linabranter

A list of things NOT to let your children do

Yesterday was officially negligent parent day at the library. Now, I am pretty relaxed kind of mama (that is, if I don’t need to be somewhere). You know, of the laissez-faire school of parenting. But there are certain things that I stamp my foot down, certain basic rules I thought all parents followed. Oh, howContinue reading “A list of things NOT to let your children do”

Confessions of a Reading Addict

I have been reading a lot in the past year. And I don’t mean the leisurely kind of reading, where you read to go to sleep at night (although I do that too). I read whenever I can. I read on the metro. I read on my breaks. I ignore my coworkers at lunch soContinue reading “Confessions of a Reading Addict”

Quotes of the day #5

I don’t have a photograph, but you can have my footprints. They’re upstairs in my socks. – Groucho MarxBut why would we want his footprints? and how could we get them out? Society, my dear, is like salt water, good to swim in but hard to swallow. – Arthur StringerMan, what wouldn’t I give toContinue reading “Quotes of the day #5”

Wire Monkey IN The Customer is Already Right!

Plot synopsisAfter only three weeks of owning her nice, new black parka with the faux fur lined hood, little six year old (we’ll just call her six for short) puts it on one morning to find that the zipper is broken. Now, the day when Wire Monkey purchases said parka was a blustery, rainy dayContinue reading “Wire Monkey IN The Customer is Already Right!”

We don’t need any didication: a portrait of an alternative school’s Christmas cabaret

Ahhh, Christmas concerts. The combination of intense shyness, clumsiness and perpetual emotional turmoil proved to be a lethal comination for me whenever Christmas concert time rolled around. In parent(thesis) this is your life in Xmas concerts! Grade 5:Morning of the Christmas concert- receive 69% on a geography exam. 69%! The horror! The travesty of justice!Continue reading “We don’t need any didication: a portrait of an alternative school’s Christmas cabaret”

All she wants to do is dance

Tuesday night. Open class at my oldest’s ballet class. But let us back up shall we, to about 7:30 in the morning, at the height of the morning rush to get out of the house. She woke up in an emotionally volatile mood, biting our heads off when we told her to brush her teethContinue reading “All she wants to do is dance”

Back to Life, Back to reality

Yet during my astounding month long success as a person who actually writes, life continued in its usual harried way. Besides work and work and J’s work and more work and moving in and trying to finish the renovations on the house and unpacking and…..well, you get the picture, I had another parent teacher meetingContinue reading “Back to Life, Back to reality”

I kicked NaNoWriMO butt!!!!

Okay. I am ridiculously proud of myself for finishing this. Now I am the proud creator of a typo ridden, plot challenged, probably derivative (but who knows, I haven’t actually looked at it) first draft of a novel that will probably never see the light of day. It sounds negative, but I assure you IContinue reading “I kicked NaNoWriMO butt!!!!”

National Novel Writing Month

Because I had no time to kill, I decided that this would be the year when I commit myself fully to writing a novel in one month. Just because renovations, children and a full time job just didn’t seem challenging enough. (I am kidding, for those of you who do not always get me specialContinue reading “National Novel Writing Month”

Black, for total failure as a parent

Colour coding, letter grades, number grades- it is all the same in the end, isn’t it? I mean whether you call it an F or 40% or colour code it Black for unsuccessful, it still means you fail, right? I hate school. I hate what it did to me as a kid and I hateContinue reading “Black, for total failure as a parent”