tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49518606579691123952012-01-23T16:32:58.731-05:00Picket Fence PostReal life. In the 'burbs. With three kids. And a dog.Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.comBlogger1681100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-32530536201573745962012-01-23T16:32:00.000-05:002012-01-23T16:32:58.738-05:00A Laugh When We Really Needed One: Claire Campaigns for Town Council
Take one part political debate, one part farce and one part auto-tuned, viral YouTube video and what do you get? The really funny latest episode of Modern Family, “Little Bo Bleep.” I really needed to laugh out loud and this new episode delivered. And after the week everyone in my house had, this had us rolling.
Remember a year ago during the ill-fated Valentine’s Day hook-up Phil and Claire Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-56579613942797003552012-01-23T13:59:00.000-05:002012-01-23T13:59:09.328-05:00Regaining Your Mojo After a Nightmare & Counting One’s BlessingsAs you might have been able to surmise by my last post, it’s been a very rough period in the Picket Fence Post household. After the untimely death of one of The Eldest Boy’s friends, at 12 years old, it’s been difficult for everybody to just pick up where things were when we learned about this unthinkable turn of events and simply carry on, even though that’s what we’re told we’re supposed to do.Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-88619166089308723392012-01-17T17:02:00.000-05:002012-01-17T17:02:03.345-05:00Out of Tragedy, a Stirring, Powerful Discovery: Community MattersFor several days I was perpetually choked up, felt as though there was a lump in the middle of my throat after learning that a young boy – who was friends with my oldest son – had suddenly passed away.
But as I forged on, pushing through the heavy sadness and unmooring shock of the news, I realized that there’s power in something about which we don’t place nearly enough emphasis these days: The Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-92085961147123449542012-01-10T14:54:00.000-05:002012-01-10T14:54:13.233-05:00'Tiger Mom' is Back ... Because She's Selling Her Paperback
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
I really didn’t want to leap onto the Tiger Mom bandwagon again, now that the Yale University Law Professor’s controversial book – The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother – is now out in paperback. But Amy Chua’s latest Wall Street Journal essay and her appearance on news programs -- where she says that, despite all the time Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-5252800951441882552012-01-10T14:25:00.000-05:002012-01-10T14:25:14.576-05:00As the Ankle TwistsIt was a very sad sight: The Spouse carrying The Girl off the basketball court this past weekend after she turned her ankle and an opponent accidentally stepped on it. (Yes, it was the same ankle that took months upon months of physical therapy and acupressure to heal the last time she injured it several years ago.)
After two days of icing and elevating her ankle, of The Spouse and I forcing herMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-47867437383313654542012-01-05T14:29:00.000-05:002012-01-05T14:29:03.539-05:00Orange BracesThe Eldest Boy has had his braces applied to his teeth. Orange braces to be exact. (He chose the color. I like it.)
He's been a very good sport about them, hasn't been complaining a lot, though he did take a pass on the mango smoothie I made for him (we had very little in the house I could use to make him a smoothie) saying he didn't like it, no matter how much sugar I dumped into it. (It Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-84614426788370738432012-01-03T17:28:00.000-05:002012-01-03T17:28:13.915-05:00Christmas, Hanukkah & New Year’s Came & Went…and No One Died, Got the Swine Flu or Went to the ERBelieve it or not, aside from a short period of time during the Wednesday evening before Christmas (that’s my personal hell day), I made it through the entire month of December without a significant incident. You might think this is no biggie. Lots of people make it through December without incident, illness or catastrophe. But to me, emerging from December relatively unscathed felt like a major Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-5193077796163332662011-12-22T18:52:00.000-05:002011-12-22T18:52:56.974-05:00Couple of Parent-Centric Columns: Lessons from 2011's TV Parents & Why Moms Should Run for Office
Lessons from 2011's TV Parents
It's been quite the year for parents on the small screen.
We've been entertained by the hijinks of the Modern Family's Claire & Phil Dunphy and their bedroom door that should've had a lock on it before their kids surprised them at inopportune moment.
We've seen Parenthood's Adam and Kristina Braverman try and fail to ban their teen daughter from dating an older Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-57409418508614130452011-12-22T15:06:00.001-05:002011-12-22T15:06:41.772-05:00It's Winter. Christmas is Nearly Here. Why is It in the 50s?Far be it for me to complain about not having to wear a coat this morning when I was out and about doing the last dregs of my Christmas shopping, but come on, this temperate weather is getting ridiculous.
Unlike in previous years, The Spouse has been stupendously organized when it comes to our ice rink. He has had the homemade rink up in our yard since early November. Problem is, it hasn’t beenMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-16957589237738370972011-12-16T14:46:00.000-05:002011-12-16T14:46:17.390-05:00Decorating the Tree: 'This is Your Life' in a Couple of Red & Green BinsKeeping in line with the Picket Fence Post family’s fa-la-la-la-la 2011 Christmas -- wherein I try to maintain a happy, cheerful Yuletide facade -- we’ve finally decorated the family Christmas tree after it sat in its tree stand, stark naked in the family room for several days.
I always marvel, every single year, at the memories I inevitably unwrap when I remove the ornaments from their plasticMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-10845884997093040142011-12-16T12:20:00.000-05:002011-12-16T12:20:13.007-05:00Just in Time for the Holidays: Movies About Parents
Two boys get into a fight. Their parents get together to calmly and rationally discuss the incident and devise some sort of mutually satisfactory remedy. That’s the premise of the movie Carnage (with Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster) set to open in “select theaters” tomorrow. (I hate it when they “selectively” open a movie.) But, as one might expect, the conflict escalates between the four, Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-7564622487730273972011-12-09T16:58:00.001-05:002011-12-09T17:00:06.588-05:00So How's the Christmas Zen Thing Going? Tenuously . . .I’m trying, fighting against the odds, to maintain my grip on this Christmas Zen thing to which I vowed to adhere in order to keep myself from going crazy during the harried holiday season in my interfaith home. But life is not making it easy, nor are the folks on the radio, TV and elsewhere who delight in telling us how few “shopping days” there are left before Christmas arrives. It’s stressing Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-42943695256347141472011-12-02T18:02:00.000-05:002011-12-02T18:02:12.409-05:00Christmas Card Photos . . . DONE!We had a not-too-stressful photo session with the Picket Fence Post trio and Max the dog yesterday. I dressed them all in red T-shirts that read "Thing" and then a number on it.
