Life In The Burb

Let me start by telling you I’m not a fan of social-networking. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my current friends, relatives, and my kid’s friends to worry about attracting virtual strangers or people I might have known in elementary school. My brother in-law asked me to login to Facebook, so I could see some pics he put on his page. To do this, I had to create my own account. I have two blogs, two photo sites of the kids (for friends and relatives), and four email accounts to maintain, so adding one more thing to the mix didn’t sound promising, but I did it anyway.

I had no plans of doing anything with my Facebook page. I was just going to take a quick peek at my brother in-law’s site and then move on with my life. All at once, I started getting notices…..”do you know this person?”….”would you like to see ‘xyz’s page?” I saw pics of people I went to high school with, past co-workers, and my old college roommate.

Heck yeah, I wanted to know more about these people. My inner voyeur was taking over and couldn’t be stopped.

My college roommate –who I hadn’t spoken to in 14 years– contacted me, and made plans to fly out to see me. My old high school buddies showed me pictures of their kids. It was like a virtual reunion of every stage of my life coming together on one 15 inch screen.

I started urging my friends to participate in FB (lingo for “Facebook”…duh), and spent hours telling people on my page what I was doing at every stage of the day. “Patricia is drinking coffee”…..Patricia is going to the mall”. I started reading other people’s mundane activities as well. I’m not sure why it was so important I know that “XYZ is reading the paper” when I didn’t even know what my own husband was doing, but it was.

I ran into one of my neighbors last week and she mentioned she was on Facebook. “Isn’t it great?” I asked. She said, “It’s okay, but why the f&%k do I care what someone is doing every minute of the day? Laundry’s boring enough without hearing about everyone else doing it. It just makes everyone look so boring. I can just see someone folding a shirt, and then rushing to their computer to document it for everyone they know. It’s pathetic.”

I felt the air draining from my balloon. She was right. I now maintain a healthy relationship with FB, and have found it to be a fun site, but no longer an obsession.

October 22nd, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

As most of you know, my husband and I went on a 4 day vacation without our kids….first time ever. The first night I slept 11 hours and my husband spent 12 hours in bed. After that, we averaged about 10 hours. I guess four years of 5-6 hours of sleep will do that to you. It’s amazing how you can reconnect with someone when you take away the distractions of home, work, and kids. For 4 days we were just two people spending time together. We were able to move past our typical daily conversations of…..how was work? how are the kids? what did you do today?

We spent our days eating, laying on the beach or by the pool, drinking fruity drinks, and watching the sunset. We didn’t have to leave any restaurants because someone was throwing a fit, chase anyone around the pool, retrieve an endless supply of snacks, or play toys at five in the morning. We did notice how much our kids would have loved the dive-in theatre at the kiddie pool, the hula-hoop contest at sunset, and the shelling activities on the beach. This is why we’ve booked another trip to this resort — this time with the kids.

Although we plan on taking more solo vacations together, we also can’t wait to see new places through our kid’s eyes. I guess the vacation booze has finally worn off!

September 29th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

 On Thursday my husband and I will be abandoning our kids for 3 glorious days. My parents have no idea what they’re in for, and we’re not telling them until we’re at least 30 miles outside of town. We spent the weekend making preparations and lots of lists. We listed emergency contacts, school schedules, prescription information, eating habits, financial information, etc.. My husband fixed and trimmed things, so my parents wouldn’t think he was lax on his handyman duties.

So, back to my lists. “Don’t forget to shave” was at the top of my things to do before leaving list. When did shaving become so optional that I had to remind myself to do it on a list? In my defense, I do shave almost every day, but it’s more of a five swipes to the right and five swipes to the left leg sort of way. In depth shaving requires time and privacy…two things I don’t have during the week.

Besides shaving, we will be swimming, sunbathing on the beach, dining without children, sleeping in, drinking (more often), watching non-Super Hero movies, and reading books that don’t start with “Goodnight Moon”.

We won’t have to brush, bath, and groom two extra people every day. We don’t have to break up fights, change diapers, retrieve snacks, or pick up an endless supply of toys. Every meal won’t start with “I don’t even like this”, and end up with a pile of food on the floor. We also won’t give them a thousand kisses, hear their infectious laughs, or cuddle with them before bed……and we’ll miss them every day.

September 15th, 2008 | Category: Burb Blurbs | Leave a comment

Fill out the form for your free sample and you will automatically be entered in a sweepstakes with a grand prize of a style consultation with Tim Gunn, a $3000 wardrobe, and a one-year supply of Tide. Good luck in the Dress to the Sevens Sweepstakes!

