Monthly Archives: November 2011

These kids can’t.

Sit back, relax and enjoy.

It’s time for open enrollment at Mr. G’s workplace. I spent an hour trying to figure out how much we might spend on healthcare and childcare next year so that we could contribute the appropriate amount to the Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA’s). Life insurance is a no brainer, we get the maximum for him and the maximum for me. It’s less than $10 a month and it’s not a whole lot of insurance, but it’s something.

This year I noticed something different on the life insurance options. Take a look for yourself.

The options are as follows:

• Employee only
• Employee + Spouse with the spouse at 50% coverage
• Employee + Spouse with the spouse at 100% coverage
• Employee + Children
• Employee + Family with the spouse at 50% coverage
• Employee + Family with the spouse at 100% coverage

So I had a little freak out. Because who buys life insurance for children? How would $25,000 help me if something happened to one of my kids? I’d be too busy launching myself off a cliff. I know there are those whole life policies that provide a little savings account… but the thought of it was gruesome. If something happens to Mr. G the kids and will need a shit ton of cash because he does everything here. Everything. If something happened to me Mr. G would have to work very differently and hire someone to replace me. That all makes sense and for a few dollars a month I’ll buy some insurance.

When I thought about possibly clicking the column that would insure the kids I became physically ill. It’s just not something I could insure. Crazy?

Also, I’m off to Mexico tomorrow, specifically Puerto Vallarta. I wasn’t able to get K&R insurance, but I’ve promised my mother I won’t die. I also didn’t update my will. But Mom I’m pretty sure blogs are legal documents so if the plane drops out of the sky please make sure everyone knows that we want my brother to raise the kids. There’s plenty of life insurance and he can have my house. Just make sure no one wears their shoes upstairs, because I’d spin like a rotisserie chicken if my kids were being raised like that.

Oh who are we kidding? A review of the Gucci Fiat 500C can be a few words long and read like a personal ad: Sexy cabrio seeks young adult who doesn’t mind having strangers take their picture. Must enjoy tiptronic for bursts of speed and should be aware that Gucci Gucci Goo means tickled pink in Italian.

When I tell you that this is a car for extroverts I am NOT KIDDING. Driving on the 405 (inching along if I’m going to be honest) will have a handful of people snapping their smartphone cameras at you. Driving this car is as close to celebrity as I’ve ever been.

The Fiat is adorable. There’s no other way to put it. When I first saw all the brightly colored cars they reminded me of gumdrops on wheels. Everything about the Fiat’s exterior made me smile. Also, doesn’t this look like a mustachioed Fiat?

Since I was driving a car that I’ve just described as adorable, we’ve got to talk about what makes it so. Although I enjoy styling on automobiles, I’m not someone who would ever recommend buying a car for it’s looks just as I wouldn’t steer someone away from a car because of it’s exterior styling. The Fiat breaks a few of these rules. Although it handles nicely I wouldn’t buy this car for performance and I imagine more than a few people will buy it for it’s looks alone. Those people will not be disappointed with the money they spend.

The Gucci Fiat has G’s everywhere. The seats leather, the floor boards, the gear shift, tires, etc. I adore the seat belt straps in Gucci red and green.

I took the car to Rodeo Drive (it was like returning an orphan to it’s mother for one last visit) and was stunned that tourists swarmed the car and started taking pictures of themselves with it. I think the Gucci Fiat is plastered all over Facebook Japan right now. Young men went CRAZY for the car. I expected young women to like it, but I never expected men to fist pump for the car and yell down the street.

It was fun. Lots and lots of fun.

After taking the Gucci Fiat on a tour of Beverly Hills I thought, “let’s see how this thing handles the curves of Sunset Blvd.” In drive the Fiat handled as I thought it might. It’s not a sports car, it’s a 1.4 liter engine that was built for the narrow streets of Europe, not the speedways of the Autobahn. Driving the Fiat in sports mode is incrementally better, but it’s still a tiny car with a tiny engine. What was surprisingly good was driving the car in manual. It gets loud quickly, but if you’re willing to shift manually (pseudo manual as there’s no clutch) you can really push this car to perform. It was actually fun taking the curves on Sunset Blvd and then Beverly Glen.