The dog got "Thing 1," because the kids were uber-sensitive as to which one of them would be perceived as the literal "number one" offspring and get to lord his or her supremacy over the other, lowly siblings. The EldestMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-33421348308503440792011-12-02T12:49:00.002-05:002011-12-09T16:59:32.698-05:00Altering Our Kids’ Relationship with Media: 'We All Should Be Appalled.'
Ninety-seven percent of what you watch, read and hear comes from the male perspective. . . It’s wrong because media creates culture -- Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Jennifer Siebel Newsom, creator of the documentary Miss Representation, spoke at a conference this week about the importance of parents curtailing the influence of media over their kids so children won't internalize the damaging, sexist Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-23652137256184392932011-11-28T20:02:00.000-05:002011-11-28T20:02:04.606-05:00This Year I’ve Decided, No More Grinch (Seriously)On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I broke out the Christmas decorations. On my own. No one was bugging me to do it. It was my idea.
This is earlier than I’ve ever pulled out the festive Yuletide décor and placed it around my domicile. (Typically, per my anal retentive must-wait-until-December-1-to-deck-the-halls belief, I wait until the 12th month of the year.) I was singing Christmas carols. Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-19484812913349726272011-11-22T10:03:00.001-05:002011-11-28T19:49:45.088-05:00Using His Noggin: The Youngest Boy & His Hockey Head InjuryNeither The Spouse nor I saw the play. We didn’t even know it had occurred until many hours later when The Youngest Boy told us he had a bad headache and had had a headache since he experienced a head-on collision with another player during the 7 a.m. hockey game and then fell backwards, also hitting the back of his helmeted head on the ice.
“What?” I said, momentarily stunned. I hadn’t seen anyMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-85937502565289805652011-11-14T16:36:00.001-05:002011-11-14T16:36:50.223-05:00Fairy Tales with a Feminist Twist & Parenting as Performance Art
Image credit: ABC
Got a couple of new columns on parenting and pop culture that’ve been keeping me busy these days . . . One piece is about a new ABC show that I’ve been watching with The Girl, Once Upon a Time, which takes traditional fairy tales and turns them on their head. The latest episode notwithstanding, the drama has been giving its audience smart, strong women instead of ones who areMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-39427294229179382792011-11-10T18:21:00.001-05:002011-11-10T18:21:57.131-05:00Three for Thursday: A Disheartening Week of News . . . Then a Few Laughs for Good MeasureItem #1: Horrors at Penn State
I cannot, for the life of me, understand how no one alerted the police after two people witnessed a member of the Penn State football coaching staff, Jerry Sandusky, on separate occasions, according to a grand jury report, allegedly molest/rape young boys. The man who was accused of committing these crimes was allowed to continue to have an affiliation with Penn Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-47393485932145948582011-11-07T20:19:00.000-05:002011-11-07T20:19:02.216-05:00Postponed Trick-or-Treating in the 'burbsNotes from our town’s freak-winter-storm-rescheduled trick-or-treating the other night:
The Eldest Boy dressed as what he called “a black market manager” (in other words, a scalper). Here’s what he did: He used clear duct tape to attach ticket stubs, fake credit cards, airline tickets, along with packets of candy and gum on the inside of his bright orange, zip-up hoodie. He donned sunglasses and Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-37296439237088260962011-11-03T14:52:00.001-04:002011-11-03T14:52:55.524-04:00Nineteen Years is a Long Time . . . Especially on VHSMonday marked my 19th wedding anniversary with The Spouse. And, given that we had finally gotten our power restored and that our town’s trick-or-treating adventure had been postponed until this weekend, I thought it would be fun to entertain the kids with our wedding videos (on VHS tapes), complete with early 90s hairstyles, attire and some family members looking a heck of a lot more spry than Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-61905290489925610952011-10-31T15:40:00.001-04:002011-10-31T15:41:39.900-04:00Post-Snowtober: Occupy My Living RoomThe snowstorm which washed over the East Coast on Saturday started off looking mighty picturesque. Like a Christmas card.
It put The Picket Fence Post family in the mood for some mischief as we were invigorated by the crisp wintry air. We “ghosted” two friends’ houses (meaning you anonymously leave a bag of candy at a friend's door with a note explaining “ghosting,” ring the doorbell then run Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-2097202412861536862011-10-28T15:35:00.000-04:002011-10-28T15:35:21.487-04:00The Winter Coat/Shorts Wars Have BegunWhen I got ready to drive my kids to school this morning there was snow covering our deck and our yard. It was 33 degrees outside. And yet The Youngest Boy was dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and a light nylon zip-up sweatshirt.
“Are you serious?” I asked. “No. No shorts. There’s snow outside!”
He started to offer a counter-argument but I cut him off.
“No! Put on pants! Now!”
As I donned my Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-39605966979003697492011-10-27T15:31:00.005-04:002011-10-28T15:24:15.969-04:00Three for Thursday: Baby Proofing Insanity, Parents 'Occupying' Wall Street with Kids & 9:30 AM School LunchesItem #1: Baby Proofing Insanity
The very first parenting column I wrote after having my twins was one which lampooned the mania that all the parenting “experts,” baby stores and parenting media had whipped up when it came to baby proofing. Of course, like any parent, I wanted to make my house safe for my newborn twins, so The Spouse and I got to work and covered all the electrical outlets. We Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-15127139560528107402011-10-26T21:02:00.001-04:002011-10-26T21:03:14.215-04:00Once More with Feeling: Year-Round Sports Specialization Isn't Good for KidsOpting not to allow the Picket Fence Post kids to specialize in one sport or play a single sport year-round hasn’t made me a lot of friends in youth sports.
Image credit: New York Times
Though we’ve been pressured from time to time to permit The Girl or The Eldest Boy to play indoor soccer in the winter – after having played soccer in the fall AND before playing soccer in the spring – I have Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-66642897543483150802011-10-20T19:46:00.000-04:002011-10-20T19:46:29.533-04:00Three for Thursday: Must-See Documentary, Lessons from the Sox & Travel Ball
Be Sure to Watch (Or DVR) 'Miss Representation' Documentary
I’ve previously written about the powerful documentary, Miss Representation and how movingly and chillingly it lays out statistics and displays images to prove its case that the media treat women horribly and that this treatment has a dire impact on women, our daughters and our democracy. Featuring interviews with a wide range of womenMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-91281267935541094332011-10-17T10:32:00.001-04:002011-10-17T10:32:53.797-04:00A Plea for Reason: Locker Chandeliers . . . Why?*cross-posted on Notes from the Asylum*
I'm not one who's fond of picking fights with people. Usually I'm a live and let live kind of gal. But where I do get my knickers in a twist is when someone else's actions start putting pressure on me to adhere to their over-the-top standards. Then I get testy.
