nits. I am a nit picker. Let’s cut to the scene last night where I am on my haunches, my child between my legs, like some of our primate ancestors, combing through her hair with the lice comb and picking out nits with my fingers. Yes folks! School’s parting gift to us!Continue reading “Original definition of nit picker:”

A visit to my sister

This weekend, we went to visit my sister. She now lives about an hour and half outside of Toronto (on the wrong side of Toronto if you’re coming from Montreal). She has just graduated from naturopathy school and once she passes her board exams, she will be an ND! Now, my sister and I areContinue reading “A visit to my sister”

Daughter sues dad for disciplining

WTF? A twelve year old girl sued her dad for grounding her and won. And this was not one of those things where she spilled some milk and he forbade her to ever leave the house again, damning her to an eternity of Cinderella-like slavery and forced confinement. No. The girl, and let me stressContinue reading “Daughter sues dad for disciplining”

It’s the end of the school year

One. last. week. of. school. Good. ‘Cause I’m done. I am not going to set up my little vegetable factory, where I get ten small tupperwear containers and stick a week’s worth of carrots , peppers and cucumbers in them just so that they get left to rot in a locker at school. I amContinue reading “It’s the end of the school year”

Hot and bothered

I’m not complaining. Really I’m not. Okay just a little. It is 5:30 in the morning and already the world feels like a sauna. I have a big week at work and my efforts to get a good sleep last night fell flat as my daughter woke up with a stomach ache, my husband cameContinue reading “Hot and bothered”

Who invented mistakes?

My daughter lied to me yesterday. Not only did she lie, she lied about money so that she could buy something she wanted. I, of, course, like any good super hero of a mother who has x-ray vision into their children’s soul, caught her out. I confronted her, confiscated what she had bought with herContinue reading “Who invented mistakes?”

Disturbing Kiddie Trends and Why I don’t like Sleepovers

Last weekend we had two of our daughter’s friends sleep over at our place. Usually I wouldn’t do that, have to kids over at once, mainly because I hate sleepovers which force you to deal with the random whims of other people’s kids. But it just so happened that two of our friends were inContinue reading “Disturbing Kiddie Trends and Why I don’t like Sleepovers”