Zen, what would happen if you did NOT check e-mail? You need to be able to take worry free time off.

I tried that once! I went to England for two whole weeks and didn't check my work email once. I came back to find that not a single thing had been done on my work. Nothing. The girl who was supposed to be my back-up was apparently told by my boss that since she was so busy with her own work, she shouldn't "worry" about mine. So I came back from vacation to two weeks' worth of late papers and frantic authors.

If I don't do it, no one will. Literally. The work will just sit there. And when I'm asked why it's late, "I was on vacation" or "I was out sick" is never an acceptable excuse, and neither is "my back-up was incompetent".

And oh my GOD the barrage of STUPID emails I just fielded. Yes, OF COURSE there should be commas and spaces between the authors' names in the byline, YOU IDIOT.

This is really restful. Why didn't I ever take a mental health break before?

Burrell, that's their highlight reel, and not the whole film. You're not seeing all of the work it took to get them there, and maintain it. Said kids are probably stressed to the gills, and don't have an unscheduled moment ever.

You have wonderfully funny, smart, inquisitive, artistic, quirky, and amazing children. I'll take kids who can improvise over ones that just follow directions without questioning them every day. Stop beating yourself up.

Zen, you need to unplug. I wish I could help you.

I read about friends who have these really smart kids who are self-motivated and take care of all their homework by themselves, and it's all generally correct, and parents just sit back and beam at their wonderful children's wonderful As, A+s, commendation letters, etc. Said kids are also incredibly well rounded and in addition to always getting A+s, they excell at sports, musical instruments, and volunteering with the homeless.

Those people don't exist. I promise.

I was supposed to get an Amazon package yesterday. When there was no package, I checked the online tracking, which said, "A carrier delay has occurred." Under details, it said "1:02 PM Undeliverable - Incorrect Address." I was here at that address at 1 p.m. Am I supposed to do something or hope USPS figures it out?

Do kids seem to have WAY MORE homework than we did when we were young? I graduated in 1991, and we didn't have anything to do at home until 3rd grade, never did anything in the summer, and except for big projects or art classes, I really don't remember spending very much time on it.

My godson, who is 13, has so much homework THIS SUMMER. Homework in every subject. Math every day. 2 different book presentations. A presentation on the Civil War. It seems like so much! I think he now HATES reading, and he used to love it.

Burrell, what Maria said.

Self, what Maria said.

Do kids seem to have WAY MORE homework than we did when we were young?

Yes. Even in high school, I never minded getting detention because it meant I could get a lot, if not all, of my homework done and leave the books at school.

Under details, it said "1:02 PM Undeliverable - Incorrect Address." I was here at that address at 1 p.m. Am I supposed to do something or hope USPS figures it out?

Seems worth calling to me, but I don't mind those kinds of calls.

Great, I'm getting volunteered for yet another meeting this afternoon. Die, meetings, die.

Those people don't exist. I promise.

Yeah, I probably looked like one of those kids from the outside (outside my family, that is) but I was no picnic for my parents

1:02 PM Undeliverable - Incorrect Address

Maybe it means the deliverer was at the incorrect address?

Just finished my nachos. End of the month has become chock full of issues and salespeople urgently wanting information so they can justify why they aren't meeting their goals this month...

Maybe my hot dogs will be more delicious. Still kinda warm...

Save me from well meaning neighbors. Jack is doing well in his obedience training, but he still barks are people not in this family. Sometimes it is warning, sometimes it is demanding (they gave me a couple treats, I want a million) and sometimes it is aggressive. We are working with his trainer on different techniques to help him and he is making progress.

Today I took him in the backyard and one neighbor was in her yard cleaning up. He yipped at her and then when she popped her head over the fence he went nuts. I didn't have him on a leash, so we came back in to get one. She came out to the open space with us and kept getting too close to him, saying she understood, he was still a puppy and still learning and I kept saying we needed to work on a training technique that involved distance. He couldn't calm down, so we ended up coming back inside. The neighbor wasn't upset, but we want his training sessions to be more success than failure and this felt like a big failure.