What sort of standards? The kind I read about in a series of three articles last week:
FirstMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-67850763042411249502011-10-14T16:39:00.001-04:002011-10-14T16:46:32.880-04:00A Long Week of Melodrama: iPod Through Laundry, Running Over a Xylophone, Tryouts & Dress ShoppingOne of my friends has likened my family to the Dunphys from Modern Family and, after several antics this week, that sounds about right . . .
Clean iPod
The Girl left her iPod in her jeans pocket. Again. It went through the laundry (both washer and dryer). Again.
As The Spouse and I tried to go to sleep last night, I heard loud banging inside the cycling dryer which I suspected was likely Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-47482129021499436632011-10-11T15:02:00.002-04:002011-10-11T15:06:08.245-04:00Living a Dog’s Life & Other Observations
I was awakened at 3:45 this morning by our dog Max, who was scratching and whining at our bedroom door because he wanted to go to outside. Again. (The Spouse had already gotten up earlier to do the same thing. It's a bad habit of Max's that is becoming more frequent.)
I didn’t crawl back into bed until 4:15 following several failed attempts to coax Max back in 15 and then 20 minutes into his Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-39475537207530992992011-10-07T17:02:00.003-04:002011-10-07T17:02:47.055-04:00Boosting Kids’ Political Smarts: Competitive News Quizzes
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the whole who’s-better-known-Leo-Messi-or-Hillary-Clinton/my-kid’s-teacher-doesn’t-know-who-our-governor-is post. It’s really been bugging me.
More specifically, it’s bugging me that, in spite of the massive quantity of news that now bombards us from all directions and at all times on our smartphones, computers, radios and TVs via the good old Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-67192013191557265472011-10-06T15:16:00.002-04:002011-10-06T15:58:29.554-04:00A Very Sad Lesson in Sports vs PoliticsIt was a Saturday night and both The Eldest Boy and The Girl were at friends’ homes for sleepovers. The Spouse and I decided to take The Youngest Boy out to dinner at a place where not only would he eat the food without complaining, but where the grown-ups could imbibe quality, adult beverages. Our restaurant choice: John Harvard’s Brew House. (Their Harvest Spice beer, with the sugar and Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-70140444373618477952011-10-05T11:45:00.001-04:002011-10-05T11:45:25.400-04:00Where the Kids and Their Buddies All RoamThe Spouse and I took the kids to a big event in our small town last week. (In some ways it reminded me of something you might have seen occurring in the Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow where everybody in town knows about the event and where you inevitably see tons of people you know.)
Although we’ve attended this event for several consecutive years, this time, it felt different. Very different. WhyMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-67372107060180835492011-09-30T13:52:00.002-04:002011-09-30T13:53:40.257-04:00The End of the Season (In More Ways Than One)Our interfaith family may be marking the beginning of the new Jewish year this week, but we’ve also borne witness to the ignominious conclusion to the season of the previously league-leading Boston Red Sox in the span of a handful of historic, horrific minutes the other night.
Taking the fall for this record breaking disintegration, if you go by the latest news reports, will be the chief, Terry Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-30918709432150286172011-09-29T12:54:00.005-04:002011-09-29T12:54:53.170-04:00Falling to Pieces Over the Leaf Project
The seventh graders have a big assignment. Big. It’s called the Leaf Project.
Here’s what it is in a nutshell: Collect a few dozen leaves of different varieties. Identify the tree from whence the leaves came. Press those leaves. Mount the leaves in a book, along with info about the leaves. Hand it in.
Sounds simple, right?
Not so fast.
Neither The Spouse nor I had heard anything about thisMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-52481372996853439602011-09-23T15:32:00.001-04:002011-09-23T15:32:54.248-04:00What's Up With These Early Fall Illnesses?First it was The Girl who had strep, followed by a rash that internet medical sites told us was scarlet fever. She was home sick from school for three days last week.
Then it was me with a horrid cough followed by a temperature that spiked to 103.5 last weekend. (I’m much better now but still have congestion and a slight cough that won’t quite go away entirely, ‘tis quite annoying to The Spouse Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-15586116606068374942011-09-23T15:00:00.002-04:002011-09-23T15:00:36.476-04:00Max the Dog Broke the 'Cone of Shame'
Because things were apparently too dull around the Picket Fence Post household for Max the dog, he had to go and start biting at his tail area so hard and so often that he cleared off a pink spot, giving himself an angry rash.
I brought him to the vet and, after the vet discovered the root cause of his itching (something that was easily, albeit grossly, remedied), she suggested that I put the Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-46514577253352539592011-09-15T16:15:00.000-04:002011-09-23T16:04:01.399-04:00Three for Thursday: Fall TV's Families, Early Risers & Bronchitis Blows
Fall TV’s Families
As the fall TV season kicks off in earnest, I’ve been paying close attention to shows that feature parents and families . . . at least those which tickle my fancy. This was the focus of this week’s pop culture column over on Modern Mom/Mommy Tracked where I previewed the shows which I’m planning to record on my DVR.
Among the returning shows I’m anxious to see are ABC’s Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-83786942599982937922011-09-08T15:59:00.001-04:002011-09-08T16:00:01.408-04:00Quick Hits from the Homefront: Strep Again, Broken Bulb, Calendar ChaosStrep Again
The kids had been in school for less than a week when The Girl came down with strep throat and has been home sick from school for two days. Today, 24 hours after first taking her antibiotics, she's still feeling poorly. She's developed a strep-related rash, isn’t eating much, complains of pain in her throat and the rest of us in the Picket Fence Post family are crossing our fingers Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-748107785352819012011-09-02T14:30:00.000-04:002011-09-02T14:31:40.101-04:0016,000 Pages
When the summer began, the Spouse and I issued a challenge to the Picket Fence Post kids: Set your own reading goal and if you reach it, you’ll get a (reasonable) reward of your choosing.
