Sisterhood46

The weather for the last few days has been awful! I'm sure you all agree. In my neck of the woods it's been raining for three days straight. Let me correct that it's been pouring for three days straight. So I'm left with the following dilemma. Do I just bear down and put up with this weather and risk getting SAD. Or do I pull in to the nearest tanning salon, get a dose of fake sunshine and a few more premature wrinkles? The tanning booth is the only thing that kept me sane in London....maybe it's time to give it a try in the burbs!

Whether you're in the city, in the burbs or the middle of nowhere for that matter, as a mom you can't help but be concerned about childhood obesity. Most of us do our best to feed our kids balanced meals, teach them about the benefits of healthy choices and monitor their intake of junk. Being one of those moms (I have a homemade poster of healthy snack choices posted on our cupboard for the kids) I am appalled by two recent events. The first was yesterday's NYT's article that announced that New York City Public Schools would no longer permit the sale of home baked goods for school fundraisers because the fat and calorie content can't be measured but that junk foods like Doritos and Poptarts pass the test! (here is the link to this incredible article:  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/no-brownies-at-bake-sales-but-doritos-may-be-o-k/?scp=1&sq=no%20homebaked%20goods&st=cse ). I can't believe that we're teaching our kids that things that c...

Darwin's definition of adaptation: "the evolutionary process whereby a population becomes better suited to its habitat." Sophie's definition of adaptation: "Watching my three kids, over the past year, who were all creatures of the city, lead happy, creative, healthy and happy  lives in Westport. And knowing that where ever we move to next, they'll become suited to a habitat they've never seen before." So hubby, where to next?

One big advantage to moving to CT is that I'm one step closer to my lifelong dream. For as long as I can remember I've dreamed of owning a Porsche convertible. I can't really say why. The shape of that car, the speed, the fact that only two people can fit and not the whole family! Anyway I've always longed for that car. Living in the city meant that I use to see one in a blue moon, which really didn't do that much to feed the dream. Now out here in in the town that I live in I see at least one per day, about five per day on the weekends. Black ones, blue ones, Boxsters, 911's. What wonderful eye candy! After seeing one, I grip the steering wheel a little tighter, I focus intently on the road ahead and the family car I usually drive magically transforms into a Boxster.  I stay in that reverie for about 30 seconds before I'm woken up by loving son who sweetly says "maybe next year mom, for your birthday." I know that I'll have to hold o...

As many of you already know I've spent the last week completely focused on the task of ridding my kids and house of lice. The process has been unbelievably time consuming. (Needless to point out that if we were still living in an apartment the cleaning process would have been a tad more manageable than a four bedroom house). Anyway, the end result is that the lice problem seems to be under control but everything else fell off the to do list. For example, grocery shopping. Hubbie came home last night opened the cupboard and the fridge and exclaimed "there is nothing in here!" That's right honey when you're in battle there is no time for shopping. No shopping also means no ingredients to cook with, that means eating more take-out which means I had to radically lower my nutritional standards for my kids. McDonald's, school lunch, chicken nuggets. cookies for snack, you name it we had it this week. But truth be told who feels like cooking around lice! Not I! ...

I can't believe I'm actually writing this but as most of you know I'm a super optimist and I think I see the positive side of lice. Actually I have to thank my girlfriend (you know who you are) for showing me the positive side of lice. I was telling hubby how unbelievably cooperative and sweet the kids have been throughout this whole process.  Hour after hour they've sat on a bar stool while I comb through their hair. It's not exactly easy for a 2, 5 and 8 year old to sit still for hours. I'm mean it's been truly amazing. No one's complained. We've had no meltdowns. Everybody actually wanted a turn. And come to think of it, I've had more "I love you's in the last few days" than usual... Then this morning I put two and two together. My friend had mentioned that she loved getting lice when she was little because she loved having her mom play with her hair and really enjoyed the one on one attention. As hellish as this week as been f...

After anxiously waiting while the school nurse checked my kids' hair with wooden oversized toothpicks, we got the all clear.  I felt so relieved. I felt so empowered! Down with the lice! Yeah baby I beat you slime ball! I got you off my kids and don't come back. Ok now back to reality. Tomorrow is another day and the nits may be back.  Perseverance I'm told is the only way to win this war. Which is why I have to check each kid, every single day for the next 14 days.  We're fighting an infestation, which is why in seven days I have to re-apply pesticide. I also need to wash everyone sheets every single day for the next 14 days and vacuum everywhere each day as well. Of course I can't forget the 25 garbage bags that are sitting in my garage filled with the stuff that I couldn't put in the laundry! If hubby doesn't step in to be the voice of reason I'll drive the whole lot to the dump.  It's not over and I have to stay vigilant because if I lose focu...

Day #2 of battling headlice in the burbs. I wake up and barely have a cup coffee before I throw the things that can be dry cleaned into the car. With a smile on my face and a guilty conscience I give a huge pile to the lady. I don't care if I'm spreading lice, it's everyone for themselves and I need my couch covers cleaned! I stop off at CVS to get new nit combs. What the hell we might as well have start with a fresh start today! I call the children's respective schools to inform them of our situation. I can already here the photocopying machine in the background making the "someone, who will remain nameless, in our class has lice, check your kid" notice.  I then seek some professional advice and speak to school nurse. It seems I've done everything I can. She does advise me against doing the treatment again today. I want to make sure these suckers are dead, but it turns out that doing it again is a) bad for the kids because the stuff is so toxic and...

It was bound to happen. Three kids in school, whether in the city or the burbs,  it was bound to happen. Yeap! The kids, all of three of them got head lice. I came home from a great morning in the city to find the babysitter with her hair up and an embarrassed look on her face..."um..., I think she has lice...well I'm sure actually because I saw a live one." OMG! OMG!  Panic, horror, shame are just some of the feelings that ran through me. I'd dreaded this for 5 years, every time we got one of those headlice notices from school and trust me we've gotten plenty of them over the years. I threw 2 out of the three kids into the car and sped off to CVS. Ok but once there I had no idea what isle to go to....hair products, kiddie product. I finally find a sales assistant and quietly ask him. He gives me a knowing smile and leads me to the fungus section. Fungus really?  There it is on the bottom shelf. I proceed to buy over a hundred dollars worth of lice extermina...