Chinese New Year suddenly became a big event in our household this year for the first time.   Mainly, it’s because Grandma Linda showed up from London and showered the kids with unexpected gifts.  She also took one of my children (the oldest and easiest) with/… Read full post »

For a gal who could only bare  8 minutes of “Paranormal Activity” before turning the film off and then spending the entire night hiding under the covers, checking behind curtains and whispering  “what was that noise?” incessantly to my slumbering husband, I felt pret… Read full post »

I guess it’s not all that surprising that I wouldn’t be a big fan of Tiger Woods.  After all, I am not a golfer and am intolerant of cheating husbands.  I am a woman who grew up with two serially unfaithful parents –initially to each other  - and but then… Read full post »

Dear San Francisco,

I have longed to write to you but have never managed to quite get up the courage.  It never seemed to be quite the right time – either for me or for you.  But now, given that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, I thought/… Read full post »

I have never felt more “un-American” than on Super Bowl Sunday.  It’s the one day of the year where I feel completely out of sync with all my red-blooded American friends and relatives and wonder what happened to me to make it so hard to get into the football watching spirit.&n… Read full post »

My seven year old and I have walked the same route to school every day for the past year and half – through his entire Kindergarten year and now First Grade.  On the way, we pass a large, rather sterile-looking nursing home whose bedroom windows overlook our side of the street… Read full post »

The whole concept of “sibling battles” is a new one for me.  After all, I was an only child and so there wasn't anyone to scuffle with except my cranky cats.  Even after the husband and I took the plunge and went for kiddo number two, there still wasn’t much/… Read full post »

My seven year old came home today and asked if we could go online to make a donation for the people of Haiti.  He said that there had been an earthquake there and that a lot of people needed food and water.  He said that his teachers told his class that/… Read full post »

In his New York Times Op-Ed Column, reviewer David Brooks slams the Avatar as being offensively stereotypical in its interpretation of what he calls the “White Messiah Fable.”  Specifically he derides James Cameron’s plot as resting on the following condescending stereot/… Read full post »

Anyone who tells you that pink is a “softer, less violent red” hasn’t been around my two year old daughter when she has donned her pink princess outfit.  There is nothing soft, fluffy or flowerlike about that color when it is draped around my daughter’s tiny body.  P… Read full post »

So my sister-in-law put up the following post on her facebook page on New Year’s day: 

“Since I never stick to my New Year resolutions I have decided to give up dieting, exercise, self control and discipline. I shall be a fat, lazy, akratic, ornery bitch who screams "Get… Read full post »

I am not a shopper by nature and so I surprised myself by spending the first day of the New Year with my family doing exactly that – shopping.  We targeted one store and one store only – the behemoth Swedish giant, Ikea – armed with a long list of things/… Read full post »

It’s the day after Christmas. And we are recovering from the marathon of gift unwrapping that consumed the better half of a day yesterday.   I have managed to tidy most of the toys (which could have filled a forklift) into discreet piles around the living room and I am now pausing/… Read full post »

I feel sorry for our Mayor Gavin Newsom.  He has had a tough year and it shows.  In addition to a whole host of city woes, including tough budget cuts and rocketing unemployment, he has had some personal challenges too.   This year he bought a wildly over-priced home in an area/… Read full post »

I tell myself it's normal to despise any kid who is mean to my son.  Even when I know the mean kid probably has problems and doesn’t know what he is doing half the time, it's still hard to resist swiftly kicking the little punk in the butt or at least/… Read full post »

The thing that initially struck me most about the movie “Precious” wasn’t its plot line or even its characters –it was the film’s ever-morphing marketing platform.  As someone who happened to catch the marketing of this film from the start, it became fascinating to… Read full post »

Our effort to cut back discretionary spending started off small but boldly this year.  As a nod to the recession (well, more like a deep deferential bow) we quit our weekly habit of checking out new fun bars in the neighborhood which was racking up dizzying babysitting dollars and bar bills/… Read full post »

Ever since my son was a wee one, he has worried about Santa.  He is a worrier by nature (like his mother) and so it wasn’t all that surprising when Santa was added to his list of things to get anxious about.  At first, my son’s Santa worries were fairly low/… Read full post »

While freezing my tail off in wilds of North Yorkshire through college, I convinced myself that the only way to truly get into the Christmas spirit was to be uncomfortable and cold.  It was my way of making myself feel better about the fact that I had chosen to study in… Read full post »

Today I learned that my front tooth needs to be pulled.  Not exactly happy news for someone who is (a) very vain, (b) phobic about pain and (c) rather attached to each of her pearly whites.  Images of suddenly looking hag-like (or as my son would say, “gangsta”) of course are/… Read full post »

This Thanksgiving afforded Tiger Woods a unique opportunity - an opportunity to make a profound difference in ordinary people's lives without having to lift a golf club or pick up another endorsement.  All he had to do was be honest about what happened in the early hours of that november mo… Read full post »

When we think of people who should be really thankful, Tiger Woods is certainly one guy that comes to mind.  One of the world's greatest athletes, rich beyond dreams, wildly philanthropic, and with a beautiful family, this young man has so many well-deserved blessings.  And yet, if he was s/… Read full post »

It seemed like the perfect present.  A smooth, rich Cabernet with an Opus One label - a small splash of heaven in a bottle.  Earlier this year we had spent an idyllic day with our in-laws sampling the delights of this incredible wine in what has to be one of the… Read full post »

You’ve got to love a first grade teacher who shoves a 5 foot black cylinder on her head and then walks around for the entire day as a microscope for Halloween.  Especially a teacher that also convinces her otherwise sane teaching assistant to go as “Germs on a Petri Dish” for… Read full post »