Introduction

I was not going to be a stay at home mom. Loving my career as a teacher, I was definitely going to be a trendy working mom who raised highly cultured children in an urban environment. And I was never EVER going to drive a mini-van..... Two years later, I am a stay at home mom  who lives in the burbs on a cul-de-sac and recently purchased -- yep -- the dreaded van. I don't bake, I am not crafty, and I am horrible cook, but somehow every day the kids get fed, the laundry gets done, and I maintain some element of sanity as my brain atrophies into a watery blob only slightly resembling its former self -- the brain of a professional with a college degree.