http://www.suburbanhippie.com where parental meets psychedelic Sun, 06 Jun 2010 23:40:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The best pieces of advice I've received in my life were from my dad and my brother. My dad told me Don't shit where you eat. It's applicable in every situation. And my big brother told me he was a pessimistic optimist. It goes like this, sorta: You go into every ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=479 I like to write top ten lists. For a while, in fact, I was actually retained by some actual, respectable (as opposed to fake and sarcastic) website to do it. However, this arrangement ceased when said website concluded that my name was funnier than my writing. After that, I made occasional ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=478 December 24, 2009 marked 25 years since I came to Southern California for, apparently, the rest of my life. In odd ways, I've grown used to it; I'd have a difficult time going back to someplace where I couldn't get a triple espresso and a New York Times in the ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=475 This evening I really ought to go hunt up a long hooded black robe and a scythe, because two -- count 'em, two -- of my pets died today. Not major pets, I suppose; if you rated the Crumpacker pets by weight, the turtle was in about third place and ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=474 6:00 a.m.: Wake up. Pee. Drink two cups of coffee. Pee. Drink a third cup of coffee. Pee. Drink Diet Coke. Leave for work. 8:30 a.m.: Arrive at office. Pee. Drink cup of tea. Pee. Drink bottle of Arrowhead water. Pee. Drink cup of Starbucks Via. Pee. Drink iced oolong tea. ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=473 A couple of weeks ago, Ben and I took the kids to the Orange County Swap Meet. I'm not sure if they have swap meets in other parts of the country; when we lived back East, we called them flea markets and they mostly consisted of cast-off used items or ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=472 Yes, I know, I know! If I still have readers, which after what, 8+ weeks I shouldn't expect? Apart from the fact that I've been employed by the boss from Hell. I mean, guy still is batting off the fresh brimstone when he arrives every morning. What am I meant ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=471 Last weekend, we celebrated Father's Day with fresh guacamole and beer margaritas. They were so good, we gave it an encore this week, and I think I've got my recipes perfected. So here you go, and don't say we didn't warn you about their addictive qualities: The Crumpacker Family Guacamole 4 avocados ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=470 So we're back home from Sequoia. In lots of ways, the trip was everything such trips are meant to be. If you haven't been up in the redwoods, you can't imagine what it's like -- it's like church. My eyes crave lots of green, lots of wildlife and lots of ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=469 Roxanne Hack of the Orange County Register wrote a column this week about hating mommy conversations -- how just because you have a kid, everyone assumes you're interested in everyone else's kid, their bowel movements, their teething issues. Roxanne hit that one out of the park. Oh, I blog about ... http://www.suburbanhippie.com/?p=468