Artillery is scattered throughout my house- little nerf "bullets" can be found under coffee tables, in the cracks of the couch, floating with the African water frog, lying in kitchen drawers, peeking out of a stack of towels, behind book cases, and under covers. Where ever you might look, there is evidence of a nerf war.

Do you ever head out in one direction and find yourself in a place you never intended? I wrote that article about Andrew and now people are stopping me on the street asking me about war and the fall of EVIL MAN. What should we do now, Lisa?

Part of the reason this blog was started was because I needed to hold myself accountable to writing. So to that end, spring has sprung and several opportunities are presenting themselves- which would take me away from writing. Or at least limit the amount of time I can give to it. For so long, I have always said, "Oh, I'll get to that" and I never did. And so here are these other things luring me because they offer money, a little more heft ...

How do you float through the universe without a mom? I think of my own mom, who lost her mom around the time I graduated from high school, and much later, her aunt who served as the main touch point after grandma died.

My house is a riot of activity. There are empty seed packets and dirt trails leading to Thing 2's room. There are art supplies peeking out from the bottom of closets and doors closed to rooms where usually all the mess is open for show. Hmmm.....Mother's Day is coming. I love it. I love that they are having fun and I love that I will get some attention.

The world feels alive and positively crackling with possibility. While I don't feel as jubilant as others for the loss of EVIL MAN, it does seem to be some small justification for all the horrific loss of the last ten years. I say small because the loss has been just too great. Not one of those who perished in the agonizing acts September 11th will return to us. Not a single fallen soldier will ever hug their parents one more time. Families ...

It started innocently enough. "Would you like an egg for breakfast?" "Sure." Thing 2 grabs the egg, twirls it in his hands, and then stops. "Where's the chick?" "What chick?"

I spent two years living at 319 Ellis Avenue. It was a crackerbox house situated a mere block from the campus at what was then called Mankato State University. What was best about this place, however, was that it was cheap. Legally, six people could reside there. In practice, the number hovered around nine. I say hovered because it seemed to fluctuate with needs of the inhabitants and their friends.

I was raised on mashed potatoes and it's apparent that I ate them. But I left northwest Iowa for someplace racier, south central Minnesota, and didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about them. With every year away my culinary world expanded. I discovered midwest Chinese food and the Gyro and spices beyond salt and pepper. Once on my own in southern Iowa, I saw fit to spend my paycheck on radical things like fresh-from-Mexico vegetables ...

A charming lady I know stopped by The Book Shelf to tell me how much she appreciated an article published Sunday in our local paper about my husband's cousin who was killed in Afghanistan while serving in the Army. She then continued to talk to me about that "silly war business." I tried to hold my own because, to quote various members of the Wilfahrt clan,"This is what we do now." But I didn't have a lot to say except that I think it's time ...