Category Archives: family

Oh Oh Obama!

Hard to believe but I am kind of speechless.(I said ‘kind of’).

Sitting here listening to the last speech I will have to hear from John McCain for a long, long time I am in awe of the perseverance of the man I am very proud to call my president. Let me add that McCain was quite gracious while his audience was not. As my friend Gibs just said, he was way more sincere in defeat than he was in debate.

In celebration of this historic event I am posting a part of Jana’s photo essay of the election on campus.

Yes baby girl, anything can happen. The man they said could never beat Hillary… did. The man they said could never survive the Republican attack machine… did. I am so very happy for you that your introduction to the voting process of this great nation has been so historical. (even if the mechanics in Wisconsin were kind of lame)

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Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms and at 50-Something Moms Blog where Jana joins in the election bloglove.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under family, Jana, parenting, politics, polls, vote 08

Halloween (vol. 6) –RIP

Here we are. Halloween at last! As I sit here crafting the last post of this crazy themed week, I see that my daughter has started the Mad-town Wisconsin tradition of 3 nights of spooky celebrations. Her away message reads, “halloween part 1”.

Yes, of course I am jealous. I mean, here I am just finishing up the day’s work at some ongodly hour and there she is… ok let’s not go there.

This picture was taken in front of a neighbor’s house. I simply love those little hands. This neighborhood goes all out for Halloween. The decorations are wild. Some are kind of kitsch and subtle like this one and others feel the need to put a huge inflatable spider on their roofs. Or worse, those blow up snowglobe monstrosities (no pun intended) on the front lawn.

When my kids were little I used to go the scarecrow, bale of hay, cornstalk, pumpkin, mums route. I liked the traditional look. If I had only known about tampon ghosts, I would surely have added those. Funny, but I don’t remember doing all this Halloween decorating as a kid. We had a pumpkin. if we were lucky we carved it and we called it a day.

My strongest Halloween memory was when some kids stole my pumpkin, ran down the street and smashed it. The lore is that my dad ran after them and made them eat it. Dad, did I make up this memory or did this happen? Hey, go with it, it makes you the hero, why not?

Happy Halloween all! Don’t forget to eat some pizza after you steal your kids candy go trick or treating.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms where they are celebrating their 1 year blogaversary. And at 50-Something Moms Blog… Poor is the New Rich and There is no Hair in Team .

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under absurdities, family, holidays, humor, Jana

Time to Cry Tuesday – Halloween (vol. 3) Style

What a good sport Danny is, don’t you think? I picked this up at the craft store and I am sending it to Jana in her surprise Halloween package (which is no longer a surprise once she reads this).

Please note the two day stubble on his chin. Which leads me to the nostalgia of Halloweens past and the fact that my ‘baby’ friggin shaves!

Today was the little neighborhood Halloween parade on my street. Or I think it was but we were at a soccer game so the only evidence was the police barriers left behind. When did Gary and I stop running this sweet little parade?

Was it not just yesterday that Danny begged to be a cowboy, wore the costume all month and then the day of Halloween lost his mind and insisted he had to be a Ninja? Wasn’t Jana just wearing that cute little Devil with the Blue Dress On costume that I made her? Was she not walking down the street in the bluebird costume with my in-laws wearing fake noses and glasses (they were always such good sports).

Ok, so this sounds a little too Sunrise, Sunset? I know, but I am not done yet so if this is too sappy for you I will be back tomorrow with something crude again (um, Dr. Jimmy, that could mean you).

Seriously, I just miss those bedlam trick or treat evenings with the kids running in all directions and the dogs barking. I loved walking from house to house with them (especially Linda’s where the parents got a glass of wine while the kids got their candy). We always seemed to lose one kid for a little while (hmmmm, could have been the wine from Linda’s house) but they would turn up eventually. I miss that nauseous feeling of too many dips into the kids’ candy bags and how great the pizza tasted after all that sugar.

I miss staying up all night to make costumes when they were little and years later being the house the girls came to when they made their own because we had the best craft supplies. And I miss them sleeping over and taking pictures in my driveway and then driving off to school in their costumes together. (Sloany, Rik, you could be crying about now, no?)

I am usually good with this growing up thing, but Halloween? How much is a sentimental mom supposed to suck up?

Anyone have a little kid out there I can borrow?

