Homefront

In my household, we're in search of the new normal, whatever that is. The past year has been one of transition, upheaval, limbo … but that's coming to an end now, at least we hope so. Last spring, my husband's Marine Corps Reserve unit mobilized to deploy to Afghanistan. Between April and August, he was in and out of training, some in D.C., some in Quantico, nearly a month in California. Then in August, he left for seven months in Afghanistan, leaving me to solo parent our 3-year-old son. In late December, I went on maternity leave and had our second son at the end of the year.

A prominent Idaho businessman has lost his job after allegedly slapping a toddler on a plane when the child wouldn't stop crying. While many parents and fliers can agree that "Toddlers on a Plane" would be a terrifying premise for a film, most of us can figure out that hitting a stranger's child is not OK. But what steps can parents take to lessen their children's impact on other passengers? Some people swear by slipping kids a little Benadryl , but I've never gone this route.

MEMO To: Family. From: Dad, Czar of the Homefront. Subject: Increased Security. Following the events of recent days and the examples set by various branches of government and industry, I have taken it upon myself to draw up a five-point plan to tighten security procedures at our home, hereafter referred to as "the structure." 1. IDs: Starting in the very near future, family members will be required to wear identification badges anytime they are in "the structure." This step will cut down on the likelihood that "outsiders" will sneak in "the structure" and steal our valuable stuff.

For many, many in our readership area (and on my Facebook feed), today is the first day of school. I have another year before my older son starts kindergarten, so this isn't a dramatic moment in our household just yet. But I know it is for others! How are you coping? Or are you doing the Dance of Joy because you've got a little time to yourself back? We've got Facebook commenting enabled, so feel free to share below. Speaking of Facebook, follow Homefront on Facebook here . And please share your back-to-school pictures in our gallery here .

&TC Normally, when a TV series is nudged out of its time slot by a ratings-hungry network, the shrieks of discontent are piercing.Nothing, short of bad execution, can bury a series faster than shuffling the nightly lineup. It causes confusion on the part of the viewer and heartburn for the producers.But in the case of "Homefront," the ABC series about the post-World War II years in middle America, the change from Tuesday nights to Wednesdays has been as soothing as an effervescent elixir.

LOS ANGELES -- Tonight's previously unseen episode of "Homefront" wasn't lost. It was just too heavy, ABC decided last September."Because it is about a funeral and it is about a character who is not returning, it was the network's judgment call," said Bernard Lechowick, who created the post-World War II drama with his wife, Lynn Marie Latham."

TONIGHT'S NEW ABC show "Homefront" is a bit like a beautifully decorated cake -- it looks wonderful, the icing is terrific, but once you bite into the thing, you realize it's really just a plain yellow cake.The debut of "Homefront" is an exquisite-looking piece of television. Set in 1945 as the soldiers were returning from World War II, the cars are wonderfully vintage, the clothing impeccably accurate, the photography and direction impressive, the cast and performances top-notch.But after you've been wowed by the seamed stockings and two-tone DeSotos, you realize you're being seduced and manipulated by a frustratingly predictable story.

Wow,was there ever a lot of sex in America in the autumn of 1945.At least that's how "Homefront," premiering at 9:30 tonight on WJZ-TV (Channel 13), sees it. The weekly drama, which replaces "thirtysomething" in ABC's lineup, makes small-town America in the 1940s feel just like Dallas in the 1980s and Knot's Landing in the 1990s.Gee, dad, was it really that way or does it just look like it because David Jacobs, the executive producer here, was also the producer for "Dallas" and "Knots Landing"?

In Sunday's "On the Homefront," the phone number for ASID yard sale information was incorrect. The number is (410) 329-3366.The Sun regrets the errors.

Because incorrect information was provided to The Sun, the time of Wendy Rosen's book signing at Borders in Towson was incorrect in Sunday's "On the Homefront." The correct time is 7:30 p.m. Saturday.The Sun regrets the error.

