So what's a guy to do when he's trying to sell his bought-too-darn-soon-after-the-pre-divorce-separation place and move into a house that's big enough for his family and has enough land that we can erect a basketball hoop, etc?

My realtor suggested a path: let's more aggressively "stage" your house.

To set the scene, my kids really are experienced travelers, great on airplanes, and generally cooperative and happy young folk, but I think what's most difficult is that there's no break, no relief from us being jammed into a tight, foreign space for day after day. No "I'm going to my room to read and get some breathing space!" or "I'm off to Sue's house for a few hours", just all of us constantly together. Which can get difficult, to say the least.

I even planned ahead and invited my sister to join us from Alaska for a sort of mini-family reunion then asked if my 13yo daughter A- could bunk with her, which worked out great.

It wasn't the hotel room space that was difficult, though, it was just the progression of days...

A few years ago, when we were separated but not yet divorced (though divorce was clearly the path towards which we were heading) we tried a joint holiday in Hawaii, where Linda rented a condo through Hilton's timeshare program and I rented a townhouse essentially across the street through the vacation rentals by owner site VRBO.com. It really was walking distance between the two places, both had beautiful grounds, cool swimming pools and were both in a pretty area of the Kona coast of the Big Island. We also had separate rental cars, of course.

We were there for three weeks, and basically kept our regular parenting schedule there, which also allowed me to co-host a social media event (the Aloha Summit) with my friend and colleague Andy Beal during the days when I didn't have my kids anyway...

"I'm curious as to what your opinion is on the subject of co-sleeping. I raised my 9 year old on attachment parenting since he was an infant, and will occassionally find him in my bed in the morning. It doesnt happen very often, however my ex's fiance who was raised in a very non affectionate household seems to think that this is very unhealthy. My son is a bright kid and highly affectionate himself, and I find that an occassional sleep over is fine. Your thoughts on this subject are greatly appreciated!"

That was my reaction when I bumped into an article in Psychology Today entitled "Intelligence: the Evolution of Night Owls".

You can read the entire article for yourself, but here's a choice quote:

"Because the nocturnal lifestyle allowed by electricity didn't exist 10,000 years ago, we must now rely on general intelligence to override our early-to-bed instincts. So those with more of it stay up later."

Still, there we were looking for some shorts and I noticed the labels for their jeans:

Can you see that? "Skinny", "Destructed Skinny" and "Ultra Skinny". What?!?

Here's the link: Study: Mixing School-age Kids and Computers makes for Bad Stuff.

I'm a researcher and there are so many things wrong with John's throwaway piece that my head is reeling...

This is another in that vein, a research project from the University of Connecticut exploring the impact of multimedia books. "The survey is for academic purposes only and the responses are only recorded in the aggregate. Respondents may opt-in to a drawing for iTunes gift cards."

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22ATY56VF98

If you're so inclined, go and respond before you read my commentary on the survey and its questions, because you likely won't want to once you've read what I've written...

Dating after the age of thirty-five (let alone after the age of forty) is an interesting endeavor. Most of the men I've met over the past four years have been divorced and the majority are dads. More than once I've been asked, "Is being a dad a dating deal-breaker"?

Dave and I were recently discussing this exact topic and he asked if I would be willing to share my reply to him with the readers of his blog. Agree or disagree, here's my perspective - as a woman without children of her own.

There's a deeper thought underlying this because I also believe strongly that my parents did the best that they could, given who they were, the environment within which they grew up, and the culture of parenting that was popular when I was a kid in the late 60s and early 70s.

It's a recommended philosophy in co-parenting (e.g., parenting after a divorce) books too and saves the kids lots of stress about "toys at mommy's house" and "toys at daddy's house" and it also just makes intuitive sense.

I know that if I were a child of divorce and I got into a new toy or game, I'd want it to migrate with me, not be shackled to a specific building, address or parent. Ideally, it'd all just work so smoothly and my parents be sufficiently close geographically that I'd never even really think about it.

But from a parent's view, from the view of the person who certainly seems to buys the majority of these things, well, it doesn't always work out as desired...

I've brought my 10yo son G- to Chicago for a week's holiday with me, we've been to the amazing Museum of Science and Industry, the very cool Field Museum, tomorrow we're off to Navy Pier and an evening architecture boat tour, it's been fun. I really like Chicago too, and have a secret goal of teaching my kids to appreciate city life too: their Mom strongly dislikes big cities and avoids them like the plague and I don't want them to inherit that attitude.

Which is all well and good until it's time to eat...

Actually, it usually just amuses me, but occasionally it is a bit annoying, especially when the gist of the marketing message is how moms have such a tough job as parents and how dads are rarely even around to help, but that's another story for another blog post.

When I got an email from Nova about TotallyCostumes.com, the timing was perfect: My 6yo was at that moment dancing through the house in one of her fairy outfits...

As I walked, I thought about how what you see on foot, when you have time to process information rather than focus on zooming along, offers a different, and interesting, vantage, and a chance to often see things that you would never notice otherwise.

Still, it's Memorial Day and my kids are with their Mom and I'm flying solo, as if it's just another day and not a holiday at all.

The wrinkle? Today is also the Bolder Boulder, a 10K run/walk event here in my home town that pulls about 50,000 people onto the course. Yup, that's 50K, it's the second biggest marathon by numbers in the United States, and the waves of people are never-ending...