DC Metro Moms

Happy the Hippo Needs a Lawyer

What's a zoo without a hippopotamus? 

Well, if things go according to the plan I read about in the Washington Post, the lone hippo at the National Zoo is going to be booted from his comfy digs next year.

They say there's a good reason -- the zoo is expanding the elephant exhibit to make it all nice and shiny for them.  But that means that Happy the Hippo has to pack his big toothbrush and leave the only home he's ever known.

As I was reading it out loud, Mr. PunditMom said to me, "Happy needs a lawyer."

Happy needs a lawyer!  I have a law degree and I practiced law for 15 years, but, sadly, I don't have a specialty in hippo law.

To Go or Not to Go? That IS Question

Reporters and pundits are counting down the days to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.  I, along with a group of other bloggers from MOMocrats, are planning on going to cover the event.  Our bags aren't packed yet, but planning E-mails are being swapped constantly!

Initially, in my alter ego PunditMom was THRILLED to be able to say I was going to be there!!  What could be better for a wonky political chick than to immerse myself in the Democratic gathering of the year?

But the more I think about it, I wonder -- is it really worth it to go?  I've covered a political convention before in my previous incarnation as a broadcast journalist.  And while it was pretty heady to be in the convention hall, most of the stories that were there to be covered weren't happening on the convention floor.

Questions to Answer Before I Get to BlogHer '08

Yes, it's that time of year again -- hundreds upon hundreds of women with blogs will be descending upon San Francisco for this year's BlogHer conference.  You know all the cool moms, including a bunch of us from this blog and all our sister blogs, will be there!

Isn't that a thought?  Close to a thousand women with blogs!  Without children! OOOOooooo!!!   That's almost Halloween scary!

So aside from wondering if I'll have time to finish laundry and get to the grocery store before I hop on that plane, there are a few questions I need to answer before I hook up with friends I made last year and hopefully make some new ones without stammering too much or spilling wine on myself.

1.  What WILL I talk about?  No, not the small talk, though that really isn't my forte.  I mean for the panel that I'll be speaking at:

What We Believe: Two Concurrent Sessions: Progressives & Conservatives Engaging those outside the political blogosphere in political discourse...and action

Wow.  That's a weighty subject even for my alter ego, PunditMom.  So why is my mind a blank??  Mr. PunditMom seems to have faith.  He said, "Well, you have five hours on the plane to figure it out."

Hell, Thy Name is Summer Vacation

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my second-grade daughter.  And tomorrow is only a half day.

My head already hurts trying to figure out how I'm going to juggle work and family obligations without the reliable window of the 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day.  Don't get me wrong.  I look forward to summertime just as much as anyone else and I really am excited about getting to spend more time with my daughter other than the school-year evening routine of getting dinner ready, doing homework and getting her into the shower before bedtime.

But trying to patch together a series of day camp activities that will also allow me to keep work life going throughout the summer months is a hellish challenge.

The Year of Turning 50 -- It's All in My Head

In 149 days I will turn 50. 

Yes, 49 and change is my chronological age, but I'm discovering that, at least in my head, 50 isn't my mother's 50, anymore.

I've already been told by a good friend that I look "freakishly" young for my age, so I'm definitely embracing that!  And as the mother of a second-grader, I am generally surrounded by other adults who are least a decade younger than me.  Plus, there's one more thing -- I'm not 49+ in my head.

Some would call that denial, but in mentally I'm somewhere in my mid-30's.  Why that age versus another, I don't know, but that's how I feel.  So, as I creep closer to the mid-century mark this year, I've decided that I will NOT be turning 50 this year!

"Non-Mom?" I Don't Think So

I've been called a lot of things in my life, some nicer than others.

But since becoming the mother of my daughter, no one has ever called me a "Non-Mom" until this weekend.  Yup, you heard me -- a big network called me a Non-Mom.  Well, not just me -- they insulted thousands of other moms, too.

As if a show produced for Mother's Day called "America's Favorite Mom" isn't bad enough -- Hey, America -- who's your most favorite-ist mother off all?? -- someone had the bright idea of dividing all the moms into categories.  You had the Working Mom.  The Military Mom.  The CEO Mom.  And then the ultra-special category just for moms like me -- the Non-Mom.

No, that's not for women who aren't moms yet.  This was a special category and name created just for moms who aren't related to their children biologically -- moms by adoption (me), step-moms (me) and foster moms.

Yup, I'm a Non-Mom.  Does that mean I don't have to cook dinner tonight or finish the laundry?

Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus & the Politics of Puberty

Well, a 'tween firestorm has erupted and her name is Hannah Montana.

I'm not talking about the show or the concert or the 3-D movie.

I probably don't have to tell you what I'm talking about -- the Vanity Fair photo shoot that has families abuzz.  As part of an article on the 'tween phenom, Annie Leibowitz took this photo of Miley Cyrus, the 15-year-old who portrays Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel show of the same name.

There are numerous answers to the question, "What's wrong with this picture?"

More pointedly, what's wrong with the adults who allowed this photo to happen.  Acclaimed photographer Annie Leibowitz says she and Miley agreed that the shot was "artistic."  I'm no prude, but I certainly don't find a lot redeeming about a shot of a minor girl with no clothes on, a satin sheet clutched to her naked chest, with tousled hair and come-hither bedroom eyes.

I know some say it was fair game, especially in light of some semi-provocative photos Miley herself has

Is It Really Passover if the Goyum Mom Makes Dinner?

"Momma, what's je-filt fish?"

"That's gefilte fish.  Um, well, it's sort of like fish meatloaf."

"Can we have some?  And what's a SEE-der plate?"

"That's SAY-der plate.  Go ask your daddy."

My marriage and family are mixed in many ways, including religion.  Mr. PunditMom is Jewish and I am... well ... not.

We celebrate all our respective holidays in our family -- Christmas & Chanukah, Easter & Passover.  We haven't gotten around to Festivus yet, though.

Stuck in the Middle -- Refereeing the Mommy Wars

It feels like the Mommy Wars have been raging on for way to long, now.  I haven't been keeping track of the days like Keith Olbermann does, but I know it's time for them to be over. 

While we tend to be pretty civil here at the DC Metro Moms, when we had a dust-up a little while ago about whether children's birthday parties that are scheduled on weekdays, I started thinking about my place on the field in this maternal conflict and realized I'm stuck in the middle.

You see, I don't work full-time outside the home and I am not a traditional stay-at-home-mother.  After working in various office settings for more years than I care to count, I now work at home on a part-time basis.  There are plenty of good and bad things about that arrangement, but that's a different post for a different day.

But I realize, based on various episodes, that some of the moms I know who went back to work in their offices after having their children view me as a SAHM.  Sure, I have a writing business, but from some I can feel their disdain for my choice not to go back to my five-day-a-week job rising from their skin like

I Thought We Were Recession-Proof

My daughter, PunditGirl, was reading the Meet Kit book from The American Girl Doll Series, recently.  For the American Girl uninitiated, Kit is the Great Depression-era girl.    (PunditGirl already has plowed through the Colonial girl Felicity series)!

After PunditGirl  read about Kit's dad losing his job, Kit's brother having to give up college and the family having to take in boarders to make ends meet, she was obsessively worried.

"Is that real?  What if that happens to us?"

Her furrowed brow would have rivaled that of George Bush when reporters pound him with questions about the Iraq War.  It took days to convince her not to fret about chipping in the $13 in her Hello Kitty wallet for the grocery budget.