Monthly Archives: December 2010

I’m also neither an attorney nor a physician, but I know malpractice when I see it.

Teva and Grey Ant have joined forces to make a high heeled stiletto outdoor shoe. You know the Teva “mandal” (sandal… whatever), they added a heel.

Hopefully they are durable enough for you to poke your eyes out, because you will want to after looking at this. Even the model wouldn’t let them show her face.

Teva high heeled sandal

FamilyFinds.com launched just a few days ago in Los Angeles.

My understanding is that there will be a nationwide rollout in 2011. No matter where you are located, I’d keep an eye on this.

We all love Groupon. The internet loves Groupon so much that they said “no thank you” to an eighty bazillion dollar offer from Google. That’s a fact, go ahead and check it, I sure didn’t.

We’ve loved flash sales since Woot came on the scene with a deal a day. We fell in love a little more when Gilt gave us $25 to refer a friend (they don’t give that any longer so I don’t refer any longer). We fell madly and passionately in love when Groupon gave us laser hair removal at 80% off and 50% off at the Gap.

How much stuff do you really need? You don’t actually have to answer that.

Family Finds is a daily deal site that sells experiences. Every parent knows that the tchotches don’t really matter. What really matters is how we spend time with our families. Unfortunately some of these experiences cost quite a bit, and some of them we just don’t know about. Family Finds is an online daily promotions site that is focusing on us. Families who want to spend some time together.

If you’re looking to take your kids to a theme park, to a free concert or just to find out what is going on in your town this week, then you’ll enjoy the weekly blog at Family Finds. This week they share the free holiday concert at McCabes (I started going to concerts at McCabes in 1974).

Thus far I haven’t found anything that’s perfect for my kids, but I remember saying that about Groupon and Gilt too… cue the ominous music. Family Finds lets you suggest a deal. I’m going to suggest Magic Mountain.

Currently they are offering $10 credits to refer a friend. If you sign up early you might be the lucky one to refer all of your friends.

On November 17th my phone rang, and I answered it.

ME: This is Jessica

CALLER: Why do you think you can abuse children?

ME: What?

CALLER: Were you on the Dr Phil show?

ME: Yes, several times, but I never lay a hand on my children. Who are you.

CALLER: I’m a reporter.

ME: With what outlet?

CALLER: My local news. I want to know why you think it’s okay to put hotsauce in your son’s mouth and make him take cold showers.

ME: Lady, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

And the call went on in a crazy manner for a while longer. She was clearly not a reporter, in fact she was calling from a home phone in New Jersey, and didn’t even bother to block her caller id (*67 anyone?).

I have Dr. Phil on my DVR so I went ahead and took a peek at the show. I felt abused watching it. Apparently one of Jessica Beagle’s six children submitted a video of her “disciplining” her adopted son. From between my fingers I saw her screaming at him, putting hot sauce in his mouth, and forcing him to take cold showers.

It seems that the Jessica on Mommy Confessions is Jessica Beagley of Anchorage, Alaska. My hope is that child protective services has been to the home, and Jessica is getting the help she clearly needs. I’ve seen some LDS websites quoting the New Testament and defending the choices that Jessica and her husband have made.

It is worth noting that Slate magazine has an article about Ice Showers as torture. John Trimble (of Ireland) was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for torturing his elderly parents, in part with cold showers.

But what do you do if you suspect a child is being abused?

I’ve personally never seen anything like this before. Were I to witness in real life what I saw on Dr. Phil, I’d be calling 9-1-1. If they weren’t alarmed I’d hang up and call again, and again, and again until someone took me seriously.

I’m curious what you would do if you saw this?

What would you do if a child came to your house and told you this is how they are disciplined?

I just ran home from Main Street in Motion so that I could pop off a quick post for y’all.

GO.

If you’re buying a car Main Street in Motion is brilliant because you can test drive (short but fun drives) two or three comparable cars one after the other. When you’re at Auto Row running from one dealership to the next it’s sometimes hard to remember what features you enjoyed about which car. With this setup you hop from one car to the other in minimal time.