Maryland is offering a new mortgage program that gives discounts to military families and veterans. The "Maryland Homefront" loans, announced Tuesday, are part of the state's Maryland Mortgage Program. The loans — available through June of next year or until the $50 million reserved for them is used up — will come with an interest rate that's half a percent lower than the Maryland Mortgage Program's overall rate. That's a savings of about $840 a year on a $250,000 home, the state said.

In my household, we're in search of the new normal, whatever that is. The past year has been one of transition, upheaval, limbo … but that's coming to an end now, at least we hope so. Last spring, my husband's Marine Corps Reserve unit mobilized to deploy to Afghanistan. Between April and August, he was in and out of training, some in D.C., some in Quantico, nearly a month in California. Then in August, he left for seven months in Afghanistan, leaving me to solo parent our 3-year-old son. In late December, I went on maternity leave and had our second son at the end of the year.

Alerted via Facebook, connected by Skype, Joseph Vencill was able to "be" in the delivery room for the birth of his first child even though he was serving in Iraq at the time. Still, there's only so much you can do by satellite. "I'm not sure how much help I was," Vencill, 28, said of his remote role at the bedside of his wife, Jamie, during a five-hour labor that ended in the June 26 birth of their son, Kaiden. With the war over in Iraq, Vencill, a National Guardsman who lives in Bel Air, is among the thousands of troops who won't have to miss additional milestones, making it home in time for the holidays.

Outback Steakhouse presented a $1 million donation to Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization providing emergency financial and other assistance to military families and wounded service members. The big-check ceremony took place in front of the Outback Steakhouse located in Ellicott City. That's a good local angle, but the better one is that Marylanders benefit from Operation Homefront which I first learned about from the Restrepo DVD.  

Jim Nicholson's resignation last week after 2 1/2 years as secretary of veterans affairs was described as abrupt, but the wonder is that he lasted so long. A former real estate developer, Republican Party chairman and ambassador to the Vatican, Mr. Nicholson was overwhelmed by a hidebound bureaucracy unable to cope with the sheer size and complexity of its rapidly expanding client load. And he was no match for White House political bosses trying to hide the true cost of the Iraq war by shorting veterans' care.

When Navy reservist David Lindsey was called up to go to Iraq, his employer gave him extra vacation time and offered to pay the difference if his military salary was less than his civilian pay. While he was away, his bosses at Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative made sure that he routinely received care packages filled with soup and cans of coffee, which made him the envy of his unit. The company re-shuffled staff to temporarily fill his job during his absence, then promoted him soon after his return in 2005.

And Sew It Goes, a quilting and needlework shop at Historic Savage Mill, invites visitors to help create quilts to honor the memory of a serviceman or servicewoman who died during the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. The goal is to create a quilt for each who has died. The event, called Operation Homefront Quilts, will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday at the mill, 8600 Foundry St. in Savage. Each participant will learn to create and work on a memorial quilt. The quilts will be sent to families of the servicemen and servicewomen.

Each week, one of Charlie Conner's stories about life with his wife and four kids in Catonsville appears on the Internet. Flush with their tax refund but unable to find a baby sitter, he and his wife forgo a fancy dinner for two and take the kids out for cheeseburgers. With a tinge of regret, his wife gives up "liquid refreshment" for Lent. Spring comes with erratic weather, but flowers manage to blossom in the yard. "Actually, in a walk around the house Sunday between showers, I could count more than a dozen in various colors and some just coming up," he writes in an entry, adding, "Otherwise, the yard is a soggy mess."

HANITA, Israel -- As Hezbollah launched scores of rockets into northern Israel yesterday, killing two people, the phone rang at Yaakov and Orna Kariv's home on Israel's border with Lebanon. On the line was their son in Tel Aviv, asking them to come stay with his family, out of range of Hezbollah. Orna Kariv smiled and politely refused her son's offer. She and her husband preferred to stay where they believed the deep calm that brought them to this kibbutz overlooking the Mediterranean Sea 40 years ago would soon return.