The Girl picked the ambitious goal of reading 10,000 pages. If my resident Rory Gilmore made it, she asked that she be taken to Legal Sea Foods to lunch by one of her parents. No brothers allowed, please.
Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-15342671351469034132011-08-31T10:37:00.001-04:002011-09-08T16:18:04.665-04:00Seriously JCPenney? What is This, the 50s?
JCPenney is REALLY selling this shirt? The one that says: “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me?”
The sales pitch on the company's retail web site says, “Who has time for homework when there’s a new Justin Bieber album out? She’ll love this tee that’s just as cute and sassy as she is.”
This abomination is designed for girls sizes 7-16. Way to aim high and Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-88480698409803692862011-08-31T10:05:00.001-04:002011-08-31T10:06:51.686-04:00Finally! A 'Normal,' Post-Irene DayLet me first say that we’re lucky that we didn’t sustain damage to our house or to any of the members of the Picket Fence Post family in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.
That being said, a couple trees in our yard were knocked down by high winds, one of which busted the safety netting around the kids’ trampoline, another broke the top of a section of our backyard fence. The combination of the Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-47216909828989586472011-08-24T15:17:00.000-04:002011-08-24T15:17:07.531-04:00The Back to School Supply Lists, 2011Every year we receive The Lists, the ones for school supplies for the three Picket Fence Post kids that never cease to surprise me with their specificity and length. Even in a down economy -- or perhaps because of it -- I wonder how parents who might be out of work or short on cash right now can afford all these supplies, never mind the other unexpected costs (for field trips and the like) which Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-59550255514088833572011-08-22T12:56:00.000-04:002011-08-22T12:56:03.362-04:00Only 1 Out of Every 4 of You Make Your Kids Do Chores? Seriously?Could the article in this past weekend’s Boston Globe possibly have been correct when it reported on the results of a study published in Psychology Today which “found that fewer than 25 percent of American parents compel their kids to perform chores?”
As if that wasn’t dismal enough, the article elaborated:
“In several cases, children staunchly refused to do chores when asked or ordered by Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-67032545392710713072011-08-17T21:31:00.000-04:002011-08-17T21:31:06.712-04:00Quick Hits: Youth Hockey ... Already, School Shopping, Doggie Rescue Part 2 & Like This Blog? Vote for It!Youth Hockey
Yes. Hockey. In August. When we’re still going to the pool, eating ice cream cones outside, running the air conditioning and having barbecues.
And I’ve already received several e-mails from The Youngest Boy’s new hockey team about upcoming practices for the August-through-April youth hockey season (because, you know, you need to GET READY, you know, for THE NEXT LEVEL, therefore Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-26732505603496057092011-08-11T19:35:00.000-04:002011-08-11T19:35:57.188-04:00Parenting Confessions: What are Some of Yours?Did you happen to catch the news about this new Today Show/Parenting Magazine survey of 26,000 mothers which asked them to ‘fess up about their maternal secrets? If not, here’s a glimpse of some of the results of their poll:
-- Almost one in five said she medicated her child “to get through a special event like a plane flight; one in 12 does it just to get some peace and quiet on a regular nightMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-66055457624258404882011-08-09T11:18:00.000-04:002011-08-09T11:18:20.983-04:00We Heart Women's SoccerThe Picket Fence Post family celebrated The Girl’s birthday a tad early this past weekend by taking her and a couple friends to see the Boston Breakers, the Boston Women’s Professional Soccer team (which includes U.S. Women’s World Cup player Lauren Cheney) take on South Florida’s magicJack team whose roster includes my daughter’s sports hero, Abby Wambach also of the U.S. Women’s World Cup fame,Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-46658469766043863162011-08-08T22:52:00.000-04:002011-08-08T22:52:00.721-04:00Kids Behaving Badly in Public Makes It Difficult for Everybody ElseWhen the Picket Fence Post family was on vacation on Cape Cod last week, we visited Marion’s Pie Shop in Chatham, Mass. and let each kid pick out their own, small pie. (For the record, they picked chocolate cream, cherry and Dutch apple pies. Due to my dairy allergy, I, unfortunately, went pie-less.)
It was the sign posted on the outside of the shop that caught my attention: “Well Behaved Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-16684139308330220882011-08-02T10:17:00.001-04:002011-08-03T09:29:58.981-04:00Brief Blogging Break ‘Til Aug. 8I’ll be enjoying a blogging hiatus until next Monday, trying to spend some quality time with the Picket Fence Post family (provided the boys don’t send me to the hospital with one of their pranks).
Not to worry, though. I’ll be covertly taking notes on all our adventures. (And when all this family togetherness gets to be too much family togetherness, I'll retreat to a "Mommy timeout" with a bookMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-46994871951459395962011-08-01T10:16:00.000-04:002011-08-01T10:16:49.090-04:00Pranksters on the Loose: This Doesn’t Bode WellWent to use the sink this morning to fill my coffee pot only to find that the two boys had rigged it so that instead of having the water come out of the faucet, the sprayer would direct a shower of icy water at my belly, which, lucky for the two knuckleheads, was in between me and my laptop computer which was on the kitchen counter behind me . . . open.
The boys, of course, who were watching me,Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-32866183726213081702011-07-28T14:03:00.000-04:002011-07-28T14:03:19.591-04:00Quick Hits from a Nutty Homefront: Midnight Hound, Orthodontist X 2, 'Hunger Games,' Room of One's Own, B'Day ManiaMidnight Hound
Max the dog has developed a very bad habit of getting up in the middle of the night and demanding to go outside. I don’t know what he does when he's out there under the moonlight -- and neither does The Spouse who, to be fair, is doing the most of the letting the dog out – but Max stays out there for up to 15 minutes while we yawn and rub our eyes waiting for him.
