TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Recent Stories

1. HEATHER IJAMES: New beach vacation spot will see me again

   I had barely heard of Bodega Bay before I vacationed there last week, although I've since learned it was the locale for Hitchcock's "The Birds." An oceanfront rental in the area is about a fourth of the cost for a Southern California...

2. HEATHER IJAMES: Tolerance, meet the paradoxes of life

   Between my husband putting the brakes on a lighter piece I wanted to write, tentatively titled, "Charles vs. the home-invading ants: The ants won," and the fact that I'm seeing a lot of hate speech these days, I wanted to philosophize....

3. HEATHER IJAMES: I now have a cat to rule my house

   Bleeding hearts unite: I brought home a stray kitten. Until the day I'm dead, I will long tell of the story when a fuzzy black kitten permeated through my No Cats Allowed stance and came into my home. To be honest, I was having a shoddy...

4. HEATHER IJAMES: The summer car trip -- a rite of passage

   We're finally able to take longer car trips. For years, we've been staying in a one-and-a-half or two-hour driving radius because the kids were too young, still encompassing those bad habits of crying when bored and possessing tiny bladders...

5. HEATHER IJAMES: My battle cry for the war on boys

   There were three boys and three girls playing the same game together at a local elementary school. It was called "Prisoner." The little girls wanted to be caught by a bad guy, and then good guys would break them free. When the game was...

6. HEATHER IJAMES: The great purge in my Bakersfield backyard

   The nice weather made me want to be outside. The only problem was our yard and patio were a wreck. There were at least a dozen pool toy inflatables, accumulated over the years and scattered about. Most had been chewed on and mauled by...

7. HEATHER IJAMES: Bunking up the kids to settle them down

   To bunk bed, or not to bunk bed? That's the question taking up prime real estate in my brain these days. I have one picked out for my boys, and they've already started making grandiose plans about converting the top bunk into a fort, but...

9. HEATHER IJAMES: What's brewing inside us will come out

   I had one of those comedy of error days. You know, when it seems as if the world is trying to cram as many things in as possible to go haywire. By the end of the day, I was actually thinking I should drive through a fast-food joint, because...

10. HEATHER IJAMES: My youngest turned 4, with a different child-rearing philosophy

    My youngest just turned 4, and though I realize he's still a far cry from driving, shaving and telling me he's going to marry that girl no matter what I think, the turn of his years from 3 to 4 hit hard. The husband says I shouldn't lament,...

11. HEATHER IJAMES: Sometimes you have to squeeze into your marriage

    Wince if you must, but I'm mentioning a celebrity breakup. I was running at the gym when the TVs bombarded me with news of the Heidi Klum and Seal split. Since it was that or MSNBC telling me to "Lean Forward," I watched the dribble about...

12. HEATHER IJAMES: Please don't pop my personal space bubble

    I have this thing with personal space. And I thought it was only me, being one of the many crazy Heather things that my husband says makes his life interesting. However, a few years ago on vacation, someone told me that I had to be an...

13. HEATHER IJAMES: Let's get past the sour grapes online

    Can someone declare 2011 the year of angry Internet comments? I'd even venture to guess there are millions of keyboards and touch screens that want to tell some of their owners to simmer down. Hey, maybe that new Siri chick on the iPhone...

14. HEATHER IJAMES: I like Christmas lights, without the drama

    Let's talk about Christmas lights. I love them. I want more of them. I love seeing them lining the streets, and I love seeing them up and down the neighborhoods. And hey, if you can make it look like a dozen elves exploded their glittery...