Posts Categorized: Jane Austen Days-Jedi Knights

Author M.J. Pullen blogs with humor about her life as a writer and working mom raising two padawans with her own personal Mr. Darcy.

Do Me a Favor: If You See Me at the Playground, Treat Me Like a Man

posted on 11/14/2012

Last night the hubs and I cashed in a date night and went to the MJCCA book festival ‘parenting edition’ with Dan Zevin and two of the four Sh*tty Moms. It was a fun evening, commiserating about the challenges of parenting young children in funny and irreverent ways. With two children in a Jewish preschool, […]

My Preschooler vs. The Costco Happiness Mandate

posted on 10/29/2012

Once a month or so, I go with my family to that Mecca of Consumerist Culture, Costco. It’s probably not cool to say so, but I love this ritual. Usually we’re stocking up on staples like paper towels, milk and diapers; but it’s also a specific type of quality family time. While we’re getting our […]

Fat Girl’s Halloween Oath

posted on 10/29/2012

My Little Pumpkins: So delicious they’re a little concerned Mommy will eat them. I love Halloween. It’s an enchanted time, when people temporarily cast aside social propriety, modest clothing and resistance to the supernatural. It’s a time to embrace one’s inner witch or warlock, feline familiar, or slutty cab driver. Time to go nuts with […]

Pirate Talk, My Dad’s Birthday and How I’m Not Special

posted on 09/19/2012

Aaargh! Thanks for droppin’ anchor at me swashbucklin’ blog, matie! Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! I always thought it was funny that International Talk Like a Pirate Day fell on my father’s birthday. He never saw the humor in it, but if you knew my Dad, you know that overt silliness wasn’t really his […]

Mom, There’s a Hooker in My Room (Things I Learned in August)

posted on 09/02/2012

Here’s my top 5 from the month of August: 1. A couple of weeks ago, Monkey came running downstairs. “Mom there’s a hooker in my room!” After a sidelong glance at his father, and a little investigation, we figured out he was talking about a clothes hanger on the floor. Bill Crosby was right, kids […]

Monday’s Blog and a Couple of Birthday Pictures

posted on 08/27/2012

Happy Monday, friends! First and foremost, as always, I want to send out big thanks to everyone for helping make all the recent promotions such a huge success. I am also incredibly appreciative for all the Facebook posts, emails and other messages letting me know how much you guys are enjoying Regrets Only (and for […]

5 Things I Learned in July 2012

posted on 08/01/2012

Whoever said you learn something new every day obviously already knew a good bit more than I did to begin with. I’m finding the older I get, I realize the less I know, and I learn an average of about 400 things a day, usually in some comically painful manner. Some of these things are […]

Poison Ivy and a Weekend Surprise: REGRETS ONLY is here!

posted on 07/28/2012

The bad news (for me) is that I have a RAGING case of poison ivy, which I got working in the backyard last week. I’ve always been allergic and our yard is full of the stuff, but this is definitely the worst reaction I’ve had. It’s just gross. For some reason I also got hives […]

Hubby vs. Mean Reviews, Touched by an Email

posted on 06/01/2012

I’ll be very honest with you, blog reader friends. Just between us, negative reviews about a book you’ve written can suck. Even though every book gets them, even though you can always learn something from feedback, even though it’s part of what you signed up for when you decided to take the self-important step of […]

Post #160: In which I whine an awful lot and then try to learn something

posted on 05/22/2012

Did you ever have one of those weeks? I did. Week before last, actually. Some people would say, “when it rains it pours.” I would say, “it felt like our house was on a vortex of crap.” Those of you who have or have recently had preschool-aged children understand that once your kid goes to […]