September 11th, 2008 | Category: Freebies & Cheapies | Leave a comment

Fill out a simple form and receive a free Dark Chocolate Chunk, Honey Roasted Nut, or Cinnamon Brown Sugar with Apples & Cranberries. I just registered and mine is on its way…….

September 11th, 2008 | Category: Freebies & Cheapies | Leave a comment

My four year old has homework. At first I was excited. I had visions of me and my little star pupil sitting hunched over an assignment getting smarter and smarter. I had visions of honor roll, gifted classes, and Harvard. Now I will settle with him writing the letter “C” without my blood pressure rising to heart attack conditions. I had similar medical symptoms during the long week of letter “A” and “B”.

It always starts out well. There’s no arguing or whining about doing homework. He loves the idea of doing “his work”. We sit down at the table together. I hand him his supplies, and begin to explain the assignment. His eyes start darting to the ceiling, the walls, even his fingernails. If I tell him to move his pencil up on the paper……he moves it down. Ask him to make a circle……he draws a line. Trace my marks……the pencil draws on everything else.  I’m starting to grin through gritted teeth by now.

Blood starting to boil. After the 20th letter “C”, he’s still moving the pencil down instead of up. We trace….retrace the letter. He’s drawing straight lines again. Blood pressure rising (mine not his).

Now I’m snapping at him about listening. I’m breaking every rule of Mom 101 “Don’t yell at your kids while teaching them to do something”. By the end of this year he’ll hate learning……hate school…..and surely hate me. I better look this up in my parenting books, or maybe I should just skip ahead to the section about what to do after you’ve screwed up your kid.

I glance at the clock, it’s too early for a cocktail (8 am). Does Kumon teach 4 year olds? Can I delegate the “bad” homework to my husband, and keep the “good” homework (art projects, cutting, pasting, show and tell) to myself? Does writing and the alphabet really matter?

September 11th, 2008 | Category: Burb Blurbs | Leave a comment

I came across this at Mambo Sprouts and thought it looked interesting. All you need is a lemon, some cotton balls, and your favorite moisturizer.

1. Wash face and leave it slightly wet.
2. Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl, and dip cotton balls into juice and apply it to your face.
3. Leave on for 10 minutes. You may experience some tingling from the natural acid in the lemons.
4. Rinse face and apply your favorite moisturizer. Your skin should glow.

You can do this treatment to any part of your body. Just make sure you’re not allergic to lemons!

September 10th, 2008 | Category: Beauty | Leave a comment

When I started this challenge I thought I would be racing for the closest slab of baby-back ribs when it was finished. Now that it’s here, I feel no desire for meat. I’ve liked the feeling of walking away from the table feeling satisfied, but not stuffed. My body feels healthier and my skin looks better. I’ve lost 3.5 pounds without a struggle. I have a pile of vegetarian recipes I’m eager to try, so I think I will continue down this road a while longer. Meanwhile, my family is planning on throwing some burgers on the grill tomorrow, but I will be joining them with a garden burger.

Thanks to everyone for their supportive comments. If you’re interested in taking this challenge, please visit my other site Project Organic Eating for all the details. I’ve posted a lot of great links for free vegetarian cookbooks, and coupons for all your favorite organic food.

September 6th, 2008 | Category: 10 Day Vegetarian Challenge | Leave a comment

I just read a post on Blogher asking if “powerful women can be good mothers”. Of course they can. We see it every day. My husband is a great dad and he’s gone 12 hours a day. We work in tandom……he’s building a financial future for our family, and I manage the house, so we can enjoy our time together as a family. Am I less of a woman? I don’t think so. I’m college educated, had a very successful career before parenthood, and make the choice every day to be with my kids full time. That’s what works for us.

I can’t speak for Palin, or for her family, but if I had 5 children (1 being a baby), and a pregnate daughter (who would need my support and does not need to be subjected to public scrutiny) I know what I would choose to do. I would pick my family first. Maybe if I had a better idea of how she was going to manage it all……maybe if she would tell us.

I don’t think that’s a double standard. I would expect my husband to make the same choice. I’m all for women “having it all”, and I’d love to see more women in powerful positions. I think both parents need to keep in mind that parenting is a job too, and it is a commitment made by choice.

September 4th, 2008 | Category: Politics | Leave a comment