Back in the 1970s, the world was a very different place and generally safer than it is today. Parents used to let their kids run around as long as they were home by dinner, or by nine, or whatever, and kids respected that. There were no cell phones, and although it was recommended that kids not talk to strangers, generally most strangers were totally fine. When my sister and I used to visit our Grandma, one of our favorite things to do was walk two blocks to the corner store in order to pick up any random items that Grandma “needed” (milk, potato chips, gum…I’m pretty sure she came up…
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No, YOU Got Stuck In That Dress.
I had a very important task to accomplish this morning: procuring something to wear as Co-Producer and emcee of “Listen To Your Mother (Chicago)”. Fun, right? Not really, when you’re a person who 1. doesn’t regularly shop for clothing 2. hates to pay full price for clothing for herself, therefore spending the most time in the sale/clearance section 3. has definite ideas on what colors and styles have been both comfortable AND successful in the body flattery department, therefore limiting choices from the get-go You may remember my search for a red dress in Feburary 2011? Horrifying. I had a great attitude when I left, though, AND a strategy. I…
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Ice Is Nice.
I am a huge fan of the Today Show. If I’m home Monday through Friday mornings, I always start my day watching it. I was thrilled when I started seeing promos a while back about the 10th Anniversary of “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?”, which is five days’ worth of Matt traveling around the world and inviting viewers (as well as Ann, Al, and Natalie) to figure out where he’s going from a clue given the day before. It’s a great way to learn about some fantastically beautiful destinations, some of them familiar by name and some not. Monday morning, I sent out a tweet asking that people…
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The Mystery Of The Missing Socks
We have a little sock problem in this house: they don’t always make it through the wash in pairs. I have a small, decorative basket in our family room, creatively referred to as “The Sock Basket”, which holds all the single socks waiting for a mate. Once a week or so, I bring the basket, which looks decidedly less decorative when it’s overflowing with socks, to the couch and I sort the socks while I watch something on television. That little sock problem recently compounded into a mystery: I personally have been experiencing a sock shortage for the past couple of months, which is weird because my socks aren’t difficult…
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With Apologies To My Future Daughters-In-Law And Grandchildren
It’s no secret that I am not a fan of the pomp and circumstance that comes with holidays. I have never much enjoyed decorating for holidays–I even wrote my fourth post on Suburban Scrawl EVER, about it–because it makes my house seem too cluttered. (I have enough problems being okay with our everyday clutter!) I don’t like holiday stress. I adore my family, but I don’t like the pressures of family togetherness and making “picture-perfect” memories just because it’s a certain day. With the exception of birthdays, which we love around here, I’d rather enjoy fun times being together on any old, “normal” day. Yes, I *do* realize this is…
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I Should Really Learn To Keep My Mouth Shut.
Over the last couple of months, we have been having problems with our DVR, which is fairly new after getting our old one replaced due to similar problems. Our satellite provider has been less than helpful for the most part because each time I call, I am on the phone for twenty to thirty minutes, only to be walked through tech support steps that are clearly band-aids rather than a complete fix to the problem. The perkiness of each person I have spoken with is overdone, I imagine for the purpose of balancing out the irritation of the customers on the other end of the line. I have worked in…
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Like Mother, Like Son: A Mother’s Day Story About Similarities…And Vitamins.
First, a “Non-disclosure Disclosure”: I am not being compensated in any way by the brands mentioned in this post (I WISH). The mention of their names is important to the flow of my story. Thanks for your time and attention. J and I stopped at the grocery store last night on the way home from a post-lacrosse game dinner out with Jim, who drove separately. We were walking through the health and beauty section when J disappeared into the next aisle over. Eventually I made my way over to him, just in time to see him place a hand on a bottle of Flintstone’s Sour Gummies vitamins. “What do you…
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I Take the “Super” Out of “Superhuman”.
Yesterday was one of the most productive days I’ve had in ages. I got up at 6:15 (slept in by 30 minutes, since the younger boy didn’t have school!), answered some emails, ate a good breakfast (spinach and egg scramble, with a teensy amount of feta), and got dressed for my Zumba class. I headed over to the dance studio, took my class, waved goodbye to my friends and went home. I watched a little “Top Gear” (the British version, not the American copycat) with the younger boy, showered, put a load of clothes in the washer, unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded the dishwasher, ate a nice mini-lunch (Triscuits with light…
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And This Is Why He’ll Probably Never Work For The FBI.
Years ago, our neighbors bought a bicycle for their son Julian, who was celebrating his eighth birthday. It was his first bike, and they asked us if they could hide it in our garage so they could bring it out at his birthday party a couple of days later. We were happy to help, and Jim hid it in the back part of the garage. Jim told our boys, then six (ish) and nine (ish), that we were storing the bike for Julian’s parents, for his birthday. On the day of the party, the boys were playing outside while Julian’s parents were finishing up the decorations and other details. Eventually…
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Happy Hanukkah…Sigh.
Most of my readers know from previous posts that I normally despise decorating for holidays. One of my very first posts when I started blogging more than three years ago (that’s about two decades in Blog Years) was about how pitiful my Halloween decorations were/are. I just don’t get into it. I’m a creature of habit, and though it is Scrooge-like, I don’t like the “messiness” of scads of decorations making my already normal daily mess even messier. Get it? Except on Hanukkah. Hanukkah! Wow! I used to collect menorahs actively and now have about twenty-ish of them. I also have lots of dreidels, wall hangings, votive candle holders, dishes,…