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms where I discuss rabid soccer moms. And at 50-Something Moms Blog… Poor is the New Rich and Sarah Palin Condoms show up here as well.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under danny, family, holidays, Jana, parenting, teenagers, Time to Cry Tuesdays

TOGAAAAA

Should I be concerned that when I IM’d my daughter to remind her that her credit card payment was due this was her auto-reply message? You have to feel a little bad for college kids today, their lives are always right out there all the time. The downside of technology.

No worries. She did, in fact call me. A little on the late side, but let’s face it, she had been at a Toga party last night. With visions of Animal House I asked her how her evening was.

‘Oh, it was fun. You know those jersey top sheets I have make a great Toga’.

Thank goodness, I will let Linens and Things in on that little tidbit and maybe they can include it in their Back to School flyer as a selling point. Actually, she has both brown and turquoise sheets. Either really would make a fine toga and I am sure the jersey fabric drapes nicely and is quite flattering.

And the phone call wasn’t a total loss, she did handle the credit card bill.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms where I discuss rabid soccer moms. And at 50-Something Moms Blog… Poor is the New Rich.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under family, humor, humor, Jana, teenagers

Aliens on Post-its

Rifling through my desk drawer looking for a post-it I found a pile of yellow ones at the bottom. Hmm… what’s up with this ratty pile of old post-its?

Then I turned them over. And there they were. In all their glory. Pre-school Jana (now a college sophomore) drawings! A dozen of them. The past in my desk drawer. Cool. (Janny, i know you are reading, how excited are you to see these again?)

Aren’t these a riot? 16-some-odd years ago this was her signature style.  I am thinking that we might need to resurrect it. I love these people. I am pretty sure the Jana sigs on here were done by my nanny. Not my hand writing and thinking if she drew like that she couldn’t write that well.

So what do you think? T-shirt line. Look at these friggin’ faces. We could title them. Bottom right would certainly be WTF.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms where I discuss rabid soccer moms. And at 50-Something Moms Blog… Poor is the New Rich.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under family, humor, Jana, parenting

Does this gum make my ass look big?

A friend once bought me this gum and I could not stop laughing. (thanks Cath). You can buy this gum here if you are so inclined, but that is not what this post is about.

As women we are always torturing ourselves about weight. For those who don’t know me, I try to balance my love of food, distaste for exercise (sorry Gary, but this is not news to you) and my desire to look good in a pair of jeans. Other stuff too, but jeans are what I wear the most. Weight is not a huge problem for me nor do I focus on it more than the next vain, aging woman. It is not necessarily a losing battle but lets just say I am still trying to drop the baby weight and my youngest is 16.

I have managed to successfully raise a daughter who has a pretty healthy attitude towards eating and body image. I attribute this less to what I have done but rather the luck of the draw and I thank my lucky stars every day for it. We try to stress healthy eating but the bombardment of media images, celebrity (anti)role models and peer pressure are some pretty serious bullets young girls have to dodge.

All that preachy-shut-the-hell-up-and-let-us-watch-the-friggin-video-already stuff aside:

Watch this, and think about it. I, for one am thrilled that this was created by a sorority on a college campus. Of course I am late the party for the initiative that took place last week, but the sentiment is timeless.

Bloggers, if you want to post the original YouTube link you can get it here.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms where I discuss rabid soccer moms. And at 50-Something Moms Blog… Poor is the New Rich.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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Filed under body image, family, humor, parenting, teenagers, trends, women

Time to Cry Tuesday – Let the Daughters Speak Out

I first saw this video on PunditMom, a fellow blogger at 50-Something Moms blog. (I simply love her daily commentary).

Sorry email subscribers, you probably won’t be able to view this video without going online to the blog, but I urge you to do so. This is very powerful.

Hey, I love a good Sarah Palin Condom or an SNL sketch just like the rest of them, but my fear is that we have all gotten so caught up with Joe the Plumber, hockey moms, mavericks and you betcha’s that we are mired in the satire and don’t stop to really consider the ramifications. I had a friend say the other day that now is not the time to be a one-issue voter. That our country is in such turmoil we need to look outside our personal pet issues and vote for what is best for this country. Thankfully for me, both of those ideas go hand in hand.

If you have a daughter, this one will give you chills. If you are a women, it will make you feel proud of the generation that is speaking out in this piece. Hey, and if you are a (straight) guy, there is a good chance you can ‘get you some’ if you send this to your significant other. (sorry, even Time to Cry Tuesday needs a little levity).

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Filed under current events, family, parenting, politics, women

Advice to my son

This is going to be a new series. I have decided to give Danny a piece of solid advice whenever I can. Occasionally, when I have compiled a nicely balanced list, I will post it here.

