Hip to be Mom

House Rule #302

Clairity — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:16:58 +0000

So here’s the thing, I’m a mom who’s really big on rules. From the time the kids were little, I had lots of house rules which I drummed into their poor li’l heads.

My rules started when they were 1 or 2, yeah, old enough to understand simple logic if I explain it slowly to them. Rules like no sticking your finger in there (pointing at the wall plug sockets), no playing with knives and matches, always hold mommy’s hand when we’re out and stay where I can see you.

When they were older, we had the one about remembering to greet and say ‘hello’ people to friends and family we meet. Then the one about respecting other people’s property like not touching or using their things without permission. If it’s one thing that really irritates me, it’s when kids start running all over people’s homes, upstairs and downstairs, and playing with their things.

These days, the rules (I think we should be somewhere around #302 by now ) are more like advice and reminders. The biggie is Facebook, not something I necessarily approve of. To me, nothing on the internet is ever private no matter what they tell ya. And never mind what settings the radio deejay tells you to click to make things private. ’nuff said!

But I have to be realistic here and expect that, well, peer pressure may occasionally triumph over Mom’s warnings. So House Rule #302 says they’re not to post their real names, pictures or private stuff about themselves. Now let me see, what’s House Rule #303?

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Baked, packed and delivered

Clairity — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:19:47 +0000

I’ve just finished baking a batch of my infamous cheese-crusted melt-in-the-mouth shepherd’s pie and they’re sitting in my oven waiting to be delivered to my two princesses at school.

Wednesdays and Thursdays, I have one finishing school at 4:00pm and the other at 5:30pm. My poor teens are up from dawn and at school from 7:00am with a measly 20-minute recess. That’s 10 hours straight, yes, even longer than working at an office. And of course, they’re most generously allowed a lunch break at 2:00pm.

That’s when I’ll be standing outside the prison school gate with a bunch of other parents waiting to sneak them lunch over the school fence!! I feel so sorry for my poor girls I just have to make them an extra special lunch to brighten up their day.

I pack their school lunches with a bottle of ice-cold water each and sunblock as they’ll be out in the blazing 95 degree sun all afternoon. Sometimes I throw in a couple of candies just for treats. These school hours are a real drag and frankly I can’t wait till they finish high school! Oops, look at the time, I’m off to grace the prison gates !

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A claim somewhere

Clairity — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:17:36 +0000

Well, apparently there’s some news going around that TransUnion, a credit reporting company, has apparently sold confidential credit information to target marketing companies in the United States illegally between the years of 1987 and 2000.

Yikes, any time there’s a chance that your personal data is out there is pretty scary to me, so if you live in the US and applied for credit from them during the years i question, you just might want to check it out and see if you could be eligible for a Transunion Settlement from them. Not that it’s going to undo the harm done but it’s better than nothing.

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It’s not him, it’s them

Clairity — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:37:55 +0000

So I was in a good mood today and decided to let Steev drive. He drives his dad’s car more than he drives mine. I probably should let him practise more often but a part of me is saying, let him practise on a stick shift saloon first before he tackles an automatic 7-seater.

He’s driven my minivan around the neighborhood a couple of times. This afternoon, as we turned the corner onto a 3-lane road, some jerk in a big black pickup truck decided to tailgate us, causing him to edge to the side, almost hitting the tail of a car that was just turning into the McD’s drive-thru. Gave me a heart attack!

The rest of the drive was pretty smooth. He handled the highway very well, I have to give him that. He didn’t speed. He didn’t do any of the things I’ve seen other new drivers do. He just cussed a little. He probably got that from me . We live in B.A.D (Bad Attitude Drivers) City where cussing is a necessary stress reliever!

And you know what? It’ll be a while before I’m comfortable having Steev drive alone. I know, I know, more and more parents are allowing their high school kids to drive themselves to school, and Steev’s already a college sophomore. So why am I such a scaredy cat?

