I grew up in one house before moving through two dorms, one sorority house, seven apartments and two houses. I know someday my parents will move or move on, and I'll be forced to help with the downsizing efforts. I'm not looking forward to it, mostly because you can accumulate quite a bit of junk in 35 years, but also because I remember the bittersweet memories that flooded me the last time I walked through my grandparents' house after they died. I can't decide if it would be harder to help my parents move while they were living or after they'd died. They might protest less if it happened later.

Flexibility at work “isn’t like a favor you hand out at a children’s birthday party.” It’s good for business and good for people. “For the past 30 years [women] were happy to sit quietly at the boardroom table and that’s changed: the boardroom table has to change. We think that can finally happen now.”

Children are taught the expression "it's not fair" in the womb, shortly after they're told how to suck their thumbs and how to walk into the rearview mirror of every car in the parking lot. While they don't have speech until their second or third year, that crying you hear? They're saying, "Mommy, IT'S NOT FAIR!"

At the end of part one of this post, I asked "Am I the dupe of a snobbish literary education?" It's a snobbishness that encourages one to be picky about the definition of good writing, not just what is good writing but also what type of novel may be called literature, who deigned to publish your work, whether you have an agent or schlep along sending work to the slush pile. This is sad.

There are some things you wait to explain to a child. Death, reproduction ... and jail. Some parents don't have the luxury of mulling the best way to explain the judicial system, because they're already living with the fall-out: either Mommy or Daddy is in jail.*

In January, I wrote "Do Cats Go to Heaven?" talking about pet death. Suddenly the Arens household is revisiting this discussion, as we lost eight-year-old Bella the Monster-Eating Cat last week to acute kidney failure.

My son's birthday was ten days ago and at two he is now officially a toddler. I've been warned that as he seeks his independence we may hit a rough patch or two. We are all familiar with the "terrible twos" but I have been convinced by my pediatrician to call this period the "teachable twos." I can deal with the change in his disposition because I realize that his behavior is perfectly normal for his age. My challenge is dealing with the surprises that throw me for a loop. The main one is his increased attachment to his father which translates into spending fewer precious moments with me.

In light of Dell’s recent “Della” disaster, I’ve been thinking anew of the big, big business of marketing to women. We’re so inundated with product pitches, especially as bloggers, sometimes it’s helpful to take a step back and think, “What has all this done for me lately”?

Dear Oprah, I have a confession. I can do without my cell phone, and I've gone days without turning on the TV, and in order to save money, I've cut down on eating out before, but if I had to give up my Internet connection, I might need anti-anxiety drugs to make through. Even when I'm not surfing the Net or tweeting or updating my blog or Facebook page, I still use the Net to research topics for my writing.

Household organization is a chore for the best of us: the kitchen, the living room, the playroom (which was actually my dining room for a while), etc. It would be great if it ended there, but what do you do when your kids share a room and need to keep their prized possessions separate and organized? That's the topic for today and I have some great information for you from around the blogosphere. Turns out there are many moms who have tackled this exact problem and they're willing to tell you how they did it!

I love Elizabeth Edwards, and I'm mad at her. I’m seriously biased towards this brilliant woman who has faced so many hardships with dignity and grace. Many of us at BlogHer had a thing for Mrs. Edwards; she spoke at the Conference in 2007 and was available for calls.

I met my husband because of the first Earth Day  I was covering all the "movement people" for CBS News - they had hired me because I knew all the 60s anti-war leaders - so when Earth Day emerged, I was assigned to the 'treehuggers" too.