Synopsis "A Dead Tomato Plant and a Paycheck"
From award-winning author, Maryann Miller, comes a new book that takes a humorous, and often irreverent, look at parenting with stories drawn from her own life as a wife and a mother. Many of these stories were first told in the weekly column Miller wrote for a Dallas suburban newspaper when she was known as the Erma Bombeck of Plano. An honor Miller was happy to hold for a number of years. What on earth do a dead tomato plant and a paycheck have in common? In this book, Miller answers that question while sharing a survival guide for parenting a large family, while vainly keeping body and mind intact. From School Daze to Summertime Blues, and everything in between, the book airs the Miller laundry with all the holes and missing buttons. She answers important family questions such as: What's for dinner? Who wrote the dirty words on the wall? Can we really pee in the woods? Do the kids really like the dog better than Mom? Readers of the humor column, from which this books comes, delighted in The Great Lasagna Caper, the fits of tantrum that demolished a telephone, The Lawn Wars, who is and who isn't Socially Acceptable, and the crazy dinnertime conversations. Those readers could relate, as will mothers and father and kids today. Nothing really changes all that much in family dynamics. Just the names are changed to protect the innocent. COMMENTS FROM READERS: "I was reading Maryann's book while riding in the car and my husband and son wanted to know what was so funny, so I told them. The story of the neighbor bringing the twins home is hysterical." Jane St. Romain "Maryann's quick wit and honest insight provide all of us a nice chuckle as we can all relate to what it's like to be part of a family. Whether you relate remembering what it was like to be a sibling. or what it is like to be a mother, this book reminds us that we are not alone, and we get to smile along the way." A. Shake "This book is a wonderful and nostalgic reminder that "there are no little things." Maryann Miller writes about her family in a way that we all relate to...the escapades, the conflicts, the sweet moments that are oh so easy to miss. I was reminded how alike, yet delightfully different we are in our lives and our stories, and how extraordinary the ordinary can be. Thank you, Maryann Miller for an absolutely delightful read." Sharla Rocka
