Amanda's Page

How do you make a newly minted 12-year-old happy?

Renting a PG-13 movie and inviting over 12 of her closest friends should do the trick. My daughter was actually so shocked that I would allow a PG-13 movie that on her homemade invites she stated in bold:

"My mom is actually letting us watch a PG-13 movie so you all don't have to be bored watching Barney."

She's so funny I forgot to laugh.

What do you mean you're surprised you could watch a PG-13 movie? 12 is apparently the new 40. You and yo… Continue

Every year after embarking on a long summer journey I utter the very same words: "I will not get into the car with children and drive any farther than Target ever again." Well, I mostly sigh it with my fingers pressed into my eye sockets.

Last year wasn't too bad, we did Madeline Island on Lake Superior and that wasn't terribly far. Madeline has a rockin' beach which feels exactly like the Bahamas but instead of white sand and warm water has brown sand and toe freezing water, but it rocks just… Continue

Who actually cooks in the summer? Come on, fess up. Who actually pulls out a complicated casserole recipe and goes to town? Around here it's more like glance at the clock around 7:34 pm, pull out a frozen chicken breast, thaw it out under hot tap water, shake some salt at it and throw it on the grill. The sides may include prepackaged applesauce and if we're lucky a piece of toast. And that is a meal with some thought involved, mostly it's been buttered noodles with a side of big, fat nothing.… Continue

It's finally summer. I don't know about the rest of you, but up here in El Norte, summer's here in calendar form only. We are still chugging through cold, windy, rainy days, much akin to a bleak March without the dirty, crusted snow, but knolls of super green grass dotting the yards instead. It's incongruent enough to bring tears to your eyes. Global warming? Sign me up, please. Blowing a warm breeze through Minnesota 365 days a year is worth a few polar bear hides any day.

We buy a membership… Continue

It's Mother's Day again.

That glorious time of year when mothers around the country get to do absolutely nothing of their choosing and are forced to suffer quietly with their hands folded in their laps, like repentant children who've stuck their hand in the cookie jar one too many times, but instead of a moist, delicious cookie, have managed to pull out three of four screaming children instead.

The shock of childbirth has long since worn off, and as we arrange ourselves into the required red v… Continue