Who Needs Sleep?

While we would prefer not to enter into the co-sleeping debate, or into any  other kind of debate with people who elect to never really get a good night's sleep for about 18 years, we thought the below worth sharing.  Thank you to our friend Rich for posting this.  In this way we also discovered a funny (if not mannerly) dad blog called HowToBeADad.  It is a beguiling mix of profanity, diagrams and dad geek.  Happy Monday.

                                                                                                     Photo from HowToBeADad

If Not Now When?

Was probably the question the well mannered audience members were asking themselves last Tuesday in Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.   According to the WSJ's story here, a cell phone in the front row of the theater began ringing (playing?) the Marimba during Mahler's Nineth.   After many minutes, the conductor reportedly stopped the piece, turned and asked that the phone be turned off.  Yet the phone (believed to be an alarm) continued.  After many minutes of total silence in the hall broken only by jeers from other attendees and repeated requests from the conductor, the offender finally silenced the phone.  The Philharmonic began at the top.  

Perhaps the patron was elderly, hard of hearing and did not realize his alarm was going off.  Had he set himself a reminder to go to the Philharmonic?  Possibly, he is a large supporter of the Symphony and has a great deal of clout and that is why ushers never approached to "help" him or escort him and his phone out of the hall.  

As a friend mentioned earlier this week, it does seem these days, that more and more people behave (although we do not know if this particular offense was intentional) as though the rules do not apply to them.  Whether these are rules of common courtesy or  rules of law, many people behave as if those rules are for others.  Have you noticed this?  What do you think?

Could this be why the Chinese are throwing eggs at Apple stores and Apple cancelled the launch of the iphone4S in China?

Enjoy the long weekend.

Image from PSD

Friday Lunch Box Revolution

 Happy New Year.  We hope you holidays were joyous and you are happily settling back into your routine.  One aspect of this modern mother's routine that causes her more angst than it should is school lunch.   This is because she wishes to send her minions off each day with  a healthy/balanced/nutritious mid-day meal.  She is hampered in this pursuit by time, the spacial confines of lunch boxes and her own lack of creativity at 7:20 a.m.  Or so she thought.   Then her friend Jane sent her the PRI link The Art of Making Lunch Boxes in Japan.

 She now realizes she has been looking at lunch all wrong.  This is not a problem but an opportunity.  Like scrapbooking with food.  Really, what on earth is keeping her from constructing a 6 colored lunch that looks like Hello Kitty or a Piano?  Nothing but her own inertia.  This revelation lead her to YouTube where she discovered this video How to Make Bento Lunch Boxes.

 So now she knows. And her wooly winter hat goes off to these creative and dedicated lunch packers. 

Should her octopus shaped mini sausages not turn out or her bunny ear apple fall to pieces before it reaches school she has also come across the following sites which might prove helpful in the pursuit of lunch. 

My Meal Box

Lunch in a Box - Bento Resources

School Family Lunches

Eatingwell.com - Healthy Kid Lunches


Family Fun - back to School Lunches

LapTop Lunches

Parenting - Lunches

If you want to read more about the ancient and trendy (everyone in Brooklyn is doing it) art of Bento follow this New York Times link.  Happy Lunching!

Photos from The kitchn, Women's Day and My Meal Box.

A Thank You and a Year End Review

On this final day of 2011, we would first like to thank our faithful readers; Thank you, thank you, thank you, for continuing to visit our blog, leaving comments, and inspiring us with ideas, queries and quandaries. Second, we would like to indulge in some year-end reflection and review, with this month-by-month list of some of the most popular posts of 2011.

In January, we started the year wondering, Will 2011 be the Year of the Tiger Mother?

February brought on musings about grammar with The "I"s have it.

In March, we took on the term MILF in Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson.

In April, we discussed friendship in the digital age with, Friend, or Facebook Friend?

In May, we asked you all to consider Letting your child make the call.

By June, we had moved on to proposing revolution in So crazy, it just might work.

July was a good month for royal watching, so we pondered The Princess and the Pantyhose.

In August, we were blissfully sacked out in hammocks, drinking Mai Tais. Just kidding. We were really shaking the sand out of towels, slathering sunscreen on small bodies and otherwise trying to keep our children busy.

In September, we pondered The Meaning in the Missoni.

October is a serious month, so we asked, Is Academic Redshirting the Last Conversational Taboo? 

In November we enjoyed the frivolity of 11/11/11.

In December, the hand's down most popular post was this (tongue-in-cheek) Last Minute Gift Idea.


So there you have it: that's what been on our minds this year. Thank you for thinking it through with us and hope you'll come back in 2012: Who knows what we'll have to ponder! Happy New Year to all!

Frivolous Foliday

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday of your choosing.   For your amusement over the next couple of fun-filled days, here are 10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'.

picture from thefw.com

Last Minute Gift Idea

Still searching for the perfect gift for the modern child?   You may be interested in this decorative item for his or her bedroom wall.   Frame and mounting are optional.  Who knows, they may even thank you when they're 40.

Found on our friend Kim's facebook page
seems to be from a real school in India  www.schoolofsuccess.in

Holiday Card Psychology

I met an armchair expert yesterday for a cup of hot chocolate and to discuss the psychology of holiday cards.  She lacks any relevant crediantials but is opinionated and has been around long enough to know how things work.  She was wearing dark jeans, ballet flats, a navy wax jacket and red tartan scarf.  I am only telling you this because this is how they do it in Vogue.  We shall call her Madame X.  Here's what I learned.

Madame X, thank you for sitting down with me. What can you tell our mannerly readers about holiday cards these days?
Well, Darling, like most aspects of life in these modern times, it's completely out of control.

How so?
Surely you have noticed how the fabulosity factor has overtaken the once genuine and sincere craft of connecting with people and wishing those far away from us a Merry Religious-Observance-Of-Their-Choice and a Happy New Year?  Now one starts by trying to come up with  a collection of words one hopes to be slightly festive yet completely inoffensive to the entire planet.  From there it is all about the glossy photos and beauty shots.  How many people even write notes on their cards any more? 

Not many I know.  Although some send a printed letter.
Yes!  I mean NO!  And what do those printed letter say?  Lalala... we spent the winter skiing, the summer beaching, our children are brilliant (!) fabulous (!), and as you can judge from the attached 32 picture photo collage, dramatically good-looking.  


So, you are an advocate for fewer pictures on a holiday card?
First of all, I know you talked about the rule of three in this blog at one point.  And really, never is this more true than with a holiday card. 

Meaning there should be no more than three photos on a holiday card?
Exactly.  And really just one.  If one is keeping score, and trust me, this has become something of a sport in many houses, maximum points are give for one good photo of everyone over many good shots of each family member. 

But what if there is one child, shall we say,  hamming it up?
That my dear, is what we call "representative of the moment" and something you might want to consider saving for his/her rehearsal dinner. 


Did you see the piece in the WSJ today about the holiday photo card industry?
Yes.  It was a good study of this phenomenon.  Ironically, it did not discuss the e-card option as found on Paperless Post.  This is the method to which I hope to be migrating in the near future.  Not only is it much less cher (my Dear) but green as well.  En fin, as for having oneself featured in that article, you know what I say, fools names and fools faces...

So I take it you are not a fan of Reality TV?
That, my friend, is another topic for another day.  


Thank you and Merry Christmas.
 Merry Christmas to you.