what’s YOUR channel

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Recently my step daughter came by for a quick visit.  Good big sister that she is she was on the trampoline in the back with Vivien and Rex.  Vanessa came in laughing and told me what they had discussed.  Something came up about what they each would have on their very own channel.   I didn’t hear what they all chose for themselves, but Vanessa told me that Vivien said,

“My mom’s channel would be home improvement shows and cocktails.”

Wow, the kid is smart.  Yep, sounds like my little bit of heaven alright.

"Let mommy have her moment, Curb Appeal the block is on."

Of course,  ironically, I do have this site and my youtube channel and there is little home improvement on it and NO cocktails.  Perhaps the content one creates isn’t the same as the content one consumes.  Maybe I should switch up my emphasis here.

 

camp planning

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Congress has come to the rescue of the overworked air traffic controllers and frustrated passengers.  Wonder if there is any help available for another scheduling issue.  Summer Camp.  This is issue is multiplied by the amount of children you have.  So many factors go into it, personality of the child, their age, cost, how much mom wants to drive.

Here is a condensend version of my last couple of weeks. Wait, I’m still going through it.

best of: butt crack moms

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Hey,

it’s a REAL gloomy day here.  The kind of day that made me run screaming from Northern California.  I don’t know how people do it in places where it is always overcast.  I think I would drink…more.

So, here is a silly video I did a couple of years ago.   I just redid my youtube channel and this is now my trailer.  Does it represent me?

LA Mayors Race: me pissed at Emily’s List

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UPDATE: notice ping back in comments, this post was picked up by some outlets regarding this subject.  Yeah, for once it not just me!

 

LA Mayors race is STILL going on. Some developments have caused me to BREAK TIES and SPEAK OUT against politicos who I use to respect.   To recap, my pick Eric Garcetti came in first in the primary.  No one got 50% so now it’s between him and City Controller Wendy Greuel.

I left town for 2 weeks over spring break and somehow the Garcetti campaign cobbled on without me! Cobbled meaning continued endorsements and a rise in the polls.

two of the best guys in LA!

As soon as we got back I felt I needed to jump back in and within a day Rex and Vivien were playing at Chez Garcetti with Eric’s adorable little girl while I phoned voters downstairs with other volunteers and his wife Amy. Two days later Mark was cooking a show stopping dinner at a friends fab house to raise money for the Garcetti campaign.  The food was extraordinary. It was great to see not only Eric, but it was really great to see his whip smart wife when we weren’t canvassing!  Those of us seated by her were transfixed as she told us about  why they chose to be foster parents and some of the connections they have made over the years.  When she got up the rest of us were saying stuff like, “oh, what a great thing to do, how wonderful, don’t think I could do it.”  But, that’s not for the mics.

In front of the mic, my former old favorite Bill Clinton really ticked me off because he announced his endorsement for Wendy Greuel.  Sure, that’s his right, but why?  It’s a race between two Pro Choice Democrats in a city that Clinton has NO connection or history too. Keep your nose out of it. I haven’t been this mad at Bill since the Blue Dress.  Greuel supported Hilary in ’08, but dang it so did I.   Bubba, don’t you have enough going on?  Go bring medicine to Africa, somewhere you can be useful. Ironic, because I think Eric Garcetti has Clinton-like intelligence and charisma.  An ability to speak from the heart to all types of people. To be fair, Clinton hasn’t said anything bad about Garcetti. But, a group I USE to like has.

MY deep rage I save for Emily’s list.  They endorsed Greuel and have given her a pot of money.  Now, this group is about supporting pro choice women candidates, so I’m not mad at them for following through with their mandate.  Over the years I have given them money.  I gave them money to support women, not make sexist ads and tear down a feminist man.  Check this out:  Wow, Eric has nice legs and pretty blond hair. I’ve been to Eric’s house, I’ve seen what he drives, he does not live like Paris Hilton.   Garcetti was endorsed by NOW (California chapter of National Organization of Women)  He has a great record of supporting women’s issues, hiring women on his staff and addressing everyday concerns of women.  He increased parks in his district and put after school programs in the schools in his district.  This is about him being up 10% in up in the polls.

Also, if that picture of the blond came from a male led group cries of sexism would be immense.

Last year I stopped giving to the Democratic Senate fund because I realized, hey some of those people I don’t like.  I would rather pick my own candidate.  I feel that way about Emily’s list now. I will do my own picking.

 

Cruel online week

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In case we had forgotten the past week reminded us that there are evil people in the world.

Most people are not evil.  More people ran to help the wounded in Boston than set the bombs off.

Online though mean comments run rampant.  I just got one

You are not a cougar. You are an old incompetent wrinkly cat that has lived beyond its years. You are so disgusting that your husband looks suicidal in every one of his pictures. You are the type of person they pictured when they added instructions to a bar of soap. If human intellect was all the water in the world, you would be the single drop of sweat rolling down a fat man’s ass crack. Shut the fuck up.

Thanks Mom.

Really, since there are millions of site I don’t have to shut the fuck up, you kind person can go to another site.  Gwyneth Paltrow totally bugs me, but I wouldn’t go on her site and tell her.

Worse than being told I have wrinkles and husband would rather die than be with me. I have two friends whose children have died and at some point amidst the out pouring of loving messages on their blogs they have both gotten the MEANEST comments in a sense blaming them for their children’s passing or saying that their kids are in hell.

Clearly, that’s not someone who has a beer and an ax to grind but truly CRAZY.  Crazy and Evil.

Look, if you won’t go up to someone you see at Trader Joe’s and say it to their face don’t write it online.  I saw someone at TJ’s I have no love for, or she for me, but I just buried my head in the yogurt section till she had moved on.

