Lauren Child on NPR!

Lola T-shirt

I was so excited when, during my walk this morning, I heard my favorite children’s author, Lauren Child, interviewed on National Public Radio for the Weekend Edition! She was quite charming, but the interview was way too short. I have so many questions for her! You can see more of my praise for her here where I post at Chicago Moms Blog. I love you Lauren Child! Thank you for all the joy you bring me and my children!

Confession: I Love the Soaps

Yeah, it’s true. I have been watching All My Children since I was twelve. Before any of you (and there are many of you out there) get excited and think you can “talk” to me about the soap, don’t. I am six weeks behind. I have six weeks of video tapes to watch. My mother never watched soap operas. I got hooked on All My Children when my parent went out of town for a week and left us with an ABC soaps fan. She watched All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital every day. I sat next to her mesmerized. Affairs, sex, alcohol, money, comas, amnesia, I loved it all! I was hooked!

In high school, as a junior and a senior, I arranged for early release so I could get home in time to catch the last 45 min of General Hospital. Luke and Laura were hot in those days. Everyone was watching. In college, I would watch in my room on my tiny black and white, but I preferred to watch in the student union, on the big color t.v. with the other fans at my school, mostly African Americans. All My Children actually had people of color, including Hispanics and Blacks. One Life to Live had one Jewish person. Other than that, there is just not a lot of diversity in the soap opera world. Anyway, the student union was my favorite place to watch because these fans were always talking and shouting to each other and the t.v. “Don’t kiss her! You know you’re going to get caught!” “He had her mom and her daughter? That’s not cool!” It was so much fun! When I went to England for a semester, I missed four months of my soap. No matter, the beauty of the soap is that you can pick it up again anytime and it will soon be as if you never left!

I never watch them with the kids. First of all, they are too young. Second, I really don’t want them to have this silly addiction. Typically, I watch them while the kids are in school/camp and I’m folding laundry, or trying to declutter. I watch them while I read the paper. I even watch them when I check my email. I will also catch up on them while Gadget Man watches a horror movie in the other room. He’s embarrassed for me. Frankly, I don’t reveal my soap-watching habit to just anyone. After all, they are pretty trashy. But hey, it is no more trashy than many popular prime time shows out there like Desperate Housewives, for example. Anyway, I’m back on the elliptical in the basement now, because it’s gotten too dark at 5 a.m. to walk outside (Yes, I get up at 5 a.m. to work out, when I work out that is!). I’ll catch up and exercise at the same time.

The Banana Splits are Back! A Team Mom Review

The Original Banana Splits

Tra la la, la la la la, tra la la la la la la la. OY! The Banana Splits are back! As a Team Mom reviewer, I was asked to take a look at their new website and brand new songs. Because you are reading this, you can get a sneak preview of them and take your own trip down memory lane at this website: www.bananasplits.com Sit your children down at the computer and introduce them to these fun-loving characters. They can watch music videos, play games and learn corny jokes. The new songs are pretty good, but not quite up to the quality of our family’s personal favorites, Dan Zanes, Ralph Covert , Justin Roberts and Lisa Loeb. The website kept Eva (6) and Charlie (3) entertained for about ten minutes. As for me, I can’t get that song out of my head! Tra la la, la la la la . . .

My Careers are in the Toilet

Click here to see my latest post for Chicago Moms Blog. It is about my teaching license and my attorney’s license. I had to give them both up to be a stay-at-home mom to Eva and Charlie. Do I regret it? No, I chose to stay at home. Do I wish I could keep my career options open? YES!!!

John Edwards Can’t Keep It In His Pants

National Enquirer Broke the Story of the Affair, but He Denies He is the Father

What the heck? John Edwards had an affair in 2006 (or maybe earlier)? What business did he have running for President? What business did he have getting my hopes up that someone with integrity (HA!) and someone who cares for the working class could actually be President? Heads up to you politicians who think you can hide huge slip ups like this in your personal life: Don’t bother. If you choose to be married and then you choose to have an affair, that is between you and your family. However, you may NOT run for public office, especially President!!! Yeah, the typical man is weak when it comes to sexual temptation, but our President should not be one of those typical men! (Oh, and by the way, I don’t expect my Gadget Man to be a “typical” weak man either!) Our President must be exceptional. You, Mr. Edwards, are not exceptional. You are a disappointment and a disgrace. You break my heart, again.