Jan Eliot's funny and irreverent Stone Soup follows the saga of an extended, blended family, starring two working-mom sisters living just across the fence from each other. Val and Joan share life with their opinionated mother, a middle-school diva and 10-year-old tomboy, a reclusive teenage boy, a wild preschooler and his new baby sister...and of course Wally, the ultimate nice guy who steps into his stepdad shoes with grace amid the chaos. Working-parent hassles, pre-school tantrums, middle-school angst, love and the single mom... it's all here in Stone Soup.
© Jan Eliot - All Rights Reserved.
Starslip by Kris Straub
Strange Brew by John Deering
Comments (37) (Please sign in to comment)
somebodyshort said, 4 months ago
Oh oh, This is the type of discussion that opens the eyes. It’s not deal breakers but you find out if you should compromise or stand your ground knowing that the future is not what you had in mind.
Night-Gaunt49 said, 4 months ago
Sooner or later they drink then have to pee. And get very bored unless you have games or tv for them to watch.
John Pike said, 4 months ago
We didn’t have TV in the car. They came later. We did do sing alongs with the radio. Good times, especially Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”. Now we have teen grands. They have iPods and head phones, Really don’t know they are back there. Often times I wish we interacted more.
paha_siga said, 4 months ago
Hm, when our kids were toddlers, one of us was busy with kids and other drove; but if I had to go alone, I opted for bus if possible. Now that they are 8 and 10, we don’t have any problems really, although they don’t have iPods or anything like that…
That we moved to live outside city has helped a lot, too – we used to spend an hour driving out of city, and halfway to it they started to ask if we are there yet; road seems to be much easier to endure for them than town.
Jeff0811 said, 4 months ago
If she’s that bad, wonder what the kids are like.
FlyerTom said, 4 months ago
In 1975, we did a road trip to Disney World for vacation – 1200 miles – with our four kids aged 1 to 6.
They say getting there is half the fun. Therefore, the other half is getting home.
IndyMan said, 4 months ago
We always started out at midnight or 1 AM with the children sleep in the back and by the time they woke up we were almost to where we wanted to be for the day and it was time for breakfast.
Jean said, 4 months ago
drove from California to Florida once with an 8 month old and a 3 year old, was quiet an adventure, broken water pump in Las Vegas, stop in Utah for a week at Grammy’s house, then on to Texas for a week at Nana’s house then on to Pensacola. NEVER AGAIN!!!!! lol Every time we left for another leg of the trip we left after the kids were asleep and drove all night to keep the tears to a minimum.
Jenn said, 4 months ago
I’m with Phil. But I’m smart enough to take them alone, or with my SO. ;)
flagfly
said, 4 months ago
Jeff0, are you a new reader? She’s telling him what kids are like. However, he may shy away from marriage the more he sees of them.
david_42 said, 4 months ago
@Night-Gaunt49
We had a TV at our house and were one of the few in the neighborhood who did. We always did road trips (six kids) and rarely were bored.
Rx71Wm29 said, 4 months ago
I guess Phil was thinking that if he married Val it would just be happy times in bed and hot eats in the kitchen?
Nancy
said, 4 months ago
you forgot “i think i’m going to be sick” Val.
Dani Rice
said, 4 months ago
And then there’s “She’s touching me” and “He’s looking out my window”. My parents had a child-sized card table; they would put two legs on the floor of the back seat and the table on a large book. My sister and I colored, read, drew -and kept quiet.
mrsdonaldson said, 4 months ago
@IndyMan
My parents did that too.