Oh, but wait I forgot, I’m not CRAZY.  Just wrinkly.

 

Hausfrau!

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I always feel like I need to be doing when my kids are in school.  Advancing work stuff, or exercising.  Writing.

Not today.  I’m embracing my inner hausfrau.  I’m working on cripsy kale.  Some with red pepper spice for me, some without for me kids.  While I watch the Season Finale of Dallas. I went through 45 minutes of self loathing while I formulated this plan.  Then decided to go for it.

Here is what I have learned in the last 90 minutes.

1) who killed JR

2) TNT has really annoying repititve commericals when you watch their shows on their site.

3) pre cut kale doesn’t work well for kale chips because the stems are too pronounced.  Better to buy whole, tear.  Thus even though it’s a pain to dry greens, better not to get the pre washed type.

cut kale not as good

4) the salt ratio is best attained on kale when I mix the salt and kale and olive oil in a bowl as opposed to sprinkling on the pan

5) I have a little cougar crush on Josh Henderson

from perezhilton.com

6) with Kale, more oil is helpful

Let’s be honest.  In about 2 hours I pick up my kids, start on the homework, after school enrichment wheel.  It’s okay to test a recipe and watch one of my favorite shows.  Even if I have to write a blog to justify it.

NO Name calling

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Our sweet Charter school won a National No Name Calling Contest.  Here is a video our friend narrated about the mural we won for. ( we, like I did anything).

We are underfunded, have chipped paint and bad drainage, but I love how our school teaches the students ( parents) how to resolve conflicts and to respect feelings

 

Thanks to our school dad and Huffington Post columnist  Bill Walker for spearheading this contest and always makes us aware of the power of hurtful words and the healing power of kind ones.

Road trip 2

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Okay, so this is the part 2 of my Spring Break family adventure.  Not like Hangover 2… except I think they both had barf in them.

Just so you know what an awful mother I am… we pulled over while Rex was sleeping.  In the FRONT seat, he would only barf in the back seat.  Well, we wanted to redeem this sick ride and pulled over to see the Giant Redwoods.

There were almost no cars on the side of the road… a little bit off the highway… where we parallelled park to where you can walk in and scramble under and on these massive redwood trees.  The downed trees lay on the ground and the standing ones let in little sunshine so it’s a mossy, insulated carpet like world.  We locked the car with Rex inside  I was planning to only walk a few feet away with my brand new camera, but was so captivated I walked further.   I think ten minutes passed when Vivien and Mark were climbing over a downed tree asking me to climb up as well.

“no I better check on Rex”  Usually he is out for a long time when he sleeps in the car.

There was an old lady sitting on stump near the road.  ”It’s like Avatar!”  She started talking to me like I knew her.  I was trying to be polite but felt I needed to get to the car.  Then I heard the shrieking.  Rex had awoken.  To an EMPTY car.  He was LOCKED in.  He was POUNDING on the glass.

“Excuse me”  I said as I ran to the car to let my trapped child out.

The kept talking, “if one tree dies they all die.”

I opened up the car.  He was hysterical. Poor baby.  I felt like crap.  Well, I really felt Mark should feel like bigger crap, because at least I came back.  He was still skipping around like a blue faced what cha ma call it.

Rex recovered fast and he liked the trees too.

the boy formerly known as traumatized

Then about 90 minutes later we were at our goal.  The country home of my former boss, mentor, dear friend, second dad Dr. Dean Edell.  He and his wife Sharon have a happy life there.  He is retired and has a great spread, kind of like his own little Yosemite.  I visited once before when Viv was 3 and Rex was in my belly.   The carefree days of thinking I had a secure financial future.

Dean and lil' Viv

It was great to see them.  They are dear people.  Sharon has a PhD in Geology and co authored the first book on California Oaks, so hiking with her I learned more than in most college class.  Bonus, no homework. It was great for my kids to just run and play and not scream at them for fear they were going to be hit by a car.

I really dug that the Edell’s said my kids were the most fearless kids they’d seen there.  Vivien went on her own little hike and came back with a deer jaw.  Later I walked with the kids and we saw the other parts remaining of the deer.  ”This is how animals really are, it’s not like Disney” I said.  Really telling myself since I grew up in LA I thought nature was Swiss Family Robinson Tree house in Disney land.  Fiberglass looks so real!

It was too short of a visit.  Next time we have to stay longer.  Next time I’m not driving down from Portland!  The ride home was a tad brutal.  So brutal I begged to have a few hours of sleep at some truck stop motel.

The kids were kissing the house when we returned.  It did go through my mind.. “why did I do this? Why do I make the effort, spend the money?”  Ah, we ate great ice cream, saw great friends and saw deer bones. That’s why.

 

Step parenting is like…

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I have recently been socializing with other step parents.  I hear and can share their frustrations.  Step parenting is like being the District of Columbia.  You pay taxes, but don’t get a vote.

In my recent read about Lincoln I discovered that he would NEVER have been the great man he became were it not for his stepmom.  His mom died when he was young, his dad was a simple, uneducated man.  Yet, he snagged a nice lady for his second wife who found Abe was practically feral when she entered his life.

put a dress on him and Daniel Day Lewis could play her as well

She got him educated, believed in him and, literally, the rest is history.

So, there would have been no emancipation proclamation without a step mother!!

Anyway, good time for a best of Cool Mom.  A visit from my mom about this subject. ( note, lil Vivien is 2, in the house I had to sell, pre Rex.  I got crap that I let her use a bottle, ah, kiss off)