All posts by Jackie Pick

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About Jackie Pick

Jackie Pick is a former teacher and current writer living in the Chicago area. She is a contributing author to multiple anthologies, including Multiples Illuminated, So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real about Motherhood, Here in the Middle, as well as the and the literary magazines The Sun and Selfish. She received Honorable Mention from the Mark Twain House and Museum for her entry in the Royal Nonesuch Humor Writing Competition. Jackie is a contributing writer at Humor Outcasts, and her essays have been featured on various online sites including McSweeney's, Belladonna Comedy, Mamalode, The HerStories Project, and Scary Mommy. A graduate of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, Jackie is co-creator and co-writer of the award-winning short film Fixed Up, and a proud member of the 2017 Chicago cast of Listen To Your Mother.

Surviving Summer Funtimes: Week the Sixth

For the love of a dog, Humor, Knitting, Parenting, Surviving Summer Funtimes, Things that smell

Tink. Frog. Rip out and start over.

tink

I had to undo several weeks of knitting last night. Every pattern for something knit in the round tells you to be very careful before joining the knitting in a circle. If you have just one twisted stitch, it will turn your smooth round piece into a disastrous twisted curly-cue.

It took me four inches of knitting to realize that what was going on. It took me ten minutes to undo it. It’s called “tinking” (“tink” is, cleverly, “knit” backwards). It’s also called “frogging” because you “rip it” (i.e. “ribbit”) out.

It’s brutal and starting over is often the only solution.  Continue reading Surviving Summer Funtimes: Week the Sixth →

Surviving Summer Funtimes: Week the Fifth

For the love of a dog, Humor, Surviving Summer Funtimes, Things that smell, ,

A short post this week as I spent three days of it unwell. Not sure if it’s hormonal tsunamis or migraines or the flu, but I was quite miserable and unable to function. It’s been beautiful out, so no fewer than three neighbors spent those same days working on roofs, decks, or other construction projects from 8 am to about 4, adding to the already solid chorus of landscaping activities. These are not things that make a migraine/hormonal surge/flu any better, but they are part of life here in Pleasant Valley. Continue reading Surviving Summer Funtimes: Week the Fifth →

Surviving Summer Funtimes: Week the Fourth

Humor, Parenting, Surviving Summer Funtimes, , , , , , ,

Part of modern parenting is the pressure to create and/or partake in constant fun activities with your kids. This is exacerbated by Curated Parenting! (brought to you by social media). The extent to which that pressure affects each parent is individual, of course.

But I do wonder from time to time: what and to what extent am I supposed to be activity director for my children, to what extent should we let them be bored (read: tear the house to pieces), to what extent do we let them just veg and watch television, especially if a part of their day is them fully engaged in camp/learning activities? Continue reading Surviving Summer Funtimes: Week the Fourth →