February 2008 Archives
It's been YEARS since I've even been remotely interested in the Oscars. But tonight, during my niece's 6th birthday party (yet another social shindig in our ever-so-partified family life), I was able to catch most of the show. I even distracted my 3-year-old with a piece of Werther's candy when I wanted to hear the complete song from "Enchanted" and threw him another piece during the Coen brothers' speech. (Fun-ny!) Not that I'm giving my son cavities, their whole short but sweet spiel and "Kissinger: Man on the Go" thing.
Continue reading Getting glam.
Firstborn Son has a playdate today and I love to see hiim so excited and happy to hang with his school friends. What I like better is I get along with his friend's mom too. It's funny how you kind of have to dance around the other parents in your child's school and make friends with them too. The kids make friends so easily. Me? Not so.
I was never a social butterfly to begin with, but I have had to force myself to step up and be more outgoing once I became a parent.
I was never a social butterfly to begin with, but I have had to force myself to step up and be more outgoing once I became a parent.
Continue reading It's a playdate.
I had an "ouch!" moment today.
In a recent Yahoo! poll, 48 percent of respondents with spouses or partners admitted to financial infidelity, say hiding a new blouse or undervaluing a purchase ("It cost 50, hon," when it's really $59.99.) May I be the first to say mea culpa?
I have done this many times: buying non-necessities like that beautiful linen shirt from JJill, on sale, mind you! Hubby doesn't find out until the bill comes. Shopping for dish soap and Drano at Target, I've come home with a new serving tray and fake Tiffany lamp.
At a recent costume jewelry sale at my son's school, a mom came breezing in, saying, "Well, I've told my husband I'm out doing the grocery shopping!" Most moms in the room agreed they do a bit of "embezzling" with the family money once in a while. It made me feel better for a minute there, knowing other women did it. But only for a minute.
In a recent Yahoo! poll, 48 percent of respondents with spouses or partners admitted to financial infidelity, say hiding a new blouse or undervaluing a purchase ("It cost 50, hon," when it's really $59.99.) May I be the first to say mea culpa?
I have done this many times: buying non-necessities like that beautiful linen shirt from JJill, on sale, mind you! Hubby doesn't find out until the bill comes. Shopping for dish soap and Drano at Target, I've come home with a new serving tray and fake Tiffany lamp.
At a recent costume jewelry sale at my son's school, a mom came breezing in, saying, "Well, I've told my husband I'm out doing the grocery shopping!" Most moms in the room agreed they do a bit of "embezzling" with the family money once in a while. It made me feel better for a minute there, knowing other women did it. But only for a minute.
Continue reading Target made me do it.
Of course I wanted to write a blog about life as a San Gabriel Valley mom. Think of the possibilities: it would be so easy to write about what happens everyday, squished in between diaper changes and meal preparing, and hey, I could highlight cool places, great kid-centric events, wonderful locals. OF COURSE I'd have time to do it!
And yeah, I hear all you moms saying, "You think? Good. luck."
But one thing I've learned about having little ones around the house is to always have hope: that the dishwasher will unload itself, that my six-year-old Joseph will not complain about homework today, that dear Hubby will clear away the dishes from the table, ooh, that the credit card bill will somehow read zero balance this month!
Ahh yes, we hope.
That's what spurred my decision to quit work as a reporter for this paper, after more than seven years on the beat. It was a wrench to leave, especially since they offered me my dream job (a writing desk at the features department!) just to stay. But I couldn't, and I don't regret it. I have a lot less money and none of the latest jeans, but I've got moments.
Moment #1: I was rocking my 2-year-old to sleep tonight and we ended up doing a duet of "You Are My Sunshine." Only I sang the whole thing, and Sandro would echo the last word, as he does now 24-7 (this is what passes as conversation with a 2-year-old.)
Me: You are my sunshine...
Sandro: Sunshine.
Me: My only sunshine...
Sandro: Sunshine.
Me: You make me happy.
Sandro: Hap-py.
You get the picture. It gets really cute when the last word is "excellent," "Transformer" or "hot, pa." Sandro can mimic it precisely! We were at Borders today and we kept up a running commentary of me changing his diaper, Sandro saying things like, "Get dia-per oint-ment?" or "Hold Green Power Ranger?"
The lady fixing her makeup in the mirror had to stop and double check I wasn't changing a 9-year-old on the table! "He speaks really well," she said, playing right into my proud maternal heart. "How old is he?"
Of course I had to repeat this to Hubby after dinner. By then Sandro had also regaled his papa with a performance of counting his toes, counting from 1-10 mind you!
So this brings me to my reason to blog...I don't want to lose the little everyday things that I go through with my boys, and my hubby, that are so precious and heart-tugging, the real stuff of life as the song says. I don't want to sit down (finally!) when I have time to put their scrapbooks together and not have ANY details to memorialize.
"Remember the time when Joseph told me the best things in his life are Mama, Papa and Sandro?" Second are his Transformers. Remember how the boys love the Lakers, "Ko-be! Ko-be!" and how they run to Job every day as he walks through the door after work?
