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Showing posts from June, 2010

DYI in the burbs

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So hubby has been in South Africa for almost a month, I've been a single mom to three kids and I couldn't think of anything better than to repaint my bedroom! Here's the thinking. Hubby didn't want to deal with the mess and fumes of me repainting the bedroom so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get to work. Let me entertain you with a progress report to date. On Sunday, I waltz into the paint shop and ask for the perfect shade of blue, which I've researched for months.  I was about to get a gallon when a voice inside spoke up and I asked for a quart in case just to test the color.....of course the beautiful blue was a dull grey on my walls. So back to square one. After hours on the web and at the store I pick a new blue. Sunday morning. I prep the room. Get the tarps, take down the paintings,  take off the switch covers, ask my father in law to move the heavy furniture etc. I'm ready to go. Oh but wait hold on I have three kids who are cla

Survival Aid

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I saw this in my local liquor store yesterday. Someone knows their audience! This is exactly how many women survive motherhood in the burbs! It also explains the erratic driving behavior I see out here.

Parachute Moms

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Parents in the city are known for being type A and hyper competitive mamas and papas. Let's be honest it starts in the maternity ward. Everyone wants their kids to be "well-rounded" and have the best opportunities ever. Nannies have to be bilingual,  music classes start at 5 months, soccer classes at 18 months. I'm kind of shocked to find that it's just the same in the suburbs if not worse. Parents out here redefine uber parents. They want their kids to have everything, to be the best at any cost, even if it's at their kids' happiness. Parents want to be aware of every detail of their kids life. Everywhere around me I see parents basically doing everything for their kid and giving them no chance to learn how to function independently. I just keep wondering how these kids are going to fare on their own later in life. Recently  heard that the parachute mom problem has been exacerbated by cell phones. Kids in middle school, in high school are calling their

Efficiency

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I love efficiency, maybe it's because I'm type A, maybe it's because I'm a Virgo, maybe it's because I'm a mother of three. Whatever the reason I love it. I love it because I like to get more than one thing done at a time. I love it because I get my chores done faster and I get to have some fun! When I moved to burbs I moaned endlessly about how incredibly inefficient living here was. It takes 15 minutes to get to the grocery store when it take 4 in the city. The fact that you have to sit in traffic instead of using the speed of your legs is a constant challenge to efficiency! Well today I had a truly efficient day in the burbs. I took my kids to pick their own strawberries. In one stroke, they spent time outdoors in the sunshine, learned how strawberries grow, that it's work to get those babies to the supermarket shelf and best of all I save myself a trip to the supermarket. This afternoon the heat and humidity were unbearable. So I whipped out a spi

Having It All!

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When we made the decision to move out of the city, we looked at a large number of towns in CT. In the end what really guided our decision was the town's schools and its proximity to NYC. That way we could ensure both our kids' future and my sanity. That choice really paid off. It's one thing to move out of the city and be so far that you never come in, it's another to be just an hour away. This memorial weekend we really enjoyed the best of both worlds. On Sunday we took the kids to the city. We had a delicious brunch at our favorite restaurant. My son scooted his way around Tribeca. We spent the afternoon at the Hudson River Park, where the kids played to their heart's content at a brand new playground with their old buddies and Bella discovered city sprinklers. We finished by making a stop and H&H bagels to stock up on our favorite breakfast. It's no secret that a bagel isn't really a bagel if it's not made in NYC! On Monday, we we