If you give a mom a date night…

. . .she will probably have a fabulous time and wonder why she doesn’t get out more often, and she’ll work hard on finding a regular babysitter.

And if she gets a regular babysitter, she’ll realize how easy it would be to just get caught up on things around the house if someone was around to watch the children, and wonder about a part time nanny.

And if she gets a nanny, she’ll find that, though she’s been busy with housework and such, she’s missing out on hangin’ with her little ones. So, she’ll probably let the nanny go and hire a housekeeper.

And then, she’ll spend a ridiculous amount of time cleaning up before the housekeeper shows up, and come to the conclusion that it’s just  a waste of money.

And with that money, she’ll hire a personal assistant to run her errands, catch up on correspondence, shop for food, etc. But then, alas, she’ll be frustrated when she discovers that no one else can find the special asiago cheese bread on the discount rack.

And with all the money she’ll save by not having a babysitter, a housekeeper, a personal assistant, or a nanny, she’ll be more than happy to use it all for a date with her husband, deciding that even a rare night out – though it will likely involve cleaning out the car, responding to emails, a stop at the pharmacy, and a trip to the grocery store- is just fine after all.

With thanks (and apologies) to Laura Joffe Numeroff, author of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.

Watch your Language

A new word popped out of my preschooler’s mouth today: iface.

I guess he must hear the word iphone (though we don’t have one). Maybe one of his peeps from the play ground has talked about MySpace (They’re learning pretty young these days).  I’m sure I’ve discussed with Daddy – in front of our boy - how I need to clean up and get rid of my old iMac desktop computer, and what so and so posted to my wall on Facebook. (He’s at the stage of language development where he’s coming up with some great complex sentences, but  messes up the syntax a bit from time to time).

Somehow, all that lingo got jumbled all up in his head and out came out in a cool techy kind of way. We’re just working on alphabet sounds and how to cut – and not run – with scissors, but this kid knows the language well, and even made up new word to go right along with hot trends of the moment.

It is amazing what little people pick up on. Who knows? Perhaps I need to see if some bird on Sesame Street is packin’ an iPod, or if my son has secret access to a PC.

 

The whole ”iface” thing was cute, but I’m not sure what I’ll do if he starts talking in internet slang.

LOL   ;)

Julie, Julia, and Me

No need to read Roeper, folks. I’ve got your unofficial, totally subjective movie review right here. The last one I did was over a year ago. That’s about how often I get to the theater: once every 365 days+ or so.

 

Speaking of 365 days, I took in Julie & Julia during an afternoon matinee. This is the movie about Julie Powell, the young woman who, over the course of a year, cooked through Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, blogging about it along the way - all the while looking to Mrs. Child as a sort of demi-god in her mind. 

With a free pass and Daddy home with the kids, it cost me nothing but a couple of well-spent hours. 

I’m gonna include a side note here about seeing an afternoon movie:  almost everyone in attendance, other than myself and a few others, was pushing 60. I didn’t have to deal with a) talkers rattling during the movie or b) glow lights of Blackberries, or c) people attempting to inconspicuously yak on their cell phones. Stepping out of a dark auditorium after dramatic cinema into glaring sunlight may not be as sexy as sauntering out under the stars with your soul mate, but when the experience inside is so relaxing, it’s totally worth it. 

The screenplay was fabulous, the direction was terrific, and the actors were grand - including those who played minor characters. Amy Adams did a fantastic job portraying a regular gal in need of a project in her life. No souped up, tanned up, make-believe chick, just a normal girl who did a lot of work (much more in the cooking than the writing, I think) during her year-long culinary journey. She was smart enough and persistent enough to write about it in a blog (back when these things were just heatin’ up), and found an audience on the World Wide Web.

Meryl Streep’s Julia Child is superb. I’m old enough to have seen the large-as-life cooking guru on the televison (albeit as a young girl), long before the days of Rachael Ray, and back when Ms. Martha Stewart was posing for the covers of magazines. Streep’s acting is always magnificient, and this role was no exception.

Additional characters were played by: Jane Lynch (Julia’s sister), Linda Edmond (co-author), and Chris Messina (Julie’s husband).

 There were plenty of skillet-sizzling, oven-baking, sauce-simmering delights during the film. More than one character experiences indigestion (I did, but that was because of the large Coke and refillable popcorn), but most of the food creation scenes were scrumptious. There was lots of humor, a few tears, and plenty of very well-done poignant scenes representative of real-life relationships.

I loved the fact that cooking was shown in a positive light, the use of butter extolled, and people in this film ate, well the way people eat when something tastes really, really good.

I highly recommend you see the film on a mostly empty stomach, then cook – and eat – a fabulous dinner afterwards.

 

Whether you write about it is entirely up to you.

Good Reading: The Kids’ Version

Kids need some book reviews of their own, right?

One hallmark of a great children’s book is that it provides as much fun for the parent reading it, as it does for the child hearing it. These two books are fun to read every time my child pulls them from the shelf, which is often. The first is a gem we found in the children’s section of our local library, the other a treasured gift from my son’s great aunt and uncle.

Jack’s House by Karen Magnueson Beil is a perfect, contemporary retelling of the well-known tale, The House That Jack Built. A picture book with good illustrations, it has the sequencing of the original fable, but with a bit of a twist. Toddlers – early elementary will enjoy this book for its use of modern day construction equipment, as well as a surprise point-of-view.

I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak is a precious statement of love for a child. This book is great affirmation to kids that, despite how difficult parenthood is on a day to day basis, we love them unconditionally.

Got Vacation?

I’m fresh back from taking’ a little trip with my family. We had a good time away from our regular life, complete with lots of fun, sun, sweat, and good food – much of which someone else cooked.

Lots of Most people travel way more than we do, and have far better traveling advice than I could offer. But, our first hotel stay as a family notwithstanding, this was a pretty good, albeit short, initiation into vacationhood with a couple kids in tow.

I’m so glad we:

…picked a destination that required less than two hours of traveling time. It kept the peace and stayed the sanity. Translation: Our vehicle does NOT have a DVD player.

…splurged for the hotel/condo with a separate room for the kiddos. Our boys even had their own kitchenette. Now, if only they knew how to cook breakfast.

…used the big, jetted tub for an awesome play pen. It – along with just a little bit of soap and several water-blasting pipes also made for fabulous entertainment for a three-year old. Just imagine a young kid in a dome full of water with suds up to his neck. More fun than a ball pit.

…had some plans for some days, and no plans for other days. It was fun to decide in the morning where we might go later on that day. It was necessary to be flexible with children who were missing out on regular naps, yet still waking up at 6:00.

…did things the whole family enjoyed. ‘Cause unless you’re just getting away with your spouse, it’s useless to think you’ll get some time to yourselves it’s really best to remember that it’s all about the kids. Again, peace and sanity, baby. Peace and sanity.

Summer’s comin’ to an end. Have you had your vacation?

image credit: Flickr photo by Cyron