Archive for May, 2008
Hair: Help Me Rhonda
Dear Rhonda, I’ve heard the terms “cool” and “warm”, “permanent” and “semi-permanent” in relation to hair coloring. What is the difference, and what do the terms really mean? Dear Color Confusion, I understand how hard it is to keep up with the latest “lingo” for everything. I’m still asking my 15-year-old daughter if “bad” means [...]
Drama for Mama: American Idol crowns winner
Mamas, you’re never going to believe what happened when I was watching the last minutes of American Idol. Ryan Seacrest had just said the words “And the winner of American Idol 2008 is David” – then nothing. My stupid, stupid, stupid DVR machine cut off the rest of the show! Noooooooo! I screamed at the [...]
Life with Ladybug or: “My 6-year-old, loving and defiant”
Woe is me, second hour Sunday school is out for the summer. That means that now during sermons I’ll be scattered and scolding instead of focused and absorbing. Sunday was the first of such pleasurable times. (Yes, I know my now-6-year-old needs to be able to sit still and listen in “big church” and we’ll [...]
5 Minutes With a Mom
Name: Angela Mueller Children’s names/ages: Joshua, 13; Jeremy, 11; and Bethany, 3 Where were they born: All were born in Fayetteville Favorite parenting moments: A day with any one of my children by themselves. Advice you wish someone had given you when you first became a mom: Instead of reacting, to respond. Knowing that I [...]
Advice: Mind Your Mama
Dear Jennifer, My college-age niece was the victim of a date rape last month. She lives out-of-state so we don’t have the opportunity to see her often. My 7-year-old daughter has overheard comments made by various family members about the crime, and yesterday she asked me what “rape” means. How can I explain something this [...]
Drama for Mama: American Idol’s Duel of the Davids
It was the final night of performances on American Idol, and the two Davids – neither of whom landed in the bottom three all season – definitely lived up to their hype. They’re both phenomenal singers. No doubt about it. The show started with this overblown boxing analogy, which was a little too cheesy for [...]
All Akimbo: Testing 1, 2, 3 …
I’ve been charting my basal body temperature for over year and a half now. I have to admit that I was utterly flummoxed by the whole charting thing before I got started, but now it’s something I spend five minutes (or less) on every day. It’s as easy as … well, I was going to [...]
Gold Mine Giveaway Winner Visits Underwood’s
Can I just say that Rose Tolly was stoked when I told her about winning the Underwood’s garnet pendant? And by stoked, I mean she said tentatively, “Are you serious?” I laughed out loud and told her I was absolutely serious. That out of 550 votes, her lone vote had been plucked from the pile [...]
Beauty Buzz: Ask Amy
Dear Amy, To tweeze or not to tweeze, that’s my question. When it comes to tweezing eyebrows, how do you know the difference between “too much” and “just enough.” I don’t want to overdo it and end up with penciled in brows, but I don’t want to look bushy either. Help! Dear Tweezer, Whatever you [...]
Drama for Mama: Desperate Housewives Season Finale
Wow. Sunday night’s season finale did not disappoint, but it did leave me asking one big question: HUH? But I’ll get to that in a minute. If you missed it, here’s a quick recap of an action-packed two-hour episode. Two ladies from Child Protective Services showed up at Lynette’s house to question her about alleged [...]
All Goldfish Go to Heaven
A recent e-mail response I sent to an inquiring friend: “Yes, everything’s going well, except for the dead goldfish in my freezer. My husband tried to save it this morning by placing it in fresh water in MY FANCY TRIFLE BOWL (can you say bleach?), but it didn’t work. We thought we’d let Ladybug have [...]
The Rockwood Files: Why Girls are Gross and Moms are Okay
By Gwen Rockwood On our way home from school each day, we pass a big wooden sign advertising a new shopping center that’s coming soon. Just above the “now leasing” banner, there are several silhouettes of women in high heels with long hair, dangling purses and shopping bags from their delicate wrists. One day last [...]
5 Minutes With a Mom
Name: Janine Parry Children’s names and ages? Kate and Paul, 2-year-old twins. Name five guests you’d like to invite over to a fantasy dinner party: Narrowed to living people: Margaret Atwood, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, Madeleine Albright, David Sedaris The last book you read? A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry … a gut-wrenchingly [...]
Drama for Mama: Grey’s Anatomy
I knew something was wrong when the episode began with Christina vacuuming. Christina doesn’t clean – ever. She’s still torn up about the Burke thing which was further aggravated when another legendary heart surgeon (Chief Webber’s mentor) showed up at Seattle Grace in need of a risky heart surgery – a surgery Christina didn’t want [...]
What We’re Reading: “First-Time Parents,” by Miriam Stoppard
You’re probably already familiar with DK books. They publish those wonderful little books with great photography – books that have helped many little ones learn their first words in the highly visual book “My First Word Book,” combining pictures and words. Now DK publishers have joined with author Dr. Miriam Stoppard to publish, in my [...]