A mom and a stepmom share stories, ideas, friendship and family
Posted in Quotes on Mar 25th, 2008
“It’s often fascinating what happens when one part of a complex system makes genuine change. Often enough, there is a quiet but significant domino effect over time.” — Marie Hartwell-Walker, When Mom and StepMom Disagree
Posted in Quotes on Mar 25th, 2008
“We have been taught to believe that negative equals realistic and positive equals unrealistic.” — Susan Jeffers, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
By Jill Davis Doughtie
Photo by G.
See, we really do sit around braiding each other’s hair and singing Kumbaya. It’s challenging with those flowers in our teeth, but we wouldn’t let a little thing like that stop us.
Actually we had relatives and guests who were willing to help us live out our fantasy of a Kumbaya [...]
Posted in Play on Mar 24th, 2008
By Jill Davis Doughtie
Here I am taking a picture of my niece’s pet cutworm. (Photo by G.)
In my family, we grew up fascinated with — and playing with — bugs. My niece and oldest nephew seem to have inherited the Davis love of bugs. (It’s too soon to tell with the youngest nephew.) It didn’t [...]
Posted in Food on Mar 22nd, 2008
By Jill Davis Doughtie
Jack and I were at Kathy’s house after a parent-teacher conference. We’d gone together with G in one car, and we’d dropped off G. Jack needed a book he’d left at Kathy’s, so the three of us went back to her place together. Kathy invited us in and offered us ice cream. [...]
Posted in Miscellaneous on Mar 20th, 2008
By Jill Davis Doughtie
On our “About” page, I wrote that I don’t like dogs. I think that’s changing.
I have not been a dog person for most of my life. Dogs invaded my personal space, and I didn’t know what to do about it. They wanted to touch me and jump on me and put spit [...]
Posted in Links on Mar 20th, 2008
Physorg.com: Punishment does not earn rewards or cooperation, study finds - This study isn’t about parenting — it’s about punishment as a way to encourage or discourage certain behavior among collaborators. I couldn’t help thinking about relationships between houses in extended stepfamilies when I read it. “‘Put simply, winners don’t punish,’ says co-author David G. [...]
Posted in Quotes on Mar 19th, 2008
“We tend to see our own behavior as reactive. (’I don’t like John, so I’m curt with him.’ ‘I like Jim, so I’ll do anything for him.’) But we tend to see others as absolute. (’John is a difficult person.’ ‘Jim is a sweetheart.’)” — Deborah Tannen, Talking from 9 to 5
Posted in Introductions, Pictures on Mar 18th, 2008
By Jill Davis Doughtie
Let me introduce you to my stepdog, Sam. (A.k.a. Kathy’s dog, Sam. And Chris and Jack’s dog.)
Look at these long, blond eyelashes:
When channeled, Sam’s voice sounds like Marvin the Martian’s.
I am teaching Sam to sing. When I come over, I push a key on the piano and encourage him to try to [...]
Posted in Stories on Mar 18th, 2008
By Jill Davis Doughtie
This morning, by email:
Me: I’ve got some old pictures of Sam — do you mind if I post them on the DHX?
Kathy: Not at all. Unless there are dog molesters out there who will wank off to him and undermine his canine integrity.
Me: …Yuck! Yuck! Aack!
Me: P.S. can I blog this [...]
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