A Throwback

I'm sharing a moment with my niece today. While spending the day with me, we started rummaging through our DVDs and came across the Cosby Show collection. She told me she watched it a couple of times, but she didn't sound excited enough. Then I went on a whole spill of how popular the show was when I was her age of 10 years old. "As popular as Everyone Hates Chris?" She asked. "Bigger than that. It was like American Idol." I replied. Okay, I lied a bit but it definitely received some credibility. Five minutes later we were both laughing at the jokes my family and I laughed at years ago. It's funny how timeless comedy can be. I used to wonder what my father saw in Sanford and Son and one night a couple of months ago I was in stitches with the clever dialogue. If you have some free time, let the younger generation know about what used to make you smile, you might be suprised at their response.

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The Ongoing Battle Between Moms

The other day when I went to the library I picked up Mommy Wars: Stay-at-Home and Career Moms Face Off on Their Choices, Their Lives, Their Families by Leslie Morgan Steiner. It's a pretty quick read because it has essays from numerous women regarding their choice to stay home or work part-time/full-time with their kids. The title of the book is pretty appropriate because there can sometimes be a level of tension (albeit a small one) between working and non-working moms. The conversations usually between the two typically includes the stay at home mom asking the working mom if she feels guilty and the working mom asking asking the stay at home mom if she feels bored. But as I continued reading the book I realized that these questions are really meant for the middle class and above social circles. Honestly, if you have to work those questions simply do not exist.

Another point of the book which I found particularly interesting was this notion if you are a stay-at-home mom you are the only care giver with no outside help needed, which can be further from the truth. We all need that grandma, sister, brother, or day care worker who can lend a helping hand from time to time. After all, support for raising children is a pretty ancient tradition, hence family compounds and the need to live close to relatives.

One common thread throughout the book, regardless of the mother's choice they all unanimously agreed that motherhood changes your life. You have to be selective of what you put on your plate. From the stay-at-home mother who spends more time volunteering than spending time with her bambinoes to the corporate working mom who is too driven to have dinner with her kids, we all need to strike a balance.

What's your take? Could you be a stay-at-home or are you happy with a 9 to 5?

I must admit, staying at home seems more and more appealing and I found myself daydreaming of museum trips throughout the day, walks in the park and just a quieter life. That's probably why my favorite blogs of the moment are from stay-at-home crafty moms. I guess I'm sneaking a peak of what that world is. Could I be slowly drifting over from the pencil skirt and stilletto crew to the snazzy strollers and crocs crew?

Bikes

It's that time of year when we see the stationwagons, SUVs and in-betweens on the interstate with a trio or quartet of bikes on the fendor. I never fully appreciated a family of bicycles until recently. With so many choices to choose from, it's quite easy to be cycling enthusiast. Just in case you're not ready to plunk down $800 on a road bike, I have the perfect alternative for you moms out there who may not want to be the next Armstrong, but may just want to be able to ride with your kiddos or perhaps to go to the local grocery store for some staples. The Linus bike provides you with chic French image without the St. Bart's price. The price of their bikes start at $385. Not too shabby. No not at all.

Now when you own a bike like this, it will also make it imperative for your kiddo to be equally as cute. I'm loving the wooden trike from Plan A.

Got Skills?

I think each of us has an alter ego, or perhaps a person we aspire to become. I've noticed of late I would really like to be that "cool" chic. Trust me, my definition of a cool chic has changed over the years. A cool chic in middle school was a girl who had the latest fashion and always seemed comfortable in her skin. My interpetation of cool has morphed a bit over the years, yet still includes that criteria of finding peace in being who she is, but has grown to include one who can make the mundane interesting if not glam, on a shoe-string budget. That person who could whip up a Carolina Herrera inspired dress for that wedding in two weeks, rather than scouring the mall for the perfect dress. Or that woman who can take a desolate backyard and design a romantic garden.

I guess I'm on a quest to build those skills. The quest to roll up my sleeves and develop skills that's pertinent to survial. I'm not saying I'm going to be a homesteader with chickens and pigs running around in my backyard, nor am I going to grow all of my vegetables, but I would like to have that common ground and as of late have found digging around in the soil a soothing conrast to the stressful demands of the world around us. Maybe its in my genetic make-up to be a lady gardener/seamstress or maybe its the wave of the future. Could it be in this microwave, tech savvy, gadget lusting society we are now welcoming the slower activities of life? We don't have to look far to find recipes for slow cooking meals, homesteading, and sewing clubs. Are we in fact returning to whence we came? Yo no se. But what I do know is that I for one don't particularly mind reflecting the slow, contemplative lifestyles of the Waltons, when everything wasn't done in a haste but in due time and with skill.