Hip to be Mom» Daily life

Weekly Schmooze #6

Clairity — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:42:00 +0000

1. Ask me a question, any question. How about – what day is today? For me, this would be bad hair day. I took one look in the mirror this morning and screamed in fright. On a more positive note, this new shorter haircut is much more practical for my workout routine.

2. The plus side of ramping up your workout is that you feel 10 times more energized. And I have no sore muscles to report today.

3. They should draw squares on the floor next to the escalators with a sign that says “Decision Box. Stand inside this box until you’re done deciding if you’re going up or down.”

4. Doncha just hate it when a song you hate gets stuck in your head. Like that Zombie song by The Cranberries. Duh!

5. I love it when I try to tell someone they’ve undercharged me and they insist they are right. I would teach them to count to 3 but I have more important things to do aka shopping!

Weekly Schmooze #5 and Happy Mother’s Day

Clairity — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:30:42 +0000

1. Quick tip: If you tend to procrastinate on running a certain errand, it actually helps to sandwich it between those that are a little less of a drag.

2. I don’t know what the big deal is about Zuckerberg wearing his hoodie to a meeting with prospective investors. At least it’s not indecent. Just look at the skirts our young women wear to work which barely cover their another-word-for-donkeys.

3. In “The Avengers” movie, the Black Widow says Loki has killed n number of people in n days and Thor replies, “He’s adopted” and people are upset and take it to mean it’s being directed at those who are adopted? I don’t get it. (1) It’s just a movie, it’s not real. (2) He’s referring to Loki. Are all adopted people named Loki? (3) Stop taking everything personally. Where’s your sense of humor? ’nuff said.

4. I love and value your comments, y’all know that. But if you’re going to use a name like “Grizzly Bear Holidays” instead of your name (or your grizzly bear’s if he insists, personally I wouldn’t argue with a bear), then your comment just won’t get approved.

5. Oh, that’s right, it’s Mother’s Day. How will I be celebrating? Good question, I’m not sure if I will be. I liked it when it was a little less commercialized. I’m not sure, we’ll see. Anyhoo, here’s wishing Happy Mother’s Day to moms, MILs, grandmothers, aunts and let’s not forget, any woman who’s ever played the role of mother to a child who’s needed one.

6. Picture of the week: Kiehl’s has a guy handing out free candyfloss and Skye got handed one. We each took a teeny bit of it and the rest went into the trash bin. We feel really guilty about throwing away food but sorry, Candyfloss, you’re just too sweet!

What I’d like to be eating right now

Clairity — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:32:05 +0000

Can you believe I haven’t published a single post about food this week? Strange, I know. I find writing recipe posts a bit of a drag but food posts are okay. So let’s drool over some of my favorite foods.

I love, love, love this Cranberry, Apple, Walnut Grilled Chicken Salad. The minute I grab this off the counter at Carl’s Jr, my fingers are going crazy ripping open the little bags of dried cranberries and glazed walnuts. Once when I couldn’t crack them fast enough, I brought them back to the counter to have the guy cut the bags open for me.

When it comes to In-and-Out burgers, I’m usually quite conservative and never go beyond a single. I look across at the folks having double and triple burgers and I’m wondering how to even start eating it. Do you eat it one layer at a time, or try to cram all 3 layers in at once ?! It’d be interesting to watch me try it!

And Cheesecake Factory, I absolutely love. I don’t care how many thousand calories my order is. I really don’t. I don’t count calories so what do I care?!! I just want to get at my pasta. OMG, this is so rich and so so so ~~fattening~~ good! I can usually only get through half my serving with no room left for cheesecake. But then next day, I can’t wait to get to the leftovers. Yums.

Ack, I’m super hungry just looking at these pictures.

We don’t talk anymore

Clairity — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:21:44 +0000

There we were at dinner one evening. At the table next to us was a family of 5. Daddy, Mommy, 3 kids – and 3 gadgets (see red arrows). Daddy is coaching the middle child (aged about 7). When I snapped this picture, they’d gone to the restroom. Mommy is coaching the youngest (aged about 5). The oldest child is well on his own.

Everyone is “busy”, “engaged”, eyes fixated on their screens. All is quiet. Not a beep from their table. The only communication in this family seems to be the wi-fi connection. Even after the food arrives, they’re still at it and barely ate. Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

It seems to be becoming more and more of a trend these days. Scary, I know. Families are spending time together – apparently – but they don’t talk. Couples are on dates but they don’t talk. The gadgets have taken over!

Distracted and derailed?

Clairity — Sun, 06 May 2012 01:25:16 +0000

I’ve been distracted over the past coupla weeks. Distracted by nothing in particular. Just finding it hard to sit down and crank up a post.

Today I read two distinctly opposite posts written by two distinctly different bloggers. A mommy blogger says she’s given up on her blog and that blogging is dead because everyone’s moved to Facebook. That so? *shrug* Those are her words, not mine.

Well, it depends on how you look at it. If you blog because you love to write, like moi, then blogging can never be dead for you. But if you’re constantly glued to FB and letting it take over your relationships, romance and dinner time, then you either have to strike a laboratory balance or you’re just never going to find time to blog.

So. Then I came across another post written by a daddy blogger who says, if you want to improve your writing, write every day, even if you have nothing to write about. Practice makes perfect, he says and he’s exactly right. So what if no one reads your blog. You’re writing because you love to write, not because you’re trying to please anyone.

I have a small collection of blogs that I love reading. I think they’re really well written – great style, great flair – but strangely, they’re not the most read or commented on. Can’t help it if folks don’t appreciate good writing. So now, I think I might just go join NaBloPoMo or some other pick-me-upper to jumpstart my keyboard again.

Our everyday dishes

Clairity — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:44:40 +0000

The most asked question in the Hip household is “what’s for dinner?”. But you already knew that… from all the food posts and less-than-glamorous food photos I’ve been posting. Brace yourself, here come more photos of (as my post title says) our everyday dishes.

Let’s start with what we ate today. Spaghetti olio e aglio with Bratwurst sausages and grilled zucchinis, carrots, onions and peppers. Best darned thing ever! Judging from all the rave reviews today, I predict this will become our new favorite pasta dish.

Our current favorite is Cajun-style spinach fettucine with greens and grilled salmon. If it’s pasta, we’ll basically eat it (with a few exceptions, of course!)

Potatoes are also a staple on our daily menu. Raine, my Chief of Russets, takes it upon herself to ensure we never run out of potatoes. If we ever move, it’d likely be to Idaho .

Roast chicken, any style, is always a yay on our menu.

Then there’s all those funky salads the girls love throwing together.

And Skye, our Chief of Fresh Fruit, personally picks out our fruit selection every weekend. She usually makes a beeline for the Dole bananas . She’s also been known to crack the whip on us if we forget to eat our fruits *shudder*.

What are your family’s everyday dishes?