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So guess what? I’ve decided to go along with Steev to set him up in his new environment. To be honest, it wasn’t an easy decision and if there were a way for a mom to be in two places at one time, I would’ve signed up for it right away.

My girls need me here. I’m their taxi driver and master chef. But sometimes there are other priorities and a mom just has to do what a mom has to do even if it means some of us may have to do without her for a few weeks. I’ll miss my girls, of course and they’ll miss me too but they’ve been very understanding in this respect. They know I’d do the same for them.

Hip2bDad and I would feel much better knowing Steev’s nicely settled into his new place and new schedule. We’re the sort of parents who just need to know where our kids are at and how they’re doing. Besides it’ll be a nice little break for me too from my taxi runs and school lunch deliveries. So yeah, California, here I come!

Sorry for the slow posts. It’s been crazy around here.

We’re at an important family milestone and my head is swirling with mixed emotions. Until now, I’ve only heard other parents talk about their kids leaving home for college. It’s often left me wondering how they could be so brave, so indifferent too, some of them, to watch their kids leave the nest and fly off to faraway lands.

Well, now it’s my turn. Steev, my eldest, is getting ready to leave for California soon. I have no experience dealing with this whole idea of my baby living out there, on his own, for the first time, without us. There is no manual that tells me how I’m supposed to feel. This is all new. Yes, I know, he’s 19. He’s a college sophomore. So I should be okay with that?!

But I’m not! I won’t be there to cook his meals. I won’t be there to pick him up from class every day. I’ll miss our long mother-son chats in the car on the way home. I won’t be there to text and remind him to eat, stay out of the rain, mind his wallet… I won’t even be within driving distance *sobs*.

He’ll be there on his own, living with a bunch of kids his age, all probably away from home for the first time too. A scary thought. While there’s a part of me that’s confident he’ll do just fine, it’s going to take time for him, and us, to adjust to this new arrangement.

So what’s a mom to do? To be continued…

So there we were, stuck at home with Raine nursing the return of a persistent cough and groggy from her cough medication, and Skye hit by a sudden bout of food poisoning shortly after breakfast. Not sure what caused it – we all ate the same thing but none of us were struck down.

Oh no, not another boring weekend! Know that the mall is our second home on weekends. Take that away from us and we become grouchy and edgy, swinging from the ceiling fan and chewing on our toenails. Or better, watching Lady Gaga videos for entertainment !

My teens have long sensed that Lady Gaga isn’t someone I necessarily approve of. So it was something of a shock, to both me and them, that a boring Saturday night found me sitting there with my poker face on, watching the Gaga wreathing and writhing ever so unabashedly on the Today Show !

Sure, she’s bold and talented, I grant her that, and possibly even vaguely entertaining to a shopaholic family with no place to go on a weekend. Still I’d rather she had a little more fabric on her where it matters! I mean, my teens are watching, know what I mean?! Gah!

Remember the Saturday we dropped everything and hurried out to the small town where Raine had been taken for her driving course? Well, on the way back, we stumbled upon a couple of fast food restaurants in the middle of nowhere. Had we driven past this place earlier, we would’ve stopped here to take out lunch for Raine and her friends.

The parking lot was huge with only a few cars and no one to fight us for a parking spot. Can this even be happening?

And can you believe this is the inside of the fast food restaurant during lunch hour on a weekend ??!! There was practically no one there but us chickens!!

Where were the screaming kids? The parents carrying trays heaped high with burgers, sodas and French fries? The table poachers waiting to pounce on diners even as they tried to choke down their meal, bones and all?

Outside at the al fresco dining area, there were pretty red tents with a table and a ceiling fan whirring under each but they were all empty. Tell me, what are the chances of this happening in the city?

Nil, right? That’s what I thought!

In fact, we had such a lovely laid-back lunch we sat back and lingered on to enjoy the peace and serenity for a while. After all, there were no table poachers giving us the evil eye. There were no kids attempting to decorate our hair with French fries nor the fear of a stray soda flying at us from across the room. Heck, there was no reason to leave.

Here in the city, we can rarely find a fast food restaurant this big, this clean or this empty!! Yup, even I, a true blue city girl, have to admit a small town can indeed be heaven on earth! We can so see ourselves coming back here on a saner weekend .

Way back in college, I was the proud owner of a ten-speed bike just like this one except mine was red and black. I named it Scorch!

Scorch and I had lots of adventures, lots of tumbles. I also had a pet cactus which I named Morris after Morris the Cat on a pet food commercial you’ve probably seen on TV way back when.

And my minivan is affectionately called Truck. Okay, so I’m in the habit of naming the inanimate objects in my life. Now you can go ahead and call me weird !!

Is it just me or is everyone jumping to be on a reality show? I guess there’s a certain excitement to becoming a celeb in your own right, without even having to graduate from acting school, mind you!! Then of course, there’s the lure of the big bucks.

Yet, I think there’s something very disconcerting about having your entire life played out in living color for all the world to see. If I had cameras in my home stalking my every move and marking my every word, I’m not sure I could really be myself, know what I mean?

Like, okay, I’m in a really grouchy mood today and I feel like throwing rotten peaches at my neighbor’s pet llama, but heck, the whole world is watching! Or I need to go to the bathroom and it’s ‘lights, camera, action’! I think I would positively scream!

Would you star on your reality show if you had the chance?

Speaking of teens, I hear many high school kids are already pros at the clubbing scene, drinking, smoking, staying out all night and doing stuff that a mother’s darkest nightmares are made of. Sure, many of these things are probably happening behind the backs of busy parents.

But I’m told some of these parents are the very ones who drop their kids off at clubs and feed their expensive spending habits, apparently as some sort of compensation for not spending time with their kids . Aren’t hugs, kisses, picnics and the occasional personalized gift the stuff parents do anymore? Or am I falling behind in the ways of modern parenting here? Just sayin’.

Our resident Miss Party Planner is hard at work planning our school break agenda. That would be Raine. Right now, she’s making movie ticket reservations and a list of our favorite places to eat.

My 3 teens specialize in different things. Miss Pizza Order-er, Skye does all our calls for pizza delivery. It just took her 2 calls to become a pro. Both the girls help me do research on various topics like fashion, dog food and hemorrhoids treatment for articles that I write.

Mr Techie, Steev takes care of the technical side of things around here, including organizing our family movie nights. And guess what? He’s just gotten his driver’s license and he actually drove us home from our grocery shopping this afternoon. Cool, huh?