Guest Blog: Sign of the Times

So excited for my guest blogs and excited that I have such a range of readers.

This next one is out of the mouths of babes and is from a great mom friend.

Enjoy.

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A Sign of The Times

Last night I was driving in the car with two third grade girls, a preschooler and me, a 40 year old mom (2 kids of mine + a play date.) We were on a short car ride to literacy night at school.

We were discussing were in the building the event would be held. I told them literacy night was being held in the media center, and they wanted to know why they call the "library," the media center. I explained that books are only one kind of media, and newspapers, TV, and movies are also forms of media.

Our third grade play date pipes up and says "what's a newspaper?" Totally serious. Then she says, "oh I think that's what those things in plastic that they leave at the end of your driveway are?"

I am stunned! The end of and era. I have been hearing about print media dying off in favor of online sources, but has it already happened?

Kids want to know what this strange thing you call "Newspaper" is?  They will never know about getting gifts wrapped in old newspapers. They will never use silly putty to make transfers of the Sunday funnies. They will have no good excuse to hang home on Sunday mornings drink coffee and read their favorite section of the Sunday Times in their PJ's all day long. 

I think I'm going to subscribe to the Sunday Times again. I feel it's my duty to pass on to one more generation the joy of a newspaper.

Some Housekeeping

Halloween

The Halloween costumes arrived today. I ordered them online because I thought it would be a ton easier than dragging three kids into Party City and watching the chaos unfold. Also, the Ladies' school had some sort of promotional code to a random website that saved me 30%. 

I was also able to have each kid pick out exactly what they wanted and was able to make sure we got everything we needed. In a rare moment of clarity around the Lady's birthday, I picked up the Elsa wig at Target for the Little Lady. Not going to get burned trying to find one of those as the days of October dwindle. 

The Little Lady sometimes has buyers remorse. She originally wanted to be a character from Monster High. A show I have never seen and neither has she. I was fine getting her the costume if she really wanted it, but she eventually changed her mind to Elsa. I knew there might be a supply problem and there was no way I was buying the $120 dress she saw in the Chasing Fireflys catalog. The costume she got is great, but alas, covered in glitter.

The Lady wanted to be a character from Ever After High, some new set of characters based on the offspring of fairy tale characters. She wanted to be Raven Queen, the daughter of the Evil Stepmother in Snow White, who rebels against a fate decided for her. The costume is mostly black and purple, comes with what looks like fishnet stockings and I had to spring extra for the wig. The Lady thinks this costume couldn't be any cooler. I am just hoping to make it through the second book in the series. 

QT is Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Can I just say that when you type in "teenage mutant ninja turtles" into the search area of a costume website the kids costumes should outnumber the adults. Sexy Leonardo for women? Really? I am all for women going as Ninja Turtles but come on.

He also got a katana, which is Leo's sword. Only one, not two like he really has and we are already prepping him that weapons aren't allowed in school. He has not been deterred from swinging the thing all over the house though. He also wanted to know where his other costumes were (ghost and purple minion). One at a time QT, one at a time. 

Box Tops

I casually asked the Lady about the Box Top collection at school. They now have 344. I am feeling proud, but am hoping some of the other moms step it up. I can't suffer the same letdown as last fall. 

Guest Blogs

There are a few of you out there who have mentioned interest in guest blogging. Now is the time. Seriously, I can't be expected to keep this up, we are only on day 14! I do have one guest post ready for tomorrow. There is nothing sweeter than knowing that all I have to do is copy and paste. 

Guest Blog: Making Mom Friends

I want to introduce a good friend and a faithful Three Bean Salad reader, Kristen, as she posts her first guest blog. I have been talking a lot lately about trying to fit in, meet new people at the Lady's school and trying to overcome my own anxiety about being in situations where you have to interact with strangers. I am currently dreading my Ladies Night Out with the other moms from the Lady's class, not because any of them have been anything but incredibly nice and inclusive, but because I don't thrive in situations that I am unsure of and quite frankly feel like I am an outsider. The Lady, however, announced today that she has new friends and proceeded to list everyone in her class.

Kristen, has a similar but in many ways much more difficult situation to deal with. Not only does she have to go out and meet all new moms (in three classes no less!) but she is also trying to meet new friends in a new place, without the support of other friends (geographically speaking--she certainly has support from me!)

Oh, BTW. . . CNY to any of you whose brother didn't go to Colgate or aren't a friend of someone who lives "upstate" in New York means Central New York.

Here is her story.

Making Mom Friends
Having (very) recently moved from a small rural town in CNY to a suburb of Nashville, it is an understatement to say that it is a bit of an adjustment. Moving in general is hard work – the cleaning out, the packing up, the unpacking, setting up a house, new doctors, new schools, finding your way to the grocery store – you get the picture! While all of this can be trying, I am suffering the most when it comes to the fact that I have no friends here. Having left a supportive community where I had wonderful friends, I am really feeling the loss.

