Sisterhood46

My best dinner this fall. Cherry tomatoes grown in my vegetable garden with fresh mozzarella from Murray's cheese shop in NYC.

Patience is not a key characteristic of a city girl. In fact, patience is pretty much a liability in the city. But patience in the burbs has really paid off! I've been debating about whether or not to put up a fence between my yard and my neighbor's yard for about a year. The main reason was to hide the really ugly mess on her side. It really upset me to look at her junk every time I went to the garden. I tried to talk to her about it but to no avail. For months, I've been on the fence about getting a fence. I got two fence estimates which as you can imagine were not cheap. Hubby and I talked about it endlessly. Every time we just couldn't bear to spend so much money on a fence rather than say a family trip abroad. So on it went until one day my neighbor sends me an email to inform me that she's putting up a fence! How great is that? Procrastination is my new thing! They say fences make good neighbors and I couldn't agree more.

I hope that my mistakes help others who are making the move from the city to the burbs. Here's my biggest learning for the month. Once upon a time I really looked down on the whole carpooling thing. I mean it's work enough to get my own kids in and out of the car four to five times a day, let alone doing it for other people's kids. Last year,  I must admit I was a real city snob about the whole thing. This year I thought I would give it a try because it really felt that other mothers were unto something. Here's the reality, carpooling isn't about driving other people's kids around, it's about cutting down on your driving!  How cool is that? Trust me, anything that cuts down on my sitting behind a steering wheel is brilliant! So here is how it's worked out thus far. Instead of schlepping my three kids to soccer practice, every single Tuesday from 5:30-6:30PM and returning home to rush three exhausted kids thru the dinner-bath-bed routine,  I carpoo...

As you may recall, last year I dealt with a major lice outbreak. All three kids got it and it was one of the worst weeks of my life. The work of picking out nits from three kids was stressful but what was even more stressful was the lack of information and the panic I felt. Today I read an article in the NYT that I really wish I had read last year. Chances are you'll be faced with this issue sooner or later, so read this article....it puts it all in perspective. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/health/21brody.html?ref=nutrition

In the burbs women can be divided into two broad categories: minivan drivers and SUV drivers. I don't think there is a stronger more polarizing symbol that a minivan. Most of the women I know have very strong feelings about it. To me it means you have fully given up on being anything other than a full-on suburban mom. It means carpooling lots of screaming children. It means you've given up style and fun for the practical. As you can imagine, I am not a minivan driver. In fact, when my husband rented a minivan for me once I just broke down and cried like the world had come to an end. However, the other afternoon it finally dawned on me why minivans make so much sense in the burbs. Last Tuesday afternoon I took my 6 year old to guitar lesson with his sister and brother in tow. While he was having his guitar lesson my 9 year old was doing his homework amidst the sounds of a drum lesson mixed in with the sounds of a piano lesson, mixed in with the sounds of a clarinet lesson, ...

I'm fully into the soccer mom thing this year! My two boys are playing it and my 3 year old daughter just started. There is nothing cutter than my munchkin in pink cleats and pink shinguards! I know what you're thinking she's gone over to the other side. Keep the faith! I know that Soccer Mom and the burbs are pretty much synonymous. But as you can imagine there is only so far a city girl can go to fit in! Here's where I draw the line. I will never own a minivan. I just can't do it. I love cars too much. Plus who wants to have the room to carpool other kids? I refuse to be a bus driver!  Secondly, I refuse to bring a fold out chair to the soccer practices and matches. It's the funniest thing to me that most of us spend most of our days on our behinds driving around and as soon as we get to a field everyone whips our their chairs and their coffee cups to have a rest! Seriously you really need a chair for a half an hour soccer practice?