Now we are Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-12032684803504159802011-07-22T12:51:00.000-04:002011-07-22T12:51:50.326-04:00How Many Kids Should You Have? That's Nobody's Business.Several weeks ago I wrote a column about Bryan Caplan's book, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, in which he not only encouraged people to think more long-term when they decide how many children they want to have (like looking at it from your future sixtysomething self's perspective), but suggested that we modern day parents are making child-rearing more complicated than it really needs to be Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-76940164359279837212011-07-22T11:52:00.001-04:002011-07-22T11:52:53.426-04:00Quick Hits: Kids Review 'Harry Potter,' 'The Mentalist's' 1st Season, Outside Resistance & Poop In the PoolPicket Fence Post Twins Review Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Yes, we Harry Potter addicts were among those who went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on opening weekend. We just had to as the anticipation had reached frenzied levels. The Eldest Boy and I went to see the movie on Saturday morning and The Girl accompanied The Spouse on Sunday morning to catch Harry Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-15428167566861665212011-07-15T14:02:00.001-04:002011-07-15T14:02:53.787-04:00Shopping for Women's World Cup Gear: A Fruitless Enterprise, At Least LocallyTook The Girl out yesterday in search of some Team USA Women’s World Cup gear. Given that last month I went on a special shopping expedition to pick up some Bruins stuff for The Youngest Boy when the Bruins were vying for the Stanley Cup (I've done lots of "special" things in honor of big Patriots, Celtics and, of course, Red Sox games), I wanted to try to treat the U.S. Women’s World Cup final Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-1675770203139827772011-07-13T13:57:00.001-04:002011-07-13T13:57:25.636-04:00Attempting to Exploit Potter Mania for Household PeaceUp until last week, we were a Three Strikes household . . . as in each kid could accrue up to three strikes a day for behaving badly. Upon receiving a third strike, a privilege would be revoked for the remainder of the day, say, watching TV, playing video games or going to a friend’s house. If the kid continued to misbehave, privileges would be revoked for the following day. (Frequently, though, Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-14204671913962795632011-07-11T15:46:00.002-04:002011-07-14T13:23:06.621-04:00U.S. Women's World Cup Wows
Goosebumps.
Seriously.
Image credit: AP via The National
Between Nike's women-power ad and the unbelievable, come-from-behind win by the U.S. Women’s Soccer team to advance to the semi-finals of the World Cup, I am truly reveling in the awesome lessons that the team’s performance is providing all three of my kids, as well as the respect that my sons are rapidly gaining for the women’s gameMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-69246177786672519422011-07-06T23:55:00.001-04:002011-07-06T23:55:49.874-04:00Notes on a Family Vacation, from New England to OrlandoA random collection of observations from last week's trip where two 12-year-olds, a 9-year-old, a mom and a dad jumped on a plane in Providence, Rhode Island bound for Orlando, stayed for a week and visited all manner of amusement parks and a space center just to mix things up a little:
“Feeding our family is difficult.”
That was the astute observation of The Girl. It was also a gross Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-41411039977996873392011-07-01T21:52:00.000-04:002011-07-01T21:52:41.362-04:00The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Left Us Wanting MoreThe Picket Fence Post family just returned from a week of Orlando amusement park madness, highlighted by many hours spent at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure in a life-sized replica of Hogsmeade, and replicas of Hogwarts, Ollivanders Wand Shop, Zonko’s and Honeydukes. We also had a rather disappointing lunch at the Three Broomsticks, all places right out of J.K. Rowling’s beloved classic Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-61356551860878526302011-06-28T10:42:00.003-04:002011-06-28T10:42:59.935-04:00Brief Blogging Break: Back on July 1Please pardon me whilest I taketh a brief blogging interlude until Friday, July 1, when I shall return in all my pop culture and politics blogging glory and explaineth my absence.
Cheerio!Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-67042395872166219712011-06-21T15:58:00.000-04:002011-06-21T15:58:43.018-04:00Short Dispatches from the Nut HouseBands, Bands . . . Everywhere are Bands
The Youngest Boy had his first concert with his school band last week. He played the xylophone, rather unenthusiastically I might add. After years of attending his older brother’s school band concerts – The Eldest Boy plays the drums and other percussion instruments – we thought that The Youngest Boy would feel proud to perform in his own while his family Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-87115357723762895782011-06-16T13:02:00.000-04:002011-06-16T13:02:36.133-04:00Three for a Thursday: Must-Read Parenting Article, TV Dads & Bruins PrevailYou Really Should Read This Article
The Atlantic's July/August issue has a provocative piece about the price children pay when their parents try to shield them from hurt, try to do everything for them and just focus on making the kids happy (I’m so guilty of the last one).
The end result? Unhappy twenty- and thirtysomethings who are ticked and disillusioned to discover that, once that they’re Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-16972555619567254272011-06-15T21:02:00.000-04:002011-06-15T21:02:12.180-04:00Surprises in the BackpackThe other night I decided to go through The Youngest Boy’s backpack because I didn’t really buy his story that he had no papers, no homework, no nothing to give to me.
What I found in there, aside from a couple of smelly zip-up sweatshirts, were three notes addressed to The Spouse and I, as the parents of The Youngest Boy. The notes told us that we owed the school cafeteria varying amounts of Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-38724568279587686592011-06-09T16:11:00.000-04:002011-06-09T16:11:38.004-04:00Go B's: The Youngest Boy Finally Got His Bruins' SignWe finally got our acts together in the Picket Fence Post family . . . at least when it comes to showing our support for the Boston Bruins.
Prior to the Bruins tying up the Stanley Cup finals two games to two last night, The Youngest Boy sat down at the kitchen table to devise his pro-Bruins sign for our front door. The Spouse and I tried to offer suggestions -- I thought that a giant Bruins Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-21964830926614329732011-06-08T17:29:00.000-04:002011-06-08T17:29:41.660-04:00Disgruntled Dispatches from the KitchenI’m having a senior moment and I’m only in my 40s. Found in the microwave oven this afternoon: Leftover roasted sweet potatoes I had heated up yesterday to go along with a pretty good dinner I'd made but then completely forgot about. Sadly, this is not the first time I've left food in the microwave overnight in the past year.
And while I'm on the subject of the kitchen and food, you know those Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-53624460618041898912011-06-07T11:08:00.000-04:002011-06-07T11:08:49.675-04:00Quick Hits from the Picket Fence Post FamilyMangling the Bike Tire
Scene: Backing out of garage to drive The Girl to soccer practice. A loud crunch followed.