I’ll post pictures to Flickr later this evening, but I drove a few cars:

Chevy Cruze: this is a compact car that grew a set of balls pistons. I hadn’t really planned on driving it, because I was too busy salivating over the Camaros, but one of the fine ladies at GM suggested we try it, and I’m pretty sure she lived to regret that. The car is small, not a rocketship, but not slow either. It handled a 140 degree turn at about 40 miles an hour beautifully. The car hugs the road in a way I hadn’t expected for a car in that class. Oh, it also has doodads. Doodads are important (like USB hubs and paddle shifters). It was the big surprise of the day.

Impala: It’s a beast. I’m going to do a little research, I want to know what engine they jammed in there.

Camaro SS: I want. I love. I want. I love. I want.  Review over. (it’s fast and luxurious, like ridiculously so)

Corvette GS Convertible: My lap around the track was so fast I think we time traveled. It handles exquisitely, as Corvette’s are known to do.

Volt: I still think it’s fabulous. It’s not a performance car, but it’s a high torque car with limited drag. Driving it at 40 mph is an absolute joy, and it handles curves well.

If you decide to to to Main Street in Motion (this weekend in Los Angeles, coming to other locations all through 2011) there are a few things you should know.

• Register ahead of time if possible.
• Test drives are limited to folks 18 and up.
• Lines will be long for the performance cars
• Getting there early is probably a good plan
• The track is short. Floor it off the line. You won’t regret it.
• Don’t brake in a turn, speed up, it’s fun
• They had hot dogs, sandwiches, and drinks. You really can hang out there all day
• If you’re bringing kids, make sure you have two adults so you can take turns driving

Red Chevy Volt

Red Chevrolet Corvette

The important relationships in my life are my girlfriends. I’m a rich woman, in that I’m surrounded by a small group of smart, talented and caring women. Some of my girlfriends were with me in diapers, some I met more recently while we changed our children’s diapers.

In recent years my girlfriends have been in two distinct groups, one with children, one without. I’m forty, and most of my friends are close to my age, so no one was having babies these last few years. My girlfriends are all good mothers. I’m too picky, and too content alone to be around women who aren’t good mothers.

Recently one of my girlfriends had a baby, and I’ve got to watch her change from being a woman to being a woman and a mother.

And she’s good at it. Really, really good. And it makes my heart swell. Because it’s the first time in a long while that I’ve been privileged with watching the transition, and it’s the first time I’ve been able to watch it from a distance.

It’s lovely.

I should have told you about the first night, but I was in a Suf Ganiot (jelly donut) stupor.

Last night my Dad and Stepmother came for candle lighting and supper. The kids were excited to open their first round of gifts (trust me the excitement wanes by the third night), and even more happy to have company for candle lighting and dinner.

Since I didn’t provide you with a gift guide this year I’ll let you know what the kids have opened in the last two nights.

Alexander got a Yankee’s warm up jacket, and a Yankee’s cap, both are from Modell‘s in New York, both items have been worn from the second he gets home from school, until the second he goes to bed. Alexander is a Yankee fan. He also received a pair of pirate pajamas and the boxed set of How To Train Your Dragon Books. Jane bought him a watch. His big gifts will be tomorrow, the bummer about Hanukkah is that you give gifts at sundown. Alexander is getting a heap of sporting goods, so we’ll cheat the sundown bit and give him some baseball equipment around 3pm tomorrow.

Jane got a vintage looking Yankee’s tee from Modell’s as well, it’s really soft and it looks like a tee with a long sleeved shirt under it, but it’s really just one shirt, she is understandably thrilled, she also got a tee that she’d made at Hot Topixx some time ago, she was so happy to see how it turned out. There was a 2011 Eclipse calendar, and Alexander bought her earrings.

Presents for the children are wrapped and on the living room table. I’ve taken care to make them all look about the same. I bought some shirt boxes, and I decided to let Jane just pick one thing to open each night. Because she has incredible radar she immediately went to the “big gift” we got her this year.

A Blackberry Torch. In White.

She squealed. She jumped up and down. She hugged ME. She thanked ME.

I recognize that technically this is a gift from my husband and I, but the kids know that I’m the technophile in the house. I further recognize that it is petty, stupid and infantile to want your child to favor you. I see that it is not good parenting. I’ve admitted to my friends that I am absolutely spineless when it comes to gift giving for my children.

For about 15 seconds my daughter loved me best.

And even though rejoicing in that makes me a shitty mother, it delights me.