Chicago Moms Blog

Farewell to Facebook--for the Summer

 I deactivated my Facebook account this morning. It was bittersweet but strangely cathartic at the same time. I feel like I spend so much time purging the notification emails which of course strike a curiosity and then I'm back on, checking to see what others are up to.

My iPhone has made it way too easy (and no, I'm not giving it up!) to stay plugged in and I made the decision late last night that enough is enough.  Time to purge years of emails and go offline for awhile--maybe even just for the summer.

Now when I mean offline, I don't mean completely. I did delete 30000 "conversations" in my Gmail as well this morning and it really felt good! It's a little strange to open Outlook and there is only one item in my Inbox.Email is a form of communication between my son's Day Camp and his t-ball coach so I will check it regularly. 

I'm even tempted to do something a little crazy and get a typewriter so my kids and I can create stories and publish our own books--the old fashioned way---on paper without a monitor or the distraction of the internet.

But for now, I'm Facebook free and it will be an interesting experiment. Who knows what time I will have on my hands now to actually get some household projects done and maybe even purge my closets and drawers of years of paper and unused clothes and other such things.

Wish me luck--I'm going to need it!

This is an original Chicago Moms Blog Post.

Convoluted Message: Kid Tested, Nutritionist (Bottom Line) Approved

I went to the Restaurant Show this past Sunday at McCormick Place full of anticipation and excitement. I had a game plan to visit certain booths and vendors to learn more about what is being served to us when we are not eating at home. The show hosted an "A" List of guest speakers and educational sessions to meet the curiosity of any industry professional or curious social media mom.

The first session that caught my eye was "The New Kids Meals: Kid Tested, Nutritionist Approved," which seemed like a no-brainer. With summer camp starting in early June, I'll be packing lunches for two kiddos three days a week. And our school doesn't have a hot lunch program so come fall; I'll be packing lunch for my Kindergartener five days a week. I was also curious to hear what the industry experts had to say regarding kids menus at dining establishments and how they were making the change towards healthier foods.

Earth Day is my BIRTHDAY!

This Thursday is Earth Day. It's also my 40th (gulp) birthday. And for once, I am excited--giddy and excited.

I grew up in San Francisco so Earth Day was never quite a big deal for me. Now as a mom raising kids in Chicago, it's hard to change that mindset and this year will be no exception.

Gasp! Horrors. Wait, before you pass judgment.

Earth Day should be everyday. Everyday, we should do our best to take care of where we live--city, suburb, farm, ranch, wherever and on Earth Day, April 22nd, we should celebrate our efforts.

This year, that's what I (normally not a fan of celebrating my birthday) pledge to do. I will serve organic munchies at my pre-party celebration at our house on china vs paper plates. We will use glassware which will be washed using Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid and do my best, as always to create a healthy environment for my guests.

Earth Day is my birthday. Happy Birthday to the both of us. May we go into the next decade happier, healthier and better informed than we have in the past.

Original post to Chicago Moms Blog.

Rethinking the City

I am a tried and true city girl who used to poke fun at suburban living. Yet, these days, I find myself in the 'burbs more and more and west of Pulaski less and less.

When we first moved to our home in Old Irving Park, I used to tell people we'd moved to Iowa. It felt that way. When we moved from the Lakefront to our condo in Logan Square, that was an adjustment. Going from Logan Square to uncharted territory was even harder. Cross-town traffic, once a headache became a nightmare. Our commute to school went from 10 minutes to 45 minutes on a bad day. The commute in part was why we moved our son to our new parish school—in Sauganash. And while we're at it, let's just sign the kids up for hockey in Skokie—and summer camp as well.

Huh?

My husband was befuddled and quite amused. I used to get panic attacks; I kid you not, at someone even MENTIONING driving the Edens. Now I'm on it twice a day three days a week for school runs, on Mondays, it's four times—school run plus hockey in the afternoon, and then there is the occasional random trip to Michaels or Target on the weekends. Oh and did I mention that I gleefully discovered that our bank has branches in Skokie, just under a different name so I can avoid having to go into Lakeview?

Huh?

School Daze

It’s no secret that finding a school that fits your family can be a labor of love, and stressful. A year ago, we got a rejection letter from the private school we’d had our hearts set on which I wrote about here.  Even though we were invited to reapply we didn’t. I wasn’t going through the process again, especially not emotionally.  We would keep our son at his current school which we loved and then make a decision later. After all, we didn’t have to move him until 3^rd grade.

But as fate would have it, we went a completely different route, one that if we’d explored a few years ago, might have put us in a different house, in a different neighborhood.  Through word of mouth and a little curiosity, we found our school and made a switch. It was probably one of the easiest decisions I’ve made as a parent yet.

A friend had been telling us about his grammar school, the one his nieces and nephews now attended. It was a great school, in a great neighborhood not far from us. Good test scores, reasonable tuition, athletic and arts programs.

Miss Lori says "sorry" doesn't cut it on the soccer field or in life.