Action: I got out to discover that I’d run over the front tire of a kid’s bike. A boy visiting the house had parked his bike behind my car. He said he’d leaned it up against the bush, next to the garage door. Whether he did or whether he didn't (or whether it fell over), is Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-66365278144514821032011-06-01T14:51:00.000-04:002011-06-01T14:51:53.023-04:00Dealing with the Sports Dad/Coach: Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't LoseThe Spouse is a great youth sports coach. There have been families who've specifically requested that their kids be placed on his team. He’s calm, reasonable and doesn’t put his own ego out there on the court or ball field. It's all about the kids. The recreational teams he coaches are intended to teach children how to play a game and how to work together, and his efforts and attitudes reflect Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-63179745862536798822011-05-27T14:56:00.000-04:002011-05-27T14:56:48.397-04:00Author Urges Parents to Go Forth and Multiply . . . More OftenMy latest pop culture column this week over on Modern Mom and Mommy Tracked is my response to reading Bryan Caplan's book, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids.
Caplan used a multi-pronged approach to try to persuade parents who already have kids to have more. "Today's Typical Parents artificially inflate the price of kids, needlessly worry and neglect the long-run benefits of larger families," Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-89409830252778835052011-05-26T13:20:00.000-04:002011-05-26T13:20:29.811-04:00Need Advice About the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in OrlandoWhile all three of the Picket Fence Post kids are still really into all things Harry Potter -- and The Spouse and I are still reading the Potter series aloud to The Youngest Boy (we're on book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) -- we decided that we'd take a summer trek to the new portion of Universal Studios in Orlando dedicated to The Boy Who Lived: The Wizarding World of Harry PotterMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-11103653520660107942011-05-26T13:00:00.000-04:002011-05-26T13:00:23.896-04:00Adventures in Youth Sports: Spring Edition (Includes a Pig on a Leash)It's been a weird week in youth sports for the Picket Fence Post family. We're talkin' a tiny pig on a leash, a whistle, heated arguments, bone-chilling dampness and bodies flying.
On the Little League front, The Youngest Boy's team, coached by The Spouse, finally won their first game. In fact, they won two in a row and actually turned some smart plays that led to runners being tagged out.
The Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-25755016720966384672011-05-20T17:41:00.000-04:002011-05-20T17:41:00.948-04:00Notes from the Picket Fence Post HomefrontThe velcro, plastic cone is back. Back around Max the dog’s neck. Why? Because the knucklehead bit the heck out of the inside of his right paw down to his pink skin because he appears to have two mosquito bites that are aggravating him to the point of compelling him to gnaw at his skin. I’m trying not to make him wear the plastic cone 24/7 -- as he’s quite sullen and listless when I do -- but Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-74998489995958509552011-05-18T10:08:00.001-04:002011-05-18T10:14:10.243-04:00Watching 'The Mentalist' with The Eldest Boy: What Shows Do You Watch with Your Kids?
Image credit: CBS
I’m not exactly sure how it started, but some time this winter, The Eldest Boy and I started watching CBS’ The Mentalist together and, before I knew it, it had become our “thing.”
One night I was sitting on the sofa in the family room just aimlessly surfing the TV channels while the The Eldest Boy was sacked out next to me. We happened upon a repeat of The Mentalist and The Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-27912210800760740652011-05-17T18:18:00.000-04:002011-05-17T18:18:50.421-04:00Huzzah! My Rain Dance Worked! Practices & Games Canceled!When I saw that weather forecasters were predicting several consecutive days of rain this week in the Boston area, I was secretly thrilled. No, not because I have a twisted desire to live in dreary, Seattle-like weather where I actually want to sit in front of the fireplace (in May!) in order to warm myself up or feel the need to wrap myself in a blanket while working at my desk.
Why have I beenMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-82409089440064583292011-05-11T16:41:00.000-04:002011-05-11T16:41:40.677-04:00Dogs Really Do Bury Bones, Just Like on That CommercialThe Spouse gave Max a bone the other day to chomp on when Max was left in his crate when no one was home. When I got home, I didn’t immediately notice that, when Max dashed out of the crate and headed toward the back door that he had the bone in his mouth.
While Max was outside, I saw him digging in a corner of the yard and actually putting the bone into the dirt and covering it with shredded Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-68776639391845370902011-05-11T16:21:00.000-04:002011-05-11T16:21:23.899-04:00Mother's Day & the 'Road of Pain'Never let it be said that The Youngest Boy lacks the humor gene, or, to put it more accurately, the sarcasm gene.
During our very active Mother’s Day – we first went to church and participated in a cool thing called a flower communion and then played a cut-throat family game of Scrabble (seriously, there were tears, shouts and accusations of unfair play) – we decided to take advantage of the Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-22591707292530040112011-05-05T16:30:00.002-04:002011-05-05T16:33:14.399-04:00Things That Bug Me About Mother's DayI've been feeling rather Grinchy lately, as the ads and chatter about Mother's Day reaches its apex, though last night's episodes of The Middle and Modern Family provided me nice comic relief about the holiday.
Why? Let me count the reasons why Mother's Day bugs me:
1. The overcommercialization. Seriously . . . what makes some people look at a car wash and think, "Moms would like this"?
Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-15583365143061824972011-05-04T16:04:00.002-04:002011-05-11T16:43:07.019-04:00Mother's Day E-Greetings from 'Modern Family's' Claire DunphyAs I eagerly anticipate the new episodes of both The Middle and Modern Family, as they will be Mother's Day themed (And what's Mother's Day if not an awesome opportunity to bring massive disappointment, chaos and burnt toast to mothers everywhere?), I learned that Modern Family's Facebook page is affording fans the opportunity to send personalized e-cards.
I pretended as though the Picket Fence Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-67316718060205502032011-05-02T14:34:00.000-04:002011-05-02T14:34:30.653-04:00This Just In . . . 'Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids'A friendly UPS delivery guy just dropped off a review copy of the controversial, nonfiction tome, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think by Bryan Caplan.
The cover has stick figure sketches of a mom and a dad and six, count ‘em, six kids standing next to the ‘rents. And all of them are smiling.