And of course this is to share, as I never fail to remind my boys. Share my ideas, non-high-falutin' as they are, my mom finds, local stuff, happy local stuff I might add, things that make this Valley our own. So consider this your own sounding board too and feel free to comment ad nauseam.
Okay, now my son just wiped snot on my back. Life calls!
And yeah, I hear all you moms saying, "You think? Good. luck."
But one thing I've learned about having little ones around the house is to always have hope: that the dishwasher will unload itself, that my six-year-old Joseph will not complain about homework today, that dear Hubby will clear away the dishes from the table, ooh, that the credit card bill will somehow read zero balance this month!
Ahh yes, we hope.
That's what spurred my decision to quit work as a reporter for this paper, after more than seven years on the beat. It was a wrench to leave, especially since they offered me my dream job (a writing desk at the features department!) just to stay. But I couldn't, and I don't regret it. I have a lot less money and none of the latest jeans, but I've got moments.
Moment #1: I was rocking my 2-year-old to sleep tonight and we ended up doing a duet of "You Are My Sunshine." Only I sang the whole thing, and Sandro would echo the last word, as he does now 24-7 (this is what passes as conversation with a 2-year-old.)
Me: You are my sunshine...
Sandro: Sunshine.
Me: My only sunshine...
Sandro: Sunshine.
Me: You make me happy.
Sandro: Hap-py.
You get the picture. It gets really cute when the last word is "excellent," "Transformer" or "hot, pa." Sandro can mimic it precisely! We were at Borders today and we kept up a running commentary of me changing his diaper, Sandro saying things like, "Get dia-per oint-ment?" or "Hold Green Power Ranger?"
The lady fixing her makeup in the mirror had to stop and double check I wasn't changing a 9-year-old on the table! "He speaks really well," she said, playing right into my proud maternal heart. "How old is he?"
Of course I had to repeat this to Hubby after dinner. By then Sandro had also regaled his papa with a performance of counting his toes, counting from 1-10 mind you!
So this brings me to my reason to blog...I don't want to lose the little everyday things that I go through with my boys, and my hubby, that are so precious and heart-tugging, the real stuff of life as the song says. I don't want to sit down (finally!) when I have time to put their scrapbooks together and not have ANY details to memorialize.
"Remember the time when Joseph told me the best things in his life are Mama, Papa and Sandro?" Second are his Transformers. Remember how the boys love the Lakers, "Ko-be! Ko-be!" and how they run to Job every day as he walks through the door after work?
And of course this is to share, as I never fail to remind my boys. Share my ideas, non-high-falutin' as they are, my mom finds, local stuff, happy local stuff I might add, things that make this Valley our own. So consider this your own sounding board too and feel free to comment ad nauseam.
Okay, now my son just wiped snot on my back. Life calls!
Ah, the joys of Friday: no more planning school lunches, ironing clothes (I can never rescue them from the dryer fast enough) and battling traffic. My boys and I do a little dance when Friday comes along and Papa walks through the door from work.
"It's Friday! What're we doing?"
That's enough to send me into sighs of anticipation: we can go to the aquarium, the zoo, drop in on little Ethan's birthday, visit the grands of course, and joy of joys, we can stay home and do NOTHING. Nothing meaning the kiddies play, Hubby watches TV and Mama, given a choice, will do housework.
I can't help it! I want my family to come home to a neat, cheerful, clean, neat home. Did I say neat yet? But it can't be done, not with Transformer parts making a trail from the family room to under the fridge, clean clothes waiting to be folded on the sofa and crumbs of whatever the boys just ate underfoot. Oh no, this Girl Friday's to-do list is epic.
"It's Friday! What're we doing?"
That's enough to send me into sighs of anticipation: we can go to the aquarium, the zoo, drop in on little Ethan's birthday, visit the grands of course, and joy of joys, we can stay home and do NOTHING. Nothing meaning the kiddies play, Hubby watches TV and Mama, given a choice, will do housework.
I can't help it! I want my family to come home to a neat, cheerful, clean, neat home. Did I say neat yet? But it can't be done, not with Transformer parts making a trail from the family room to under the fridge, clean clothes waiting to be folded on the sofa and crumbs of whatever the boys just ate underfoot. Oh no, this Girl Friday's to-do list is epic.
Continue reading Girl Friday.
You’ve seen (and heard) the cell-savvy teenagers talking and texting day and night, their frenzied thumbwork interrupted by an occasional ringtone blast from Kanye West. Now the tweens want theirs, too.
With come-ons like Hannah Montana ringtones, sleek phones in candy colors and parent-friendly calling plans, the steady stream of “I have to have one!” can become unstoppable.
How young is too young? It might be younger than you think.
With come-ons like Hannah Montana ringtones, sleek phones in candy colors and parent-friendly calling plans, the steady stream of “I have to have one!” can become unstoppable.
How young is too young? It might be younger than you think.
Continue reading Cell phones for tweens? (AP).
