Prepping For Fun

We’re getting ready for our family vacation in August. It’s a biggie – driving down to Washington, D.C. for a few nights before heading down to South Carolina for few more. The kids are all excited. Really, they love any change of scenery. And hubby is doing is part to prepare. He’s actually had a lot to do: get the car serviced, have the mail stopped, devise a tentative itinerary (after all, we have kids so it has to be somewhat flexible). Oh, and he has to pack.

Yeah, that’s it.

As with all moms, the bulk of the preparation work is on me. Not that I’m opposed to vacations, but let’s face it. Wives tend to do more prep than the husbands. The males are responsible for one person: themselves. We handle the other living things in the house: kids, pets, even plants. [Read more...]

Why I Hate Julia Roberts

Okay, okay, I don’t actually hate Julia Roberts. I don’t even know her. What I hate – no, wait, my grandma always said never to use that word – what irks me (deeply) about this particular celebrity is that ever-present self-satisfied smirk on her big glamorous puss. I understand those who admire her for her humble, down-to-earth, just-a-regular-gal persona, displayed on talk shows and in magazine profiles. I’m sure she does have a genuinely good heart and she seems to be a very devoted mom. And it’s not her fault that she gets to pal around with George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and make sexytime with that devastating hunk Javier Bardem in her new movie, when I, for example, don’t. My question is, does she have to be so damn pleased with herself about it all?

That’s very judgmental of me, I admit. She is likely as prone to insecurities as the rest of us. She probably doesn’t look in the mirror every morning and toss her Breck Girl hair in self-admiration. She probably doesn’t get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night while round-the-clock nannies tend to her children (though I will continue to harbor this secret belief about all movie stars moms!) or have every meal created in macrobiotic portion-controlled perfection by a personal chef. No, she’s just a person, a mom, a normal woman very close to my age who just happens to possess way-above-average beauty, excellent posture, and the ambition, talent, and good luck to succeed as an actress. And wouldn’t that make anyone pleased with themselves? Of course it would.

[Read more...]