I am thinking I can establish myself as the teen advice-giver. What do you think? Well, perhaps you may need to sample a few posts before you actually want to share these with your own kids.

I figured this is my last chance to leave my mark on the little bugger. Now Janny, I know this might be pissing you off right about now because I never did this with you, so consider this for your ears as well. (Except when I mention body parts that you don’t have). And there may be one thrown in there for you once in awhile

Here is the first list. It is in no particular order.

1. Be all that you can be (not in the military way). I have actually said this to my kids every day before they left for school, right before they roll their eyes and walk out the door muttering some unsavory name under their breath.

2. Never spend money you don’t have. Credit card debt is a nasty hole you don’t want to fall down. (believe it or not I said this just before the financial crisis hit, I am sounding less stupid to him now).

3. Never show your penis in a business setting. This pertains to a story that I wish I could, but can’t share here. Danny’s response was, “what if I go into the porn business.” Note to self: decide if this is concerning.

4. Keep your eye on your own ball. This one works for everything but is especially crucial during college prep.

This one actually came up the other day in a conversation with Jana (since she thinks she is the more interesting child I figured I would throw her in):

5. Your true friends are the ones that will hold your hair back when you puke. To those who have done this for me in the past – and you know who you are – thank you from the bottom of my heart and back at ya anytime you need it. Or the grown up version of that which is ‘the ones that sit in the emergency or surgical waiting rooms with you’ when you get older. Why does it sound like puking is more fun in this context?

6. Don’t do crack. I figured this might be obvious but it can’t hurt to mention it.

7. Try not to hit anything when you are driving. Again, kind of obvious but he just got his permit and I thought it would be good to start with the fundamentals.

8. Don’t marry an asshole. Not sure how this one came up but it did result in him telling me that he thought I would make a good mother-in-law. Sweet, I will try to remember that and bite my tongue till it bleeds so as not to prove him wrong.

I am going to open this up for comments. Give me your best shot. I will compile and do a ‘Readers Advice to Their Kids’ post from the results, so I urge you to please join in.

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Filed under advice to my son, danny, family, humor, parenting

Textify

This is a little word I coined in a MMCM post a few weeks ago. I used it in the context of teens having 5 kids over. Those who are there become ‘fruitful and textify’ and before they know it there are 30 kids… you get the picture.

This weekend I have come up with an alternate definition: When your kid goes to a big 10 school you can watch the game on national TV and textify them.

Here is a priceless text from Jana in the bleachers at tonight’s Wisconsin massacre game against Penn State.

Jana: girl fight in the student section a few rows down. alexa said nothings better than a girl fight.

I always loved that Alexa, a reader who is quoting! Such flattery!

Unrelated to textifying but related to the game, below is an actual note from Jana during college app days. Here is a link to the entire post. I thought the Penn State reference was ironic here.

Oh, one last thing. Voting is still open for the Aretha or Tina poll with Aretha in a strong lead Although thet the voting is thin, Lon posted an excellent comment. Let’s have some serious participation here please!

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Filed under family, humor, Jana, Mid-Century Modern Moms, travel

EVERYONE loves a girl fight (vol. 2)

For those who have not read EVERYONE loves a girl fight (vol. 1) you can read it here.

I am sure there were similar conversations at Yom Kippur Break Fast tables throughout the Jewish community nationwide this evening. Wait, probably not. Our family is… well let me put it this way, you are never quite sure what will be said at our table.

Brother-in law 1: HS was much rougher when we went. There were fights and greasers.

Danny: Well, there are some fights but when it is guys it gets broken up pretty fast in fear of someone really getting hurt badly.

Me: Ok, I see what you are driving at…

Gary: Yeh, EVERYONE loves a girl fight.

Danny: Oh, I forgot to tell you! I missed a girl fight the other day but when we passed by where it happened there was hair on the sidewalk!

Me: Oh, jeez, here we go again. (note to self: de-program son from neanderthal behavior)

Brother-in-law 1: Of course everyone loves a girl fight. The best part is when their boobs pop out.

Me: I give up! But this will make a great blog post!

Brother-in-law 2: Oh, and don’t forget how we hope they kiss and make up at the end.

Me: what could be better for a guy, a girl fight and then girl on girl!

And this my friends, is why you can never really tell what will be said at a family gathering.

To all my menopausal readers, do me a favor please visit my BBFF at Flashfree and take her menopause poll

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Filed under absurdities, family, humor, parenting