Every day, I see those teens climb into their cars outside the girls’ school and it never fails to horrify me the way they slam on the accelerator and veer out onto oncoming traffic and other kids walking out the school gate, without so much as turning their heads . A car is a lethal weapon, not some harmless vga cable with audio!

Steev’s not a bad driver. He just needs to chalk up more experience on handling emergency situations like cars emerging from out of nowhere, cars trying to run you off the road, cars driven by people who don’t give a damn.

It’s not him I’m worried about. It’s those other drivers out there who don’t know if they’re coming or going, and simply don’t care!

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Play Around in Memphis

Clairity — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:30:45 +0000

This is a sponsored guest post written by Memphis Travel on behalf of Memphis CVB. Post powered by Sponzai.

More than just the home of the blues and barbeque, Memphis gives you plenty of ways to play around, with fun things to do no matter who you are or what you like. Of course, if you’re into Elvis, rock-and-roll and mouth-watering ribs, you’ve got to check out Graceland, Sun Studios, and the Rendezvous. But Memphis has much more to offer than this holy trinity of southern culture, with enough to see, do and eat to make it the perfect location for your next long weekend getaway.

The families out there (or the wild at heart) should be sure to check out the Memphis Zoo, one of only four U.S. zoos with giant pandas. Recently ranked the #1 zoo in the U.S. by TripAdvisor.com, the Memphis Zoo lets you get up close and personal with the animal kingdom. And with the recent addition the Northwest Passage, home to Polar bears in a see-through underwater exhibit, and the zoo’s newest section, Teton Trek, kids and adults alike are certain to have a blast.

Don’t let your midtown experience stop at the zoo; the Cooper-Young and Overton Square neighborhoods are just down the street. Ask a local Memphian where to find a tasty bite to eat, great local music and ice cold beer, and they will probably direct you here. Speaking of beer … the environmentally conscious visitor can enjoy a locally brewed beer by Ghost River Brewing or walk through the natural landscape and educational facilities at the Lichterman Nature Center.

Memphis has museums for just about everything. From the Civil Rights Museum, Cotton Museum and Fire Museum in downtown to the Brooks Museum, Children’s Museum of Memphis and the Pink Palace Museum further east, the number of places to have fun while you learn are as bountiful as the barbeque restaurants. Families, friends, sports fans, history buffs, self-proclaimed food critics – Memphis has everything you need to keep everyone happy.

So when you visit Memphis, stay a few extra days. Even the locals don’t run out of things to do. And to make it easy, memphistravel.com is launching a new travel guide to help you plan your next vacation. Simply choose from a list of interests and you’ll be given a sample itinerary with lots of great ideas. You can also register for a chance to win one of twelve trip packages that include tours, gift certificates to Memphis’ favorite restaurants, hotel stays and more. Go to itinerary.memphistravel.com to get started.

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Breathless but it’s not what you think!

Clairity — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:00:11 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I love the gym. But I love it even more when it’s empty. Devoid of others, um, let’s just call them superhumans aka those who insist on switching OFF both the air-conditioning and fans in the gym, those who don’t need to breathe when they exercise, what do we call them again??!!

Here I am, spewing perspiration and gasping for air in my sleeveless top and shorts. There they are, wearing long sleeves and long pants, huddled over cardio machines wrapped up in thick towels!!

Note there’s only one window, which is sealed shut, and only one fan whirring away! Overhead there are 32 light bulbs burning their way through the tops of our heads! What’s up with the spotlights already? Are we looking for needles in a haystack here?

Oh and while we’re at it, could we please be allowed to exchange some of that carbon dioxide for oxygen? I can only assume folks work out to stay healthy. Um, stupid question. Without oxygen, could we be defeating the purpose – possibly?

That said, the fan and air-conditioning won’t cause you to catch the chill of death no matter what your grandmother told you! Those old wives’ tales really have to go, people!! But if you insist on shutting off the air circulation, then you’re obviously in the wrong place. You should be in the sauna! Savvy?

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