The cabrio top is nice, but there’s a little whomp whomp sound if you leave it open, drive fast and don’t crack the windows. I’m pretty sure there’s a name for it. I don’t know the name, do you?

There is kinship with Italians. When you drive a Fiat expect all the other Fiat drivers in town to give you a smile or a wave. Even in bad traffic. Even in the rain… even if anything. It’s so much fun. I think they must only allow fun people to buy these cars. It’s amazing.

What was truly amazing was the kinship extended to me as a Fiat driver by the Ferrari drivers. They waved too, really. So call me shallow, but if $23,000 gets me the ability to hang out with Ferrari drivers I’m thinking that’s money well spent. No?

I woke up at 4.45 am with Mr G so that he could shower before running to the airport. He’s back to New York City for some sort of meeting or conference or maybe he’s just doing some stealth work for the New York Giants… it appears that his screaming from the sofa here in Los Angeles is oftentimes helpful. Perhaps they could use his coaching expertise in person?

On Thursday he’ll leave New York and meet me in Mexico for a quick little trip without the kids. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. I love the idea of three adult days. I’m not so sure Mr G is happy about it though. He really likes being home, and he was already mumbling about how he hates coming home late on a Sunday.

I tried to buy Kidnap and Ransom insurance but it’s no longer sold for short trips. You have to buy a full year’s worth, and I’m not up for spending that. If we get kidnapped just know that no one will pay the ransom and you can hang out on twitter and look for a new favorite mommy blogger (I am your favorite right?).

I’m stunned that 2011 has sailed by so quickly. I’m not ready for winter, I’m not ready for holidays, I’m not ready for much.

Check out this trailer. Dying to see the Hunger Games, I loved the book.

Where are you at on Stranger Danger? It drives me crazy because we’re shielding our kids from the wrong people.

Watch this week’s Momversation and leave your comments on YouTube.

Oh also, when you decide it’s your favorite video of all time you should click over to YouTube and thumb it up. Good karma and all…

I won’t be camping out at Occupy Los Angeles any time soon, but I appreciate the people who do. I was down there several weeks ago with my camera and I’ve been there a few times since then. It’s an interesting crowd full of thinkers, free spirits, frustrated young adults, politicians and pseudo intellectuals.

Occupy Wall Street is also important because it’s a symbol of both all that is wrong and all that is right in America. Occupy Wall Street exists in large part because we bailed out banks that behaved criminally. We tried to salvage them and their horrible business practices. Now billionaire bankers have been made whole, but my husband’s 401k is reduced by 40%. He worked his ass off to make that money and to secure a nice retirement for himself. Because of thievery there will be less to retire with.

I am aware of the fact that we are lucky that retirement is a word we can even consider, but we are far from the 1%. There have been no big raises, there were two years of sleepless nights during wave after wave of layoffs. Our neighbors have lost their homes and our home has lost significant value.

I am not complaining about my lifestyle. It’s nice, and I’m content. But when I look at the 401k and how it’s been bludgeoned I want to scream and pick up a sign. When I look at college costs soaring I feel terribly for young adults but at the same time I want to shake them and say “I went to a Community College it was excellent. The teachers were devoted and you can afford it.” My brother went to Santa Monica Community College and then to UCLA, guess which one had better professors? If you guessed Santa Monica you’d be correct.

But this is neither here nor there. Everyone deserves an education. We provide free school through high school with varying degrees of quality. California used to have some of the best schools in the nation. That’s just not the case any longer. Our state schools are also getting more expensive every day.

The kids at Occupy Cal joined hands and were protesting rate hikes and their bleak economic future. As empowered citizens they were exercising their right to free speech.

Today, on Veteran’s Day, we honor those who gave their time, their health and sometimes their lives so that Americans could speak freely and congregate peaceably. Today, on Veteran’s Day, I wanted to feel like I lived in the greatest country in the world. The country that would allow my children to chase their dreams.

Instead today I saw this.

You can see part two here (it is MUCH more objectionable).

When we see footage like this in other countries we scream POLICE STATE and send in the troops. I challenge you all to rethink what is happening in America. I challenge you all to post videos like these and to support the Freedoms that our Veterans fought so hard to protect.