Dave, sorry for the oversight and thank you for bringing it to my attention. I've made the correction. Thanks for a great photo!

Eileen, thanks for sharing your love of reading and understanding my feeling of loss. Your story about the librarian reminds me of my childhood, too. I was a very early reader and would try to leave the library with stacks of books higher than I could see around. It got so overwhelming that my parents set a limit on the number of books we could take out. I remember once saying to my sister "How many will they let us take out?" and the librarian who overheard reassuring us there was no limit. My sister promptly said, "My mom says more than 25 books are too many to keep track of." That's what I want for my kids. A world in which they want too many books to keep track of or afford!

I love that you are willing to call yourself a non-crafty mom. When it comes to costumes, what I visualize is usually considerably different than the finished product! Lucky for me, here in the northern-most Northeast, my kids usually have to wear coats over their non-crafty costumes anyway. This year, my 8-yr-old struck a bargain with me, though. He doesn't want to trick-or-treat and would rather I buy him a variety bag of Halloween candy. That solves the costume issue! (The teeth issue, I suppose, is not as well taken care of...)

I remember that feeling well. I'm busier now working-from-home than I was punching the clock in a brick-and-mortar business. Somehow you feel incredibly accountable, especially because you *are* at home. Just be careful to actually take that time for you and set some business hours. One night, as I finished checking my email for the gazillionth time because "my client is on Pacific time, maybe he needed something after my business hours," my husband staged an intervention of sorts. No work after hours, ask clients to respect those hours and try as hard as anyone else to avoid working weekends. :-)

You are not alone! The beds in our house are almost never made. I truly don't see the point to it, we're just crawling back in and untucking it all into comfortable chaos at the end of the day anyway. Maybe I am failing to teach my kids something valuable, but I think I'd rather have them know how to cook and do their own laundry than make a bed. There's something to be said for being able to shut the bedroom door when company comes over!

Thank you, Katherine. I'm glad this is such a supportive community! Terri, I am so glad you did comment today. Intellectually I know we're certainly not the only family dealing with such things, but on an emotional level it can feel like it sometimes. I am very touched you took the time to reinforce that it's not just us. Advocacy is not always easy, your son is lucky to have you pushing for him. Good luck to you this year as well.

My brother has an intricate bracelet tattoo on his forearm that makes my Holocaust-era grandparents wince every time they see it. I've always wanted a subtle tattoo also, maybe a chain of ivy around my ankle or something else just as delicate. With each milestone birthday or milestone occasion--my divorce, my remarriage-- I've entertained the idea, but have not done it because of the Jewish belief as well and because I don't want my grandparents to be reminded of the painful past. (Or possibly because I'm a total wimp and think it might hurt a lot.) I never really considered that in having pierced ears I'd already gone against religious prohibition. I look forward to knowing whether you decide to get a tattoo!

It may sound like a wish-washy stance to take, but I agree with both of you, Katherine and Randy. The journalist in me cringes when I notice companies taking away freedom of speech, but yet I also feel as though if people aren't using common sense or don't know what's appropriate in using that freedom, guidance should be provided to uphold the company's values. In terms of corrective action (and social media policies in general), I absolutely agree that training and discussion of the possible consequences of "blabbing" on SM needs to happen beforehand, not as an afterthought. In my experience, a lot of companies provide employees with a copy of the policy, require it to be read over and signed and that suffices as notice. With a generation of employees who have blurry boundaries, perhaps that's not enough. A face-to-face conversation or training accompanied by a copy of the policy might be more effective in driving home the seriousness of the situation and that there WILL be follow-through. In the circumstance you mention, Randy, in my opinion, the manager should have used the situation as an opportunity. An opportunity to educate employees about what's acceptable and what's not. An opportunity to provide a warning of consequence for future offenses, an opportunity to examine what the salon's stance is on SM and an opportunity to create a policy for the future.