Not being one to sit around, I sent my two older daughters off to 1^st and 2^nd grade respectively and jumped right in to activity finding/doing mode with my 3 year old daughter. I started on the Internet looking for “meet-up” moms’ groups -  I signed up for one only to be told I was on a waiting list as the group was currently filled. It is a group that is meant for meeting other people – I am not sure how they can turn people away, who must clearly be in need if they are putting themselves out there and signing up but who am I to judge – well, let me not speak so soon!

Next I try a story time at a (large chain) bookstore. It was very crowded and almost not worth the time it took us to get ready and get there since the stories lasted all of ten minutes. We were surrounded by many children and moms so I hoped for the best as my daughter headed for the train table to play once the stories were over. There was not much conversation for me to engage in and after a while, we left for home. Feeling disappointed and thinking that if I went back again, I may find myself turning to someone out of desperation and begging them to talk to me!

I decided to try the local library. We headed to library story time and found a lot of children and moms. While it was very crowded, it was a much better story time with a theme and songs followed by a craft. My daughter loved it and I was pretty happy that we made the effort to go. As we headed out of the story room, I was hopeful of having an adult conversation as my daughter headed to the computers to play a game. As my daughter donned the headphones, I smiled at the woman standing next to me who had a headphone clad child sitting in front of her as well. The woman did smile back but then proceeded to click away on her blackberry – she did not look up once in the time that the children were on the computers – maybe 20 minutes. In the age of technology, how am I supposed to make new friends? Maybe I can get someone’s number and text them while we stand right next to each other?!

Bean Says. . . (more, of course)

First of all, thank you for guest blogging. Second of all, all those blackberry addicted moms are missing out on an incredible friend and third of all, I think that this is confirmation that the story time at Barnes and Noble is no good. Check out a very early Three Bean for a similar experience.  Finally, I think that meeting new mom friends is harder than dating (which I know nothing about, having met my husband in high school and "dating" him from the end of college), but I think that the fear of rejection probably stings just as hard. I give you a lot of credit for making the efforts that you have. If worse comes to worse, start stalking Nicole Kidman or any other celeb living in the Nashville area! Love you. Thanks so much for doing this and good luck with all your Southern adventures. You are welcome to blog about them here anytime.

Guest Blog by Steadman's Army

Hey everyone,

Steadman's Army has given me another guest blog to post. Enjoy his random musings.

Random Musings

Its official, Notre Dame is cursed. On the other hand, if you die an alcohol related death at the age of 19, you probably weren't ready to be Irish anyway… I can’t stand recreational cyclists who need to don full spandex like they are on the European circuit. They walk around with great aplomb like they just broke a speed record while everyone else is throwing up in their mouths. It’s completely absurd and I really feel there should be more of an uproar on a national level… Water-boarding should be reserved only for those who schedule conference calls after 4 pm EST… Step Brothers has recently joined Zoolander as movies that are currently in the loop which I will watch every single time they come on. And by loop I am referring to the big 4: HBO, Starz, Cinemax or Showtime. If you only have basic cable than you can discuss how wonderful ‘Daddy Day Care’ was on TNT with your imaginary friends on a lesser blog… Is anything as odious as someone who stands too close to you on the subway when there is clearly plenty of room? Yes, the guy who smelled like he dumped his pants on the Orange Line yesterday… I can’t wait for beach season so I can stay inside and change diapers while everyone else is having the time of their lives… Hulk Hogan will suffer a massive stroke by years end. You heard it here first… Finally, does anything substantiate the existence of corporate brainwashing or widespread subliminal messaging more than the massive success of Michael Bublé? WTF is going on?

Morning Yang

We have a guest blogger today. Here is a little something from Steadman. . . as always we welcome comments


Two things are constantly recycled in my mind during my hour and a half commute in the morning. One is the quote “Get busy livin’ or get busy dying” from Shawshank Redemption. The second is the sight of a 90 year old man wearing a “carpe diem” hat I saw sitting around the Back Bay train station some years ago. The threat on another full day of work chokes me in a miasma of both disgust and unpure thoughts. Yet I continue to kiss whitey’s ring day after day, laboring under the yolk of a consistent paycheck. Sure I have family obligations, bills, an out of control fabergé egg addiction (who doesn’t?)– but these are not the reasons I have yet to abandon ship. Nor is it the sanguine feeling I get when I leave work, serving as the yin to my morning yang. Nor still is it the hundreds on emails I exchange daily with Sheils, or the possibility of fresh entries on Aileen’s blog. These just maintain my sanity, and keep everyone else in the office alive.

There are just two real reasons that I have not ended this employment nightmare. One, is that I have absolutely no brass in my pants – none - and everybody knows it. The second is that if I had the opportunity to go back in time and change anything about my life, studying a different field or getting a different job would not even be in the picture. The only thing I would do is go back to April 2002 and try to buy the Cinnamon Toast Crunch windbreaker I saw some dude wearing on the street. God that was a sweet jacket.

Now back to work. Thanks Aileen.