I’m going to read this book with an Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-90745906412887722382011-05-02T14:30:00.000-04:002011-05-02T14:30:05.727-04:00Thoughts on the Bin Laden News
*Originally appeared on Notes from the Asylum*
My youngest son was six weeks old when those American planes were turned into lethal missiles in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. under the direction of Osama bin Laden. And this morning, I got to tell that child -- now 9 years old, who’s been told since he was old enough to understand about the horrendous evil that occurred on that day Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-60823862111093089392011-04-29T16:41:00.000-04:002011-04-29T16:41:47.902-04:00A Greeting Card that Made My DayThe other night I made the Picket Fence Post kids a healthy, tasty dinner. I marinated chicken breast and Vidalia onions in Soy Vay Island Teriyaki sauce. I stuck them onto skewers along with grape tomatoes, red pepper slices, fresh cilantro, halved mushrooms and freshly sliced oranges. While grilling the shish kebobs, I also put fresh mango slices on a skewer. It was all served with sides of Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-65892079285978860402011-04-29T13:35:00.000-04:002011-04-29T13:35:37.567-04:00Watching the Royal Wedding with Reluctant Kiddos
Image credit: AP via Gawker
So I got up at 5 a.m. fully expecting to park myself in front of the TV in the family room and watch the Will and Kate wedding by myself, just me, my bowl of cereal and my cup of Earl Grey tea.
Then at about 6 when the ceremony was beginning and Kate was walking down the aisle, I decided that I just had to go get The Girl, even though she usually wakes up at 6:30 onMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-45190521788423437082011-04-22T17:20:00.003-04:002011-04-22T17:24:15.785-04:00Notes from a Rainy Spring Break: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Potter Mania, Patriot's Day, Passover, Clothes Shopping & a Visit to the ERIf you asked the Picket Post Fence kids, I'm guessing they'd likely tell you that they did "nothing" during their spring vacation, nothing of note anyway. We didn't go away to a warm, tropical locale like several of their classmates. We didn't go to an amusement park or a super-fun venue. We stayed home and I didn't arrange for them to party their way through the week.
And though I still Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-36400079100274936912011-04-15T15:35:00.000-04:002011-04-15T15:35:33.550-04:00Breaking News from the Picket Fence Post Family . . .. . . The 2010-2011 youth hockey season, which began in August 2010, is now, officially, over. (This makes me wonder if that nagging cough and runny nose that I've had for what seems like months on end will finally end now that I'm no longer sitting in ice cold arenas.)
Now we'll have oodles and oodles of extra time given that we now just have one kid playing Little League -- The Spouse is Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-66780597200277359032011-04-14T20:51:00.000-04:002011-04-14T20:51:18.127-04:00Three for Thursday: The Pop Culture Edition: 'The Middle,' 'Modern Family' & 'Parenthood'
Image credit: ABC
The Middle: Don’t Cave on the Punishment
The latest episode of The Middle sparked all kinds of debate in the Picket Fence Post house about how far The Spouse and I would go to make a point and stand our ground when we punish a kid in the hopes of teaching him or her a lesson.
In The Middle’s fictional Heck family, the obnoxious, clueless teenage son Axl would not stop Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-83534308975242506122011-04-13T15:06:00.001-04:002011-04-13T15:07:07.641-04:00Notes from the Grade 4 Invention ConventionWe here at the Picket Fence Post household thought we'd be able to breathe easier when the fourth grade Invention Convention concluded (although the hockey season is still ongoing, but that's another matter). And at first we did.
The Youngest Boy did well this afternoon explaining to the parents who attended the Invention Convention how his creation, the "Dog-O-Feeder," works: You train your dogMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-9493572229251157842011-04-13T10:29:00.000-04:002011-04-13T10:29:26.386-04:00When Big Brother Becomes the Lunch LadyLet me state the following for the record:
1. I think it’s a wonderful thing for public schools to teach children about healthy eating habits and inform them about all the cool things that good food can do for one’s body . . . as well as the distinctly uncool things unhealthy food can do.
2. I applaud the classes formerly known as Home Economics – my middle schoolers’ Home Ec classes were Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-89962765589337319152011-04-04T13:30:00.000-04:002011-04-04T13:30:59.471-04:00Looking at the Kids' Dizzying Schedules & Trying to be All ZenYouth hockey season’s not yet over – The Youngest Boy’s team is still in the playoffs – and the schedules for The Girl’s and The Eldest Boy’s soccer teams are already rolling in. We haven’t yet been given the practice/game schedule for The Youngest Boy’s baseball team, but I'm sure those games and practices will be slated for dreadfully inconvenient, overscheduled times.
Plus The Eldest Boy has Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-22732236608095342752011-04-01T09:00:00.002-04:002011-04-01T09:00:07.779-04:00The Harry Potter Reading Out Loud ProjectI've frequently mentioned on this blog -- as well as on my parenting blog that preceded this -- that The Spouse and I had been engaged in a multi-year effort to read the entire Harry Potter series aloud to our youngest son, currently age 9.
We've been at this since 2009 and have, to date, read 2,750 pages of the seven-book series to him. Oftentimes his elder siblings join us as they're fond of Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-18118729954120699342011-03-31T16:01:00.000-04:002011-03-31T16:01:31.857-04:00Three for Thursday: 'Parenthood' Gets It Right, Grade School Slang & Liz Taylor, Working MomItem #1: Parenthood Gets It Right
Image credit: NBC
The sophomore season of Parenthood has been getting better and better. And more on the mark.
The last episode – about which I wrote a review -- had achingly realistic scenes that tugged at the heart, or at least they tugged at mine. From the parents of a girl who were told that the wife now is very unlikely to be able to bear another child, Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-63273167279983070322011-03-28T15:23:00.000-04:002011-03-28T15:23:27.612-04:00T-Minus 4 Days 'Til Opening Day . . .
Forget the freezing temperatures, bitter New England winds and March snow flurries.
Forget the middle and grade school science projects about which The Spouse and I have to nag my three kiddos.
Forget the never-ending youth hockey season with games in bone-chillingly cold ice rinks.
It's almost Opening Day for the Boston Red Sox . . . when all will be right with the world (as long as the Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-81953249655980722992011-03-26T14:40:00.000-04:002011-03-26T14:40:28.471-04:00Notes from the Picket Fence Post Homestead: Pet Grooming, School Projects, Shorts Obsession & 'Wimpy Kid' 2Max Gets Groomed
Our dog Max was in dire need of a haircut. His hair had grown so long that when I was out walking him in our neighborhood recently, a woman remarked that he looked like a really short sheep on a leash. And she was right.
However bringing a dog with extremely thick hair like our Havanese/Wheaten Terrier to the groomer’s can be tricky because no matter how many times you try to Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-18988139131015395942011-03-21T21:09:00.001-04:002011-03-22T16:18:30.520-04:00Cheering from the Cheap Seats: It All Depends on Where You're SittingThe Youngest Boy’s hockey team played three games this past weekend and won two of them. During the Friday night game, his team won 5-3. Even when his crew was up 5-2 and seemed in command of the game, we parents in the stands were still cheering aggressively, encouraging the kiddos to chase down every puck, to skate as fast as they could and not to stop playing hard.
