• Jew Stuff,  Tough Questions

    A (Meeko) Fabulous Question

    My buddy Meeko Fabulous asked a great question in a comment earlier this week, and I thought a post about my answer would be a great Public Service Announcement right now, at the beginning of the holiday season. His question? Would a Jewish person get offended if they were given a Christmas card? I unintentionally committed that faux pas last year and got an earful . . . Your thoughts? I did a post that touched on this last year, but I’m too lazy to link it. First of all, I have to put the disclaimer out there that my answer is just that: Mine. My opinion may not be…

  • Tough Questions

    Does An Apology Make It Okay?

    Each and every year, viewers tune in to the MTV Video Music Awards because there are always a few moments that the whole world is talking about the next day. Last night’s show was no different in that it had stand-out moments, but one of them was despicable, uncomfortable, and unbelievable. Taylor Swift, the 19-year-old country music dynamo (who has managed to cross over into pop as well, something pretty rare for a true country artist), won her first “Moon Man”, for Best Female Video of the year. As she was excitedly accepting her award, Kanye West turned what was one of the best moments of her life into quite…

  • Contest,  Tough Questions,  Travels

    You Had Questions, I’ve Got Answers (part TWO!)

    Yes, yes, I’m still filling out little strips of paper for my drawing tomorrow (twelve days of posts and comments??? what was I thinking???); here’s part two of the answers to your NYC post questions! From “The Donald Was Only There In Spirit (and on books, ties, ice cream…)”: Weaselmomma said, “So to recap, You bought luxurious little carefully wrapped soaps. Complete with gift packaging. From a high end department store that should have been a restaurant, with fantastic ‘make you feel like a celeb’ service and we get a squished penny if and only if we cat fight through 10 days of comments and win a mini lottery. Just…

  • Contest,  Tough Questions

    You Had Questions, I’ve Got Answers! (part one)

    While I’m busily getting just over 200- 1 inch by 2 3/4 inch strips of colorful paper filled out with your names on them for my little drawing on Wednesday, I want to go ahead and respond to some of your comments from all of my NYC posts since I didn’t have the time to do that day by day. There were so many that I’m splitting this into two posts. So, here we go! *clearing my throat* (not that I will be talking, but the throat-clearing thing really lets everyone know that you’re ready to get started, don’t you think?) From “This Is Not Just Any Old Blog Contest”:…

  • Tough Questions,  Travels

    What To Do, What To Do…

    We’re leaving for our vacation in a couple of days, and I have yet to decide if I’m going to write a couple of posts in advance or if I should just set up the thing where I can e-mail a short post from my phone. Hard to decide, and time is ticking away! One thing I DO know: I will be occasionally tweeting while we’re away. Are you on Twitter? If you are, follow me here. I’ll figure out the posting thing later today! Decisions, decisions…

  • Friends,  Spreading the Bloggie Love,  Tough Questions

    Please, Do Me a Favor! (and by “Me”, I mean Weather Kim!)

    I totally was going to take the day off from posting since I did three, count ’em, three posts yesterday. I don’t want to spoil you all, you know! (yes I do…) However, my girl Weather Kim has put a call out for help from Suburban Scrawl readers. She is hosting one of the many inauguration balls going on this evening in Washington D.C., and is having people vote on which dress she will wear. Both dresses are gorgeous, but she prefers one over the other, so she asked me to ask you to go vote. “But Melisa, wouldn’t that fix the vote?” Yes, yes it would. But you see,…

  • Tough Questions,  UGH.

    When I Was In High School, I Didn’t Even Know What A Lockdown Was.

    It’s been quite the stressful day. The high school that the 16-year-old attends was on lockdown from first period (about 7:25 a.m.-ish) until about 12:45 p.m. Apparently a student saw another student in a bathroom, doing what looked like loading a gun, so he did the right thing and reported it, causing the lockdown, subsequent flooding of the area by police, and the drama that has gone on for most of the high school day. First, thank GOD for cell phones. We stayed in touch with our son the whole time. He was in his English class (a room with no outside windows) for the duration, with the lights off.…

  • Family Fun,  Tough Questions

    Persuading Americans To Sit On The Couch is Like Persuading Cookie Monster To…Well, You Know.

    So, tonight begins the Fall TV season; do you have your viewing plan all set? The good news is that, according to ABC, this week is “National Stay at Home Week”. My question is, who was the “genius” executive that thought the public had to be told to stay home this week–to save gas, no less–in order to catch Week One of the New Season? Between the writer’s strike that chopped last season into little tiny pieces, the extra-long summer of reruns, the Olympics (nothing against them), the political conventions, and the awards shows that—so far, anyway—seem to have been written by non-writers and have proven to be mind-numbing wastes…

  • Random Thoughts,  Tough Questions

    Is This You?

    A Letter To The Parent Who Does Not Wear a Bike Helmet*: Each time I see you on the road, “bare-headed”, following your children whose heads are safely ensconced in their own helmets, I cannot help but wonder what you are thinking…or if you are thinking at all. Two things immediately come to my mind, the first being the idea that you are not setting a very good example for your children. The messages you are broadcasting to those wee ones by not wearing a helmet are “It is important for you to wear a helmet, but not so much for me” and “Do as I say but not as…

  • Family Fun,  Random Thoughts,  Too Funny To Ignore,  Tough Questions

    What Do Frogs and John Belushi Have To Do With Teenagers, Anyway?

    This post is a Public Service to you all out there: 1. For those of you who with no kids…laugh it up.2. For those of you who have teens right now…commiserate.3. For those of you who have little ones…prepare yourselves.4. For those of you who have grown kids…laugh it up (see how we will all come Full Circle?). One New Year’s Day morning, several years ago, my sister Julie and I were sprawled out in my living room, slightly hungover from our family (in-house) festivities of New Year’s Eve, the night before. (She smartly spent the night instead of getting on the road.) We were exhausted and not feeling much…