In addition to my public work as an entertainer, I am a mom, an athlete, and, very proud to say, a youth soccer coach. I have navigated the subject of sportsmanship in the heat of competition both personally and professionally. That is why when I learned the story of the female college soccer player in New Mexico I was appalled.

As I continue to watch the footage of the New Mexico University Junior committing heinous acts of assault on her fellow soccer players during a game recently, I am reminded of how far off the path of civility we have traveled. We as a society have made winning in competition so important that we have lost site of our basic code of humanity.

TV Commentator responses have ranged from outrage to a more tepid response of "that's sports". Some people close to the player have been quick to defend her, claiming that this behavior was out of character for the young woman. I don't believe that. You don't just wake up one morning and start yanking rivals down to the ground by their ponytails when you think no one is looking. That kind of instinct builds up over time. It speaks to your personal truth about right and wrong.

Tragedy at Fort Hood

My parents are civilian survivors of war.  They grew up in World War II torn Hong Kong seeing the horrors firsthand as children.  As an adult, I now realize the stories we were told life during the war were mostly about being in hiding, seeing the casualties being carried away every morning and the liberation of Hong Kong by the British troops and life after the war. As an adult my father became a Royal Air Force Reserve.  He had dreams of flying but his vision thwarted that so he worked in the machine shop, fixing aircraft. That would turn into a 40+ year career as a machinist with United Airlines which he worked for until his death in 2005. More importantly, the people we grew up around, thousands of miles away in San Francisco, were childhood friends of my parents from that era in Hong Kong.  They had built a support system that would last them a lifetime and I suspect that is what got them through as adults, watching the horrors of war yet again, this time, on another continent, via television.

When I was growing up, the Presidio of San Franciso was still an active military installation. As a teenager, it was the worst place to get caught driving through after curfew. Not only did you fear the MP's but the call the MP's would place to your parents if they decided it was necessary (never necessary thankfully). The Presidio, in all it's beauty, and admittedly the fastest shortcut home at times, was still an armed military installation and their rules were to be followed, not toyed with. Those rules were meant to keep us safe--all of us, civilians and military alike, and they did.

Open Letter to the Palo Alto School District

 

To Whom it May Concern:

A week ago this past Monday, the community of Palo Alto (California) lost another child.  When I heard the news, I was thousands of miles away in my kitchen, in Chicago, IL, just yards away from the multi-line tracks of Metra (our Caltrans), Amtrak and freight.  As I read the email, a Metra train rolled by. How ironic, how reality jarring.  In the two years, living a block from the train station has never bothered me aside from getting used to the noise. Now it does.

In six months, there have been four successful suicides from the same school. Four successful suicides, in the same manner, on the Caltran’s tracks just minutes from Gunn High School and all four students, members of the Gunn High School community. As a Bay Area native who grew up just miles away in San Francisco and attended parochial school and college in the immediate area, I have an idea of the pressure cooker the kids at Gunn are under. Growing up in the ‘80’s in the area, I have a very good idea of the pressure their parents are under in tough economic times and how that resonates into family life and can potentially affect your children. 

Beyond the usual of being a mom...

Four years ago, on June 27th, I got "the call"--the one you dread as an adult, the one you wish you'd never get. My dad was dying and the doctors had told our family members to gather everyone around.

My older son was 8 weeks old, only home for 6 weeks after his 2 week NICU stint. I had just gotten over hanging out by a hospital bed feeling helpless...or so I thought. We scrambled, got a flight to SF and 24 hours after we arrived and my dad met his first grandchild, he passed...on my parents 37th wedding anniversary.

I got "the call" again a week ago from my mom. She, thankfully is ok, but her older sister, the last of the 3 surviving out of 9 children is not. I scrambled, making her flight reservations, contacting the US Consulate in Tijuana because her passport is expired but she has her naturalization papers, drivers license, et al, and trying to ensure her safe passage back to the US as well as trying to determine if and when we could get there from Chicago--expired/lost passports and all.

The Gift of Community

The school year ended this week for my Nik, his first year in preschool. It was filled with love, laughter, backpack folders filled with all sorts of paper creations, birthday party invites, tears at drop off, giggles when a classmate's name was mentioned.

My year as a first year parent was filled with the chaos of getting the kids out the door by 8am (we live 2 miles from school) and learning to sit in traffic on the Kennedy for 20 minutes to go three exits!  I got involved with our school fundraisers, met a fantastic group of parents that became my committee members and volunteered in my son's classroom once a week--just because. Life got comfortable. Nik loved school and we loved everything about his school. We were in our zone, our groove.

But as it always goes, there is something that throws you off, something minor at times, something more dramatic in this case.  On a Sunday night, March 15th to be exact I received an email from my school gala co-chair.  One of the little girls at school, "KG" had been diagnosed on Friday, March 13 with Stage 4 Wilms Tumor, a rare childhood cancer.  The frightening part was, almost exactly a year before, another little girl, "GG" had been diagnosed with the same cancer and it was "KG's" family that had lead the charge to support "GG"s family.