To the parents for the Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-12549476921789804492011-03-16T12:25:00.001-04:002011-03-17T11:52:23.139-04:00Getting Irish With ItThese days I approach each March 17 with mixed feelings. Despite my Hibernian surname, I’m only one-quarter Irish. In addition to Ireland, my ancestors also hailed from Spain, England and Austria. Throw in The Spouse’s Russian/Austrian background, and the amount of Irish blood flowing through the three Picket Fence Post kids’ veins amounts to only one-eighth.
Yet we still celebrate St. Patrick’Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-15928588005544251862011-03-14T14:18:00.001-04:002011-03-14T14:18:35.351-04:00Picket Fence Post Blogger Now Back & Ready to Go (Without the Benefit of Adonis DNA)I may not have one gear, Go!, as father of the year Charlie Sheen does, but I’m ready to return to this blogging goodness here after my brief break. Having finished editing my top secret manuscript (if I have any news about it, of the good variety, believe me, I’ll share), I’m back to business.
So, what, other than Charlie Sheen’s antics, the liberation of Egypt, the riots in Libya and the Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-63618298642758771252011-02-11T12:04:00.000-05:002011-02-11T12:04:00.428-05:00Taking a Blogging BreakThere are only so many hours in the day . . .
So goes the cliché, but it’s true, oh, so painfully true. As much as I’d like to think that I can get everything done on time – from meeting my column deadlines, blogging deadlines, attending to editing duties, remembering to pick up my kids/drive ‘em places, realizing that it’s time to make dinner or refill the fridge, continuing to do my volunteer Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-63010492036453744602011-02-02T14:44:00.002-05:002011-02-02T14:44:50.793-05:00Waving the White Flag to Mother NatureI wholeheartedly concur with the sentiment expressed on page one of today's Boston Herald:
Look at my front yard, it's like a sea of snow. There's actually a front walk that's been shoveled repeatedly, though you can't tell. There's part of a driveway there that's also been plowed but it doesn't look like it's been plowed:
If you look out the window of our family room, the snow piled on our Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-91213403575224410892011-01-20T16:07:00.000-05:002011-01-20T16:07:30.951-05:00Three for Thursday: More from the Mom-Petitors, 'Modern Family's' Coitus Interruptus & 'Parenthood' Takes on Team Fundraising
Item #1: More from the Mom-Petitors
The creator of those crazy “Mom-Petitor” Xtranormal videos has posted a new one. Of course, it made me laugh because it rings true. This time, the insane helicopter mom on speed decided to grill the down-to-earth mom on what she plans to do when the perfect mom's kid sleeps over at the slacker mom's house. The helicopter mom plans on spending the night in Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-80434877663377155262011-01-17T20:37:00.001-05:002011-01-17T20:38:32.341-05:00The Fall-Out from ‘Tiger Mother’ Continues as Folks Seek the ‘Right’ Way to Parent
The new controversial book about “Chinese mothering” that I mentioned last week – Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua – which was excerpted in the Wall Street Journal under the title, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” continues to generate controversy. And responses. Loads of responses. Some of them are angry. (Chua has received death threats.) Some of them are defensive. Several are Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-44168917811386327042011-01-14T12:51:00.000-05:002011-01-14T12:51:53.864-05:00Bringing Forgotten Items to School . . . When to Stop?The call came in at 7:35 this morning, just as I was sitting down to the kitchen table, a cup of hot tea in my hand, ready to read the newspapers.
The Girl: Mom, I forgot my sneakers and I have gym class first period.
Me: Yep. I see them. You really want me to bring them to you? Now?
The Girl: Please?
Me: (Paused for a beat) Okay. I'll bring them right over.
This is not the first time this Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-31990971066064011802011-01-13T13:58:00.003-05:002011-01-13T14:02:16.422-05:00Three for Thursday: Controversy Over 'Chinese Mothering,' Teens on TV & 'The Middle's' Little Brick
Image credit: Wall Street Journal
Item #1: Controversy Over ‘Chinese Mothering’
Amy Chua wrote a book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It’s about how she started off her life as a mother of two girls as a very strict, “traditional Chinese” mother, like her parents before her. By the end of the book – in which Chua says she gets her “comeuppance” – Chua says she realized she wanted to “retreatMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-79082020961608098502011-01-12T15:08:00.004-05:002011-01-12T15:12:19.394-05:00Notes from a Snow Day: Ice Rink, Movie Surprise, Chicken Stir Fry & Max in the Snow
Hey, What's This? Could It Be . . . an Actual Skating Rink? In Our Yard? YES!!!
I present to you . . . the ice rink as the foot-and-a-half of snow that fell from the sky since early this morning was being shoveled off of it.
The rink is brought to us by many, many hours of hard work and loving maintenance by The Spouse for his three children.
This week, I've added "buy skates" (for me and TheMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-32158939386653352682011-01-06T12:17:00.000-05:002011-01-06T12:17:50.808-05:00Three for Thursday: 'Soccer Mommed' Spoof, 'The Middle' Parents Revolt & I Won't Watch Dead/Dying Kid Fare
Item #1: 'Soccer Mommed' Spoof
Jen Singer, of MommaSaid, has created a fabulous send-up video lampooning how super-involved and nutty the world of youth soccer has become. In the video, a mother of a 9-year-old boy wants to sign him up for soccer and another woman, whose son has been playing since pre-school, said it’s too late for the 9-year-old. When the first mom says she herself didn’t Meredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4951860657969112395.post-64249559797424896832011-01-04T15:24:00.000-05:002011-01-04T15:24:16.650-05:00Bizarre Parenting News Stories from the Past 10 Days: Killer Coffee Tables, No Coats & Minivans are ‘Cool’?While I was laying in bed over the past week recovering from the (swine?) flu, I came across a series of bizarre parenting stories that I feel compelled to share with you, my kind readers:
Killer Coffee Tables
Who knew that coffee tables were killers, lying in wait in living rooms and family rooms across America. Seriously. The New York Times dedicated a huge chunk of the front page of its HomeMeredith O'Brienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13931703511561742340noreply@blogger.com0